OR

Print List Price:	£9.99
Kindle Price:	£3.25 Save £6.74 (67%)
Sold by:	Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.

Promotions apply when you purchase

Add Audible narration to your purchase for just £3.49

Read with our free app

You've subscribed to ! We will pre-order your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships and Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

Jo Zebedee

Follow

Inish Carraig: An alien invasion novel Kindle Edition

by Jo Zebedee (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 120 ratings

See all formats and editions

Belfast, post-alien invasion. Humanity lost, and the locals aren't happy.

In a broken-down Belfast, John Dray works as a runner for the local hard man to support his younger siblings. When he's given a package to disperse over Belfast, he unleashes a chain of events that lead him to Inish Carraig, a fearsome alien prison. Once there, he uncovers a new threat, one that could destroy what remains of humanity. He has to unveil it. Which means, he has to get out, first. 'There is an inventiveness to Zebedee's writing - the very different forms of alien, the technology including a kind of living metal that can hold people in suffocating imprisonment like flies trapped on flypaper.' T O Munro

'blessed with an entirely novel storyline'

'An exceptional novel. The pace is incredible with hard hitting characters and a powerful plot.' Sffchronicles.com

'Onto my pile of best novels of the year.' JLDobias, author of the Cripple Mode series.

'Dark, gritty and exciting to the last page'

'A lot of fun to read'

'sets itself apart'

Print length

234 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

21 Aug. 2015
Reading age

14 - 18 years
Grade level

8 - 12
File size

1575 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

Report an issue with this product

Jo Zebedee
9
Kindle Edition
£3.99

Product description

About the Author

Jo writes science fiction and fantasy, either on the streets of her native Northern Ireland, or in her Space Opera world of Abendau.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B012782E0G
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1575 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 234 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 869,344 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 531 in Teen & Young Adult Aliens Sci-Fi eBooks
- 1,473 in Teen & Young Adult Dystopian Sci-Fi eBooks
- 2,445 in Teen & Young Adult Horror eBooks

Customer reviews:
4.5 120 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Jo Zebedee

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

'Zebedee writes rollicking adventure stories in the traditional sci-fi mode, but with a flair that few others can match. The dramatic stakes in her work are usually derived from the characters’ personal relationships: her Inheritance trilogy follows the freedom-fighter Kare as he leads an uprising against a galactic empire ruled over by his own mother, while the hero of her alien invasion/prison break novel Inish Carraig is a young man forced into a life of crime to protect his younger sisters and brother. Zebedee’s work is ideal for scratching that high-octane space-opera itch.'

(https://www.theguardian.com/books/218/dec/19/top-10-irish-science-fiction-authors)

An Amazon bestseller in Space Opera and Alien Invasion, I write stories set in my space opera world of Abendau or on the streets of my native Northern Ireland.

My website can be found on www.jozebedee.com, with links to my blog and updates. You can even follow my newsletter from there, for my annual update. (If you're lucky, and I'm organised). I'm also on twitter @jozebwrites.

Free short story: Belfast Burning (an introduction to Inish Carraig) can be found here: http://jozebwrites.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/hunted.html

Customer reviews

120 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Customers say

Customers find the book great, fun, and satisfying. They describe the storyline as intriguing, imaginative, and full of suspense. Readers also praise the characters as well-realized and portrayed in a way that really captures them. They praise the writing quality as extremely well-written, easy to read, and natural.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more

Readability Storyline Character development Writing quality Pacing

16 customers mention ‘Readability’16 positive0 negative

Customers find the book great, fun, and inventive. They say it's satisfying and well-written.

"...This is epic work, and highly recommended." Read more

"...This book is a lot of fun to read. The characters are well realised and portrayed in a way that really captures the character of N. Ireland...." Read more

"...So overall an enjoyable and inventive read, easily consumed with a plot strong enough to carry the reader along - though probably not one to subject..." Read more

"...Satisfying and extremely well-written, this will appeal to a wide range of audiences.Highly recommended." Read more

16 customers mention ‘Storyline’16 positive0 negative

Customers find the storyline intriguing, imaginative, and full of suspense. They describe the book as a cracking and original science fiction thriller. Readers also mention the opening scenes are breathtaking in their scope and imagination.

