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Sentients of Orion #1
Dark Space
On the arid mining planet of Araldis, Baronessa Mira Fedor finds herself on the run from the authorities, her life in tatters and her future stolen. Araldis itself buckles under the onslaught of a ruthlessly executed invasion. None of this is coincidence. The more Mira discovers about her planet's elite and the forces arrayed against them, the more things seem to point to a single guiding intelligence. Nothing that has happened to her or her world is an accident. But the intrigue is only beginning, as Mira must fight for her very own survival, or embrace the dark space that threatens to consume her.
435 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2006
28 people are currently reading
787 people want to read
About the author
Marianne de Pierres
37 books488 followersMarianne de Pierres is the award winning author of the acclaimed Parrish Plessis, Sentients of Orion and Peacemaker science fiction series.
Marianne is an active supporter of genre fiction and has mentored many writers. She lives in Brisbane, Australia. Her Night Creatures series, Burn Bright, Angel Arias and Shine Light has been very popular among young adult fiction readers.
Marianne is also the Davitt award-winning author of the Tara Sharp humourous crime series under the pseudonym Marianne Delacourt.
Visit her websites at:
www.mariannedepierres.com
www.mariannedepierresbooksforchildren...
www.burnbright.com.au
www.glitterrose.wordpress.com
www.sentientsoforion.com
www.colonelthorn.home.blog
Marianne is an active supporter of genre fiction and has mentored many writers. She lives in Brisbane, Australia. Her Night Creatures series, Burn Bright, Angel Arias and Shine Light has been very popular among young adult fiction readers.
Marianne is also the Davitt award-winning author of the Tara Sharp humourous crime series under the pseudonym Marianne Delacourt.
Visit her websites at:
www.mariannedepierres.com
www.mariannedepierresbooksforchildren...
www.burnbright.com.au
www.glitterrose.wordpress.com
www.sentientsoforion.com
www.colonelthorn.home.blog
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
October 30, 2011
Scifi survivalist flick meets Crash. Dark Space by Marianne de Pierres engages the reader on so many levels: multiple viewpoints, nonlinear narrative, mysteries, moral dilemmas, brutality, racism, sexism.
Any sort of synopsis will give away too much. Know that I was never bored, possibly because every scene moved the narrative forward and the dialogue to exposition ratio was high. Pierres expects her readers to glean cues from context. She borrows Italian words, invents futuristic by-words, and we start assimilating the worlds of Araldis and Beau-Monde immediately. Readers may stumble in the beginning, but the scifi jargon's either intuitive or negligible for the more important moral questions in the novel.
Space reads part "social scifi," part character-driven narrative. We see themes of interconnectedness, one degree separating characters and actions coming back to bite them. Pierres' characterizations and approach to narrative smack of realism, where she reveals with uncomfortable honesty the self-serving or cowardly inner workings of her protagonists. She goes to some dark places.
Pierres also delivers succinct, elegant prose and nice world-building.
However, Space is clearly a book unfinished, since we're left with little to nothing resolved. I'm guessing this was written as a trilogy. Anyway, I don't want to give away any more, skip the zombies, this is survival done right- scifi survival! Check it out!
PS. There are technically "relationships," some brief non-explicit scenes and allusions, but there's nothing romantic about it.
PPS. Shannon, I kept saying Dead Space instead of Dark Space. Thanks. LOL.
Any sort of synopsis will give away too much. Know that I was never bored, possibly because every scene moved the narrative forward and the dialogue to exposition ratio was high. Pierres expects her readers to glean cues from context. She borrows Italian words, invents futuristic by-words, and we start assimilating the worlds of Araldis and Beau-Monde immediately. Readers may stumble in the beginning, but the scifi jargon's either intuitive or negligible for the more important moral questions in the novel.
Space reads part "social scifi," part character-driven narrative. We see themes of interconnectedness, one degree separating characters and actions coming back to bite them. Pierres' characterizations and approach to narrative smack of realism, where she reveals with uncomfortable honesty the self-serving or cowardly inner workings of her protagonists. She goes to some dark places.
Pierres also delivers succinct, elegant prose and nice world-building.
However, Space is clearly a book unfinished, since we're left with little to nothing resolved. I'm guessing this was written as a trilogy. Anyway, I don't want to give away any more, skip the zombies, this is survival done right- scifi survival! Check it out!
PS. There are technically "relationships," some brief non-explicit scenes and allusions, but there's nothing romantic about it.
PPS. Shannon, I kept saying Dead Space instead of Dark Space. Thanks. LOL.
December 25, 2021
This was a pretty good sci-fi / space opera novel, very definitely a #1 in a series, as it has no actual ending, it had a few elements that did not quite gel for me. The world building was it's best feature; pretty extravagant, complex and with many plot lines all set in Orion, apparently.
We have three threads (kind of, I think...) we have an alien called Sole that was discovered by a kind of space hobo called Jo-Jo which is then referred to as god (I never quite followed this, it is clearly an alien where does the god stuff come from?!?). A whole heap of people want to meet this alien which a syndicate has the monopoly on and you need some kind of brain adjustment to get to it. A nasty piece of work from another, more traditionally bipedal, alien species called Tekton is the protagonist here.
