A Pale Light in the Black

NeoG #1

by K.B. Wagers

The Expanse meets the Battle Room in Ender's Game as K. B. Wagers brings us the rollicking first entry in a unique science fiction series that introduces the Near-Earth Orbital Guard—NeoG—a military force patrolling and protecting space inspired by the real-life mission of the U.S. Coast Guard.

For the past year, their close loss in the annual Boarding Games has haunted Interceptor Team: Zuma’s Ghost. With this year’s competition looming, they’re looking forward to some payback—until an unexpected personnel change leaves them reeling. Their best swordsman has been transferred, and a new lieutenant has been assigned in his place.

Maxine Carmichael is trying to carve a place in the world on her own—away from the pressure and influence of her powerful family. The last thing she wants is to cause trouble at her command on Jupiter Station. With her new team in turmoil, Max must overcome her self-doubt and win their trust if she’s going to succeed. Failing is not an option—and would only prove her parents right.

But Max and the team must learn to work together quickly. A routine mission to retrieve a missing ship has suddenly turned dangerous, and now their lives are on the line. Someone is targeting members of Zuma’s Ghost, a mysterious opponent willing to kill to safeguard a secret that could shake society to its core . . . a secret that could lead to their deaths and kill thousands more unless Max and her new team stop them.

Rescue those in danger, find the bad guys, win the Games. It’s all in a day’s work at the NeoG.

Genres: Science Fiction, LGBT, Fiction, Space Opera, Queer, Space, Mystery

432 pages, Paperback

First published March 3, 2020

About the author

K.B. Wagers is the author of the Indranan & Farian War trilogies with Orbit Books and the new NeoG novels from Harper Voyager. They hold a bachelor's degree in Russian Studies and a second-degree black belt in Shaolin Kung Fu. A native of Colorado, K.B. lives at the base of the Rocky Mountains with their partner and a crew of recalcitrant cats. In between books, they can be found attempting to learn Spanish, dying in video games, dancing to music, and scribbling new ideas in their bullet journal. They are represented by Andrew Zack of The Zack Company.

Reviews

[carol. · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the Venn diagram of reading interests, this is a series for those who want the harmonious sensibilities and conventional world-building of Becky Chambers crossed with the in-depth strategic analysis of a sports journalist. The Near-Earth Orbital Guard is a branch of the, well, inter-galactic armed forces and every year, said armed forces meet and compete (I'm picturing the rivalry of the Army-Navy game, although apparently the NeoGuard is based on the Coast Guard). At any rate, in between prepping for the game, the Space Guard has to actually do some stuff, like investigate a derelict ship and some smugglers.

The characters are what drew me in, with emotional development that feels nuanced and realistic. Maxine has left the clutches of her influential family and joined the NeoGuard. Jenks is a former street kid, all grown up and a key player in the NeoGuard's fighters. Together, they will... well, you know the drill. Written in third person, the narrative primarily focuses on Max and Jenks, with occasional jumps into one of the many other team members. The people are representative of a wide variety of sexualities, and talents, although not, perhaps, as many cultural differences. There's one with a religious difference to throw more cross-cultural understanding into the mix. 

"The hardest part was the smiling.
Commander Rosa Martin Rivas pasted another smile onto her face as she wove through the crowds and headed for her ship at the far end of the hanger. She and the rest of the members of Zuma's Ghost had weathered the post-Games interviews with as much grace as a losing team could, answering question after question about how it felt to come within three points of beating Commander Carmichael's SEAL team without ever breaking expression."

Plotting was curious. If you read the blurb, as I did, it talks about "a routine mission...suddenly turned dangerous...willing to kill to safeguard a secret." I got the impression that the story would segue from these Games to a deadly confrontation. But instead of the storylines running congruently, the mystery is chopped up. To me, the Games take up far too much word space, sacrificing the actual threat. In the world of roller coasters, the Games should have been the little hill that gives momentum for the big scary one. Instead, pacing felt like it all built to the Games and the "dangerous secret" is coasting off earlier momentum.

If you will insist on calling Legends & Lattes cozy fantasy, I will nominate this one to be included into the cozy-sci-fi category. What's fun about reading a new author is having no idea where one will end up, but I didn't feel a lot of surprise with this story. Despite some legitimate emotional trauma (tidily disposed of) and some physical danger (but was never really meant to be danger, they swear), I never felt any suspense. Nonetheless, sometimes that's a relief. No everything has to be a nail-biter, does it? And the personal growth and character interactions really were sweet, even if there's a bit too much HEA happening.

Oh, and trigger warning, if you are a person that gets annoyed by random inclusion of non-traditional family and sex units (like Leviathan Wakes did with Holden's family), avoid this story.

Three and a half stars, rounding down because there's some parts that feel a bit too much like Setting an Example and Teaching Others to really be four stars.

[Lex Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a solid and enjoyable sci-fi read. I’m a big sci-fi fan but have not read as much lately as I would like too. This had the sci-fi space opera feel that I was looking for and I was happy to read this. This reminded me a bit of Firefly mixed with Starship Troopers with a pinch of Ender’s Game thrown in, but without all the bugs and aliens. This is a pure humans in space story that is very character driven.

