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From Darkest Skies #1
From Darkest Skies
After a five year sabbatical following the tragic death of his wife and fellow agent Alysha, Keon Rause returns to the distant colony world of Magenta to resume service with the Magentan Intelligence Service. With him he brings an artificial recreation of his wife's personality, a simulacrum built from every digital trace she left behind. She has been constructed with one purpose - to discover the truth behind her own death - but Keon's relationship with her has grown into something more, something frighteningly dependent, something that verges on love.
Cashing in old favours, Keon uses his return to the Service to take on a series of cases that allow him and the artificial Alysha to piece together his wife's last days. His investigations lead him inexorably along the same paths Alysha followed five years earlier, to a sinister and deadly group with an unhealthy fascination for the unknowable alien Masters; but as the wider world of Magenta is threatened with an imminent crisis, Keon finds himself in a do his duty and stand with his team to expose a villainous crime, or sacrifice them all for the truth about his wife?
Cashing in old favours, Keon uses his return to the Service to take on a series of cases that allow him and the artificial Alysha to piece together his wife's last days. His investigations lead him inexorably along the same paths Alysha followed five years earlier, to a sinister and deadly group with an unhealthy fascination for the unknowable alien Masters; but as the wider world of Magenta is threatened with an imminent crisis, Keon finds himself in a do his duty and stand with his team to expose a villainous crime, or sacrifice them all for the truth about his wife?
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 2017
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March 7, 2017A masterly piece of writing and plotting that manages to merge classy space-opera with a police procedural as twisty as a Christie - and yet I found myself reading it with the growing realization that, in spite of its originality, excellent characterization and beautiful execution, there lies at its heart a trope that serves as the elephant in the room of a great deal of otherwise good sci-fi. It's a trope that we find in much AI fiction - the assumption that AI women are somehow better - more human, more real, in fact -than real ones. It's true of the excellent Westworld (unfairly brought out to promote this book, as if it wasn't good enough to stand up on its own). It's true of Humans. And it's true in this novel, too. The AI reconstruction of the protagonist's dead wife is more long-suffering, more understanding, more supportive, less secretive, even more insightful than the original. And every other woman he meets - mostly strong, independent women in authority -he seems to react to negatively. They're all either bitches, or obstructions, or he wants to slap them. And after a while, I found myself wanting to slap *him*, too. Now I know that this is a gut reaction to a common sci-fi trope, but sci-fi has had a bad rep in the past for alienating women readers, and mostly for just cause. I wouldn't let something like this get in the way of anyone enjoying the book, but it would be nice to see male authors writing *actual women* as sensitively and empathically as they write AI ones.
May 4, 2018
6.9 out of 10 @ https://1000yearplan.com/2018/05/03/c...
Sam Peters’ From Darkest Skies is a sci-fi crime thriller that follows Keona Rause, an intelligence agent who returns from Earth to the colony world of Magenta to solve the years-old murder of his wife, fellow agent Alysha. The twist is that he has secretly brought with him an artificial (and illegal) reconstruction of his late wife, whose memories and personality are culled from public records in this casually accepted, media saturated surveillance state. “Lys” can help uncover clues based on memories of the real Alysha’s recorded life, but Alysha's private thoughts are as much a mystery to Lys as they are to the still-suffering Keona – and that hidden element unfortunately holds the key to explaining the choices that led to her death.
The novel’s greatest strength is its worldbuilding and its depiction of the nuanced relationship between advanced technology and the human mind. Lys can literally be housed inside tech that interacts with Keona’s thoughts; she can see what he sees and hold internal conversations with him as the action develops, and this dynamic results in some of the novel’s sharpest moments. Where From Darkest Skies falters is in the overly methodical pacing of its plot, which unfolds rhythmically and never raises the temperature above lukewarm. The lack of a clear-cut antagonist hurts it as well. The premise of the book also relies heavily on the notion that Keona is falling in love with Alysha 2.0, but I never found the supposed romance convincing.
Peters is a talented hard-SF writer, and From Darkest Skies is often a colorful and intriguing novel reminiscent of Alastair Reynolds space opera procedurals. It works better when speculating about a tech-steeped future for humanity than it does as a whodunit or an action thriller.
Sam Peters’ From Darkest Skies is a sci-fi crime thriller that follows Keona Rause, an intelligence agent who returns from Earth to the colony world of Magenta to solve the years-old murder of his wife, fellow agent Alysha. The twist is that he has secretly brought with him an artificial (and illegal) reconstruction of his late wife, whose memories and personality are culled from public records in this casually accepted, media saturated surveillance state. “Lys” can help uncover clues based on memories of the real Alysha’s recorded life, but Alysha's private thoughts are as much a mystery to Lys as they are to the still-suffering Keona – and that hidden element unfortunately holds the key to explaining the choices that led to her death.
The novel’s greatest strength is its worldbuilding and its depiction of the nuanced relationship between advanced technology and the human mind. Lys can literally be housed inside tech that interacts with Keona’s thoughts; she can see what he sees and hold internal conversations with him as the action develops, and this dynamic results in some of the novel’s sharpest moments. Where From Darkest Skies falters is in the overly methodical pacing of its plot, which unfolds rhythmically and never raises the temperature above lukewarm. The lack of a clear-cut antagonist hurts it as well. The premise of the book also relies heavily on the notion that Keona is falling in love with Alysha 2.0, but I never found the supposed romance convincing.
Peters is a talented hard-SF writer, and From Darkest Skies is often a colorful and intriguing novel reminiscent of Alastair Reynolds space opera procedurals. It works better when speculating about a tech-steeped future for humanity than it does as a whodunit or an action thriller.
May 18, 2017
I AM SPEECHLESS.
but only metaphorically, because, y'know, i'm typing this right now.
but holy shit. holy shit this was phenomenal.
the plot was absolutely incredible and i'm trying to figure out how to convey to you how amazing it is without giving it away. it is astonishingly complex and clever, and completely unpredictable, especially the ending. there was a cliffhanger, but the best sort; where the main mystery is wrapped up, but suddenly SURPRISE! here's this extra thing that you literally weren't expecting at all!!
it was also very well-written, with complex and interesting characters that i really connected to throughout, especially the protagonist, keon. and the world-building, holy shit. in the beginning peters somehow managed to explain about the masters and why humans were scattered onto different planets without info-dumping, which i was really impressed by.
this was a super original and intriguing futuristic sci-fi thriller, and a must for all sci-fi fans. i'd also recommend it for anyone who likes mysteries and thrillers even if they're not that into sci-fi.
but only metaphorically, because, y'know, i'm typing this right now.
but holy shit. holy shit this was phenomenal.
the plot was absolutely incredible and i'm trying to figure out how to convey to you how amazing it is without giving it away. it is astonishingly complex and clever, and completely unpredictable, especially the ending. there was a cliffhanger, but the best sort; where the main mystery is wrapped up, but suddenly SURPRISE! here's this extra thing that you literally weren't expecting at all!!
it was also very well-written, with complex and interesting characters that i really connected to throughout, especially the protagonist, keon. and the world-building, holy shit. in the beginning peters somehow managed to explain about the masters and why humans were scattered onto different planets without info-dumping, which i was really impressed by.
this was a super original and intriguing futuristic sci-fi thriller, and a must for all sci-fi fans. i'd also recommend it for anyone who likes mysteries and thrillers even if they're not that into sci-fi.
February 12, 2020
I had four audiobook credits to use and didn’t know what to get, so I asked twitter authors to give me a summary of their stuff if they had an accompanying audiobook. It had been a while since I had read sci-fi and the description for this one caught my attention so I picked it up.
The beginning is a bit slower, but not the kind that drags on and on and you’re wondering if you’re going to continue or not. It’s the kind of slow where you’re getting to know the character really well before the meat of the plot gets going. This may or may not appeal to you guys, but I generally enjoy investing first in character and second in everything else. The MC lost his wife five years ago in a terrorist attack, her train blew up and he’s been living in the past ever since. In his desperation and grief, he did something illegal… he transferred a composite of her personality into a bot, effectively living with the ghost of his wife for years now. This world has surveillance everywhere and one of the culture’s central hubs which all life revolves around is social media. Using all the video and data from social media he was able to reconstruct a near-perfect representation of his dead wife. However, because this is all based on external data, her inner workings and personal thoughts are gone – and with it all of her secrets.
