Gloves Off!

Michael Cobley
The eye of the hawk
Gray Mare Books, 2024

This novella is very well written.
And the tagline "Independence Day with the gloves off!" is no exaggeration.

The world-building (or rather, world-destruction) is precise, concise, and believable.
It seems to me that part of the inspiration may have come from the war in Gaza -
at least, it reminds me of images from there. And as we all know: inspiration is
everywhere.

What I like most is the main character, Harun—a man of few words, tough,
yet still fragile.
I really enjoyed the plot, and the aliens are downright vicious. They make
the Independence Day aliens look like kindergarten bullies.

Now: I’d love to see the novella expanded into a full-length novel.
Why?
Because I’m incredibly curious! What happens to Harun? What’s the relationship
between the different alien species? What about their home worlds, their histories?
And what on Earth (pun intended) do they want with a planet cleansed of humans
and buildings?
(Well, I suppose they might want to build a VLTGR - Very Large Trump Golf Resort -
but what else?)

So, dear Michael Cobley: Go ahead—make my day. 🙂