There are lots of random little creative verse\poems\misc scattered through the book, apparently by Sole, mostly about 'little creatures' (presumably humans/aliens rather than the fermented beverage) and none of them seems to contribute to the narrative, nor make any kind of sense, so after a while I stopped reading them.
The main portion of the story is set on a small world that was settled by a single aristocratic family and their Pilots with a capitol P. Now here the story was good and pretty strong. We learn about the world through the character of Mira Fedor, she is a Baronessa at the main university/ Studium and is a hereditary Pilot. The Pilot has a gene that allows them to form a link with the biozoon of the ship, and so fly it but no Pilot has ever been female before.
This planet, Araldis is an incredibly inhospitable, arid planet which only really has mining to sustain it. It was bought, settled and is now ruled by a single family, Cipriano, of Latino aristo pretensions and has a pretty fascinating future bio tech basis which is never over expalained, in a way that I thought was usually pretty good. The planet, which has a large and interesting medley of people, castes and alien species has an incredibly stratified, monumentally patriarchal and hierarchical structure and Mira and her family, despite being Pilots, are at the bottom of the aristo heap.
I very much enjoyed the world building. It will not be for everyone though; the language has a LOT of Latin (Italian?) based pidgin/creole type slang. The theory seems to be that the Latinos have evolved their own style of local speech and I liked that, it gave the social world building a strongly individualistic flavour. However the trade-off was that it did mean that I was sometimes hazy on what was actually being said and was not always sure if things I was reading were the local Latino or alien stuff. There are a lot of aliens, which I liked.
Now the plot kicks off when Mira, instead of being declared Pilot First at her graduation as she was expecting, has the honour go to the heir of the "Principe", Trin. This process means stealing Mira's genes in a way certain to drive her insane, so she runs away. Bad stuff happens to both Mira and the planet, with an invasion occurring and her and Trin (who is a pretty foul piece of work) both survive the invasion in different ways. It is pretty interesting reading, though often bits of it did not hold together for me.
Inconsistency is almost a cornerstone of this author's writing, for me at least. There are always times where the plot seems to lose cohesion, or where I don't understand what the narrative is trying to do, or where the character choices seem batshite crazy. It is not un-fun, if I can just go with the flow, but it is far from perfect writing, I feel like the author knows what she is doing, and has plotted it all out in her head so that if I could ask her 'But WHY...?' she would probably know, and could probably explain. but I don't know and often have to shrug things off. There are always wtf moments for me, all the ones in this book are spoilers.
Now the ending.
What ending.
There was less ending on page 416 than there was for most of the chapters. I really think that if a reader makes it through 416 pages, they are morally owed an ending of some kind, not just an imperative to buy the next book. It is a common tactic these days but it is one full star off for that alone. After the chaotic (though intriguing) world building; the aliens, the biozoons, the unexplained tech/bio links... After the messy (though fun) plot; with people fleeing back and forth and odd things that are never explained happening... After the characters; who are mostly, lets admit it, far from admirable and rarely competent.... After all that surely a tiny story arc ending was not too much to ask?
We have three threads (kind of, I think...) we have an alien called Sole that was discovered by a kind of space hobo called Jo-Jo which is then referred to as god (I never quite followed this, it is clearly an alien where does the god stuff come from?!?). A whole heap of people want to meet this alien which a syndicate has the monopoly on and you need some kind of brain adjustment to get to it. A nasty piece of work from another, more traditionally bipedal, alien species called Tekton is the protagonist here.
There are lots of random little creative verse\poems\misc scattered through the book, apparently by Sole, mostly about 'little creatures' (presumably humans/aliens rather than the fermented beverage) and none of them seems to contribute to the narrative, nor make any kind of sense, so after a while I stopped reading them.
The main portion of the story is set on a small world that was settled by a single aristocratic family and their Pilots with a capitol P. Now here the story was good and pretty strong. We learn about the world through the character of Mira Fedor, she is a Baronessa at the main university/ Studium and is a hereditary Pilot. The Pilot has a gene that allows them to form a link with the biozoon of the ship, and so fly it but no Pilot has ever been female before.
This planet, Araldis is an incredibly inhospitable, arid planet which only really has mining to sustain it. It was bought, settled and is now ruled by a single family, Cipriano, of Latino aristo pretensions and has a pretty fascinating future bio tech basis which is never over expalained, in a way that I thought was usually pretty good. The planet, which has a large and interesting medley of people, castes and alien species has an incredibly stratified, monumentally patriarchal and hierarchical structure and Mira and her family, despite being Pilots, are at the bottom of the aristo heap.
I very much enjoyed the world building. It will not be for everyone though; the language has a LOT of Latin (Italian?) based pidgin/creole type slang. The theory seems to be that the Latinos have evolved their own style of local speech and I liked that, it gave the social world building a strongly individualistic flavour. However the trade-off was that it did mean that I was sometimes hazy on what was actually being said and was not always sure if things I was reading were the local Latino or alien stuff. There are a lot of aliens, which I liked.