Before she died she started acting strange. She was asking questions that didn’t make a lot of sense, she was tense and aloof, and she withdrew a lot of money from their account. The train she died on wasn’t even supposed to have passengers, and she didn’t tell her husband she was planning on taking this trip. The police investigating the explosion weren’t helpful and gave Rause almost nothing to go on. He is trying to piece together what happened and is using the AI to help him out. Meanwhile, a celebrity has died and the official reason is ‘drug overdose’ but there’s sufficient reason to believe it was foul play instead.
The world-building was pretty neat, I liked the planet “Magenta” (named for its pink algae). I like it when authors take into account things like different gravitational forces for different planets, putting thought into different ecosystems, and working out plausible sustainable food resources in space like bugs and algae. Magenta is a hard planet to live on with lots of intense storms – to the point where the buildings are built more like bunkers. It’s also a heavy gravity planet and it takes a month’s worth of specialized gravity acclimation to go out on the planet’s surface, much like a diver and getting the bends. There’s also something called “The Masters” who are aliens that fuck around with humanity every now and then. They left behind technology that humanity was trying to analyze and use for their own advantages for hundreds of years with no success.
I can’t recall just how far in the future this was, but the use of the word “dude” felt kinda odd. I would assume many slang terms would have changed between now and when planets are getting settled far in the future. Other than that I don’t have many complaints about the prose. It was more of a straight forward writing style that gets out of the way of the story but also providing imagery and immersive scenes. To me, in sci fi, that’s a perfect balance. The dialogue felt natural and the pacing was pretty good if a little slow at points.
Overall I’d recommend this, especially if you’re playing r/fantasy’s bingo and still need the AI square. The narration was well done, I was into it enough to keep going and finish in a couple of days, and there was a good amount of character development which I sometimes struggle with in sci-fi.
TLDR: The setting is the far future when humans are colonizing other worlds. A man loses his wife in a terrorist attack and illegally downloads her persona into a bot and tries to solve her murder.
Ratings:
Plot: 12/15
Characters: 12.5/15
World Building: 13/15
Writing: 12.5/15
Pacing: 11/15
Originality: 12/15
Personal Enjoyment: 7/10
Final Score: 80/100
The beginning is a bit slower, but not the kind that drags on and on and you’re wondering if you’re going to continue or not. It’s the kind of slow where you’re getting to know the character really well before the meat of the plot gets going. This may or may not appeal to you guys, but I generally enjoy investing first in character and second in everything else. The MC lost his wife five years ago in a terrorist attack, her train blew up and he’s been living in the past ever since. In his desperation and grief, he did something illegal… he transferred a composite of her personality into a bot, effectively living with the ghost of his wife for years now. This world has surveillance everywhere and one of the culture’s central hubs which all life revolves around is social media. Using all the video and data from social media he was able to reconstruct a near-perfect representation of his dead wife. However, because this is all based on external data, her inner workings and personal thoughts are gone – and with it all of her secrets.
Before she died she started acting strange. She was asking questions that didn’t make a lot of sense, she was tense and aloof, and she withdrew a lot of money from their account. The train she died on wasn’t even supposed to have passengers, and she didn’t tell her husband she was planning on taking this trip. The police investigating the explosion weren’t helpful and gave Rause almost nothing to go on. He is trying to piece together what happened and is using the AI to help him out. Meanwhile, a celebrity has died and the official reason is ‘drug overdose’ but there’s sufficient reason to believe it was foul play instead.
The world-building was pretty neat, I liked the planet “Magenta” (named for its pink algae). I like it when authors take into account things like different gravitational forces for different planets, putting thought into different ecosystems, and working out plausible sustainable food resources in space like bugs and algae. Magenta is a hard planet to live on with lots of intense storms – to the point where the buildings are built more like bunkers. It’s also a heavy gravity planet and it takes a month’s worth of specialized gravity acclimation to go out on the planet’s surface, much like a diver and getting the bends. There’s also something called “The Masters” who are aliens that fuck around with humanity every now and then. They left behind technology that humanity was trying to analyze and use for their own advantages for hundreds of years with no success.
I can’t recall just how far in the future this was, but the use of the word “dude” felt kinda odd. I would assume many slang terms would have changed between now and when planets are getting settled far in the future. Other than that I don’t have many complaints about the prose. It was more of a straight forward writing style that gets out of the way of the story but also providing imagery and immersive scenes. To me, in sci fi, that’s a perfect balance. The dialogue felt natural and the pacing was pretty good if a little slow at points.
Overall I’d recommend this, especially if you’re playing r/fantasy’s bingo and still need the AI square. The narration was well done, I was into it enough to keep going and finish in a couple of days, and there was a good amount of character development which I sometimes struggle with in sci-fi.
TLDR: The setting is the far future when humans are colonizing other worlds. A man loses his wife in a terrorist attack and illegally downloads her persona into a bot and tries to solve her murder.
Ratings:
Plot: 12/15
Characters: 12.5/15
World Building: 13/15
Writing: 12.5/15
Pacing: 11/15
Originality: 12/15
Personal Enjoyment: 7/10
Final Score: 80/100
January 3, 2018
Enjoyable SF crime fiction set on the extraordinary planet of Magenta
May 21, 2018
A solid scifi crime thriller that deals with losing your love ones and attempting to let go. The protagonist has lost his wife from a bombing, but has an AI construct that has all the memories and thoughts of the deceased wife. They go on a journey/mystery to discover the truth but discover much more about themsevles. Tbe plot never boils above room temperature. I was waiting for it to take off but it never did. I also found the lack of a really well developed anatagonist was lacking. There had also been much talk about the protagonist falling in love with his AI wife but I honestly didnt see it at all, it felt non-existent.
April 22, 2017
This noir thriller has a wonderful setting – the planet Magenta has an unfriendly, heavy gravity and terrible weather, to the extent that buildings are more like bunkers in order to survive the terrible storms and the only transport system is an underground railway. Peters’ scene setting is spot on, establishing the mood music of this classy murder mystery – an important component in noir crime. The protagonist is also suitably moody with a full suite of emotional luggage on account of his wife’s death – it has haunted him that although the person who actually set off the bomb was brought to justice, the conspiracy behind the crime was never fully uncovered. In a desperate attempt to try to uncover Alysha’s last movements – Rause has no idea why she cleaned out their bank account and what she was doing on the train in the first place – he has Liss constructed, based on every scrap of information he possesses about Alysha. However, this leaves him with a construct who looks, sounds and acts like his dead wife – so five years on he is no closer to coming to terms with his loss.
It’s a great premise. Peters drops us in the middle of this world, which I really loved – though initially I slightly struggled with the welter of unfamiliar names, though by the time I was 20% into the story, I had become sufficiently acclimatised to the world this was no longer a problem. And the reason for their unfamiliarity became apparent well before the end.
This police procedural is tightly constructed, with various clues and a number of suspects who are considered by Rause and his team. I also thoroughly enjoyed the cast of supporting characters – Rangesh, who has been undercover with the drugs squad, bounces off the page with his West Coast slang and his unorthodox fashion sense – Rause is rocked when he turns up for duty in a flamboyantly coloured caftan. Rangesh provides much of the welcome shafts of humour in amongst Rause’s gritted determination to discover what happened to his wife.
Alongside the murder mystery, Peters also raises the problem of how to grieve when technology can provide a replacement with a strong likeness to the dead person; there are also issues around the artefacts left behind by a powerful alien race as various powerful corporations race to try and uncover their secrets; Magenta is a colony world with a sudden influx of immigrants from Earth which is also causing resentment. Without losing pace or focus, we get an insight into these problems along with others bubbling under the surface that add to the texture and richness of this world. Peters’ unfussy style keeps things moving at a fair clip as the complex case of a series of drugs-related deaths cris-crosses the five-year-old bombing incident. Like many noir thrillers, this is one where you need to pay attention or you’ll miss something vital. Indeed at the end, I found myself backtracking to ensure I fully understood what was going on, as the denouement unspooled with something of a rush and it took me a couple of goes before I worked out all the ramifications – though I’ll freely admit I wasn’t at my shiny best at the time.
I was heartened to note there are plenty of dangling plotpoints, which I’m hoping will mean there will be a second book set in this world – and if there is, then I’ll be tracking it down. This is a world I very much want to dive back into.
While I obtained the arc of From Darkest Skies from the publisher via NetGalley, this has in no way influenced my unbiased review.