"...The opening scenes are breathtaking in their scope and imagination, and have a very cinematic feel to them, merging post-apocalyptica with police..." Read more

"...This may seem like an unlikely combination of genres, but the imaginative storytelling and deliciously written prose of Jo Zebedee brings this..." Read more

"...So for anyone who likes books full of suspense, intrigue, weird situations and strong characters - buy it...." Read more

"...overall an enjoyable and inventive read, easily consumed with a plot strong enough to carry the reader along - though probably not one to subject to..." Read more

11 customers mention ‘Character development’11 positive0 negative

Customers find the characters well-realized and interesting.

"...All in all, I definitely enjoyed Inish Carraig. It featured characters who were well developed and felt like real people, and a setting that..." Read more

"...but they may hold their own sinister agenda...The characters were excellent and engaging, and I found myself really rooting for the adolescent..." Read more

"...who likes books full of suspense, intrigue, weird situations and strong characters - buy it...." Read more

"...fact in a post apocalyptic setting with formed cultures and fleshed out characters, relationships between races etc which was well written from the..." Read more

6 customers mention ‘Writing quality’6 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing quality satisfying, easy to read, and natural. They also say the dialogue is authentic.

"...The writing is crisp and clear, and it fairly cracks along at a good old lick...." Read more

"...combination of genres, but the imaginative storytelling and deliciously written prose of Jo Zebedee brings this scenario to life...." Read more

"...Inish Carraig is a quick and easy read despite these bumps in the road, and a definite indication that Jo Zebedee is a name to watch for in SF over..." Read more

"...Satisfying and extremely well-written, this will appeal to a wide range of audiences.Highly recommended." Read more

5 customers mention ‘Pacing’5 positive0 negative

Customers find the pacing of the book fast and intriguing. They also describe it as a gritty and original alien adventure story.

"...The plot was so fast paced and intriguing that I was able to read the whole book in just a couple of days - I'm usually a slow reader but..." Read more

"...Gritty and fast-paced, this is a difficult book to put down...." Read more

"...are well written and believable, the plot well-conceived, the pace just right...." Read more

"...This book is a fast paced page turner that was difficult to put down. Definitely worth a read even if sci-fi isn't your usual genre." Read more

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from United Kingdom

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Cadogan

An epic re-imagining of a Troubled place

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 August 2016

Verified Purchase

Inish Carraig

The first thing that grabs you about IC is the cover. It's a portrait of a bleak and blasted land where ravens swarm in search of carrion. It's only when you take a second look at the image that you spot the foreboding shadow of the alien craft hovering almost off-shot. And that's a canny illustration of the book: the aliens are there, in all their malevolent, totalitarian grandeur, but the story isn't really about them. It's about the resilience of the human actors forced to deal with the aftermath of this alien invasion. More than that, it's about the resilience of Belfast itself, and that's where the real heart of the themes lie.

This Belfast (Zebedee is a resident of that place) is familiar, but broken, as though the shadows of its past have been wrought again in different shapes and sizes. Our hero is John, a teenage vagrant who once played for the local rugby team but now feasts on cat and thieves and steals to help him and his sister survive. When he takes a job on for local head case and general all-round nasty piece of work McDowell, he gets himself nabbed by the police and is eventually sent to Inish Carraig, a Kafkaesque labyrinthine offshore prison that rehabilitates / punishes its inmates using s ghoulish variety of mental and physical torture.

As ever, Zebedee's greatest strength is in her characters. They feel all-but real to the touch, and we experience the hope, loss, rage, despair and terror they do as they try to piece together the puzzle connecting Inish Carraig and the trilateral political wranglings of the invasion.

The opening scenes are breathtaking in their scope and imagination, and have a very cinematic feel to them, merging post-apocalyptica with police procedural and family drama to create a unique blend of characters and conflicts, and I got the distinct impression that this would translate very well to a screen of some size.

