The Scytharene have devastated Earth. They have used a virus to kill all the adults and have harvested the children for slaves. Having escaped alien captivity, Travis and his friends’ only hope is to find other survivors and help defeat the alien invaders. Travis and his friends must face the Scytharene once more. Their mission is to rescue three-child geniuses and reach Enclave Zero deep underground below Whitehall to manufacture a new virus that will infect and destroy the Scytharene. Unfortunately it is not only the aliens they must battle. Gangs of feral youths fight their own turf wars across London’s post-apocalyptic landscape. Distrust, jealousy and treachery also threaten to turn the friends against one another.

 The Tomorrow Seed is a classic science-fiction action adventure. It is a story about a group of ill-equipped misfits taking on a superior, more technologically advanced empire. Travis and his friends must survive aerial bombardments, avoid capture from Scytharene patrols and make desperate escapes before setting up a final showdown with the mighty Scytharene.

The characters however are not one-dimensional heroes. Instead each wrestles with their personal losses and doubts and are in different ways, fragile. It is the personal tensions between the characters, always threatening the solidarity of the group, that make it a compelling read. The emotional depth to the story alongside the action-adventure will appeal to readers aged 14+.

Andrew Butcher’s writing is optimistic. He writes about a group of young people in a world where there are no adults, faced with impossible odds, growing beyond their own self-interest and aspiring to something better. As a reader you want them all to survive, but sadly there are sacrifices. The Tomorrow Seed is the final book in the trilogy following on from The Time of the Reaper and Slave Harvest.

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2008-08-03