There are three main characters: A lesbian, a bisexual woman, and an asexual woman. This book is very LGBTQ friendly, taking place in a time where sexuality and gender is just completely accepted. The romances are all light with no explicit sex scenes at all. There is not much more than a few hugs and kisses. I do have to say I was disappointed that Max and Jenks did not get together. They had the most chemistry of anyone and with how they kept growing closer, they would have been perfect for a romance. Instead, they were both paired up with male partners that were a little boring and lackluster. I’m guessing maybe Wagers didn’t want to have two wlw storylines going on (the other main is a married lesbian), but I think it was a real missed opportunity.

While this really is a book about characters and their relationship with family and friends, it also has a mystery that brings some action to the book, and a big competition. There are games that every military branch competes in and our main characters are trying to win the games for the first time. Everything from sword fighting to piloting, the games are like the World Cup or the Olympics, a really big deal. When our characters are not rescuing people in space, they are training for the games. It was a really fun part of the book between the competition and the military rivalries. My one complaint about this part is I think it was too rushed. The games are so important, that fact is hammered home, that the finale big game day is fast-forwarded too much for my tastes.

While I really enjoyed this read it did have some pacing issues. It takes a little while to really get into the story. Things were a little slow in the beginning and I was getting a little worried, luckily I soon got hooked into the story. However, the pacing issues did continue some. The story would slow down and the book at times seemed a little long. I noticed parts I would have personally cut-out, but then like I mentioned about the games, all of a sudden the pace went too fast and I wished it would slow back down. This was not a huge issue at the end of the day, but it was one of the major reasons why this was not more than a 4 star read for me.

If you are looking for an entertaining and lighter sci-fi story, this is a good choice. This is a story that is much more character driven but still had some good action that kept me entertained. I enjoyed the characters enough that I would absolutely read the next book in the series. The major storylines in this book are complete and this did NOT end in a cliffhanger which is always nice.

An ARC was given to me for a honest review.

[Renae · Rating 1 out of 5]

In a nutshell: Tone deaf pro-military propaganda for gay Republicans.

Far be it from me to tell other queer people what an empowering, affirming society should look like for them. The LGBTQ community is not a monolith with a unified vision for a single Queer Utopia. I get that. And the point of this review is not to wag my finger at K.B. Wagers and say “well, since this isn’t my idea of queer joy, your book is shit.”

Rather, my premise is this: A Pale Light in the Black portrays a future society so far removed from present reality that it tiptoes over the line from “upbeat and naïve” into the realm of “willfully, myopically privileged.”

My initial reaction to this book was did a gay Republican pretending to be a queer leftist write this? That sounds harsh, I know, but for reasons to become clear…I still gotta wonder.

I. OBLIVIOUS, TONE-DEAF, & PROPAGANDIZING

The first problem I found with A Pale Light in the Black is that Wagers’ world-building is so shallow as to become nonsensical—and, at times, outright offensive. The year is 2435, and humankind is recovering from a near-extinction event (which is never fully explained). Space travel and wormholes are now a thing, and a science has developed a way to extend human lifespans through the aid of a very expensive serum. (Said serum is not just a cool future tech, either—lengthened lifespans are the reason that humans were able to save their population from extinction.)

Right, so let’s talk about this life-extender serum, for starters. The propriety technology and formula behind this treatment are owned by a single family-run corporation, which is entirely in control of who has access and at what cost. This serum also requires constant booster injections, or it stops being effective. Obviously, this corporation isn’t giving shit out for free at your local community health center. So how does the Average Joe get some? Simple! They either go to work for the corporation, or they sign up for 40 years of military service.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: the protagonist of the book, Maxine, is the granddaughter of the serum’s inventor and sister to the current CEO.

…what.

To recap: life-saving medical treatments are being held hostage by an all-powerful business entity in exchange for indentured servitude to an imperialistic war machine. And at no point does this book meaningfully challenge this concept.

Which brings me to my next point of contention:

A Pale Light in the Black is 100% uncritical of the military or of its legacy. Every single character in this book is in the military—either the Near-Earth Orbital Guard (United States Coast Guard with rocket ships) or their “rival branch,” the navy. The vibe is meant to be very Found Family, Band of Brothers, etc., etc., which is lovely, but Wagers fails to critical engage with what the military actually is.

Conveniently, world peace (seems) to have been achieved. As I’ve indicated, this book’s world-building is incredibly bare bones, so there’s no explanation given. But it appears that Earth has been united under a single government, so there are no other humans for the global armed forces to fight against. Instead, the navy is just a giant Space Exploration Group with a lot of combat training, and the coast guard acts as Space Cops, chasing down smugglers and rescuing stranded ships. I have no clue what the army or air force do, because Wagers doesn’t tell us. Regardless, because there is no actual combat—or threat of combat—present in the text, the book gets to present its military characters as a noble, self-sacrificing bunch with no need to critically engage with the fact that, historically speaking, professional soldiers are tools of oppression.

Again, I get it. Just because I have a problem with the way the United States has used its armed forces to bully weaker nations doesn’t mean everyone cares about violent neocolonialism. And just because I have personally witnessed the way the military treats its members as faceless, disposable toys only to dump them in the gutter as soon as they crack under pressure doesn’t mean that everyone shares my view that it’s a toxic institution. And just because I am outraged that American teenagers are recruited straight out of high school to become participants in state-sanctioned genocide doesn’t mean that everyone is likewise concerned about the literal babies we are asking to die in pursuit of an alleged “liberty for all.”