If there's a criticism it's that the ending may be a tad telegraphed. If you're writing a prison drama there's really only one way to go with the climax... but having said that, it's handled deftly and it's very, very exciting. The writing is crisp and clear, and it fairly cracks along at a good old lick. Indeed, you should get through this in a day or two at most, and yet it feels substantial. Important, even.

This is Zebedee's second book but feels like her first real big attempt to stretch her wings in terms of theme and ambition. It's a great achievement, and no surprise that it bagged a recommendation for a Hugo nomination. This is epic work, and highly recommended.

Helpful

Sam Poots

This book is a lot of fun to read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 October 2017

Verified Purchase

Just this second finished reading Inish Carraig by Jo Zebedee, and I had to quickly rattle out my thoughts on it.

Set in N. Ireland after an alien invasion, Inish Carraig follows John Dray, a teenager in the ruins of Belfast. After unwittingly releasing a virus that nearly wipes out one of the invading alien races, John is found guilty of xenocide and sentenced to jail at Inish Carraig, an alien-run prison on what was once Rathlin Island. However, all is not as it seems at the prison and John must try to survive and get word to the outside world of the truth behind the virus.

This book is a lot of fun to read. The characters are well realised and portrayed in a way that really captures the character of N. Ireland. As a N. Irish native myself (despite an English accent so posh I constantly sound like I'm asking for a cup of tea), it is really cool to see this little country, with its fascinating cultural character, get some attention that is outside of its turbulent history. While Zebedee does a great job at world building and presenting us with the mechanics of a post-invasion Earth as a whole, the novel never loses track of its local perspective.

Where the novel truly shines is in its depictions of post-war life. This is something we rarely see in scifi. In movies and other books, we tend to only see the invasion itself and if the post-invasion period is addressed at all, then it is only to show how it allowed human technology to advance. This is not the case in Inish Carraig. Everything feels very real, so that while we see the diplomacy of an Earth suddenly finding itself part of a galactic community, we also see the struggle for daily survival on the streets of Belfast. These moments in particular feel like they could belong to almost anywhere that has seen conflict, and adds a level of reality to everything the characters face.

The aliens and the relationship between the novel's three races is also well done, particularly the Zelo, the initial invaders of Earth. Zebedee starts off presenting them as little more than the invaders, to be hated accordingly, but does a good job at building a certain level of depth and complexity to them, while still keeping them alien, something best reflected by the attitude of the policeman Carter, probably my favourite character within the story.

However, as with any book, there are some issues. The main one I found was the pacing. This is especially jarring early on, where it seems large time jumps occur between chapters, with little chance for the reader to catch up. Meanwhile the time in the titular prison felt disappointingly short. I would have liked more time experiencing the alien prison life, rather than the two or three days it feels like we get, although this may be more due to the fact that I came to this novel expecting something like Shawshank Redemption with aliens.

There are a number of other points which the novel tends to skim over. The bots are a particular point of contention for me. Without giving much away, they prove to be vital to the story, but I find it difficult to believe that, in a place with as high level security as we are led to believe Inish Carraig has, they wouldn't have been checked more closely. The ending also gave me slight flashes of Lord of the Flies. The second alien race, and the one which the story spends the most time with of the two, also feel sadly underdeveloped, starting off with a good deal of intrigue surrounding them, before becoming a little cartoonish at points, although they do have a real threatening feel to them and the scene where Sean is given a lift home by one and his family's subsequent escape was particularly tense without devolving to action movie cliches.

All in all, I definitely enjoyed Inish Carraig. It featured characters who were well developed and felt like real people, and a setting that presented a fresh and original take on a rather tired scifi trope.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Mark Lynch

A cracking and original SciFi thriller...Well worth a read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 July 2016