8/10
It’s a great premise. Peters drops us in the middle of this world, which I really loved – though initially I slightly struggled with the welter of unfamiliar names, though by the time I was 20% into the story, I had become sufficiently acclimatised to the world this was no longer a problem. And the reason for their unfamiliarity became apparent well before the end.
This police procedural is tightly constructed, with various clues and a number of suspects who are considered by Rause and his team. I also thoroughly enjoyed the cast of supporting characters – Rangesh, who has been undercover with the drugs squad, bounces off the page with his West Coast slang and his unorthodox fashion sense – Rause is rocked when he turns up for duty in a flamboyantly coloured caftan. Rangesh provides much of the welcome shafts of humour in amongst Rause’s gritted determination to discover what happened to his wife.
Alongside the murder mystery, Peters also raises the problem of how to grieve when technology can provide a replacement with a strong likeness to the dead person; there are also issues around the artefacts left behind by a powerful alien race as various powerful corporations race to try and uncover their secrets; Magenta is a colony world with a sudden influx of immigrants from Earth which is also causing resentment. Without losing pace or focus, we get an insight into these problems along with others bubbling under the surface that add to the texture and richness of this world. Peters’ unfussy style keeps things moving at a fair clip as the complex case of a series of drugs-related deaths cris-crosses the five-year-old bombing incident. Like many noir thrillers, this is one where you need to pay attention or you’ll miss something vital. Indeed at the end, I found myself backtracking to ensure I fully understood what was going on, as the denouement unspooled with something of a rush and it took me a couple of goes before I worked out all the ramifications – though I’ll freely admit I wasn’t at my shiny best at the time.
I was heartened to note there are plenty of dangling plotpoints, which I’m hoping will mean there will be a second book set in this world – and if there is, then I’ll be tracking it down. This is a world I very much want to dive back into.
While I obtained the arc of From Darkest Skies from the publisher via NetGalley, this has in no way influenced my unbiased review.
8/10
April 19, 2017
I received this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. I must confess, I am not normaly one to read the SF genre but I have been trying to broaden my reading and was intrigued by the premise: A man builds an AI to help him investigate his wifes death several years previous. I love crime stories so I thought this would be a good book to get me started in the SF genre. When I received the book, the cover suggests a scifi romance, but I didnt really get that so much when I read the book.
Anyway, genre defining aside, there was much to enjoy in this book. It was well written and the plot was clever: Keon returns to Magenta in disgrace, starts investigating a suspicious drug death and at the same time, looks into the last days of his wife to try to find out why she was killed. There were a lot of enjoyable twists as the story progresses. The story was reasonably well paced, though a lot was packed into the ending and it felt a bit rushed as a result, but all questions were satisfactorily answered and a few new ones posed.
The charaters: Keon Rause was believable as a still grieving husband, the team he works with on Magenta are varied and interesting and the AI Liss was interesting as a counter to Keon's memories of Alysha.
The world building was brilliant. I don't just mean the idea of a far off planet, Magenta and what the affects of the planet would do to a person, nor the way society would adapt it to their needs, but also about the Marsters and how this feeds in to the reality of the story.
For me, this book was what I had hoped for: an easy way to tackle a genre I wouldnt normally read, because it had elements of genres I do often read. For me, this book was a good starting point to explore SF more fully. Lastly, I'm curious as to whether this is a one off or will become part of a series- it does feel like it would lend itself well as the beginning book in a series, but maybe thats just wishful thinking.
Anyway, genre defining aside, there was much to enjoy in this book. It was well written and the plot was clever: Keon returns to Magenta in disgrace, starts investigating a suspicious drug death and at the same time, looks into the last days of his wife to try to find out why she was killed. There were a lot of enjoyable twists as the story progresses. The story was reasonably well paced, though a lot was packed into the ending and it felt a bit rushed as a result, but all questions were satisfactorily answered and a few new ones posed.
The charaters: Keon Rause was believable as a still grieving husband, the team he works with on Magenta are varied and interesting and the AI Liss was interesting as a counter to Keon's memories of Alysha.
The world building was brilliant. I don't just mean the idea of a far off planet, Magenta and what the affects of the planet would do to a person, nor the way society would adapt it to their needs, but also about the Marsters and how this feeds in to the reality of the story.
For me, this book was what I had hoped for: an easy way to tackle a genre I wouldnt normally read, because it had elements of genres I do often read. For me, this book was a good starting point to explore SF more fully. Lastly, I'm curious as to whether this is a one off or will become part of a series- it does feel like it would lend itself well as the beginning book in a series, but maybe thats just wishful thinking.
April 24, 2017
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It tells the story of Keon Rause, an investigative officer whose wife died in a terrorist bombing 5 years ago and his reluctant return to his home planet, Magenta to rejoin his old life. The plot is very intricate and I found it a little hard to keep straight, but I think this was because I sometimes found my attention drifting as I was reading. It just wasn't as compelling as the content should have made it and I honestly cannot put my finger on why. The characters were all quite interesting, albeit somewhat unbelievable, and the many plot twists with drugs and conspiracies and media moguls and immigration protests are well constructed and thought out. For some reason, I just didn't connect with it, but I feel confident in saying that I know it will appeal to people who like spy thrillers or sci-fi with a detective bent.
December 28, 2017
I didn't feel this started well, there was minimal explanation and backstory making it feel like the reader had just been dropped into the middle of the story. I had hoped this meant there would be some kind of explanation, maybe in the form of flashbacks, but this was minimal.
The plot felt like it jumped around and a lot and was written in a very casual manner (the consistent use of man as a term of endearment which I found grating). The descriptions felt quite rushed and I found the plot difficult to visualise as I was reading. The world building was based on a good idea but the execution was patchy and could have been a lot more comprehensive.
Overall, I found From Darkest Skies quite difficult to read and don't think I would read any more by Sam Peters.
The plot felt like it jumped around and a lot and was written in a very casual manner (the consistent use of man as a term of endearment which I found grating). The descriptions felt quite rushed and I found the plot difficult to visualise as I was reading. The world building was based on a good idea but the execution was patchy and could have been a lot more comprehensive.
Overall, I found From Darkest Skies quite difficult to read and don't think I would read any more by Sam Peters.
October 10, 2018
Just couldn't get in to this, not sure why.
Might have almost warranted a 3* but the invisibility suite put stop to that.
Might have almost warranted a 3* but the invisibility suite put stop to that.
May 31, 2017
Rating~ 3.5 stars
From darkest skies is about a grieving husband, an AI trying to solve her *own* murder and a crime team to investigating a new version of a drug.
Keon Rouse, a government agent after the death of his wife Alysha, left his planet Magenta. He returns home after being accused of theft and is immediately involved in an investigation of a drug that has killed many and is projected to kill a lot more.
Keon unable to move on after his wife’s death decides to build an AI called Liss with the data footprint left behind by his wife. Keon really loved his wife but he also felt guilty and unable to let go of previous life has kept his AI with him which was both sad yet fascinating.
I quite enjoyed Koen and Liss. The plot of the story with it’s conspiracies, the drug case, Alyssa’s murder and Keon’s need to find answers leaves us with interesting answers and more questions.
As a fan or the genre, I really liked the world building, the AI aspect itself was fascinating and I’m looking forward to reading more from Sam Peters.
ARC was generously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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From darkest skies is about a grieving husband, an AI trying to solve her *own* murder and a crime team to investigating a new version of a drug.
Keon Rouse, a government agent after the death of his wife Alysha, left his planet Magenta. He returns home after being accused of theft and is immediately involved in an investigation of a drug that has killed many and is projected to kill a lot more.
Keon unable to move on after his wife’s death decides to build an AI called Liss with the data footprint left behind by his wife. Keon really loved his wife but he also felt guilty and unable to let go of previous life has kept his AI with him which was both sad yet fascinating.
I quite enjoyed Koen and Liss. The plot of the story with it’s conspiracies, the drug case, Alyssa’s murder and Keon’s need to find answers leaves us with interesting answers and more questions.
As a fan or the genre, I really liked the world building, the AI aspect itself was fascinating and I’m looking forward to reading more from Sam Peters.
ARC was generously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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May 9, 2018
Originally posted to I Should Read That
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This review is spoiler-free.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from this book. I had assumed it would be pretty much a straight science fiction novel heavily featuring AI with a bit of mystery. Instead Peters has created an exciting high-concept sci-fi-meets-crime story with a dash of noir.
The rich world building in From Darkest Skies was my favourite part of the book. Peters doesn’t dump too much information on you at once. Instead, you’re able to discover and wonder at a decent pace. The planet Magenta’s surface, weather systems, and lifestyles were integrated well with the story and worked perfectly. The technology in the book is impressive without being overwhelming — the reader isn’t bogged down by technical explanations, confusing science, or mind-numbing explanations. The world building is revealed in a very natural and effective way and I really enjoyed learning more about the planet and the way of life under its surface.
Speaking of technology, I love a good AI book and this one felt very realistic. Liss is an important part of the book but not its main focus, yet you still get a good feel for the tech that created her and duplicated Alysha’s memories. I actually expected her to play a much more significant role in the book — I thought it would be more about Keon’s tentative and budding relationship with the AI. Instead, he spends more time trying to get his working life back together in order to investigate what happened to his wife. The main focus of the book is truly on Alysha and their relationship, not Liss and the ethics behind her existence. I was a little disappointed by this, but I have a feeling this is something we will explore later on in the series.
Keon is our main character, along with Liss and the ever-present ghost of Alysha. Keon is incredibly single-minded — his whole point of existence is to figure out what happened to his wife. Although he’s sometimes annoyingly stubborn, Peters does a good job of making sure the reader is aware of why Keon does what he does. There are other characters in this book, mostly made up of his team. I really enjoyed his relationship with his colleagues — they’re a diverse bunch and played well off of one another. However, this novel is really driven by Keon himself.
Overall, I liked From Darkest Skies. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. While it doesn’t stand out amongst the crowded sci-fi market, it’s an enjoyable read that I would recommend. I’m very much looking forward to continuing on with this series and have the sequel, From Distant Stars, on my shelf now.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This review is spoiler-free.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from this book. I had assumed it would be pretty much a straight science fiction novel heavily featuring AI with a bit of mystery. Instead Peters has created an exciting high-concept sci-fi-meets-crime story with a dash of noir.
The rich world building in From Darkest Skies was my favourite part of the book. Peters doesn’t dump too much information on you at once. Instead, you’re able to discover and wonder at a decent pace. The planet Magenta’s surface, weather systems, and lifestyles were integrated well with the story and worked perfectly. The technology in the book is impressive without being overwhelming — the reader isn’t bogged down by technical explanations, confusing science, or mind-numbing explanations. The world building is revealed in a very natural and effective way and I really enjoyed learning more about the planet and the way of life under its surface.
Speaking of technology, I love a good AI book and this one felt very realistic. Liss is an important part of the book but not its main focus, yet you still get a good feel for the tech that created her and duplicated Alysha’s memories. I actually expected her to play a much more significant role in the book — I thought it would be more about Keon’s tentative and budding relationship with the AI. Instead, he spends more time trying to get his working life back together in order to investigate what happened to his wife. The main focus of the book is truly on Alysha and their relationship, not Liss and the ethics behind her existence. I was a little disappointed by this, but I have a feeling this is something we will explore later on in the series.
Keon is our main character, along with Liss and the ever-present ghost of Alysha. Keon is incredibly single-minded — his whole point of existence is to figure out what happened to his wife. Although he’s sometimes annoyingly stubborn, Peters does a good job of making sure the reader is aware of why Keon does what he does. There are other characters in this book, mostly made up of his team. I really enjoyed his relationship with his colleagues — they’re a diverse bunch and played well off of one another. However, this novel is really driven by Keon himself.
Overall, I liked From Darkest Skies. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. While it doesn’t stand out amongst the crowded sci-fi market, it’s an enjoyable read that I would recommend. I’m very much looking forward to continuing on with this series and have the sequel, From Distant Stars, on my shelf now.
April 12, 2017
Continuing with my self-imposed mission to diversify my reading, I chose this one to try as I have recently had a good outing with sci-fi as a genre and this one also piqued my crime fiction interest. Keon Rouse is a government agent and native of Magenta. His story here starts when his work assignment on Gibraltar has been cut short due to an incident that he may or may not have been involved in. We also learn early on that his wife, Alysha, is dead, in a bombing on a night-goods-train. I say dead, she is to all intents and purposes, although he does have a rather nifty AI version of her, who he names Liss, who he is using to try and solve her own murder. After re-acclimatising to Magenta's strong gravity, Keon meets with his team, some assigned to him, others requested by him, hand picked to assist him with his side-mission. Find out who killed his wife, and why?
On the whole, I enjoyed this foray into the sci-fi world. I do admit that, being not as familiar with the genre as the hard core fan, I did initially struggle a tad with some of the concepts but, instead of fighting it and trying to "get" everything, I found that doing a bit of simple "accepting" made my overall journey a lot more comfortable. Making a character list as I went also helped immensely! The crime that Keon was officially meant to investigate was interesting and I really enjoyed the puzzle solving antics of Keon and his team, especially some of the trips they made along the way. Characterisation was good, once I had the characters cemented in my head, and I found that they all had depth and individual skills that they all brought, complementing each other well. Liss, I found to be interesting. Having watched and enjoyed the new series of Westworld (which this book has been compared to) I was quite easily able to believe in her.
The story itself went along at a fair lick, but at the right speed. Certain incidents from the past were injected in just the right places to enhance the current day narrative. Description was enough to set the scene without being over intrusive. It was a little complex and convoluted at times but I pretty much managed to stay with it even with a rather busy ending!
All in all, another success story to add to my "branching out" genre wise. I have learned a few more things from this book that I will be able to take with me next time I take the plunge.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
On the whole, I enjoyed this foray into the sci-fi world. I do admit that, being not as familiar with the genre as the hard core fan, I did initially struggle a tad with some of the concepts but, instead of fighting it and trying to "get" everything, I found that doing a bit of simple "accepting" made my overall journey a lot more comfortable. Making a character list as I went also helped immensely! The crime that Keon was officially meant to investigate was interesting and I really enjoyed the puzzle solving antics of Keon and his team, especially some of the trips they made along the way. Characterisation was good, once I had the characters cemented in my head, and I found that they all had depth and individual skills that they all brought, complementing each other well. Liss, I found to be interesting. Having watched and enjoyed the new series of Westworld (which this book has been compared to) I was quite easily able to believe in her.
The story itself went along at a fair lick, but at the right speed. Certain incidents from the past were injected in just the right places to enhance the current day narrative. Description was enough to set the scene without being over intrusive. It was a little complex and convoluted at times but I pretty much managed to stay with it even with a rather busy ending!
All in all, another success story to add to my "branching out" genre wise. I have learned a few more things from this book that I will be able to take with me next time I take the plunge.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
April 21, 2017
All reviews can be found at https://thereadinglodge.wordpress.com/
From Darkest Skies is a science-fiction thriller that follows our main character Keon Rause, as he is sent back to his home world of Magenta where he must face his past and try to make a new life for himself. However, his past always haunts him thanks to the shell of his wife he created following her untimely death. As he falls back into the role he previously held within the intelligence service of Magenta, Keon can’t help but try and find out the truth behind his wife’s death in order to understand her actions.
I first heard about this novel not long after completing Westworld, a concept that this novel has been compared to. Though I can see the similarities with the shell of Keon’s wife, I wouldn’t make a direct comparison between the two. That isn’t to say that this novel isn’t something you should read – you really should! If you’re a fan, like myself, of science-fiction that focuses primarily on the characters as opposed to the technology, then this is one for you.
Following my love of Becky Chambers science-fiction series (you all know it), I’ve found my love for character-drive science fiction, and this is no exception. Sam Peters thrusts you into Keon’s life bringing together all his hurt and love surrounding his dead wife Alysha. But, not only does Peters really know how to create flawed characters that are full of life and personality, he knows how to weave in the world-building and the technicalities of technological science-fiction without it seeming imposing or like you have been buried under a pile of information.
Keon, our main character, is a man who has become flawed by the death of his wife. Unable to move past her death, he has spent a lot of money to illegally create a shell that an AI of his wife can inhabit in order to communicate and have some resemblance of his previous life. Peters keeps Keon’s love alive throughout the novel, with each new thread of his investigation becoming somehow linked and helping Keon get ever closer to the truth of her death, and why she was where she was at the time. It is clear that Keon feels some sort of guilt towards her death in his inability to understand her mindset at the time, and this is something that travels with him right through to the bitter end.