But, respectfully to K.B. Wagers: if you aren’t cognizant of what the military means to people outside of your privileged white American bubble, where is your sense of perspective and intersectionality? And do you genuinely think that writing about a queer brown woman who’s given up her home and security to ensure that her family receives important medical treatment is a good fucking look for you? REALLY?

Oh, and I don’t even want to begin with the way the government in A Pale Light in the Black apparently keeps files/records of everyone’s gender and sexuality, and nobody sees why this could perhaps be very problematic.

Oh! Oh! And! For funsies, this book also features a futuristic offshoot of “evangelical Christianity” that seems just as horrible as the present iteration, and there’s a minor subplot involving a person telling their 5-year-old grandchild that they’re going to burn in hell forever if they stop going to church. Does Wagers meaningfully address the trauma associated with this kind of family dynamic? Of course not.

A Pale Light in the Black screams “queer space cops! fun! exciting! pew pew pew!” even as it desperately tries to sweep the larger implications of its premise under the rug.

II. HAPHAZARD, DISORGANIZED, & IRRELEVANT

Changing gears, it’s now time to share my grievances with the more technical aspects of this book, AKA the completely incoherent plot. This is caused by two main issues: (1) a dual storyline narrative where the two arcs never combine to create a unified novel; and (2) one of the storylines is completely pointless, in every sense. I’ll tackle #2 first, because it segues neatly into #1.

When A Pale Light in the Black begins, Wagers makes it immediately clear what the Important Goal for her characters will be: winning the annual Boarding Games after a humiliating defeat in last year’s competition. The Boarding Games, the reader learns, are a globally popular televised war exercise wherein teams representing the various branches of the military compete to prove they are the best. (Like the Hunger Games, except the author wants readers to support the pageantry of violence-for-entertainment.)

Aside from the fact that I have no idea why practicing battle tactics is important when universal world peace has been achieved, this is nevertheless an engaging hook. But the issue is that K.B. Wagers never shows their reader why it’s necessary for the protagonists to win the Boarding Games. What makes each member of the crew so motivated to win? The narrative repeatedly tells me that it’s Very Important that they win, but never tells me why it is so.

Thus, fully one-half of the text is watching characters train madly for a competition that doesn’t seem to matter, either in a personal sense or a global one. The only prize received by the winner of the Games is bragging rights and a sense of superiority over the other military branches. Which is not a worthwhile goal to spend hundreds of pages reading about. In real life, petty rivalries between similarly-situated teams are absolutely valid. But this is fiction, and “showing the world that the Space Coast Guard is better at punching things than the Space Navy” is boring as hell. This entire segment felt like pro-military propaganda. Honestly, just play the chorus of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” and call it a day.

The actual plot of this book is infinitely more exciting and worthy. It involves corporate espionage, smugglers, and family secrets. If Wagers had focused solely on this angle, they would have been far more successful. But instead, the story keeps cutting back and forth between the actual life-and-death stuff and…scenes were the characters sing the coast guard fight song with tears in their eyes?

This is a messy, messy book.

IN CONCLUSION: NOPE

I certainly do not wish to be elitist, but A Pale Light in the Black feels hopelessly ignorant. This book has the same vibe as an author writing a book about life in the Jim Crow South without conducting any research beyond the inaccurate accounts presented in a high school textbook. Is K.B. Wagers a stupid person? Probably not! Are they well-intentioned? Likely yes.

Regardless, A Pale Light in the Black fails to apply a modicum of critical thinking to its portrayal of gender and sexuality, the military industrial complex, religious extremism, and privatized healthcare. In addition, the book is poorly written, with a jumbled and nonsensical plot.

What I’m saying is, this is a really horrible book. In my opinion.

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[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhhh I loved this book. It's such a warm and cozy, low-angst space opera about a diverse team of caring, competent people working the equivalent of the Coast Guard in space, saving lives, prepping for a big inter-division sports event, and creating a found family along the way. There's a bit of plot, but honestly, the focus is all on the (wonderful) characters and their relationships, and that's exactly how I liked it - it was SUCH a kind and comforting book to read. Perfect for anyone who loved Becky Chambers's The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (but with a tiny bit more plot, whether that's a bonus or a negative for you!). It really, REALLY worked for me, and I am so impatient for Book 2 to arrive next year, because I want more time with this whole lovely team of people!

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I'm into the found family and cozy space opera aspects of this book, I'm gonna DNF this at 50% because

- neither of the two main plots are grabbing me: I don't care about this weird Olympic-like sports competition and the author has not convinced me why it's so important in this world; the mystery is unraveling far too slowly for my liking

- Uneven pacing: the narrative seems to speed up and gloss over events that I found more interesting, and linger over scenes that aren't important

- the world-building is superficial: I appreciate that all LGBTQ+ identities are accepted full stop in the future (careful pronoun usage, lesbian, bi, ace, poly, nonbinary characters) but this science fictional world feels a bit thin. Like, there's no plausible explanation as to how this happened or why it fits in this future culture. Plus the scientists say there are no aliens?!? Boring, plus I thought this goes against contemporary scientific hypotheses?

- I know this supposedly takes place in a very different future after a collapse of humanity (very vaguely explained to my disappointment), but reading a story that is so military-focused (and implicitly, pro-military) is not something I'm willing to tolerate except under exceptional circumstances

- I accidentally spoiled myself and found out Max (asexual, biromantic?) and Jenks (bisexual/romantic) both end up with bland dudes instead of each other which makes no sense as their chemistry and emerging relationship was my favourite part of the book

[Dr. Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Space gays are my favorite gays.

A Pale Light in the Black is about a futuristic branch of the military called the Near-Earth Orbital Guard or the NeoG. Their mission is to patrol space and protect others who need help--inspired by real life US Coast Guard missions!

This book starts off with a settled crew getting a new officer, Lieutenant Max Carmichael, who is replacing their expert swordsman, Lieutenant Commander Nika Vagin. Now that normally wouldn't be a big deal; however, the NeoG is trying to win a big inter-military competition and their whole strategy is thrown off. Our Commander, Rosa Martin, knows that there will be a place in the team for Max, but tensions are high especially with Petty Officer First Class, Altandai Khan who is also Nika's sister.

The beginning of this was a bit overwhelming. We get three POVs right off the bat and like 6-10 named characters and it was A LOT to keep track of at first. I definitely felt a bit dizzy. But after the first 5% or so I got settled in our narrative and the different characters. I loved our MC's right off the bat. They were all just SO GOOD and wanted to belong and Ahhhhh I just am soft over this giant ass found family.

There are two big plot lines throughout this novel: one is the Games and whether the team will get their shit together in order to win it all; and the other is a mystery that starts with a routine rescue mission turning dangerous and someone targeting the crew of the Zuma's Ghost. While there is action throughout the story, the main part of this book is all about the characters: how they are working with each other, how they fit together as team etc. This like The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is a BIGGEST FOUND FAMILY HUG. I loved it so much.

I loved everything about Max and seeing an ace character getting a leading role in an adult sci-fi is something I didn't know I was missing in my life!? Seeing Max overcome her insecurities and finding ways to be apart of the crew, just be still my cold heart. Also Jenks and Max's developing friendship was everything and I want MORE. Then there were the various romances in this and I am just LIVING for each and every one of them.

Bottom line: I need more queer adult sci-fi in my life!

Rep: Latine/x female CO in a WLW relationship with two children, biracial asexual female MC, polyamorous bisexual female MC, side character that loses an arm, nonbinary side characters. Very queer normative world.

CWs: Alcohol consumption, blood, death, kidnapping, medical content, murder, violence, past mentions of child abuse/neglect and emotional abuse (parent/children), religious bigotry, stalking, sexual content (mainly lots of innuendo).

[imyril is not really here any more · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a little while to warm up to A Pale Light in the Black, but much like Petty Officer Jenks once it had me by the throat it wasn't going to let up until it was good and ready.

If Becky Chambers leaves you hankering for more action in your casually inclusive, fundamentally good-hearted SF, KB Wagers and the NeoG have your back. I went from mildly interested to unable to put it down, and spent the second half sniffling as Wagers landed one emotional blow after another (in a good way) based on the architecture they'd put in place.

Undemanding fun, where the corporate conspiracy and military competition subplots ultimately play second fiddle to the best crew in the Near-Earth Orbital Guard confronting some of their issues as newbie officer Maxine Carmichael fights to find her place.

Full review

[Beth Cato · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this advance galley via NetGalley.

I'm a huge fan of Wagers's other sci-fi series (The Indranan War and The Farian War) and I was very excited to see what they could do with space opera set closer to Earth. While this book didn't have the instant magnetism of the previous books--in part because I had a hard time keeping the large cast straight in my head--once it's gets going, it's good.

The NEO-G are essentially the space coast guard. Under-funded and under-appreciated, they monitor the shipping lanes and keep travelers safe from threats foreign and domestic. There are no aliens. Humans travel space alone, and go long distances thanks to advances in extending the human life span--technology patented by Max Carmichael's family. However, she chose not to enter the company or the Navy, as dictated by tradition and her dictator parents, but to enter the NEO-G and really save people's lives. Shunned by her birth family, she finds a new family among her comrades in space as they do their day jobs and prepare for the big military rivalry reality-type show that happens once a year. However, when mischief in space points back toward Max's family and their hidden tech, she and her new friends start to dig for answers--and soon find themselves the targets of some dangerous people.

Timing is weird in publishing. Another book with a similar basic concept--Coast Guard in space, with a reality show component, is also out in March 2020. Sixteenth Watch by Myke Cole, being by an author with military experience, is also much deeper into the military aspect and the Coast Guard and Navy rivalry has much, much higher stakes. In comparison, A Pale Light in the Black is a breezier, lighter book more in the mode of Firefly. Both books use the same concepts well, and have entirely different vibes and plot lines.

What really shines in A Pale Light in the Black is the concept of found family. These are people who grow close, who have each other's backs, and get to zoom around in space and help others. I mean, what more can a person want?

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Shelves say enough...a few chapters in it was a tossup between falling asleep and vomiting.

...that was a little harsh, maybe a tossup between falling asleep and tossing the book out the window. You know because of the headache.

[Barb in Maryland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolute romp of a book! Great fun, engaging characters. I had a blast with this one.

[Hank · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was so much to like about this book, it was like a buddy movie with a ton of characters that go on a mild adventure. Easy to root for, happyness everywhere. The problem is that it was two stories poorly smashed together. The mystery, crime solving story was fine, I just never felt the drama. The competition games part was also fine but also lacking drama. The two stories just did not blend and although I was engaged with the characters, nothing made me worried to care too much.

Not bad, just not awesome.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

My quick pitch for A Pale Light in the Black is space coast guard plus found family but to just leave it there would be doing this book a huge disservice. There are so many lovable, well-developed characters in the NeoG that were all just trying to be decent to each other. I absolutely adored the casual queerness present in the story, particularly the fact that one of the main characters is ace and everyone was just automatically accepting of this element of her identity. Another thing I loved was that Wagers perfectly balanced character development with plot so there was always plenty of action to keep me hooked.

I read the majority of A Pale Light in the Black in one sitting because I just couldn't get enough of this world and these characters. I've already pre-ordered book 2 and July can't get here soon enough!

C/W:death of a loved one (off page), violence, loved one with critical injuries

[Tracy O'Brien · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m noping out of this at 80 pages in, and here’s why:

1) why bother?

I’ve read twenty percent of this book, about a big sporting event, and still have no idea why these games are important. No clue whatsoever. These aren’t college athletes with salaries on the line and NO EXPLANATION HAS BEEN GIVEN as to why it matters to a single team member.

2) that’s... that’s a TERRIBLE way to handle gender and sexual orientation what the HECK

So. The main character is on a government registry of asexual people and her commanding officer was given that information as part of her onboarding process. The pronoun HUD was bad enough (it’s definitely fine and not going to be a problem for anyone, no trans people will be harmed by this, love to have to register my pronouns with the military, love that for everyone) but this was just a bridge too far for me.

Your new boss getting your grades from academy along with your “asexual” designation is a horrifying bit of dystopian bureaucracy that would have been a great detail in some other novel. It’s clear, however, that the author intends the setting to be a gay space future where misogyny isn’t a horrific oppressive force, so this threw me so badly I gave up on the novel completely.

Honestly a D- for world-building all around on this one
C nothin’ for characterization
D+ on... being interesting

[Allyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another great read from author KB Wagers! This romp combines a lot of the things I love to see in my space operas! Romance! Cool action hero antics! Emotional talks with partners! Amazing world building that has inclusivity built in!! I love Max the main character and her journey as she grows with her new NeoG team and found family. I love the games and how it felt like the olympics with a spirit of competition and togetherness. Jenks is amazing and it was so good to see them grow emotionally through the story. The fights feel real and I love that there were call backs to pop culture that’s current now! I was given this earc by netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Mercy · Rating 5 out of 5]

ALL THE STARS!!!

[Marzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Author K.B. Wagers latest series offers a space opera world that feels like the lovechild of The Expanse and Becky Chamber's Wayfarers series. Although it lacks the species diversity of Chamber's books, it does offer racial, orientation, and economic diversity, and the found family of the crew of Zuma's Ghost, a NeoG (Near-Earth Orbital Guard vessel is similar in feel to Wayfarers. Set in the 2400s, centuries after a worldwide societal collapse, A Pale Light in the Black is equal parts military police procedural, big military tournament (the Boarding Games), and corporate espionage mystery. I'm not sure that the blend of these parts always worked well, and the resolution of the mystery that is threaded through the book came quite quickly at the end, with a paper-thin villain who shows up in the last fifth of the book out of nowhere, with a cause that seems to come out of nowhere, as well. The various characters, Max, Rosa, Jenks, Nika etc. are all enjoyable enough but the dialogue between them and their various significant others, children, and parents at times felt stilted and a bit too formulaic. Wagers writes action scenes quite well though, and the novel is at its best when the crew of the Zuma's Ghost are working problems and planning a daring rescue.

The powerful Carmichael family, of which Maxine is the youngest child, is a shadowy presence throughout the novel. We meet Max's siblings and learn of their psychological abuse and manipulation at the hands of parents in a powerful family, with strict expectations of conformity. I'm sure that we will be seeing more of them in subsequent installments. I'm also curious to see what Wagers plans for dealing with the recent disability of one of the characters. In spite of a few reservations about the plotting issues mentioned above, I'd definitely pick up the next installment because I grew to like the characters.

A Pale Light in the Black is a light space opera read that is quite LGBTQ friendly. The audiobook, narrated by Marisha Tapera, was an easy listen.

[Jeff Cosmi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry this was a DNF at 25% for me. From the part that I did read the writing was good but just boring. Nothing happened that made me want to stay up for one more chapter let alone continue reading the next day. After reading some other reviews to see where to book is going and will eventually end up there’s just no need for me to sit through this. There are too many great to good books in my TBR list to make me want to spend any additional time with this one. Thanks to good reads for proving this ARC to me.

[Mackenzie (mackenziespocket) · Rating 5 out of 5]

all the stars

[steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, this was a really fun read! I enjoyed reading about the crew of Zuma’s Ghost and the ‘found family’ aspect of it was great. 🥺♥️ There was a fantastic amount of diversity too (including lesbian, asexual and non-binary characters) and I really liked each POV.

I had some issues with the writing and the overall plot though... First, the writing. I don’t know if it’s just because I’ve been so used to reading first-person POV recently, but there were times when it took me a second to figure out who ‘she’ or ‘his’, etc. was referring to. Also, I sometimes disagreed with the punctuation being used (such as commas instead of en rules), which is admittedly not a hugely important thing, but sometimes I can’t turn the editor part of my brain off! There were also comma splices in a few cases, and although Wagers was maybe using them in dialogue on purpose (e.g. “‘We’re ready to go, it should be a good competition.’”), it was still distracting for me.