Verified Purchase

Northern Ireland and Alien Invasion...together at last! This may seem like an unlikely combination of genres, but the imaginative storytelling and deliciously written prose of Jo Zebedee brings this scenario to life. The story begins in a post-apocalyptic Belfast which has been devastated by a merciless alien invasion and brutal occupation. The author describes this world in great detail - from the near starving and half feral children of the abandoned inner city estates, to the morally conflicted police officer who is forced to collaborate with the alien occupiers - these are the plot elements which make the story so believable. The plot takes an unexpected turn early on when a second alien race enters the fold. The newcomers initially appear to be saviours, but they may hold their own sinister agenda...The characters were excellent and engaging, and I found myself really rooting for the adolescent protagonists. The plot was so fast paced and intriguing that I was able to read the whole book in just a couple of days - I'm usually a slow reader but (if you excuse the cliché) I couldn't put this book down! As a final point, I believe the author struck the perfect balance between the Northern Irish setting and the science fiction plot. All in all, this was a great novel which I would recommend without hesitation.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

JLD

A well told and tightly plotted story that maintains a solid feel that lasts right to the very end.

Reviewed in the United States on 1 September 2015

Verified Purchase

Inish Carraig by Jo Zebedee

There are so many things that are good, about this novel, that it's difficult to say which one might have pushed it over the top and onto my pile of best novels for the year 2015. I've read the author’s first novel, Abendau's Heir, and I would recommend that when you finish this novel you should check it out if you haven't already read it. Abendau's Heir showcases the authors style of writing which might be described as fifty shades of dark. She likes to start things out in grey areas and slowly drip the characters through darkness until they reach some of the darkest places. But in this novel I think she proved that she could balance that and since Abendau's Heir is the beginning of a series it bodes well that she will eventually balance the scale in that story also. All of that considered: what she does better than dark; is her delving into consequences. Her characters are not the sterling white knights that you see in some novels. And the stories she tells start with those consequences and lead the reader and the characters down a path toward whatever redemption is possible. It’s a long and winding path filled with dark moments and things are rarely easy and often gruesome.

In Inish Carraig John and Taz are survivors, but just barely; and they are scratching the bottom just to keep the remainder of their families alive. Aliens have devastated the earth, despite our technology the Zelotyr did not recognize humans as sentient and they began a systematic extermination of the vermin, because they needed the Earth as a replacement for their own dying world. When they finally recognized the error, they reversed course and began working toward coexistence. Still many humans did not gracefully accept this coexistence or the fact that the aliens still held superior power and authority over Earth. There is the GC, Galactic Council and its members which include the Barath'na who seem to be in some type of cold war with the Zelotyr. And on the night we get acquainted with John and Taz, they are completing a task for McDowell; a man who has always been the lowest of low who commands the dark streets they hide among. After going to high ground, the two begin to release what almost appears to be ashes into the wind and that begins their descent into a convoluted scheme that starts with the Xenocide of those Zelotyr on Earth.

John and Taz are quickly caught and easily linked to the outbreak that is killing the Zelotyr. As the few remaining Zelotyr abandon earth the Galactic Council, and specifically the Barath'na, move in to investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice. John and Taz begin the trials that will show them the consequences of the actions they took and even though through ignorance they know they will face the consequence; but Taz is now sick because he was foolish enough to test the 'ash' (out of bravado and ignorance) before they released it. To make things worse, others who have been involved with spreading the virus are turning up dead and that doesn't bode well for John and Taz's future. John and Taz could help fill in the spaces and connect the dots; but they have family that they are certain McDowell will harm if they talk; so they walk that thin line allowing them to be convicted of the crime they committed in ignorance.

There is a far greater and more insidious plot below all of this that will put the human race at risk; as the only people who might be able to put things together are slowly and systematically removed from the playing field. As the responsibility slowly devolves upon John and Taz until they discern that they may be the Earths only hope, they are uncertain that they are up to the task especially when they've been handed over to the somewhat enigmatic Barath'na who have vowed to bring justice against the perpetrators.

This novel varies in its style of writing from Abendau's Heir and I suppose that might be something to do with editors and editing. And though there were some few glitches that suggest the possibility of author tinkering post-edit; they were not enough to distract from the intensity of the story. The pacing is somewhat less intense as regards the delving into darker areas, but is well paced overall to make this a rapid and satisfying read throughout. It's a well told and tightly plotted story that maintains a solid feel that lasts right to the very end.

