BLINDSPACE by Jeremy Szal – Review #SciFiMonth

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Blindspace by Jeremy Szal
Series: The Common #2
Published by Gollancz on November 25 2021
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 544
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A nail-biting adventure that raises the stakes even higher, Blindspace was a solid sequel and a lot of fun.

I’ve been excited for Blindspace ever since I finished Stormblood last year, and I’m so glad I was able to squeeze this in for SciFiMonth. I’ll admit I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the first book in the series, but the elements that worked really well for me made up for some of the missteps. Jeremy Szal has created a fascinating futuristic world in which an alien drug called stormtech has taken over the satellite world of Compass and is threatening to spread to even more worlds, unless Vakov Fukasawa and his fireteam can stop it. Blindspace is full of high stakes, non-stop action, but Szal also knows when to dial things down and spend some quieter moments with his characters.

Vak is a Reaper, a bio engineered human who was injected with alien DNA in order to make him an unbeatable soldier. When the story opens, Vak and his fireteam—a group of trusted friends who have joined him in the crusade against stormtech—are gearing up to continue their battle against the Suns, a cult who is using stormtech to infiltrate every part of Compass and beyond. But something strange is happening to Vak. He’s starting to hear voices and have violent dreams, almost as if someone is getting into his head. When he realizes that his weird visions are tied to the Shenoi, the long dead alien race responsible for stormtech, Vak knows that he must shut down the Suns’ operation once and for all. But that’s easier said than done, as Vak and his crew are about to find out.

One of my favorite things about Blindspace is the way the character development and the group dynamics were handled. Szal does a great job of setting up believable conflicts between his characters, and there was a natural ebb and flow to the way the team worked together. In order to do this right, you have to start with great characters, and in this the author succeeds with flying colors. Vak is the star of the show, especially since the story is told from his first person point of view. Vak struggles daily with the stormtech that invades his body. He’s learned to control it and live with it over the years, but in this story, something strange is happening to him, and the stormtech is starting to control him. This sets up a scenario where some of the relationships with his teammates are starting to fracture. Vak can’t always control his words and actions, and in many ways he’s pushing his friends away. 

The author continues to explore the ever-changing relationship between Vak and his brother Artyom. I won’t go into their past history, because you’ll learn a lot about it if you read Stormblood, but let’s just say they’ve hurt each other in the past, but the fact that they are brothers and the only family left makes their bond unbreakable, no matter what happens. There are plenty of ups and downs between them, but I was glad to see that they are able to move past some of the bad stuff and continue to help and support each other.

Some of the characters return from the first book, including Grim, who is almost like a brother to Vak; Katherine, the mission coordinator who is the (sort of) love interest for Vak; Quilan, a level headed Torvan, Saren and Jasken. We meet a new character named Mandy who turned out to be a favorite of mine. Mandy is a kick-ass, smoking, drinking sharpshooter with a wicked sense of humor, and Juvens is a Kaiji who joins forces with Vak and his fireteam. I also loved the interactions between Quilan and Jasken, who butt heads a lot of the time, mostly because of their differences. But little by little their relationship grows into one of grudging acceptance and friendship, and I thought it was so well done.

In fact, you could say the theme of Blindspace is change. One of the strongest elements in the book is the group dynamic, and I was fascinated by how Vak and his fireteam performed together under pressure. Even with interpersonal issues on the side, they know when to put their emotions in a box, necessary because they always seem to be fighting for their lives. But between fights, there is quite a bit of nice tension among the crew. Friendships are tested, hidden truths are revealed, but eventually most—but not all—of these conflicts are smoothed over. Vak, being the leader of the group, makes some awful mistakes and pays the price, but I thought the author did a great job of resolving these conflicts in a believable way.

The story has an abundance of high stakes action scenes, fueled with testosterone as well as stormtech. Readers who prefer their science fiction action-heavy will not be disappointed. Vak and his team are never far away from the next dangerous, life threatening assignment. The bad guys are truly evil, and not everyone makes it out alive, unfortunately. And while I enjoyed a lot of these scenes, I have to admit it was a bit too much at times. Szal relentlessly abuses his poor characters, putting them in some dire situations, and while there are quiet moments scattered here and there, most of the story involves deadly conflicts between the team and their enemies. At times the story takes on a grimdark quality, with extreme violence and even torture scenes, so do be aware if that isn’t your sort of thing. What makes this grimdark so addicting, though, is how different it is from fantasy. You won’t find swords or axes here, rather Vak and his team are armed with futuristic blasters and explosives, not to mention the stormtech that’s raging through Vak’s body, which is almost a weapon itself.

Once again, Szal’s world-building is fantastic. I love the dangerous underground world of drug trafficking and the horrible ways the alien drug can be used to change a person’s body. The author goes into detailed descriptions, and for the most part I loved learning more about the world. But here’s where the story started to lose me. This book felt so long to me, and took me almost two weeks to finish. I think it could have easily been trimmed by eliminating a lot of the descriptive passages, which go on longer than they need to. I get it, there’s a lot of cool world-building to explain, but I like it better when it’s presented organically through dialog or a character’s actions.

Szal’s dialog is strong for the most part, and I especially loved the banter between characters. It added a much needed lightness to the story, which is pretty grim and serious for the most part. What didn’t always work for me were the emotional exchanges that are scattered throughout. I’m assuming he was trying to add another layer to the story or counteract all the dark moments, but honestly, a lot of this dialog comes across as sappy, and just didn’t fit in with all the violence.

But these issues aside, Blindspace was so much fun. The story ends on a nail-biter of a cliffhanger, and it’s going to be torture waiting for the next book in the series! Readers who love tech-heavy, action-packed sci-fi should definitely catch up with this series so you’ll be ready.

Big thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy.