Customer Reviews

Dark Space: The Sentients of Orion Book 1

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This is the kind of book you just can't put down once you start it! The story opens with a sort of drunken idiot of a pilot discovering an entity that for all practical purposes might as well be God. That entity wants to communicate with us, but there are some problems. Several parallel stories run throughout the book, and are at some point, I imagine, all going to come together. Probably in book 2 or 3 of what is clearly going to be a series (oh joy!!).

The first parallel story is the one that held me the most. Mira is a young woman just graduating. She has inherited the "pilot gene" and will soon merge with the "biozoon" of a star ship. But she is a woman, and the society believes only men should have this talent. The plan is to somehow remove this genetic capability from her and give it to the heir to the throne. She escapes, returning to her home city, just as an apparently pointless invasion of dreadful creatures begins. We follow her as her story drifts in and out of the other main stories.

The second parallel story is of the young heir who was to receive her talent. This was not something he wanted. Actually, in many ways, he is the most interesting character. He appears to be a total jerk, but sometimes, in his heart, you can see something better.

The third parallel story involves some people who are "in training" to communicate with the God. Apparently, the God gives them tasks that they must achieve.

Finally, we also follow the original idiot who discovered the entity. He will probably be the key to the whole thing, but who knows? Because this book is so good, it both satisfies and leaves you panting for more!!

I really enjoyed the Marianne de Pierres' Parrish Plessis novels and so expected to enjoy "Dark Space"...and I did!

It's multi layered, gritty, realistic and being a trilogy you know there is more to come after you put it down, which is excellent news.

I won't try and describe the plot, you can divine that from the dust jacket, but will say this is medium-tech sci-fi with the spice of space opera intrigue and lashings of well fleshed characters. One of which, Mia Fedor, can be a touch frustrating as she sometimes curls into a ball and tries to ignore her world crashing down around her, but those moments are nice counterpoints to her privilged upbringing living a life less than ordinary. Plus, it's not US-centric in the way much sci-fi is, but adopts the POV of an Italian hierarchy seriously downstream from our present time.

Altogether good solid fun with fast pacing that does not make the mistake of assuming that enough action can paper over poorly written characters.

The first time I ever heard of Marianne De Pierres was when I picked up this totally bad-ass looking book called Nylon Angel. It was a kind of cyperpunk/sci-fi/urban fantasy mix. I guess that's why she's considered a speculative fiction writer. After reading Nylon Angel, I searched high and low for the other two of the series (Parrish Plessis series) Code Noir, and Crash Deluxe. Hell of a trilogy. One I kept thinking about long after reading.

After reading works from two separate series, and taking a peek at a third of her series (Sharp Shooter under the name Marianne Delacourt) I feel like any book by Marianne De Pierres I pick up is going to be well written, with numerous interesting characters, a variety of character "voices", good dialogue and excellent narration. The book will be interesting with twists, suspense and a sense of ...well being there.

Dark Space is about a three separate people whose lives cross paths; it's also about a entity called Sole, for a lack of any other name. It seems there was this space traveler/partier - kind of a lazy boy who likes to keep his mind rather altered (haha, likes to get high) and on one of this "explorations" comes across this entity - who either saves him or put him in danger in the first place. This entity has no real body, and the result of this discovery is that beings from other planets consider him/she/it a godlike being. This entity - Sole, likes to explore other minds and to do this has convinced people to set up a place to collect beings who want the priviledge of being mind-explored....not always a pleasant experience, and one that leaves them altered, in a way.

The other half of this story is about Tekton, Mira and Trinder. Tekton's story doesn't quite run concurrently with Mira and Trinder's. Tekton is one of those who've been picked to be explored by Sole. There he comes into contact with JoJo, the one who "discovered" Sole. Tekton is not a very nice being, rather he is rude, priviledged, snobby, and feels entitled. He's also in competition with his cousing to create. His task, given to him Sole, is to create or explain Beauty to Sole. This leads to ....problems. Explaining would be spoilers. During his stay at this learning/exploration point Tekton comes into contact with others who are there for the same thing - to be explored by Sole, and to in turn, explore Sole. It's doubtful who's getting the best of the situation...