Lovers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Suspense and Mystery should enjoy this one. And though the science is almost taking a back seat, it maintains a consistency necessary to carry the reader through. The story takes place in and around Belfast and contains some elements of colloquial speech that I found helped the story along and rarely demanded I stop to look things up, because the context usually clarified the meaning.

Read and enjoy.

J.L. Dobias

3 people found this helpful

Eric W Deakin

This book will see awards and screenplay.

Reviewed in Australia on 22 August 2016

Verified Purchase

This novel would stand alone in its treatment of the oppressed and poor, in otherwise prosperous nations, torn by conflicts. Here the local oppressors are replaced by a rather desperate but moral alien race only to be tricked by yet another alien race into collusion in replacing them. The plot revolves and the action and pace are rapid. It is one of those few books today that I read in one sitting. Excellent work well presented. Eric W. Deakin.

ACFlory

excellent sci-fi with some unexpected twists

Reviewed in the United States on 7 May 2017

Verified Purchase

In most sci-fi war stories, humans always come out on top. In Inish Carraig the story beginis /after/ the humans have already lost. That twist on a familiar scenario allows the story to explore both the humanity of the losers - i.e. us - and the alienness of the winners. It also allows the author to come up with some really interesting tech. I found the fluid metal walls of the human prison/detention centre really fascinating, and some of the most thrilling scenes take place when one of the protagonists is caught inside a wall of the stuff...as it hardens.

The most interesting part of the story, however, is the inhumanity of many of the surviving humans. When the world falls apart, not all of the villains are alien.

Kerry

Edge of the Seat Reading

Reviewed in Australia on 21 November 2015

Verified Purchase

I was captured by the suspense of this book, from its first page, in which a boy struggles to take care of his siblings, to the last, in which -- no, read it for yourself.

This is a story of a city besieged by dark forces, of war and of alien invasion. But it's more than that; it's a story of love and survival.

I highly recommend the book for readers of any age who enjoy original, well-written fiction.

E.P. Clark

Riveting Dystopian SF

Reviewed in the United States on 27 March 2016

Verified Purchase

Wow! One of the most riveting books I've read in a while! In a near-future post-apocalyptic Northern Ireland (already a bit of a post-apocalyptic place in real life), teenage orphan John Dray agrees to run an errand for a local ganglord in exchange for food--only to discover after the fact that the errand was to release a viral bomb that takes out the entire population of the Zelotyr, aliens who have invaded and conquered Earth to escape their own, overheating planet. It seems that John is a hero...or a genocidal terrorist...in any case, he ends up in a special prison run by the Barath'na, the OTHER, supposedly good, aliens who have an interest in Earth. Only things aren't quite as they seems...

All the main characters are fully realized and sympathetic, and the action moves along quickly, keeping the tension level high--I could barely stand to put the book down! There are a number of parallels between the plot and real events, some of which are made explicit (Stormont is mentioned; John worries that his orange prison garb is supposed to mark him as a Protestant), and some of which are left implicit--e.g., global warming, the choice between collaboration with the invading force or rebellion and terrorism. These serve to enhance the richness of the story and ground it in historical details that make the characters' moral struggles more real: both/neither are good choices, depending on circumstances, and all have consequences for the characters.

My main complaint about the book was that there wasn't a huge amount of detail about the aliens: we only sort of know what the Zelotyr look like, and there are a few suggestive details about them, such as that they apparently feed off of human sewage, but there is no explanation of why, since surely they had no access to it on their home planet. However, these are minor quibbles; overall, this is an exciting, tightly plotted addition to the genre of dystopian SF, and well worth reading.

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	AbeBooks Books, art & collectables	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Veeqo Shipping Software Inventory Management

Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services	Audible Download Audiobooks	Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	Amazon Home Services Experienced pros Happiness Guarantee

IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Amazon Resale Great Deals on Quality Used Products

	Amazon Business Service for business customers

Select your cookie preferences

Buy for others

Buying and sending Kindle Books to others

Image Unavailable

Follow the author

Inish Carraig: An alien invasion novel Kindle Edition

Customers who viewed this item also viewed