Dark Space

Dark Space: Humanity is Defeated, by Jasper T. Scott (2014)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

Back in college, I might've said, "Wow, I wish I could write like this." Now that I'm much older, I read this and think, "Dame! I'm glad I don't write like this."

It's not good.

The cover says "over 200,000 copies sold". Well, I downloaded mine for free (legally), and it makes me wonder how many of those 200,000 copies were free downloads. This popped up in BookBub, or some mailing list. I've downloaded too many free ebooks that weren't very good, so I checked on the reviews. There were over 5000 ratings of them and mostly 4 and 5 star. I guess those can be purchased, or found through mailing lists. The actual reviews are less pleasant.

The book opens with Ethan in the middle of a space fight. Not much of a picture is painted, and what little information that is given is sprinkled with technobabble, but not the usual technobabble. It's brand new technobabble. Now, normally, I wouldn't repeat myself so much, but this book does, and quite often. It seriously needs an editor.

The prologue reads like Battlestar: Galactica fanfic, right down to using "frek" instead of "frak". The first paragraph should've served as a warning at how bad it would be, but before the first page ended, I was reading about the "continuous stream of pulse lasers". I know what was meant, and normally I could forgive that phrasing, but I was already on notice. And, frankly, any of another half dozen words or so wouldn't have made me bat an eye. Maybe I'm splitting hairs about "continuous stream of pulse lasers", but it's indicative of the rest of the writing.

After the prologue battle with the ISS fighters is completed, Chapter 1 starts "Two Days Earlier". Never a good sign. Worse, Ethan isn't even a fighter pilot yet. Just a cargo pilot who is an ex-con, and the lady with him isn't the Gina he was worried about in the prologue.

Okay, so how did he get from here to there in two days. Yes, I stayed with this (unlike a recent book) to see where it was going. I didn't want to give up on two out of three books at 10%.

I made to almost 50% before I was satisfied that it wasn't going anywhere that was worth the ride.

Ethan owes a loan shark money for his ship. Selling his ship won't even pay of the debt. So he decides to join the ISS where the crook can't touch him, but he gets abducted before that can happen. Next, Ethan is forced to impersonate a dead ISS soldier who the bad guy had killed, so he can carry out some hare-brained mission. He had a special holo disguise and a vocal disguise to match. But he blunders through things in ways that anyone would immediately see that something was wrong. Particularly if they touched him and pierced the holo disguise.

Was there a story there. Possibly. Not worth going through.

DO NOT BUY THE SIX BOOK SERIES. Some people think if there's six books, it must be a good series. Nope.

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