Second, the plot. Although the Boarding Games takes up a big part of the story and is good fun to read (there was cage fighting and sword fighting!), after all the build-up, the event ends abruptly and then a kidnapping plot is thrown in with 10% of the story to go, which I thought was strange. Also, in general, I found it quite weird that such a focus *was* on these Games rather than the mysterious goings-on in the background. Still, I’d love to read more about these characters in the sequel when it‘s released!

[Contrarius · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a space opera about space Coast Guards. Should be fun, right? But in the end, I can't give this one more than 2 stars, maaaaybe 2 1/2.

The elements of the plot were fine. The characters were okay, though many were flat. But the writing was entirely and amazingly without tension or propulsive force. Lots of telling, lots of gosh-darn-we're-such-a-wonderful-found-family, very little real sense of peril, even in perilous situations. There were two major plot threads -- one involving an annual competition against other armed forces, and one involving a smuggling operation -- and both were doled out in dribs and drabs and dull language that just didn't make me care at all. And then at the end, the Big Baddie just made me roll my eyes with Evil Villain monologuing and mustache-twirling and really stupid reasoning behind the whole thing.

GR user Stephanie loved this book, and she called it "a kind and comforting book to read". That's pretty accurate. All the good guys are kind and understanding and sharing and diverse and wholesome. And this is a **space opera about space Coast Guards**, folks. Where's the drama? Where's the tension? There's a few action sequences, but drama and tension? Nope.

Oh, and the whole plot is amazingly science-free, from instant travel across the galaxy to instant communication likewise, to an unbelievable lack of medical progress in four centuries (we're expected to believe they STILL can't regrow a peripheral nerve after *four hundred years*, for instance), and so on.

So, yeah. The book had potential, but in execution it's entirely skippable.

Competently narrated in audio by Marisha Tapera.

[Didi Chanoch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book packs a LOT in a compact and efficient package. You've got space, mystery, military, romance, and sports rivalries. Wagers does a deft job of combining these elements, while freeing them from a whole bunch of toxic tropes. This book is a fun queer romp with a nice mystery and that good good team spirit many of us love. It's a book about a bunch of decent people trying to do their best to help other people and each other while also having fun. I certainly had fun reading it!

[Agne · Rating 2 out of 5]

A sci-fi thing about some military-type crew in near-orbital space.

I'm really conflicted about this. It's not often that this particular problem plagues a book so hard.

So firstly, the good and great:
1) I rather liked the characterisation, there was some complexity to the main crew
2) The writing is solid stylistically, even the dialogue didn't stand out as a weakness (which is so often the case)
3) The whole LGBT and gender thing is nice, but less than seamless in a couple of places. Props nevertheless.

The bad:
The plot. It's utterly uninteresing. There are these idiotic "games" where different teams from the Earth's military compete in sword fighting and actual fighting and hacking or sth. It's like a sort of sports novel where the Olympics are coming. BUT the characters in this book are not athletes with a single focus like that. They have a job. The games are literally inconsequential compared to every other problem they are facing. But there is so much emphasis on the games, even the chapters are titled according to how many weeks are left until they come. I DON'T CARE.

The side-plot, which is significantly more important in essence, is unfortunately really generic.

So yeah. I don't know how this happened. But you might enjoy it if you can somehow make the games relevant for yourself.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published at Reading Reality

Military SF, done right, is one of the best things to read if you are looking for serious “competence porn”, and A Pale Light in the Black is definitely military SF done very, very right.

There have been plenty of milSF stories featuring various branches of the service taken into space. Often those services model the space forces around either the Navy, as in Honor Harrington, or the marines, like Torin Kerr. The concept of a space Army seems like a bit of an oxymoron, as the Army has to get out of space and onto some ground in order to really be something called an Army. And a space Air Force feels redundant, even though there’s no atmosphere in space.

On the other hand, Stargate Command was run by the U.S. Air Force, so it IS possible after a fashion.

But the one service that has been left out of the equation – until the glorious now – is the Coast Guard. Countries have coasts. Earth as a whole doesn’t exactly have a “coast”, but it does have a stretch of territory that it defends and where its laws, rules and regulations hold sway.

Or at least it will in the future, if we ever do manage to get into space for real. And it certainly does in A Pale Light in the Black. Because that’s where this story, and the series that will follow (hopefully really, really SOON) is set among the often looked down upon members of this future’s equivalent of a space Coast Guard, the NeoG.

The Near-Earth Orbital Guard patrols the relatively nearby space where Earth holds sway. Their duty is to protect the “pale light in the black” that is Earth and her colonial interests. Their job is critical, but it isn’t exactly glorious or sexy. The NeoG is underfunded, undermanned, underequipped and underestimated in the Boarding Games that serve as a combination of mass entertainment, wargame training and inter-military rivalry, scorekeeping and grudge-matching, with a plenty of individual service team-building.

The story, and the audience, follow one Lieutenant Maxine Carmichael. Max graduated first in her NeoG Academy class, but has been stationed on Earth ever since, due to the machinations of her rich and powerful family. A family that may have all-but-disowned and abandoned her on the day that she announced she was joining the NeoG instead of either the more prestigious Navy, like her parents and older brother, or the family firm, like her sister.

They abandoned her in the hopes that she would fall back into their cold and distant arms and toe the family line. Instead, she excelled at the career that she had chosen. But then, she never did fit in with the rest of the family.

