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The Infinite Night Book 1: The Happy Marauder
A raunchy, futuristic, dystopian, space adventure of two outcast friends struggling to survive under an oppressive regime. They find themselves involuntarily passing a field exam and being recruited to serve aboard The Happy Marauder.
Learn more about James "Monolith" Childs, as he releases his logs as he finds a home among the stars.
The Infinite Night is everything between the stars. When I look at it, I see everything I don't know. I'm not naive enough anymore to see salvation or endless potential. I'm not nihilistic enough to see a vast indifferent universe either. These are my logs and I'll tell you everything I saw between the stars. A wise man once told me that people hate missing pieces of a story. These are my pieces. I don't know what you're missing but this is what I have. This is what I see when I look at The Infinite Night.
Learn more about James "Monolith" Childs, as he releases his logs as he finds a home among the stars.
The Infinite Night is everything between the stars. When I look at it, I see everything I don't know. I'm not naive enough anymore to see salvation or endless potential. I'm not nihilistic enough to see a vast indifferent universe either. These are my logs and I'll tell you everything I saw between the stars. A wise man once told me that people hate missing pieces of a story. These are my pieces. I don't know what you're missing but this is what I have. This is what I see when I look at The Infinite Night.
341 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 10, 2024
3 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 24, 2025
Hilarious, relatable, unapologetic space romp.
I had the honor of meeting the author at a book signing, and I'm impressed by the work he put in to self-publishing this novel. I really enjoyed it, and found James to be a very likeable and compelling character. The aliens and world-building were some of the most unique I've seen in a while (Lamal was so funny), and James & Shantu's banter kept me laughing the whole book (though some of the dialogue & James's narration contain a level of crassness I don't think would survive a traditional publishing process; it's authentic to the characters, but I think toning it down just a bit would expand Gray's audience.) It also had surprising depth, as James wrestled with some deep, complicated moral questions.
That said, the novel felt a little debut-y, mainly because it lacked a clear arch-villian. The team of the Happy Maurader had adventures and engaged in conflicts, but there wasn't a singular unifying goal or antagonist to carry the book toward a meaningful climax. The conflicts they engaged in felt more like things that happened to them rather than goals they struggled towards. Even the big galactic battle lacked weight because the antagonists were newly introduced, and it was never clear to me why the battle started in the first place (I confess, I usually had a hard time tracking the big picture of what was going on in the conflict sequences, as James tended to get tossed into them unexpectedly).
I also lacked a clear sense of James "becoming." Sure, he joined the Maurader and became Monolith (cool name), but I never doubted he would succeed in that and it again felt like something that happened to him and not something he struggled for & achieved - we're told he becomes Monolith on the book cover for goodness' sake. I think awarding him that name at the end, rather than the middle, after he had done something above-and-beyond that truly solidified his place on the team, would have made it more meaningful.
I will say though, Gray pulled off the impossible - he took an uneducated grunt worker and convinced me he had the natural aptitude and intelligence to be a highly skilled mercenary. Like, I believed. And he kept James super likeable through it all. He was somehow wicked skilled and freakin' adorable at the same time. James is a truly unique character, someone with the skill & fortitude to be a mercenary, the moral depth to question some of their actions, and the endearing geniality of someone who just wants to enjoy nature after growing up in a city. Plot complaints aside, I truly enjoyed this book and hope to read more from Jordan Gray.
I had the honor of meeting the author at a book signing, and I'm impressed by the work he put in to self-publishing this novel. I really enjoyed it, and found James to be a very likeable and compelling character. The aliens and world-building were some of the most unique I've seen in a while (Lamal was so funny), and James & Shantu's banter kept me laughing the whole book (though some of the dialogue & James's narration contain a level of crassness I don't think would survive a traditional publishing process; it's authentic to the characters, but I think toning it down just a bit would expand Gray's audience.) It also had surprising depth, as James wrestled with some deep, complicated moral questions.
That said, the novel felt a little debut-y, mainly because it lacked a clear arch-villian. The team of the Happy Maurader had adventures and engaged in conflicts, but there wasn't a singular unifying goal or antagonist to carry the book toward a meaningful climax. The conflicts they engaged in felt more like things that happened to them rather than goals they struggled towards. Even the big galactic battle lacked weight because the antagonists were newly introduced, and it was never clear to me why the battle started in the first place (I confess, I usually had a hard time tracking the big picture of what was going on in the conflict sequences, as James tended to get tossed into them unexpectedly).
I also lacked a clear sense of James "becoming." Sure, he joined the Maurader and became Monolith (cool name), but I never doubted he would succeed in that and it again felt like something that happened to him and not something he struggled for & achieved - we're told he becomes Monolith on the book cover for goodness' sake. I think awarding him that name at the end, rather than the middle, after he had done something above-and-beyond that truly solidified his place on the team, would have made it more meaningful.
I will say though, Gray pulled off the impossible - he took an uneducated grunt worker and convinced me he had the natural aptitude and intelligence to be a highly skilled mercenary. Like, I believed. And he kept James super likeable through it all. He was somehow wicked skilled and freakin' adorable at the same time. James is a truly unique character, someone with the skill & fortitude to be a mercenary, the moral depth to question some of their actions, and the endearing geniality of someone who just wants to enjoy nature after growing up in a city. Plot complaints aside, I truly enjoyed this book and hope to read more from Jordan Gray.
June 25, 2025
I gave it 4 stars but i feel it’s more like 3.4-3.6.. i like the bones, i like the thought of the adventures to where it can go. I really enjoy the banter that occurs amongst characters. Now for My biggest points for bringing it down in the ratings. I feel that there could be more descriptive details in almost everything, and i long for better paragraph transition. Sometimes i feel thoughts were a little too ADHD.
Overall solid world, solid plot, solid language.
-the other Jordan
Overall solid world, solid plot, solid language.
-the other Jordan
September 15, 2025
This book took me a hot minute to finish simply because I would get hooked on a section. And then it would unravel because the writing would go off on tangents that didn’t make sense. The concept for the book is stellar, but I feel a lot of it could’ve been cut out and the plot still would’ve made sense. Maybe instead there could’ve been more descriptions of the things they were doing instead of the feelings and internal dialogue of the main character.
July 12, 2025
Definitely a fun book to read. If you like SciFi and space this book is for you. Love the short chapters and the fact is written as a dairy. Looking forward to book 2.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews