Extremophile by Ian Green:

A late 21st century London is at the blunt edge of climate change.  Members of the band Horse Theory scrape a living, gigging and blogging. They are contacted by an eco-terrorist group The Heavy Mob to carry out a series of jobs for revenge.  

It’s a powerful premise and the future world with Winter heatwaves, frequent pandemics, disconnected by technology is brilliantly realised. Where the novel falls down is in its lack of focus, it flits between POV’s and the villain is a little too extreme to be truly delicious.  

There’s also a lack of focus in the narrative. The novel seems to want to be about being in a band, an ecological novel, and a hard SF novel all at the same time. I would also point out the odd idea that has been used in other novels.

However, to cut the author some slack - this is his first SF novel. Next time round, he can be less expansive, more incisive and the results will be much better. It’s published by Head Of Zeus on November 12th and I thank them for a preview copy. #extremophile