Still, they pulled strings to keep her stationed safely on Earth – whether that’s what she wanted or not. Then again, what Max wanted seems to have never mattered a damn to her family. When she finally had enough, she applied to be an Interceptor, part of one of the close-knit crews that patrolled the space lanes for contraband, pirates, and general bad actors of all types. There are NO interceptors serving on Earth, so she finally has her posting out in the black as the story opens.

Having achieved her goals does not mean that she isn’t carrying all the emotional baggage her parents loaded her down with and that she doesn’t still have all the buttons they installed. Max has the basics to do her job and do it well, but she has a long way to go to learn how to become a part of a team that treats all its members like family.

Because she has no good experiences of family. At all.

A Pale Light in the Black is Max’s story as she becomes part of the crew of Zuma’s Ghost, finds her place in the NeoG and in the found family that is her ship and crew. And figures out just how to help her team win this year’s Boarding Games.

Meanwhile, Max, her crew, her friends and even her entire branch of the service are investigating an age-old grudge between her family firm and the rivals that everyone believed were long dead. A grudge that could destroy, not just her family, but take half the human population along with it.

No pressure. Compared to that, the Boarding Games are a piece of cake!

Escape Rating A++: I realize that I’m basically squeeing all over the page here. I absolutely loved this book. And there’s enough to unpack to keep me busy until the next book in the series comes out.

First, the worldbuilding here is awesome. Also in a peculiar way a bit scary, because this isn’t a direct progression from our now until then. Instead, we are now in the pre-Collapse world, and our right now is pretty much the “last good time” for a long time. The Collapse Wars are coming, and after that, in about 400 years or so, we reach the time period of the story. “It’s been a long road, getting from there to here.”

I love the way that the author demonstrates that we as a species have also left a whole lot of crap behind on that way between here and there. Not by making a big deal about it, but by showing that things are different through the lack of so much stupid fuss in everyday life. We are capable of better as a species, we just seem to need very hard lessons to reach that point.

Second, this is great competence porn. By that I mean that everyone, not just our hero but everyone in NeoG, is seen to be doing their jobs well all the time. Even the evil people are good at what they do, just that what they do is terrible. But it is terrific to watch and especially identify with a whole lot of folks who are not just dedicated to their jobs but where the ability to do the job well is expected. Heroism is extra. It was also different to see such good competence porn in a story that does not deal with basic training of any kind.

Not that Max doesn’t have plenty to learn, but we don’t follow her going through the Academy. Instead, we follow her as she learns to let down her emotional guards, to let herself accept and be accepted, to figure out what she’s good at and let herself internalize that she has skills and is good enough in all sorts of ways. Her doubts and fears make her human – and they make her easy to identify with and especially empathize with. We all have a little impostor syndrome in us, after all.

Max, however, is actually way beyond good enough, but that’s part of the lesson she needs to learn.

Max’s first year on Zuma’s Ghost, and the timetable for the Boarding Games provide the structure for the story. At the same time, the ghosts that Max has to deal with, the wounds that she needs to heal from, were all inflicted by her family.

And the case that Zuma’s Ghost has to solve, the smugglers and pirates that they have to catch, also deal with her family. The way that Max goes from feeling caught in the middle to knowing exactly where she stands is a big part of her journey. A journey that in many ways reminds me of the character of Ky Vatta in the Vatta’s War and Vatta’s Peace series(es). Ky has to deal with many of the same conflicts between military duty and family obligations. If you like Ky you’ll love Max and vice-versa.

I can’t wait to see where Max – and Zuma’s Ghost – go next!

[Tad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A close loss in the annual boarding games has haunted the crew of Zuma's Ghost in the NeoG, or Near-Earth Orbital Guard in KB Wagers new series which starts with A Pale Light in the Black. The crew is looking forward to this year's games which they feel confident will finally result in a win for the NeoG. Unexpectedly, their best swordsman is transferred and a new lieutenant, Maxine Carmichael, is assigned to take his place. Max is faced with a daunting task, trying to prove to herself and her team that she can be an asset.

While on patrol, Zuma's Ghost encounters a missing ship that has turned up and kicks off a mystery that quickly threatens the lives of the crew. They're being targeted and must figure out why and by whom before not only them but thousands more die. Solve the mystery, win the games and save the day. Just another day in the life of the NeoG.

This is a tremendously fun space adventure. Wagers’ talent for writing great characters is on full display in this book. Max is so much fun to get to know, as is Jenks, the volatile ensign and the best fighter in the NeoG. They are surrounded by a talented crew and must all work together if they are going to win the games. The same teamwork is necessary to unravel the mystery that started with a missing ship and leads to a secret that could rock their society to its core.

The description of the games, both as a whole and in the individual matches, is tremendously exciting. The story is largely about family. Family you are born to, family you find, and family you make. This is the heartbeat of the story which ties together all the great action pieces. A Pale Light in the Black is a lot of fun and I am definitely looking forward to more adventures with the NeoG. Highly recommended.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.

[Iona Sharma]

This book does not claim for a second not to be what it is. It's a slow-paced, low-stakes, low-worldbuilding cosy SF novel about found families etc etc. Still, 400 pages is a lot of pages not to have stakes, more than five minutes of interpersonal conflict or Becky Chambers' prose. What made it frustrating for me is that the characters are interesting and fun to hang out with - particularly the lead, Max, the aristocratic rich kid trying to make it on her own terms. That's a classic for a reason, it's a great story, it just doesn't have anything to catch onto, in absence of plot or a very interesting SF setting.

