Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Themes
Synopsis
On a planet shrouded in darkness, a stranded crew must fight for survival. But, the darkness may have plans of its own in this wildly original story from Adrian Tchaikovsky, Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke Award–winning author of Children of Time. They looked into the darkness and the darkness looked back . . . New planets are fair game to asset strippers and interplanetary opportunists – and a commercial mission to a distant star system discovers a moon that is pitch black, but alive with radio activity. Its high-gravity, high-pressure, zero-oxygen environment is anathema to human life, but ripe for exploitation. They named it Shroud. Under no circumstances should a human end up on Shroud’s inhospitable surface. Except a catastrophic accident sees Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne doing just that. Forced to stage an emergency landing, in a small, barely adequate vehicle, they are unable to contact their ship and are running out of time. What follows is a gruelling journey across land, sea and air. During this time, Juna and Mai begin to understand Shroud’s dominant species. It also begins to understand them . . .
Tags
Is Shroud appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 13 and up.
A survival thriller on an alien world with moderate peril and life-threatening situations. Contains sci-fi violence related to survival struggles and environmental hazards, but no sexual content or strong language.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, no sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include captivity, death, and survival peril.
Publisher ages reflect reading level; our rating reflects content maturity — they can differ.
Who'll love this
Teens who love hard science fiction and alien planet survival stories will enjoy this tense race-against-time adventure with intriguing first contact elements.