From Darkest Skies is a novel that flows brilliantly with pacing, writing style, and overall structure. The world of Magenta and the politics of this society are easily understandable and I loved the array of cultures that Peters brings together. Our main group of characters are a mixture of Earthers and Magentans with different belief systems, and altogether different personalities. In particular, I really enjoyed the character of Rangesh who came across as flighty in his thought processes, but surprisingly smart behind this demeanour. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and I truly hope that I can go back to this world someday as I felt like there was some unfinished business towards the end of the novel.
From Darkest Skies is a science-fiction thriller that follows our main character Keon Rause, as he is sent back to his home world of Magenta where he must face his past and try to make a new life for himself. However, his past always haunts him thanks to the shell of his wife he created following her untimely death. As he falls back into the role he previously held within the intelligence service of Magenta, Keon can’t help but try and find out the truth behind his wife’s death in order to understand her actions.
I first heard about this novel not long after completing Westworld, a concept that this novel has been compared to. Though I can see the similarities with the shell of Keon’s wife, I wouldn’t make a direct comparison between the two. That isn’t to say that this novel isn’t something you should read – you really should! If you’re a fan, like myself, of science-fiction that focuses primarily on the characters as opposed to the technology, then this is one for you.
Following my love of Becky Chambers science-fiction series (you all know it), I’ve found my love for character-drive science fiction, and this is no exception. Sam Peters thrusts you into Keon’s life bringing together all his hurt and love surrounding his dead wife Alysha. But, not only does Peters really know how to create flawed characters that are full of life and personality, he knows how to weave in the world-building and the technicalities of technological science-fiction without it seeming imposing or like you have been buried under a pile of information.
Keon, our main character, is a man who has become flawed by the death of his wife. Unable to move past her death, he has spent a lot of money to illegally create a shell that an AI of his wife can inhabit in order to communicate and have some resemblance of his previous life. Peters keeps Keon’s love alive throughout the novel, with each new thread of his investigation becoming somehow linked and helping Keon get ever closer to the truth of her death, and why she was where she was at the time. It is clear that Keon feels some sort of guilt towards her death in his inability to understand her mindset at the time, and this is something that travels with him right through to the bitter end.
From Darkest Skies is a novel that flows brilliantly with pacing, writing style, and overall structure. The world of Magenta and the politics of this society are easily understandable and I loved the array of cultures that Peters brings together. Our main group of characters are a mixture of Earthers and Magentans with different belief systems, and altogether different personalities. In particular, I really enjoyed the character of Rangesh who came across as flighty in his thought processes, but surprisingly smart behind this demeanour. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and I truly hope that I can go back to this world someday as I felt like there was some unfinished business towards the end of the novel.
March 12, 2017
This book is a wonderful Sci-Fi thriller with a complex story line ........ with many twist and turns that keeps the reader wondering what will happen next .
Keon Rouse has , since the death of his wife Alysha in a bombing on the colony world Magenta , spent the last five years on Earth .
After a security breach and the theft of one of the 'Masters'' objects from a display, for which he is held responsible - he is given just 15 hours to leave Earth and return to Magenta .
He has brought with him an illegal AI shell of Alysha , built from her data footprint .His knows his relationship with the Shell is unhealthy but he can't let her go , he still has too many unanswered questions .
Within hours of landing Rouse is ordered back to work for the Intelligence Services and is partnered with three diverse colleagues . Their case is the death of a Reality Star from a 'gen' drug overdose ......these drugs are not normally killers but their investigation leads them to believe that the drug has been modified to a specific genetic marker ----- many more user are likely to die unless they can find the source .
The more they investigate the drugs angle , the more they case begins to appear link to the people behind his wife's death .
How wide is the conspiracy ? who is trying to hamper their efforts ? and who is trying to kill them ?
The characterisation , dialogue and interactions between Keon and the members of his team make this book a enjoyable read . I hope that is not the last book in this Universe as ....... without spoiling the ending ....... many more questions arise than those answered .
I was given an Arc of this book by the Publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review .
Keon Rouse has , since the death of his wife Alysha in a bombing on the colony world Magenta , spent the last five years on Earth .
After a security breach and the theft of one of the 'Masters'' objects from a display, for which he is held responsible - he is given just 15 hours to leave Earth and return to Magenta .
He has brought with him an illegal AI shell of Alysha , built from her data footprint .His knows his relationship with the Shell is unhealthy but he can't let her go , he still has too many unanswered questions .
Within hours of landing Rouse is ordered back to work for the Intelligence Services and is partnered with three diverse colleagues . Their case is the death of a Reality Star from a 'gen' drug overdose ......these drugs are not normally killers but their investigation leads them to believe that the drug has been modified to a specific genetic marker ----- many more user are likely to die unless they can find the source .
The more they investigate the drugs angle , the more they case begins to appear link to the people behind his wife's death .
How wide is the conspiracy ? who is trying to hamper their efforts ? and who is trying to kill them ?
The characterisation , dialogue and interactions between Keon and the members of his team make this book a enjoyable read . I hope that is not the last book in this Universe as ....... without spoiling the ending ....... many more questions arise than those answered .
I was given an Arc of this book by the Publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review .
January 29, 2017
… absorbing SF/crime thriller …
An absorbing SF/crime thriller with strong characterisation surfing above some inventive and intricate world building.
Government Agent Rouse returns to the distant planet of Magenta to continue his duties whilst secretly investigating the murder of fellow agent and wife, Alysha. He has brought with him an illegal AI shell of her, built from her data footprint. Can Rouse find out what really happened on that train whilst tackling corporate crime and the drugs trade on Magenta?
I enjoyed Sam‘s characterisation, Rangesh in particular, and his sure way with dialogue. He uses the contrast between Rouse’s grief and the team banter to great effect; and the novel also explores a human’s personal and intense relationship with AI. It reads as though it was great fun to write and there’s clearly room for a sequel.
Recommended.
Cover design moment: Unfortunately, as this is an ARC, there’s no trace of a designer credit on the copy but – huzzah! – it has a WHITE background and strong, clear image.
Sam’s biog reads: … a mathematician, part-time gentle-person adventurer and occasional screenwriter who has seen faces glaze over at the words ‘science fiction’ once too often. … Has more hopes than regrets, more cats than children, watches a lot of violent contact sport and is an unrepentant closet goth.
This book is the second review in my British Books Challenge 2017.
From Darkest Skies by Sam Peters will be published by Orion on 20 April 2017. Emily at Emily’s Bookshop lent me her review copy. Thanks, Em!
An absorbing SF/crime thriller with strong characterisation surfing above some inventive and intricate world building.
Government Agent Rouse returns to the distant planet of Magenta to continue his duties whilst secretly investigating the murder of fellow agent and wife, Alysha. He has brought with him an illegal AI shell of her, built from her data footprint. Can Rouse find out what really happened on that train whilst tackling corporate crime and the drugs trade on Magenta?
I enjoyed Sam‘s characterisation, Rangesh in particular, and his sure way with dialogue. He uses the contrast between Rouse’s grief and the team banter to great effect; and the novel also explores a human’s personal and intense relationship with AI. It reads as though it was great fun to write and there’s clearly room for a sequel.
Recommended.
Cover design moment: Unfortunately, as this is an ARC, there’s no trace of a designer credit on the copy but – huzzah! – it has a WHITE background and strong, clear image.
Sam’s biog reads: … a mathematician, part-time gentle-person adventurer and occasional screenwriter who has seen faces glaze over at the words ‘science fiction’ once too often. … Has more hopes than regrets, more cats than children, watches a lot of violent contact sport and is an unrepentant closet goth.
This book is the second review in my British Books Challenge 2017.
From Darkest Skies by Sam Peters will be published by Orion on 20 April 2017. Emily at Emily’s Bookshop lent me her review copy. Thanks, Em!
August 22, 2017
Very good
Shows the madness of losing someone close to you, how that can effect the day to day of life and seem quite normal if actually not.
All tied under a space mystery with a variety of archetypal detectives on a strange futuristic world (still filled with all the same problems as the present). Story is good if not great, characterization and themes make it a tale you have to get to the end of.
Shows the madness of losing someone close to you, how that can effect the day to day of life and seem quite normal if actually not.
All tied under a space mystery with a variety of archetypal detectives on a strange futuristic world (still filled with all the same problems as the present). Story is good if not great, characterization and themes make it a tale you have to get to the end of.