Now the plot kicks off when Mira, instead of being declared Pilot First at her graduation as she was expecting, has the honour go to the heir of the "Principe", Trin. This process means stealing Mira's genes in a way certain to drive her insane, so she runs away. Bad stuff happens to both Mira and the planet, with an invasion occurring and her and Trin (who is a pretty foul piece of work) both survive the invasion in different ways. It is pretty interesting reading, though often bits of it did not hold together for me.
Inconsistency is almost a cornerstone of this author's writing, for me at least. There are always times where the plot seems to lose cohesion, or where I don't understand what the narrative is trying to do, or where the character choices seem batshite crazy. It is not un-fun, if I can just go with the flow, but it is far from perfect writing, I feel like the author knows what she is doing, and has plotted it all out in her head so that if I could ask her 'But WHY...?' she would probably know, and could probably explain. but I don't know and often have to shrug things off. There are always wtf moments for me, all the ones in this book are spoilers.
Now the ending.
What ending.
There was less ending on page 416 than there was for most of the chapters. I really think that if a reader makes it through 416 pages, they are morally owed an ending of some kind, not just an imperative to buy the next book. It is a common tactic these days but it is one full star off for that alone. After the chaotic (though intriguing) world building; the aliens, the biozoons, the unexplained tech/bio links... After the messy (though fun) plot; with people fleeing back and forth and odd things that are never explained happening... After the characters; who are mostly, lets admit it, far from admirable and rarely competent.... After all that surely a tiny story arc ending was not too much to ask?
August 18, 2014
This book forms part of my contribution to the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2014.
When I began reading this book, I wondered if I'd like it, because it wasn't what I'd expected. It did get off to a slow start for me, but after a little while reading, I became intrigued by the characters and the story, and looked for any opportunity to continue to read further into the story.
The book is written from several perspectives, and slowly and steadily the separate story lines converge. The major characters are all quite complex, and not necessarily completely human, or at least as human as we'd like them to be which adds to the detail within the story. It does mean that the reader needs to pay close attention to what they're reading, or they miss important clues to what's going on.
Initially the Italian words used throughout the story were slightly confusing but after a while they grated less, and formed a background of ethnicity to the story that added to its authenticity. Marianne de Pierres has created an interesting interstellar society with a multitude of societies and social stratas.
For other readers, this is not simple space opera, but science fiction novel that spans multiple cultures, plots inside plots, and quite a wide cast of characters.
The story finishes on a note that makes it very obvious that it's only the beginning of the series, and I can't imagine that the story finishes in only one more book. I'll be intrigued to read the next one and see where Marianne de Pierres takes this story.
When I began reading this book, I wondered if I'd like it, because it wasn't what I'd expected. It did get off to a slow start for me, but after a little while reading, I became intrigued by the characters and the story, and looked for any opportunity to continue to read further into the story.
The book is written from several perspectives, and slowly and steadily the separate story lines converge. The major characters are all quite complex, and not necessarily completely human, or at least as human as we'd like them to be which adds to the detail within the story. It does mean that the reader needs to pay close attention to what they're reading, or they miss important clues to what's going on.
Initially the Italian words used throughout the story were slightly confusing but after a while they grated less, and formed a background of ethnicity to the story that added to its authenticity. Marianne de Pierres has created an interesting interstellar society with a multitude of societies and social stratas.
For other readers, this is not simple space opera, but science fiction novel that spans multiple cultures, plots inside plots, and quite a wide cast of characters.
The story finishes on a note that makes it very obvious that it's only the beginning of the series, and I can't imagine that the story finishes in only one more book. I'll be intrigued to read the next one and see where Marianne de Pierres takes this story.
July 21, 2012
To start with I haven't finished the book. I was only able to make it a third of the way through before I simply couldn't pick it up anymore. This is one of the most awful things that I have ever attempted to read.
The story at the start is a high class girl has a gene to fly some sort of biological space ship, but since she is not male it would be (I guess) extracted from her and given to some one else. She said it might, or maybe will, turn her mad and runs away. The person she wants to give it to is not interested in it and has twists with some chubby twins he doesn't like. Then another story line is some one who will meet an alien intelligence and thinks the polite way of saying hello involves getting nude.
It simply doesn't describe anything the author is talking about. I got through the first third and simply had a vague clue what was going on in the story, which was bizarre but not entirely new. The details of the world were big holes where she uses the objects name, and never states any reference to what it is. It is hard to imagine a world that has no framework for what is being woven.
The language in it is terrible, like some one translated the book from Dutch but only knows German. Wrong tenses are used in describing the same scene, sentences where the word order doesn't make sense, and she adds words together with hyphens to seem more edgy (or something). Any sense of subtly is lost in the techno-babble, trying to figure out what parts mean that are worded badly, and lack of description of the world.
I can over look some scientific difficulties, but even at the start she just makes things up. Right off the bat she seems to think that the belt of Orion is this cluster of neighboring stars, when they are just three stars that are hundreds of light years away from each other. They just look like neighbors from Earth, which is basic cosmology. They are also closer to the galactic core then Earth which would make meeting an entity that exists in solely in deep space less likely.
