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Into The Black (2012)

by Evan C. Currie(Favorite Author)

4.02 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Science Fiction

publisher

47north

series

Odyssey One

review 1: Into the Black Odyssey One by Evan Currie. This is a classic military science fiction story. It is heavy on the military and light on the science. It faithfully follows all of the cliché of the genre. It is the story of Earth’s first space ship capable of instantaneous interstellar travel. Like other recently published military science fiction series such as Ian Banks Star Carrier series and Mark Kloos’s Frontline's series, Earth is politically divided and has just survived a recent non nuclear war. Unlike the two previously mentioned series this aspect of the story is given short shrift . It is used as a reason to arm the ship, theoretically tasked for exploration and research, with every conceivable weapons system and special operations operator and super pilot in ... morethe North American Alliance. In retrospect this turns out to be a fortunate design feature. As soon as the Odyssey leaves the solar system it and her crew find itself caught in the middle of an interstellar war. The rest of the book focuses on one battle after another. The good aliens look human and are inexperienced in the ways of war. The bad aliens look like insects and have unbeatable weapons and tactics. A riff off of Star Ship Troopers. It is no surprise given the genre that the bad aliens can’t beat the Odyssey. If Captain Kirk and the Enterprise had been as well armed it would not had gotten its butt kicked regularly by the Klingons. The elements that make military science a fun read are the descriptions of the battles, the description of the weapon systems and how the writer is able to raise the immediate stakes for characters and long term stakes for the solar systems or alliances involved. On this score Currie gets a passing grade. The battles are well written, the weapon systems are believable, and although the outcome was never in doubt Currie was able to keep tension high. This book is the first book in a four part series. I will read them as they become available in my library. I don’t think they will be good enough to buy/
review 2: I hate starting a book and the putting it aside. I mean, there had to have been good reviews of it in the first place, or else I wouldn't have picked it up. But when I read a sci-fi novel, it needs to hit certain baseline criteria. I'll suspend disbelief for one or two things, but don't ask me to suspend disbelief simultaneously for (I) improbable technology, (II) suspension of the laws of physics, (II) suspension of relativistic theory, (IV) suspension of modern geopolitical concerns, (V) suspension of military protocols, (VI) suspension of naval command, control and tactics, (VII) suspension of spec-ops roles and behavior, AND (VIII) suspension of plain common sense. There are bones of a decent novel here, but our redoubtable author needs to find a strong-handed editor and be a lot more rigorous. less

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Reviews (see all)

Ali

not loving this so far. just...not so great. only one major female character (so far, about halfway into the books, no two female characters talk to each other, so nowhere near passing the Bechdel test), which isn't a problem in and of itself, but may be a symptom of the author's limited creativity in the area of imagining people. Lots of boring predictable uninspired dialogue, and unbelievable decision-making and behavior. Nothing awful (I've encountered worse) but enough to make me groan often. I'll probably listen to the whole book anyway; I bought it, I'm not suffering too badly, and it's easy listening while going to bed.--Finally gave up, a little less than half way through. Just couldn't.

devilslayer72

It did take me a while to get into this (80 pages or so) but one I did get into it I really enjoyed it. I feel like this book was as much about military action as space and sic fi (which isn't a problem for me). The action scenes were really well written, probably some of the best action scenes I've ever read. While most of the technology used worked well and seemed believable (as part of the Odyssey universe) I feel like it could have cut down on some of the technology jargon in places.The plot itself was interesting and a lot more complex then I would expect from a first time self published author. It really did surpass my expectations and I'll be reading the next book soon.

muiz

Good military sci fi, Plenty of action and good storyline.

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