February 24, 2019
A light read. As science fiction it has little new to offer.
The characters were caricatures. Well drawn back lacking depth.
The story kicked along at a good pace and was engaging.
The twist at the end was odd and added nothing to the story. It should have been woven in earlier to greater effect.
A planet put together in a game with the authors friends. The same amount of care seems to have been given to its literary worth.
The characters were caricatures. Well drawn back lacking depth.
The story kicked along at a good pace and was engaging.
The twist at the end was odd and added nothing to the story. It should have been woven in earlier to greater effect.
A planet put together in a game with the authors friends. The same amount of care seems to have been given to its literary worth.
May 9, 2017
I won this one in a Giveaway and have just finished reading it.
A rather enjoyable bit of SF with some nice world building. The investigation/thriller part could have done with being stronger but it's promising for a first novel and I am hoping that there will be a follow up that expands the background and follows some of the loose ends.
A rather enjoyable bit of SF with some nice world building. The investigation/thriller part could have done with being stronger but it's promising for a first novel and I am hoping that there will be a follow up that expands the background and follows some of the loose ends.
November 6, 2018
Interesting premise and nice world-building. However, the heavy exposition had me checking (and double checking) to see if this was a sequel. I couldn't believe it wasn't. if you can put that aside, it was fun.
March 30, 2021
I kept reading so I obviously wanted to know what happened but I really didn’t care a ton about the characters which led to the 3 stars. The world, Magenta,itself was interesting- maybe needed a bit more for me to follow easily.
November 24, 2019
I had a hard time getting into this one. The plot seemed to jump all over the place and didn't hold my attention.
May 14, 2017
Missing the mark on a few elements but overall an appealing space thriller. Magenta is an unforgettable planet and Peters is a master of imagery.
Warning: There are one or two spoilers included in this review concerning characters and their involvement in the plot.
I was so excited when I received my copy of From Darkest Skies. A science-fiction thriller where a grieving husband uses an A.I. recreation of his wife to try and solve the riddle of her mysterious death, I was ready to have my mind blown. And it was, just not in the manner I was actually expecting. From Darkest Skies is a satisfactory science-fiction/thriller story with some pretty amazing elements running through it. Keon Rouse has been returned to Magenta, his home planet, after a 5 year stay on Earth.
He was removed from earth after a priceless piece of technology that he was guarding was stolen. The grief from his loss is still fresh even after 5 years and returning to where they shared a life prompts Keon to jump straight back into an investigation regarding the suspicious death of his beloved wife Alysha. To help him, he has an A.I. version of Alysha which was created by compiling all the digital information she left behind and inserting it into a physical shell.
Keon returns to his post in Magenta’s own intelligence service. His mission, and the main plot line, is to investigate the horrific and explosive death of a high profile individual. Keon’s position allows him to select his own team, and he chooses some interesting individuals. Rangesh is Magentan agent who is incredibly laid back, talks like a bro (Boss dude…!) but is an extremely competent detective. Patterson is an ex-lover and angry badass. Finally Zohreya is an artificially engineered warrior who is both effective and honest. I really enjoyed the team’s dynamic, not all friendly, but not all business either.
The two central plots both work quite well together and also work separately too. I enjoyed the main investigation into the explosive deaths more that I did Keon’s quest to find out what happened to Alysha on that train. The main investigation takes the crew all over Magenta and it is a stunning and exciting setting. I cannot wait to see how it translates to television. The rich colours/landscape, the harsh and unforgiving weather conditions and the ‘transgravity’ have so much potential for making this something amazing on the small screen.
I did not appreciate Keon’s mission for answers because of two reasons. The lesser reason is that it is a rather repetitive plot line. I didn’t really get into it too much and the only time I really invested myself in it was right towards the end. The main reason that I didn’t appreciate Keon’s personal plot was because Alysha’s A.I. was barely included as a character (one of the main reasons I was excited for the book) and did very little towards the objective other keep the pain in Keon’s heart fresh…
Sam Peters has a writing style that packs a punch and I enjoyed every moment I spent inside his world. Peters explores some interesting themes including disease, drug addiction, media, government and grief. My all time favourite element of this book was most definitely the imagery. I felt that Peters managed to express his world perfectly and I very much look forward to reading more adventures set on these planets. Hopefully fleshing out ‘The Masters’ a lot more…? Please!
Overall I have given From Darkest Skies 3/5 stars because though I appreciated the setting, the writing and 1 out of 2 storylines, I felt let down that the main attraction to this novel was seriously underdeveloped. Sam Peters is an outstanding science-fiction author though and his writing makes me happy, so I can’t wait for him to continue the series, which he needs to, soon!
Warning: There are one or two spoilers included in this review concerning characters and their involvement in the plot.
I was so excited when I received my copy of From Darkest Skies. A science-fiction thriller where a grieving husband uses an A.I. recreation of his wife to try and solve the riddle of her mysterious death, I was ready to have my mind blown. And it was, just not in the manner I was actually expecting. From Darkest Skies is a satisfactory science-fiction/thriller story with some pretty amazing elements running through it. Keon Rouse has been returned to Magenta, his home planet, after a 5 year stay on Earth.
He was removed from earth after a priceless piece of technology that he was guarding was stolen. The grief from his loss is still fresh even after 5 years and returning to where they shared a life prompts Keon to jump straight back into an investigation regarding the suspicious death of his beloved wife Alysha. To help him, he has an A.I. version of Alysha which was created by compiling all the digital information she left behind and inserting it into a physical shell.
Keon returns to his post in Magenta’s own intelligence service. His mission, and the main plot line, is to investigate the horrific and explosive death of a high profile individual. Keon’s position allows him to select his own team, and he chooses some interesting individuals. Rangesh is Magentan agent who is incredibly laid back, talks like a bro (Boss dude…!) but is an extremely competent detective. Patterson is an ex-lover and angry badass. Finally Zohreya is an artificially engineered warrior who is both effective and honest. I really enjoyed the team’s dynamic, not all friendly, but not all business either.
The two central plots both work quite well together and also work separately too. I enjoyed the main investigation into the explosive deaths more that I did Keon’s quest to find out what happened to Alysha on that train. The main investigation takes the crew all over Magenta and it is a stunning and exciting setting. I cannot wait to see how it translates to television. The rich colours/landscape, the harsh and unforgiving weather conditions and the ‘transgravity’ have so much potential for making this something amazing on the small screen.
I did not appreciate Keon’s mission for answers because of two reasons. The lesser reason is that it is a rather repetitive plot line. I didn’t really get into it too much and the only time I really invested myself in it was right towards the end. The main reason that I didn’t appreciate Keon’s personal plot was because Alysha’s A.I. was barely included as a character (one of the main reasons I was excited for the book) and did very little towards the objective other keep the pain in Keon’s heart fresh…
Sam Peters has a writing style that packs a punch and I enjoyed every moment I spent inside his world. Peters explores some interesting themes including disease, drug addiction, media, government and grief. My all time favourite element of this book was most definitely the imagery. I felt that Peters managed to express his world perfectly and I very much look forward to reading more adventures set on these planets. Hopefully fleshing out ‘The Masters’ a lot more…? Please!
Overall I have given From Darkest Skies 3/5 stars because though I appreciated the setting, the writing and 1 out of 2 storylines, I felt let down that the main attraction to this novel was seriously underdeveloped. Sam Peters is an outstanding science-fiction author though and his writing makes me happy, so I can’t wait for him to continue the series, which he needs to, soon!
May 19, 2017
No one likes to see a loved one die, but when they do we can reflect on how they lived and eventually move on with a piece of them inside us. However, what would happen if we could take all the memories we have saved on the internet and combine them into an Artificial Intelligence that represented them? Would this work to keep them close, or just give you a false facsimile that prevents you from moving on?
Agent Keon Rause has been in mourning for five years over his wife Agent Alysha Rause, but rather than using this time to heal, he instead had her memories transferred into an AI programme that talks to him. With the voice of his dead wife ever present he is transferred back to the planet on which she was killed. Can he investigate her death whilst still working alongside his new colleague to catch a killer that is using a genetically modified drug to kill seemingly random victims?
Sometimes the best science fiction is simple, whilst other times it is layered so thickly that you do not know where to start. ‘‘From Darkest Skies’’ by Sam Peters is one of those intense sci fi novels that has more layers than a manic mille-feuille, but so many of them work. When choosing what the book is about you have an abundance of options; AI gone bad, designer drugs of the future, techo crime noir or mysterious alien space opera. The book is all these things, but Peters manages to balance them.