This books only good use is a source of heat if you are freezing to death and have nothing else to burn. I can't believe anyone published this book and thought they could make money. They could of at least proofread it to make it less painful.
The story at the start is a high class girl has a gene to fly some sort of biological space ship, but since she is not male it would be (I guess) extracted from her and given to some one else. She said it might, or maybe will, turn her mad and runs away. The person she wants to give it to is not interested in it and has twists with some chubby twins he doesn't like. Then another story line is some one who will meet an alien intelligence and thinks the polite way of saying hello involves getting nude.
It simply doesn't describe anything the author is talking about. I got through the first third and simply had a vague clue what was going on in the story, which was bizarre but not entirely new. The details of the world were big holes where she uses the objects name, and never states any reference to what it is. It is hard to imagine a world that has no framework for what is being woven.
The language in it is terrible, like some one translated the book from Dutch but only knows German. Wrong tenses are used in describing the same scene, sentences where the word order doesn't make sense, and she adds words together with hyphens to seem more edgy (or something). Any sense of subtly is lost in the techno-babble, trying to figure out what parts mean that are worded badly, and lack of description of the world.
I can over look some scientific difficulties, but even at the start she just makes things up. Right off the bat she seems to think that the belt of Orion is this cluster of neighboring stars, when they are just three stars that are hundreds of light years away from each other. They just look like neighbors from Earth, which is basic cosmology. They are also closer to the galactic core then Earth which would make meeting an entity that exists in solely in deep space less likely.
This books only good use is a source of heat if you are freezing to death and have nothing else to burn. I can't believe anyone published this book and thought they could make money. They could of at least proofread it to make it less painful.
June 10, 2011
I was blown away by this book. Great Space Opera, with amazing multi-dimensional characters, and description so vivid you actually feel like you're in the midst of the story. I've read this book twice!
October 7, 2015
Well this was a bunch of boring writing. Also, basically no science fiction. Why did I even put this on my to-read list? I'm baffled. Gave up after 100 pages.
November 25, 2016
I'm not a person to quickly give up on a book, but this disaster of a book managed to get me to abandon it half way.
First of all, the writing style is just atrocious. Every sentence is its own paragraph. I'm not sure if that's intentional, but it does make the book difficult to read. Grammatically, it's an incoherent mess that is in need of some serious copy editing.
Then there's the overall feeling that the author watched a few episodes of Star Trek and decided that that was all there is to science fiction. There's a lot of technobabble, with a lot of renamed concepts (can we please call cars just cars in stead of 'TerV'?!). In and out of itself that's not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it's backed up by a coherent backstory and at least a cursory understanding of real-life physics on the part of the author. Unfortunately, that's not the case here. It doesn't help that none of the characters is likeable, or even interesting.
A backstory of Italian-speaking aristocrats in a quasi-feudal system in the far-flung future could have been interesting. But the way this book is written makes that goal simply impossible.
First of all, the writing style is just atrocious. Every sentence is its own paragraph. I'm not sure if that's intentional, but it does make the book difficult to read. Grammatically, it's an incoherent mess that is in need of some serious copy editing.
Then there's the overall feeling that the author watched a few episodes of Star Trek and decided that that was all there is to science fiction. There's a lot of technobabble, with a lot of renamed concepts (can we please call cars just cars in stead of 'TerV'?!). In and out of itself that's not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it's backed up by a coherent backstory and at least a cursory understanding of real-life physics on the part of the author. Unfortunately, that's not the case here. It doesn't help that none of the characters is likeable, or even interesting.
A backstory of Italian-speaking aristocrats in a quasi-feudal system in the far-flung future could have been interesting. But the way this book is written makes that goal simply impossible.
October 3, 2017
This was just utter complete garbage, and that's sad to say for a sci-fi book. This author way of writing is atrocious that you spend your time trying to decipher the image in your head.
Going to warn anyone, do not pick up this book. Just run. And I found it in the library bookshop for 50 cents, I have the urge to go back and demand my money. Don't pay anything if this book isn't given to you for free. Even then, just use the book as a coaster.
Going to warn anyone, do not pick up this book. Just run. And I found it in the library bookshop for 50 cents, I have the urge to go back and demand my money. Don't pay anything if this book isn't given to you for free. Even then, just use the book as a coaster.
March 18, 2013
Starts off a little like one of the good Science-Fiction novels, and then gets even better as de Pierres adds her interesting and engaging characters into the mix. Once you start, you're hooked, and you're on a ride with four of the best (and award-winning) novels around! A wonderful four-act story, very engaging.
I read these after the Ixion trilogy and was surprised to see some elements from that trilogy in this series (I can't say without spoiling one story or the other).
Plenty of room to continue the story -- or stories within the world -- in lots of directions.
I look forward to more.
This writer will always have one of the best spots on my bookshelf.
I read these after the Ixion trilogy and was surprised to see some elements from that trilogy in this series (I can't say without spoiling one story or the other).
Plenty of room to continue the story -- or stories within the world -- in lots of directions.
