Better than expected

The opening made me a little pessimistic about this book. Everything felt more than a little forced but it cleaned itself up after awhile and I was able to start enjoying the story. Fun little read for those that liked The Expanse. ( )

very satisfying space opera. Fast moving and clearly written. There was no guessing what was going on. No aliens here just humans who have expanded into space. Written in third person from 3 or so different members of the crew of the Keiko a merchant ship which operates a bit on the shady side. The crew is made of diverse people each with a different skill set and no questions asked. Super fun and looks like the first of a series. ( )

this was an alright space caper. very much like firefly, almost a little too much. also the characters were just shy if being fully formed. perhaps if there was a few less, it'd have given the others more depth. all that said I liked it well enough, and would give it 3.5 stars if I could ( )

It's fairly rare when I bother to do written reviews of books. I like them or don't like them to varying degrees and don't feel like it's important to tell people why I like them. That and I don't much like having to analyze a book I read for enjoyment because it wrecks it for me sometimes.

This book, I wanted to do at least a little something for. I don't think it's had enough praise personally.

There are a lot of people that compare this to Firefly*. It does have some of the things I valued most about Firefly such as the interplay of characters. You'll find a similar layout. A Captain that's got a past and a mostly stable moral compass...maybe it wobbles a little, sometimes. A strong female first mate or whatever you'd deem her, an amazing pilot, a talented engineer, and a mercenary. There are also characters that aren't exactly dups of the crew. Such as the tech wizard (I know sort of River, but not) and the gentle giant (sort of like Shepherd Book, but not). We have the tropes in other words.

Having said that, let me pause for a moment in this review (if you don't want to read my rant skip one paragraph). Some reviewers I have seen seem to think it's a sin or in some way degrading to note tropes in authors writing. Why? Tropes are an easy way for us puny humans to understand the world around us. They help writers build stable stories. The problem with tropes is when they are over used or too predictable. When EVERY $#%& @$*% *$#@ &%$# time you turn on the TV or open a book you find yourself SO UNGODLY BORED with the entire %$ing universe because you already know how the book or show ends within 5 minutes of watching or 10 pages of reading. Some people prefer this and that's fine, for them. For me, I need to be kept guessing. It's one thing to have a framework so you know, to move into the construction world for a moment, this building is going to be a rectangle and have 3 floors. However, If I open a book and already know, for the sake of the example, that there are going to be 3 bathrooms, 2 hot tubs, 65 windows, 35 doors, 6 different carpets coming in blue, green, turquoise, violet, puce and yellow (swatches with paint samples for each room available to the left). The siding will be an off blue and the shingles will be gray and slightly concave...then I don't really need to take your tour do I?

Anyway, review back on. I loved the interplay Mr. Brooks built into the characters. The silent histories he was able to fold in and expand upon as needed. For to my understanding a virtually new author to build such a beautiful interplay is amazing. I'm sure editing, alpha and beta readers will have had something to do with it, but you can do all the editing and rereading you want, but if the writer doesn't have what's needed in him or her to pull that information in and push it out better, then there really is no point and no help for it.

This is NOT a Firefly dup or knock off as I have seen sometimes, but I'd say it has a neighboring soul. I don't do the best reviews because I don't do them often, as noted at the beginning of this whole huge thing. The best I can say is if you haven't tried this book, you should. If you're good at reviews, do it. It's worth it, in my opinion.





* For those who aren't quite as much of a geek as me, Firefly was an American Space Western Drama series that ran from 2002-2003 on Fox written and directed by Joss Whedon. You may have a better idea of the world if you saw the 2005 film adaptation Serenity. ( )

How do you describe "Dark Run"....it was like an episode of Firefly, but where the science wasn't all goofy (sorry, Browncoats, but what the hell, all of the habitable planets are in the same...solar system....? That's not even space fantasy, that's just crap)(I cannot believe I just took this time to rant on Firefly, a show I actually love).

But Dark Run - it's that. Firefly, better science, lots of quick action packed into a tiny space. Be careful with the analogy, though, because you'll find yourself typecasting characters from one to the other, and then you'll just have conflicts on how to feel. ( )