At its real core ‘‘Darkest’’ is a crime noir in the style of ‘‘Blade Runner’’. Like many crime books our hero has an addiction; not alcohol or drugs, but an addiction to grief. Rause is driven by the need to know more about his wife’s death and this leads to some dark places. The blurb on the book would have you believe that the story is all about Rause and the love for his dead wife’s AI, but that is only part of a larger whole. The start is bogged down slightly by building the reader’s knowledge of Rause and his wife, but it soon opens up into a wider story.
To accompany Rause on his quest are a set of mismatched agents who are just as interesting as he is, from the stoner cop who knows the drug scene a little too well, to the straight laced cop who appears a little too uptight. The AI storyline takes a backseat in favour of a solid crime story that happens to be set on a different planet.
It is the subtle world building that Peters creates throughout this book that is the highlight. As a story it concentrates on the crime, but we are given glimpses into a whole other Meta story about an alien race that carved the Earth in their own image and shipped pockets of humanity onto new planets for a reason no one can understand. This is a huge concept and rather than adding 200 pages and explaining the extraneous details, Peters lets the information flow naturally so that it feels like a coherent background, never taking the spotlight from the main story.
With so many ideas to juggle, Peters does a great job of making it all make sense; the alien planets, the fungal drugs and the AI lover. Therefore, it is a slight shame that the crime element of the tale becomes a little too confused, with so many leads the reader can become a little lost. However, when you are lost in such a vibrant and alternative world you do not mind too much. Peters would had an absolute classic had the book managed to control the complexities of the crime genre element to the same standard as the science fiction elements. Original review on thebookbag.co.uk
Agent Keon Rause has been in mourning for five years over his wife Agent Alysha Rause, but rather than using this time to heal, he instead had her memories transferred into an AI programme that talks to him. With the voice of his dead wife ever present he is transferred back to the planet on which she was killed. Can he investigate her death whilst still working alongside his new colleague to catch a killer that is using a genetically modified drug to kill seemingly random victims?
Sometimes the best science fiction is simple, whilst other times it is layered so thickly that you do not know where to start. ‘‘From Darkest Skies’’ by Sam Peters is one of those intense sci fi novels that has more layers than a manic mille-feuille, but so many of them work. When choosing what the book is about you have an abundance of options; AI gone bad, designer drugs of the future, techo crime noir or mysterious alien space opera. The book is all these things, but Peters manages to balance them.
At its real core ‘‘Darkest’’ is a crime noir in the style of ‘‘Blade Runner’’. Like many crime books our hero has an addiction; not alcohol or drugs, but an addiction to grief. Rause is driven by the need to know more about his wife’s death and this leads to some dark places. The blurb on the book would have you believe that the story is all about Rause and the love for his dead wife’s AI, but that is only part of a larger whole. The start is bogged down slightly by building the reader’s knowledge of Rause and his wife, but it soon opens up into a wider story.
To accompany Rause on his quest are a set of mismatched agents who are just as interesting as he is, from the stoner cop who knows the drug scene a little too well, to the straight laced cop who appears a little too uptight. The AI storyline takes a backseat in favour of a solid crime story that happens to be set on a different planet.
It is the subtle world building that Peters creates throughout this book that is the highlight. As a story it concentrates on the crime, but we are given glimpses into a whole other Meta story about an alien race that carved the Earth in their own image and shipped pockets of humanity onto new planets for a reason no one can understand. This is a huge concept and rather than adding 200 pages and explaining the extraneous details, Peters lets the information flow naturally so that it feels like a coherent background, never taking the spotlight from the main story.
With so many ideas to juggle, Peters does a great job of making it all make sense; the alien planets, the fungal drugs and the AI lover. Therefore, it is a slight shame that the crime element of the tale becomes a little too confused, with so many leads the reader can become a little lost. However, when you are lost in such a vibrant and alternative world you do not mind too much. Peters would had an absolute classic had the book managed to control the complexities of the crime genre element to the same standard as the science fiction elements. Original review on thebookbag.co.uk
June 16, 2019
Keon Rause is a cop on Magenta, a distant colonised world, although FBI agent might be a little closer to the right image. His wife and fellow agent Alysha has been killed in a terrorist attack and Rause has had a five year secondment on Earth to try and escape from his memories. Except he’s used that time to create a virtual copy of his dead wife using all public recordings ever made of her to build up the simulation (a trope I’m coming across more often it seems this being the third time this kind of construct has appeared in recent stories). And far from forgetting, he is now returning to Magenta with Alysha’s simulation and an obsession to discover what was really behind her death.
What follows is a pretty much standard police procedural, which is, sadly, very much not my preferred sub-genre, so I guess I’m on a bit of a loser from the get go. But that is compounded by all sorts of SF elements that are touched on and then largely ignored. The strange and fascinating world of Magenta is examined in a fair bit of detail but essentially most other SF aspects are largely incidental. All bar one which, for me, is the elephant in the room. Someone has a bit of the unknowable alien Masters’ (one of those SF elements not followed through) tech that is so advanced it is effectively magic; an invisibility device. Peters’ might as well have drawn a big sign pointing at this bit of tech saying “here’s a dirty great big deus ex machina which you will encounter repeatedly throughout the story”. In fact it seemed to be almost the only real purpose for having the alien Masters in the story. These aliens have long since disappeared, apparently leaving the humans to their own devices, after, incidentally, first wiping out a significant proportion of humanity, then scattering them around the universe but leaving some massive automated ships that shuttle back and forth between the colonies using more unknowable tech. This seems such an incredibly significant concept and yet it is hardly looked at all. It’s just left hanging; often referred to but never really examined.
For me this just grated; it was never presented in any detail, the reader must just sit back and accept this handwavium, like it or not. To make matters worse the person with the invisibility device gets around and through locked doors etc, by closely following authorised people through these doors and then occupying the same room with these people. Of course nobody ever notices, nobody ever touches or is touched by this person, nobody even feels another presence. No this person is so quiet and so perfectly avoids contact with anyone else that no one even suspects their presence. For me this is like taking the deus ex machina and putting huge bells and whistles on it. I didn’t quite give up on the book but I nearly did. It pushed plausibility and my suspension of disbelief way too far. A disappointment and I won’t be continuing with the sequels.
What follows is a pretty much standard police procedural, which is, sadly, very much not my preferred sub-genre, so I guess I’m on a bit of a loser from the get go. But that is compounded by all sorts of SF elements that are touched on and then largely ignored. The strange and fascinating world of Magenta is examined in a fair bit of detail but essentially most other SF aspects are largely incidental. All bar one which, for me, is the elephant in the room. Someone has a bit of the unknowable alien Masters’ (one of those SF elements not followed through) tech that is so advanced it is effectively magic; an invisibility device. Peters’ might as well have drawn a big sign pointing at this bit of tech saying “here’s a dirty great big deus ex machina which you will encounter repeatedly throughout the story”. In fact it seemed to be almost the only real purpose for having the alien Masters in the story. These aliens have long since disappeared, apparently leaving the humans to their own devices, after, incidentally, first wiping out a significant proportion of humanity, then scattering them around the universe but leaving some massive automated ships that shuttle back and forth between the colonies using more unknowable tech. This seems such an incredibly significant concept and yet it is hardly looked at all. It’s just left hanging; often referred to but never really examined.
For me this just grated; it was never presented in any detail, the reader must just sit back and accept this handwavium, like it or not. To make matters worse the person with the invisibility device gets around and through locked doors etc, by closely following authorised people through these doors and then occupying the same room with these people. Of course nobody ever notices, nobody ever touches or is touched by this person, nobody even feels another presence. No this person is so quiet and so perfectly avoids contact with anyone else that no one even suspects their presence. For me this is like taking the deus ex machina and putting huge bells and whistles on it. I didn’t quite give up on the book but I nearly did. It pushed plausibility and my suspension of disbelief way too far. A disappointment and I won’t be continuing with the sequels.
May 10, 2017
While I'm a huge sff fan, I stay a lot more on the 'fantasy' end of the scale. When I do dip in to sci-fi, From Darkest Skies is a perfect example of what I like to read. It's fast paced and while the technology is significantly more advanced than our own, the book doesn't get bogged down in trying to explain the science behind everything. In fact, most things just 'are' in the book - when something like a high tech weapon is used, there's enough description of how it's fired and the damage it does that a reader can picture what's happening, but doesn't go into more detail.