I look forward to more.
This writer will always have one of the best spots on my bookshelf.
March 24, 2011
The first time I ever heard of Marianne De Pierres was when I picked up this totally bad-ass looking book called Nylon Angel. It was a kind of cyperpunk/sci-fi/urban fantasy mix. I guess that's why she's considered a speculative fiction writer. After reading Nylon Angel, I searched high and low for the other two of the series (Parrish Plessis series) Code Noir, and Crash Deluxe. Hell of a trilogy. One I kept thinking about long after reading.
After reading works from two separate series, and taking a peek at a third of her series (Sharp Shooter under the name Marianne Delacourt) I feel like any book by Marianne De Pierres I pick up is going to be well written, with numerous interesting characters, a variety of character "voices", good dialogue and excellent narration. The book will be interesting with twists, suspense and a sense of ...well being there.
Dark Space is about a three separate people whose lives cross paths; it's also about a entity called Sole, for a lack of any other name. It seems there was this space traveler/partier - kind of a lazy boy who likes to keep his mind rather altered (haha, likes to get high) and on one of this "explorations" comes across this entity - who either saves him or put him in danger in the first place. This entity has no real body, and the result of this discovery is that beings from other planets consider him/she/it a godlike being. This entity - Sole, likes to explore other minds and to do this has convinced people to set up a place to collect beings who want the priviledge of being mind-explored....not always a pleasant experience, and one that leaves them altered, in a way.
The other half of this story is about Tekton, Mira and Trinder. Tekton's story doesn't quite run concurrently with Mira and Trinder's. Tekton is one of those who've been picked to be explored by Sole. There he comes into contact with JoJo, the one who "discovered" Sole. Tekton is not a very nice being, rather he is rude, priviledged, snobby, and feels entitled. He's also in competition with his cousing to create. His task, given to him Sole, is to create or explain Beauty to Sole. This leads to ....problems. Explaining would be spoilers. During his stay at this learning/exploration point Tekton comes into contact with others who are there for the same thing - to be explored by Sole, and to in turn, explore Sole. It's doubtful who's getting the best of the situation...
Mira and Trin are from another section of the universe. Both are attending a type of university for flying spaceships - among other subjects. Their families are among some that have migrated from one planet to others, in order to live life as they choose- only they bring with them some very oppressive beliefs that have been handed down throughout the generations. Trinder's family is the ruling family, very priviledged and totally in charge. They own a few mining planets and are filthy rich. Trinder has grown up not knowing even how to dress himself. He's never had to do anything for himself at all. Despite this, he is attending school and is next in line for the Principality.
Mira's family is connected to Trinder's and she is the first female in a very, very long time to inherit the ability to communicate telepathically with the biozooms - a type of sentient space ship. The pilots all need to be able to communicate with these certain ships. Only the ship in question belongs to Trinder's family. Mira's story opens with Trinder's father betraying her by commanding her ability to be gene-spliced from her and given to Trinder. Which would eventually drive her mad. In a panic, she runs away, to her aunt's home...
What follows, is Trinder being banished from his father's presence and punished by being put to "work", even though he's not skilled at ANYTHING. Mira's aunt's planet ends up being invaded by these beings that annihilate humans....Mira and Trin's paths intersect again....
The novel is full of twists and turns. There is action, danger, escape and more danger. Betrayals and acts of bravery. Suffering and small moments of contentment. It is an epic space opera with a bit of a cliff hanger ending.....
I want to read the next book in this series. Chaos Space. I know I've mashed up this "review" but that's what I do. I read a book, "talk" a bit about it, write what I like about it, and I have no idea how to analyse a book. I just read and enjoy, or put it aside. This book is a keeper, and I would recommend it to Science Fiction lovers.
After reading works from two separate series, and taking a peek at a third of her series (Sharp Shooter under the name Marianne Delacourt) I feel like any book by Marianne De Pierres I pick up is going to be well written, with numerous interesting characters, a variety of character "voices", good dialogue and excellent narration. The book will be interesting with twists, suspense and a sense of ...well being there.
Dark Space is about a three separate people whose lives cross paths; it's also about a entity called Sole, for a lack of any other name. It seems there was this space traveler/partier - kind of a lazy boy who likes to keep his mind rather altered (haha, likes to get high) and on one of this "explorations" comes across this entity - who either saves him or put him in danger in the first place. This entity has no real body, and the result of this discovery is that beings from other planets consider him/she/it a godlike being. This entity - Sole, likes to explore other minds and to do this has convinced people to set up a place to collect beings who want the priviledge of being mind-explored....not always a pleasant experience, and one that leaves them altered, in a way.
The other half of this story is about Tekton, Mira and Trinder. Tekton's story doesn't quite run concurrently with Mira and Trinder's. Tekton is one of those who've been picked to be explored by Sole. There he comes into contact with JoJo, the one who "discovered" Sole. Tekton is not a very nice being, rather he is rude, priviledged, snobby, and feels entitled. He's also in competition with his cousing to create. His task, given to him Sole, is to create or explain Beauty to Sole. This leads to ....problems. Explaining would be spoilers. During his stay at this learning/exploration point Tekton comes into contact with others who are there for the same thing - to be explored by Sole, and to in turn, explore Sole. It's doubtful who's getting the best of the situation...