Mira and Trin are from another section of the universe. Both are attending a type of university for flying spaceships - among other subjects. Their families are among some that have migrated from one planet to others, in order to live life as they choose- only they bring with them some very oppressive beliefs that have been handed down throughout the generations. Trinder's family is the ruling family, very priviledged and totally in charge. They own a few mining planets and are filthy rich. Trinder has grown up not knowing even how to dress himself. He's never had to do anything for himself at all. Despite this, he is attending school and is next in line for the Principality.

Mira's family is connected to Trinder's and she is the first female in a very, very long time to inherit the ability to communicate telepathically with the biozooms - a type of sentient space ship. The pilots all need to be able to communicate with these certain ships. Only the ship in question belongs to Trinder's family. Mira's story opens with Trinder's father betraying her by commanding her ability to be gene-spliced from her and given to Trinder. Which would eventually drive her mad. In a panic, she runs away, to her aunt's home...

What follows, is Trinder being banished from his father's presence and punished by being put to "work", even though he's not skilled at ANYTHING. Mira's aunt's planet ends up being invaded by these beings that annihilate humans....Mira and Trin's paths intersect again....

The novel is full of twists and turns. There is action, danger, escape and more danger. Betrayals and acts of bravery. Suffering and small moments of contentment. It is an epic space opera with a bit of a cliff hanger ending.....

I want to read the next book in this series. Chaos Space. I know I've mashed up this "review" but that's what I do. I read a book, "talk" a bit about it, write what I like about it, and I have no idea how to analyse a book. I just read and enjoy, or put it aside. This book is a keeper, and I would recommend it to Science Fiction lovers.

De Pierre creates an interesting universe as a backdrop for the stylized telling of a multi-threaded tale of betrayal and upheaval. The spaceborne god, mentioned in other reviews, plays the most minor of roles, being a largely offstage motivator of aspiring godheads whose competition seems to be the cause of all our characters' troubles. The god is evident to the reader most often in chapter-heading snippets of his inner musings that seem to be lifted from Tolkien's Gollum, letting us know that that he has a hidden agenda (surprise!).

The two primary players in the book are a pair of top level aristocrats, the son of the big cheese who runs the hereditary monarchy, and a lesser noblewoman, possessed of a genetic ability to control the bio-constructs (AIs?) who are the personalities of interstellar spacecraft. She hits the bricks after graduation to avoid having her piloting ability surgically transferred to the boss's son, and winds up in the desert mining area of the planet.

Suddenly, an artillery barrage from nowhere reduces her family's desert holdings to rubble and weaponless, carnivorous, aliens (imported marine life forms improbably altered to be desert fighters) pop out of apparently randomly located subterranean eggs. From this point Dark Space is largely the story of the displaced population of the desert mines pursued across the hostile landscape. The planetary prince does some obligatory growing up, conspiracies are uncovered in part, and the interactions of the god-chosen are explored.

The book does generate some sense of wonder at the world-view of the characters and their technical/cultural setting. Italian words scattered in the English dialog are confusing, but the overriding fault in the book is its temporal twisting, ala Iain M. Banks, but far less expertly executed.

The two aristos graduate together. The male begins a substantial career in the planetary police and appears to pass an extended period before reuniting with the female protagonist, who has had only a few days' worth of adventure since graduation. Again, in the middle of the story, we are present for the playback of a recording of a secret negotiation some time in the past. In the last quarter of the book we are suddenly present for the actual conversation. The time distortion is distracting and seems an artifice to make the story seem deeper and more complex.

Dark Space isn't uninteresting, but it has shortcomings that distract from the stream of the story.

A mining planet mission from G0d?


This book sets up a series, and is initially told from the point of view of several characters, not all of whom intersect as yet (shades of Peter F. Hamilton without the spider killing size).

Based on an Italian descended mining planet (yes, rest assured, in the far future you will still be able to get your tortellini fix).

1) One female aristocrat with the genes for ship piloting.

2) One male aristocrat heir-in-waiting to running the place, in the doghouse, but his dad wants him to take the abilities of 1) above.

In space

3) One wastrel party boy who made money from finding a big scary space entity, and

4) One avatar priest of a big scary space entity.

The situation on the planet goes to hell as outside interests move in, for some reason, using dumb but tough alien shock troops. There are hints of conspiracies on the planet, mostly involving the distaff, of which there may be more than one faction. This includes an aunt of 2) dealing with 4).

Very obviously a continuing story.