Sunday, 21 August 2016

Into the Black (Odyssey One, #1): Evan C. Currie review

Into the Black (Odyssey One, #1)

Rating: 4 Star (space opera)

Into the Black is the first in a series of books set aboard the NAC Starship Odyssey.

As a big Star Trek and Star Wars fan, I was really keen to see what Evan Currie's take on a future universe would be.




The Odyssey is a brand new ship, with a brand new captain, new crew, and other associated untested and untried fixtures and fittings. Their starting mission is a simple 'round the block' exercise, designed to help test the ship's capabilities and crew.

However, Captain Eric Weston, a former fighter pilot from the 'Angels' squadron, is keen to see what his new ship can do and they soon find themselves in an uncharted area of space dealing with an aggressive new alien species.

Things rapidly ramp up once Weston and crew come across a lone survivor from an alien attack and within a few chapters this newly formed crew find themselves in the middle of an alien war.

In terms of reviewing this book there are really 2 approaches you could take.

The Logical Hat

If you like your science fiction to be based on current scientific fact then it's very likely this book will drive you crazy. Also, if you like your military strategy to stay on form then you may struggle with the general plot of an untried, untested ship getting into some of the adventures that Currie brings to life.

The 'Space Opera' Hat

The alternative approach to worrying about whether the science or tactics in 'Into The Black' stack up is to just read it and enjoy the ride.

I started reading this book whilst being too logical about it but soon switched into space opera mode. Once there, I really enjoyed it.

The plot has plenty of large-action scale battles, the mixed of old and new technologies on board the Odyssey work really work well, and whilst the characters are not developed too deeply, they interact well together and they left me wanting to follow their progress over the next few instalments. A lot of reviewers have commented on the grammar/punctuation of this book, but the version I read had been cleaned up so that wasn't an issue at all.

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