Mira and Trin are from another section of the universe. Both are attending a type of university for flying spaceships - among other subjects. Their families are among some that have migrated from one planet to others, in order to live life as they choose- only they bring with them some very oppressive beliefs that have been handed down throughout the generations. Trinder's family is the ruling family, very priviledged and totally in charge. They own a few mining planets and are filthy rich. Trinder has grown up not knowing even how to dress himself. He's never had to do anything for himself at all. Despite this, he is attending school and is next in line for the Principality.
Mira's family is connected to Trinder's and she is the first female in a very, very long time to inherit the ability to communicate telepathically with the biozooms - a type of sentient space ship. The pilots all need to be able to communicate with these certain ships. Only the ship in question belongs to Trinder's family. Mira's story opens with Trinder's father betraying her by commanding her ability to be gene-spliced from her and given to Trinder. Which would eventually drive her mad. In a panic, she runs away, to her aunt's home...
What follows, is Trinder being banished from his father's presence and punished by being put to "work", even though he's not skilled at ANYTHING. Mira's aunt's planet ends up being invaded by these beings that annihilate humans....Mira and Trin's paths intersect again....
The novel is full of twists and turns. There is action, danger, escape and more danger. Betrayals and acts of bravery. Suffering and small moments of contentment. It is an epic space opera with a bit of a cliff hanger ending.....
I want to read the next book in this series. Chaos Space. I know I've mashed up this "review" but that's what I do. I read a book, "talk" a bit about it, write what I like about it, and I have no idea how to analyse a book. I just read and enjoy, or put it aside. This book is a keeper, and I would recommend it to Science Fiction lovers.
July 27, 2019
This was my first sci-fi written by a woman and it was kinda refreshing. Didn’t know it had sequels so got kind of confused at the last pages, but checked and I will order the others.
The story itself was focussed a lot on culture and how women perceive it (rape, looks (fat or thin)). I almost felt ashamed as a male how simple we sometimes are, as I thought it was spot on, when you strip away the more human layers. At first the story progressed fast and I thought it would be one of those storries which you couldn’t read with a simulated movie in your head, but after the first few pages, the rest seems more visual than only made with words.
Would give it a 3.5, so 4 it is. I Still think about the characters after closing the book, and that normally is a good sign :)
I am also in Italy on a holiday, reading this, so “Sono di parte” 😏
The story itself was focussed a lot on culture and how women perceive it (rape, looks (fat or thin)). I almost felt ashamed as a male how simple we sometimes are, as I thought it was spot on, when you strip away the more human layers. At first the story progressed fast and I thought it would be one of those storries which you couldn’t read with a simulated movie in your head, but after the first few pages, the rest seems more visual than only made with words.
Would give it a 3.5, so 4 it is. I Still think about the characters after closing the book, and that normally is a good sign :)
I am also in Italy on a holiday, reading this, so “Sono di parte” 😏
May 27, 2012
Do not expect Sci-Fi here.
Beyond the setpiece draping of 'generic space future', this is a romance novel seemingly aimed at young-adult demographic (whatever that actually is).
The chapters, events, characters all seem and read as if they were transcripts of a south-american telenovella.
The prose is somewhat stunted as well, throwing yet more curveballs at the reading experience.
If you want to read character-driven Sci-Fi.. Well, no, this is not worth it. If you want to read a romance novel.. Idk. Check out the twilight series, I guess, at least they are popular. As it stands, the only redeemable factor of this book is the cover art. ..Yeah. It really is that bad.
Beyond the setpiece draping of 'generic space future', this is a romance novel seemingly aimed at young-adult demographic (whatever that actually is).
The chapters, events, characters all seem and read as if they were transcripts of a south-american telenovella.
The prose is somewhat stunted as well, throwing yet more curveballs at the reading experience.
If you want to read character-driven Sci-Fi.. Well, no, this is not worth it. If you want to read a romance novel.. Idk. Check out the twilight series, I guess, at least they are popular. As it stands, the only redeemable factor of this book is the cover art. ..Yeah. It really is that bad.
February 4, 2011
So having received Transformation Space for christmas (its a tradition - all the Marianne de Pierres books i have were presents from hubby :-)) I have been putting off reading it. Why? Because I wanted to do it right, and go back and start the whole series again so it is fresh in my mind. I've read each one the instant they came out, and its so easy to lose the connections, to remember the history and relations of all the characters. So the great re-read begins today.
Will I get through the first three before we hop on the plane for our family holiday on Sunday? Probably :-)
Will I get through the first three before we hop on the plane for our family holiday on Sunday? Probably :-)
December 23, 2014
One of the best space operas I've read in a while; combines the sense of adventure and big-picture plotting I look for in my SF with confident and original world-building and interesting characters. I've already started on the next one in the series.
November 5, 2014
Fuck Trin
April 22, 2017
This is one I could not finish. That is probably more my fault than the author's.
