#Bookreview of Doomsday Planet
By: William Burke
Publisher: Severed Press
Publication Date: July 12, 2025
ISBN: 978-1923165700
Reviewed by: Ephantus Muriuki
Review Date: August 1, 2025
Doomsday Planet by William Burke is a deliriously imaginative sci-fi action thriller that follows a grizzled lunar pilot resurrected by an alien AI to lead a ragtag army of time-plucked warriors against a galactic apocalypse. It reveals themes of identity, redemption, free will, and the enduring scars of trauma, all wrapped in a genre-mashing rollercoaster of chaos, satire, and heart.
The main character, 63-year-old Marcus Reno, a lunar shuttle pilot with a chip on his shoulder, a past haunted by guilt, and a record-breaking amount of time spent in solo spaceflight, starts off like the classic washed-up space veteran. After he dies following a mysterious alien attack, he’s brought back in a younger, stronger body by an alien intelligence named Pi to serve a higher purpose. That’s when things start to spiral in the best way. He ends up leading this band of misfits who were plucked from the brink of death across time. I didn’t expect to care so much about them, but I did, especially Reno and Olga, a Soviet pilot from World War II and one of the most memorable members of the resurrected, time-plucked army that Marcus Reno is chosen to lead. Their growth, their baggage and their grit hit me in a way that’s hard to explain.
What really impressed me was how William Burke juggles tone. One minute you’re laughing at a training-room fight between a Viking and a Soviet pilot, the next you’re wading through a terrifying psychic assault or watching a media mogul lose his grip on reality thanks to a whispering alien artifact. The story is part psychological horror, part military sci-fi, part mythic dream sequence and yet, it flows seamlessly.
I started reading this book expecting something gritty and grounded (and it definitely starts that way), but by the end I was cheering on a crew of alien-fighting Vikings, a Soviet pilot, and a reborn astronaut in a battle for the soul of the universe. That escalation was so wild and so unexpected that I kept pausing just to say, “Did that really just happen?” And yet, somehow, it never felt like too much. It is sharp and punchy but not afraid to pause and breathe. Burke has a knack for making even the most surreal settings feel tangible. The lunar scenes are cold and sterile, but later we’re in these glowing alien caves and myth-soaked ruins that feel like something out of a dream. I was constantly surprised, and I loved that about it. Reno’s arc, especially his guilt, his inner torment and his slow rediscovery of self-worth caught me off guard. I loved how he wasn't just trying to save the world, but earnestly trying to figure out if someone like him deserved to be saved at all.
Quill says: If you’re looking for tight realism or hard science rules, this may not be your choice, but if you’re open to something strange, heartfelt, funny, and just a little insane, Doomsday Planet by William Burke might be the quirky gem you didn’t know you needed. It’s a book that starts with lunar cargo drops and ends in a cave full of cultists and ancient cosmic whispers. Somehow, you will find yourself right there believing every second of it.
For more information about Doomsday Planet, please visit the author's website at: williamburkeauthor.com
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