The Surface Trials by HM Waugh

Title: The Surface Trials

Author: HM Waugh

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 29^th April 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 336

Price: $18.99

Synopsis: An epic page-turner full of twists you won’t see coming, set on an alien planet where, under the watch of a galaxy-wide TV audience, Ammy Antares and her fellow competitors must complete a challenging quest to gain entry into an elite interplanetary academy.

Three days, three clues, one hungry planet.
Constant surveillance.
The entire universe watching every move.
Some will shatter. Most will fail.
A select few will make it through, instant celebrities.

Welcome to the Surface Trials. The only way into Starquest Academy.

For Amethyst Antares, Starquest Academy offers an escape from the prison of her home planet. For Rian – the uber-famous and expertly disguised heir to the universe’s two greatest dynasties – failure to get into his own academy is not an option. And Deneb? Well, he’s an outlier…

But this year not everything goes to plan, and Amethyst and her squad find themselves playing for more than Starquest admission. To survive, they’ll have to outsmart carnivorous creatures, share dangerous secrets, maintain trust and embrace the most shocking truth in the galaxy.

Set on a fascinating yet hostile alien planet, this pulse-pounding, high-stakes, elimination-quest novel will have readers on the edge of their seats.

~*~

Amethyst Antares is from Proxima, and has one chance to get off her home planet, and away from the prison she and everyone are in. The Surface Trials are her chance to get in Starquest Academy – a prestigious galaxy-wide academy. It’s the only way for anyone to get in, though there are certain expectations that anyone from the two greatest dynasties of the universe will get in. Everyone is put into a squad – including Rian, who is the heir of the dynasties, disguised to keep things seemingly fair. Ammy, Rian, and Deneb, an outlier are in a squad with Rox, Urs and Tayga, all seeking a spot at the academy on an unexplored planet.

Yet, the planet is filled with threats, and there’s much more going on than a test to get into the academy. In the fiftieth trials, nothing is going to plan at all. Whether it’s carnivorous plants, dangerous secrets coming out, and learning about teamwork on a hostile alien planet. Ammy is determined to gain everyone’s trust, but also get through the trials, and Tayga and Rox do not wat her around at all. What they don’t know is that those who have the power over everyone in the galaxy have covered things up. And in a world where everyone has secrets, working out who to trust and what to trust is half the battle.

The Surface Trials is a fabulous new science fiction novel that explores a fractured world where one truth is told to everyone else, and others are told something else – or not told at all. It reflects a world that is embroiled in keeping secrets and the forces wanting to maintain the status quo. For Ammy, her life on Proxima has been vastly different to everyone else. They all know what happens to the Mindbreakers, and nobody trusts anyone from Proxima, but the reasons why are muddled, or at least shrouded in secrets that Rian’s dynasties have encouraged everyone to believe. Ammy feels she has to work to earn their trust, and learns that trust can be reciprocal, that there will be people who listen to her and her experiences despite what they have been told.

The problem is that everyone is out to win. They all want the same thing, but a glitch in whatever systems controlling the planet and the landers and how they are being assessed. The squad is forced to work together to get to the meeting point once one of them is near-fatally wounded, and whilst the tension is lowered between everyone, there is a constant sense of unease throughout the novel. It means that Ammy’s journey is complex, one where she is forced to negotiate how she feels, how she is gaining allies, and something on the planet that triggers something within her she was unaware about – something that very few people in her squad are willing to believe her about.

The story is filled with the ebbs and flows of teamwork, and how we learn about people. Forcing the characters into an isolated, dangerous environment creates the tension, as does the three-day timeline to get to the end – and with all the twists and turns in this novel, as a reader, I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. It never is, and that’s what makes it work so well. It doesn’t shy away from the complexities of secrets and the ways propaganda shapes how we see the world, and what we understand about other people. The Surface Trials explores this aspect of our lives, and uses it to prove that what we are taught is not always true. That there are nuances and layers to many things. Sometimes these things are best explored in science fiction, fantasy, or even historical fiction. It can be separate but not too separate from the world we live in whilst still reflecting a reality that we know exists.

I think lovers of science fiction will enjoy this book, and as someone who does not read a lot of science fiction, it’s a really nice introduction to the genre. Not too heavy or technical at all. It gets things in a nice balance to appeal to all readers who like adventure stories or who want to try science fiction without being overwhelmed by too much of the technical aspects of the genre. And the way it ended made me wonder if it is part of a duology or series, so it will be interesting to see if it is. But it also works as a standalone, and this is what makes it a great book to read when trying out this genre, and it fits in nicely with other books HM Waugh has written over the years as well.