October 3, 2018
3.5 stars. Quite an interesting read. Great characters, interesting and it had me guessing quite a bit at what was happening. My only complaint is that through most of the book, I felt as if I should have 'known' what every word meant. I didn't find things explained well enough and given that I am not that equipped with the Italian language, I got confused a little. Though, of what I did understand, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
April 22, 2020
Confusing, full of made-up words/concepts and characters which are nonsensical. Nontheless will try the next book in the series to see if it begins to gel.
November 17, 2025
rubbish. using Italian titles and names does not make a book readable. you still need a story and interesting characters. DNF.
February 3, 2013
This review forms part of my contribution to the Australian Women Writers 2013 Reading Challenge. All my 2013 AWWC reviews can be found here.
Dark Space is the first of the Sentients of Orion series by Marianne de Pierres. The storyline primarily follows three characters - Baronessa Mira Fedor, a member of the planet Araldis' aristocracy and born with a genetic makeup that allows her to interact directly with living spaceships, Trinder Pellegrini the spoiled son of Araldis' planetary ruler and Tekton, an influential citizen of the planet Lostol chosen as a candidate to interact with a recently discovered powerful entity some think is God.
These three point of view characters are interesting selections. All of them are from positions of great wealth and privilege. None of them is particularly sympathetic (although for entirely different reasons). I think the reader is meant to side with Mira, but I found it hard to warm to her.
With three unsympathetic main characters you'd think the story would be in trouble, but the way the storylines interact really works. You see glimpses of the potential for growth in Mira and Trinder, and Tekton is so self centred and devious I found myself cheering for him. So while the characters were not sympathetic, I found them compelling. Just as good in my books.
The world building behind the story was comprehensive and consistent. There is plenty of ground setting in this first book for the rest of the series to build on. The cultures of the various planets and societies referenced, the implications of "humanesque" vs alien sentients and the technology were all well thought through and supported the story.
Italian is not the first culture you expect to see represented in a space opera. This created an interesting point of difference from a lot of other books. The repressed role of women on Araldis provided the source of a lot of the conflict in the novel. It was interesting to think about how some cultural traits that we consider backwards could flourish if the cohort who supports them were to get their own planet.
The plot was enjoyable, with plenty of political intrigue and short bursts of action. Interesting questions were raised and story arcs begun. I'll certainly be tracking down the rest of the books in the series to see how the story unfolds.
Recommended.
I also reviewed this book on my website.
Dark Space is the first of the Sentients of Orion series by Marianne de Pierres. The storyline primarily follows three characters - Baronessa Mira Fedor, a member of the planet Araldis' aristocracy and born with a genetic makeup that allows her to interact directly with living spaceships, Trinder Pellegrini the spoiled son of Araldis' planetary ruler and Tekton, an influential citizen of the planet Lostol chosen as a candidate to interact with a recently discovered powerful entity some think is God.
These three point of view characters are interesting selections. All of them are from positions of great wealth and privilege. None of them is particularly sympathetic (although for entirely different reasons). I think the reader is meant to side with Mira, but I found it hard to warm to her.
With three unsympathetic main characters you'd think the story would be in trouble, but the way the storylines interact really works. You see glimpses of the potential for growth in Mira and Trinder, and Tekton is so self centred and devious I found myself cheering for him. So while the characters were not sympathetic, I found them compelling. Just as good in my books.
The world building behind the story was comprehensive and consistent. There is plenty of ground setting in this first book for the rest of the series to build on. The cultures of the various planets and societies referenced, the implications of "humanesque" vs alien sentients and the technology were all well thought through and supported the story.
Italian is not the first culture you expect to see represented in a space opera. This created an interesting point of difference from a lot of other books. The repressed role of women on Araldis provided the source of a lot of the conflict in the novel. It was interesting to think about how some cultural traits that we consider backwards could flourish if the cohort who supports them were to get their own planet.
The plot was enjoyable, with plenty of political intrigue and short bursts of action. Interesting questions were raised and story arcs begun. I'll certainly be tracking down the rest of the books in the series to see how the story unfolds.
Recommended.
I also reviewed this book on my website.
December 30, 2011
While drifting in space, lost due to navigational failure, a mineral scout discovers God. When word gets out, academics from the studiums across Orion scramble to gain the Entity’s favor. However, not all the sentients of Orion hold this "god" in awe—some, like the philosophers of Scolar and the Transhumans of Extropy are deeply suspicious. Onto the grand stage of interplanetary academic politics, intellectual conceit, and dubious theology walks Baronessa Mira Fedor. Her planet has been torn apart by the invasion of a race of giant tardigrades. Only the Orion League of Sentient Species can lend aid, but OLOSS is preoccupied with communicating with God. Mira, together with the rowdy, misogynist Jo-Jo Rasterovich, is left to her own resources to find help. In doing so she unmasks a galaxy-sized intrigue. But will she live long enough to tell anyone?
hm not entirely sure what i thought of this one - it was obviously the first book in a series, and set several 'arcs' up but i didnt really care about a couple of them. luckily the later half of the book concentrates on Mira Fedor, who i _was_ interested in.
