“Belle’s Ruin is a science fiction adventure that blends today’s military SAR techniques with intergalactic exploration for some bad-a characters and an interesting storyline!”

Review by Rayleigh Setser

A deadly alien jungle. A mysterious hidden ruin. Can a young woman overcome and save her people from a secret threat?

Belle Machado is being pressured to perform. From a poor family and small town, the recently graduated pilot of a planetary survey company is on a three-day evaluation of her qualifications for command-pilot. But the ambitious young woman is shattered when an unusual rock monolith destroys her ship.

Facing a dangerous planet and ruin alone, Belle fears for her career and her life. But the strange structure proves operational and reveals a threat to humanity.

Can Belle use her resourcefulness to survive and return home with the truth, or is she doomed to become a meal for an alien megapede?

Belle’s Ruin is the hair-raising first book in the Belle Machado science fiction thriller series. If you like alien lifeforms, speculative technologies, and underdog conflicts, then you’ll love Joseph McRae Palmer’s captivating story.

Belle's Ruin is a science fiction adventure that blends today's military SAR techniques with intergalactic exploration for some bad-a characters and an interesting storyline!

From the first page, I was invested in Belle's ambitions and rooting for her whole-heartedly. Belle reminded me a lot of my sister (who is actually a SAR medic in the Navy), so she could do no wrong in my eyes. Her personality was realistic throughout her circumstances and I really enjoyed her as a main character. Grant was equally engaging, and I loved his role in the story, too (he's the SAR medic).

I never lost interest in the story, though there are many information-heavy scenes that will make little sense to average readers. Belle's Ruin is the kind of science fiction where everything has an explanation, and it sounds authentic and works for the story, but I have no idea how much of it is based on real theory or fictional theory. But I will say, everything sounds legit and I bought it, so I give it a thumbs-up for world-building.

My only critique is the ending was very rushed and fell a bit out of "character" for the storyline. Through most of the book, the characters are conscious of procedures, protocols, and safety with every decision they make, but at the end (and I'm being vague to exclude spoilers), not a single person questioned or raised concern about Belle's final decision. I had a list of concerns and had expected at least *some* pushback, but not a single person seemed concerned with the ramifications of her impulsive decision. Ah well. I'm still invested in Belle's story, so I'd like to read the rest of the series, but I do wish the ending wouldn't have been so rushed.

Content Ratings:

5. Action present (frequent and mildly detailed battle sequences and/or fights).

2. Romance with mild content (holding hands and mild kissing).

0. None.

Other Trigger/Content Notices:

Content warnings: Some action and minor gore, but nothing I would classify has “horror”. I didn’t make note of cursing or vulgar language used. There’s no sexual content aside from a kiss and scientific conversations about alien reproduction.

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