From Darkest Skies is a police procedural crime novel, set on a tiny colonised planet sometime in the future. There are glimpses of how humanity came to leave earth, but that's not a big part of the story. Keon Rause has barely returned to Magenta, the planet, when he's pulled into investigating the death of a partying society girl. While it appears she overdosed somehow, the drug in question doesn't normally do any long-term damage. As Rause and his team investigate, the stakes get higher and higher - several someones do not want the truth to come out. Tied around this is Keon Rause's personal investigation into the death of his wife.
I really enjoyed the speed of the novel - Sam Peters has created a tight plot where there is always something happening. I love shows like C.S.I. so reading a book like that with futuristic technology on a colonised world was a lot of fun. Peters has also built a brilliant cast of central characters. The other members of Rause's team have distinctive personalities and a variety of personal backgrounds and issues. My favourite was Rangesh, who certainly doesn't do things by-the-book and had me laughing a lot, even though he irritated me a little at first. I really hope there are other books set around these characters in future so we can continue to see them develop.
The plot moves swiftly but the twists and turns kept me guessing. The capabilities of the AIs were a bit creepy at times, and there's a very 'big brother is watching you' aspect to the world with cameras everywhere. I thought the loopholes people found to work around that were really interesting. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it, both to fans of sci-fi and those (like me) who read it less frequently. A police team solving crimes in space - what's not to like? I'm giving From Darkest Skies 9/10.
[Review first posted on my book blog. A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]
From Darkest Skies is a police procedural crime novel, set on a tiny colonised planet sometime in the future. There are glimpses of how humanity came to leave earth, but that's not a big part of the story. Keon Rause has barely returned to Magenta, the planet, when he's pulled into investigating the death of a partying society girl. While it appears she overdosed somehow, the drug in question doesn't normally do any long-term damage. As Rause and his team investigate, the stakes get higher and higher - several someones do not want the truth to come out. Tied around this is Keon Rause's personal investigation into the death of his wife.
I really enjoyed the speed of the novel - Sam Peters has created a tight plot where there is always something happening. I love shows like C.S.I. so reading a book like that with futuristic technology on a colonised world was a lot of fun. Peters has also built a brilliant cast of central characters. The other members of Rause's team have distinctive personalities and a variety of personal backgrounds and issues. My favourite was Rangesh, who certainly doesn't do things by-the-book and had me laughing a lot, even though he irritated me a little at first. I really hope there are other books set around these characters in future so we can continue to see them develop.
The plot moves swiftly but the twists and turns kept me guessing. The capabilities of the AIs were a bit creepy at times, and there's a very 'big brother is watching you' aspect to the world with cameras everywhere. I thought the loopholes people found to work around that were really interesting. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it, both to fans of sci-fi and those (like me) who read it less frequently. A police team solving crimes in space - what's not to like? I'm giving From Darkest Skies 9/10.
[Review first posted on my book blog. A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]
September 3, 2017
From Darkest Skies is the debut novel from Sam Peters (review copy from Gollancz). It's a crime thriller set on a colony world in space. Agent Keon Rause is newly returned home and investigating the deth from drug overdose of a celebrity, while on the side investigating the death of his wife in a terrorist attack several years previously.
This is solid and dependable stuff. Think of a mismatched crew of investigators, led by Rause, all with different skills and mysterious backgrounds. Think of a simple investigation that reveals a major conspiracy that threatens the world. Think of signs that the wife's death was not all it appeared to be. You know what to expect with this kind of thing.
The book does have some interesting aspects to it. Agent Rause has created an illegal android analogue of his late wife, Alysha, with a personality matrix built from everything that has been recorded of her life, opinions and what she did and believed. Rause uses it as a comfort as he fails to come to terms with her death. But it's an imperfect copy, lacking Alysha's inner life and deepest thoughts. The android is unable to help him piece together what motivated Alysha to run away in her final hours of life and find herself on a train that was blown up by terrorists. From Darkest Skies asks us how well we can ever know a person, even in a world of omni-present social media and surveillance.
Some interesting world-building is hinted at too. Alien beings called The Masters were responsible for the destruction of large parts of Earth, and for dispersing its population throughout the universe on a number of colony worlds. This piece of history is only mentioned in passing in this novel, but if offers some fascinating hints of where future books could go.
I will watch with interest to see what Peters comes up with next. This is a promising debut.
This is solid and dependable stuff. Think of a mismatched crew of investigators, led by Rause, all with different skills and mysterious backgrounds. Think of a simple investigation that reveals a major conspiracy that threatens the world. Think of signs that the wife's death was not all it appeared to be. You know what to expect with this kind of thing.
The book does have some interesting aspects to it. Agent Rause has created an illegal android analogue of his late wife, Alysha, with a personality matrix built from everything that has been recorded of her life, opinions and what she did and believed. Rause uses it as a comfort as he fails to come to terms with her death. But it's an imperfect copy, lacking Alysha's inner life and deepest thoughts. The android is unable to help him piece together what motivated Alysha to run away in her final hours of life and find herself on a train that was blown up by terrorists. From Darkest Skies asks us how well we can ever know a person, even in a world of omni-present social media and surveillance.
Some interesting world-building is hinted at too. Alien beings called The Masters were responsible for the destruction of large parts of Earth, and for dispersing its population throughout the universe on a number of colony worlds. This piece of history is only mentioned in passing in this novel, but if offers some fascinating hints of where future books could go.
I will watch with interest to see what Peters comes up with next. This is a promising debut.
July 11, 2018
Some said this will be a TV series. Yeah, that's what I couldn't put my finger on while starting this review. It feels a bit more written-for-TV than written-to-be-read.
There's some interesting worldbuilding. I would have liked a little more detail here, a little less there, but your mileage will vary.
The crime aspect is a bit muddled but not seriously. I was able to figure a few things out quite early, but without a why or how that wasn't a problem.
The invisibility suit comes VERY close to breaking the suspension of disbelief. Partly because if they exist, we have to think about who ELSE has one and how they are used.
Similarly, can this mid-level cop really be the only one who has built a shell-AI model of his lost love? No way, and that being the case where are the social implications of this? Are the top government officials shells? Can shells have shells? Can you make several shells of the same person?
Some of the characters were quite good. But Rangesh? C'mon. Jar-Jar Rangesh? Like, is there, some kind of throwback fad, man, where we all hang ten and, like, chill, because, huh, huh, Rangesh appears to be the only one in in the fad. But I will award a point for the author making it clear that Rangesh IS competent. Also, for having been written off as a plodder, Zohreya came across pretty funky. For Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans, I see her as Rosa.
Will I read #2 - maybe. Probably check reviews first.
There's some interesting worldbuilding. I would have liked a little more detail here, a little less there, but your mileage will vary.
The crime aspect is a bit muddled but not seriously. I was able to figure a few things out quite early, but without a why or how that wasn't a problem.
The invisibility suit comes VERY close to breaking the suspension of disbelief. Partly because if they exist, we have to think about who ELSE has one and how they are used.
Similarly, can this mid-level cop really be the only one who has built a shell-AI model of his lost love? No way, and that being the case where are the social implications of this? Are the top government officials shells? Can shells have shells? Can you make several shells of the same person?
Some of the characters were quite good. But Rangesh? C'mon. Jar-Jar Rangesh? Like, is there, some kind of throwback fad, man, where we all hang ten and, like, chill, because, huh, huh, Rangesh appears to be the only one in in the fad. But I will award a point for the author making it clear that Rangesh IS competent. Also, for having been written off as a plodder, Zohreya came across pretty funky. For Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans, I see her as Rosa.
Will I read #2 - maybe. Probably check reviews first.
July 20, 2019
From Darkest Skies is pretty slow for the first 50 pages or so. I almost decided to return it to the library a day after I checked it out. For some reason though, I managed to stick it out and after a while you do develop empathy for the main characters. I think the highlight of this book is Laura Patterson, the woman who plays against the main character Keon Rause, and accompanies him for most of the book. Sam Peters successfully writes a story with interactions between a man and a woman without having to be physically romantic. The conversations and personalities of his characters are so like real life. Just buckle down and read it in small chunks. Eventually you'll get into the actual mystery enough to want to finish the book.
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