Sci-Fi & Scary

Into the Black is an action-driven, fast-paced adventure taking place thousands of light years away from Earth. It features epic space battles, a terrifying enemy, and overly peaceful aliens. This is not a book where everyone gets along perfectly and is understanding of their race’s idiosyncracies. The technology is advanced, obviously, but not ridiculously so. The view of the (peaceful) aliens towards Earth’s technology keeps it anchored in believability somehow. The background for the story is basically sketched out, but not unbelievable.

If you want character development and strong relationships, Into the Black is entirely the wrong book for you. Similarly, if you’re seeking soft science ponderings about what it means to be human, you should look elsewhere. Evan Currie is writing for a very specific type of reader, and therefore this book is one you will either really like or absolutely hate. Needless to say, I really liked it.

Benjamin L. Darcie narrates the audio book version. This was my first experience with him. He did a good job giving voice to the different characters. Some of his voices sounded a bit too similar, but the major characters were easily identifiable. He injects a good amount of energy into the action scenes without overdoing it. Overall, I’m pleased with his work on Into the Black.

This was a pleasing read in many ways. I particularly liked that there were no dystopian elements. The Earth had not been destroyed. There was no desperate escape to try to colonize another planet to get away from the regime. It was a straight-up shakedown cruise of the first vessel of its kind that just happened to end up containing lots of violence. And while the end of the novel wasn’t necessarily what I had hoped for, I thought the reception was realistic. I just wish we would have seen a bit more of it. Maybe a report mock-up or something.

While I was pleased with this book, I’m not entirely sure I’ll read more of the Odyssey One series. Into the Black was a good read that definitely engaged the imagination. I’m just not invested enough in the story to spend more money on it.