(be warned though, for those who dislike reading about such things, the book contains a couple of just-averted/attempted sexual assaults, and one that isnt :( ).
i dont know why this book didnt engage me, and it was by no means a hard book to read - the author sets a good pace and the story moves along - it just...promised a lot and didnt deliver. but i couldnt tell you how or why. (sorry, Ms de Pierres)
hm not entirely sure what i thought of this one - it was obviously the first book in a series, and set several 'arcs' up but i didnt really care about a couple of them. luckily the later half of the book concentrates on Mira Fedor, who i _was_ interested in.
(be warned though, for those who dislike reading about such things, the book contains a couple of just-averted/attempted sexual assaults, and one that isnt :( ).
i dont know why this book didnt engage me, and it was by no means a hard book to read - the author sets a good pace and the story moves along - it just...promised a lot and didnt deliver. but i couldnt tell you how or why. (sorry, Ms de Pierres)
October 4, 2014
This book was not what I expected. When a book is called Dark space, I expect it to spend more time in space. That, while being a middling annoyance was overlooked easily enough.
The prologue-like beginning is strange, and the bits and pieces of… thoughts (maybe?) from Sol’s perspective are weird, but after the backstory of how the “sentient” species came to host a god in their corner of the universe is over, the plot moves along at a wonderful clip. And the events themselves are extremely interesting.
The plot and pacing were great, but I didn’t like any of the characters. That is by far the easiest way to get me to drop a book. Mira was supposed to be likable, and she hit closest to the mark, but she spends too much time in the beginning being miffed with Trin. Trin is just atrocious, and I don’t give him any points just for being born into a terrible family (or for being a “prince”). And Tekton is…. Too focused on his own little game to be worth caring about. Even the secondary characters are awful. They made the book difficult to read.
The prologue-like beginning is strange, and the bits and pieces of… thoughts (maybe?) from Sol’s perspective are weird, but after the backstory of how the “sentient” species came to host a god in their corner of the universe is over, the plot moves along at a wonderful clip. And the events themselves are extremely interesting.
The plot and pacing were great, but I didn’t like any of the characters. That is by far the easiest way to get me to drop a book. Mira was supposed to be likable, and she hit closest to the mark, but she spends too much time in the beginning being miffed with Trin. Trin is just atrocious, and I don’t give him any points just for being born into a terrible family (or for being a “prince”). And Tekton is…. Too focused on his own little game to be worth caring about. Even the secondary characters are awful. They made the book difficult to read.
August 8, 2011
There's a line when it comes to sci-fi where it becomes too difficult for me to read. This book just tiptoes over that line. I had to really struggle to read it, which is a pity as I really liked Marianne de Pierres' Parrish Plessis series. I could get into it when the sci-fi was light, but then it would cut to Jo-Jo and Tekton and the biozoons and my head would spin and I'd have to put it down and take a breather.
So, good idea, but too hard for me to really follow.
So, good idea, but too hard for me to really follow.
January 7, 2016
One of the easier reviews to write because I could... not... get... it... it. This has happened in the past and I tend to blame the reader, not the author. Mainly because I can't be specific about what didn't work; it was just... boring. I did have high expectations (non-US author, hard sci-fi with a strong female character, etc.) and maybe that caused the lack of interest in the book. The (sad) high point is that I finished it instead of giving up.
There is one specific thing I can point to that was irritating and pretty lazy - editorial errors. This book needs a second technical edit pass badly!
There is one specific thing I can point to that was irritating and pretty lazy - editorial errors. This book needs a second technical edit pass badly!
August 27, 2013
Definitely different to the other Space Operas I have read. Confusing for about half the book due to naming of things, everything is unfamiliar and has a uniquely original name. The gender differences (societies 'classing' of males, females, family status and alien/ginko) within the story-line maintained a low level of anger within me as I read this novel. Despite everything I did like it enough to continue reading the series. It may improve.
October 29, 2007
Good science-fiction tale with several story threads to keep things interesting.
Good, gritty political backstabbing and planetary invasion stuff while the antics of Tekton and JJ are verging on the hilarious.
A good start to the series that leaves you wanting to find out what happens next. I'll definitely be picking up the next one.
Good, gritty political backstabbing and planetary invasion stuff while the antics of Tekton and JJ are verging on the hilarious.
A good start to the series that leaves you wanting to find out what happens next. I'll definitely be picking up the next one.
September 30, 2012
Rather a depressing book - with planetary invasions, skullduggery and double-crossing, rape, massacre, and a God-entity that makes meaningless comments between chapters. I found the characters to be rather shallow, and although this is the first of a trilogy, I am not inspired to read the next two to see if this changes.
May 18, 2012
I loved this book but was confused about how she would bring the characters together. Once you finish Dark Space you want to keep reading the series to find out what happens and how the characters come together.
August 6, 2016
Very atmospheric. Intriguing characters and plots. A little dark at times, which I enjoyed. I'll have to pick up the next book soon.
May 28, 2013
I actually thought of giving up on this one, but things really pick up in the second half of the book. I hope the rest of the series continues in this direction.
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