The Ninth Metal
From award-winning author Benjamin Percy comes an explosive, breakout speculative thriller in which a powerful new metal arrives on Earth in the wake of a meteor shower, triggering a massive new “gold rush” in the Midwest and turning life as we know it on its head. The first of a cycle of novels set in a shared universe.
It began with a comet. When it came into view on a close pass by Earth, people took off work, gathering on sidewalks and in parking lots to watch it burn by. One year later, Earth spun into the debris field the comet left behind. Minnesota seemed to bear the brunt of the damage: meteors annihilated barns and silos, cratered pastures and hardwood forests, tore up county highways, and evaporated one small town in an instant.
At first, it seems to be a disaster. Until the people of Minnesota notice deposits of unusual metal in the comet’s debris. Not gold, silver, copper, tin, iron or any of the noble metals, it’s a previously unknown ninth metal: omnimetal. With high-density charging capabilities and conductive properties that can change the world as an energy source, the deposit might be the best thing that ever happened to the northern section of the state, where the economy has been dying for a long time. Or it might be the worst.
It is then that the “gold rush” begins. Farmers sell their metal-rich land for millions. Comet-worshipping cults set up compounds and repeat the phrase “Metal is” as their mantra. Roughnecks flood the town, hungry for work and trouble. Prostitutes flourish. Businesses rise. Families are divided. Saudis bid against the Chinese on land grabs. Bodies lie in shallow graves. As witnessed when oil was discovered in the Bakken Formation of North Dakota, the heartland in our story goes from the middle of nowhere to the center of everything. And one family — the Frontiers — hopes to control it all.
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Benjamin Percy
Benjamin Percy has won a Whiting Writers Award, a Plimpton Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Comet Cycle
The Comet Cycle trilogy tells about the aftermath of a meteor shower that drastically alters the planet.
The Comet Cycle consists of three books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Reviews and Comments
Overall, I thought the story was decent. The story held my interest and had a good lead-in to the next book in the series. However, for the described potential of the Omnimetal, the story seemed unrealistically “local”. A couple relatively small companies fighting for mineral rights where something with so much financial and military value would be universally fought for. The characters were well described and defined, but they were not all a necessity in the story and distracted me. I would have liked to have the action scenes to be longer. It was like this nice lead up and then, “bam”, it was over. I am not sure I will continue with the series but I just might to find out if and how the story goes national and/or global.