Still, it's not trying to tell you it's something that it's not! And I can see why someone might love this book and the series. Just not for me.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agree with a lot of the other reviews of this:

- the entire Games plot feels unnecessary, and also manages to skip the more interesting parts of the Games in favour of Divergent-esque fight sequences
- the dodgy Life-Ex controlling military dynasty is never fully interrogated
- definitely ship Jenks/Max (especially given they were the only two characters that came alive for me)

Fun, but a bit of a mess. 3.5 stars.

[Rachel-RN · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this looked interesting, I was disappointed overall. I did like the diverse cast of characters. I will admit to being disappointed in who the main 2 (Max & Jenks) ended up with. There was a lot going on (too much IMO). A lot of the focus is on the "Boarding Games" (think Olympic-style competition, but with violence). I didn't get it/see the point. And at the end of the day, I lost my focus and repeatedly put this down. This just didn't hold my interest.

[Lianne Pheno · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://delivreenlivres.home.blog/202...

Nouveau roman d’un autrice que j’apprécie beaucoup, c’est avec enthousiasme que j’ai acquis ce livre dés sa sortie.
Malheureusement, si je me suis bien attachée aux personnages, je ne l’ai pas apprécié autant que j’aurais voulu, du coup j’en ressort un peu déçue.

Dans ce roman nous suivons une équipe de la patrouille à la frontière du système solaire. Chaque année ont lieux des jeux (genre compétition) qui déterminent les meilleurs d’entre eux (parmi tout les militaires spatiaux). Alors que l’équipe se prépare et s’entraîne pour essayer de les remporter cette année (ils ont frôlé la première place l’an passé) ils commencent à se poser des questions concernant une mission qu’ils ont réalisé il y a peu.

En effet ils ont réussi à retrouver un des vaisseaux perdus du début de l’exploration spatiale. Ceux ci, appelés Jumpers, transportaient un grand nombre d’humains congelés et devaient mettre des centaines d’années à arriver à leur destination.
De nombreux Jumpers ont disparus, mais le principal problème a été avec ceux de la toute dernière génération. Sur 30 vaisseaux partis, 27 ne sont jamais arrivés à destination.
On en a retrouvés quelques uns petit à petit avec le temps.

L’équipe de nos héros tombe sur un Jumper de la dernière génération alors que celui ci est en train d’être pillé par des pirates qui sont arrivés sur place un peu avant eux.
Mais chose bizarre, le vaisseau est entièrement vide. Aucun des pods contenant les humains n’étaient sur place.
Certes ce n’est pas bien grave parce que de toute façon ces pods avaient une durée de vie limitée et donc les personnes dedans étaient mortes depuis des lustres. Mais c’est tout de même très curieux.

En se renseignant par curiosité, le capitaine s’aperçoit qu’en fait c’est loin d’être le seul à avoir été retrouvé comme ça. En fait quasiment tout ceux qu’on a retrouvé, en général, et tout ceux de la dernière génération, étaient vides.

L’enquête se poursuis de façon encore plus bizarre quand ils finissent par trouver un rapport mis de coté car supposé impossible, comme quoi on aurait retrouvé une personne qui aurait du être dans l’un de ces vaisseaux (il était dans le listing génétique) morte par noyade sur terre … Et ce il y a peu de temps ! Hors ces vaisseaux sont partis depuis bien trop longtemps pour que des passagers de leur bords puisse normalement être encore vivants à l’heure actuelle …

*****

Je ne l’ai pas autant aimé que j’aurais voulu. Non pas que je ne l’ai pas aimé, mais il y a une partie de l’intrigue qui m’a semblé longuette et sans grand intérêt au final dans l’intrigue général.

Premièrement j’ai trouvé curieux que malgré le fait que les protagonistes soient dans un patrouilleur officiel, on ne ressent absolument pas le coté « militaire ». Ça m’a un peu étonné en fait, vu que ce livre est classé SF militaire un peu de partout. Si ils avaient été dans un vaisseau civil on n’aurais presque pas vu de différence tellement ils sont lâche sur les règles à ce niveau la. Les règles de vie et l’ambiance est plus comme une famille que strictes.
Du coup pour moi on peut facilement classer ce livre plutôt en space opera plus classique (ce qui n’est pas une mauvaise chose en soi, juste une clarification).

Le coté qui m’a le moins plu a été le coté « Jeux », compétition. Au final c’est totalement en parallèle avec le reste, ça n’a aucun rapport avec l’intrigue principale en dehors d’un vague besoin pour le commandant du vaisseaux d’obtenir plus de moyens pour son service. En effet ils ont toujours le pire matériel, celui qui a plus de 10 ans, qui lâche au pire moment, et qui les empêche de bien faire leur boulot. Le fait de gagner les Jeux pourrait les faire entrer sous les projecteurs, montrer aux autres forces qu’il faut compter sur eux et qu’ils ont de bons éléments. Et donc ça ne peut qu’être positif pour le futur.
Mais encore faut-il faire autre chose que d’échouer systématiquement pas loin du podium.

Pour moi toute cette partie casse un peu le rythme de l’intrigue principale. A un moment j’ai même zappé des pages parce que je ne me sentais pas d’attendre pour avoir un indice qui est en suspend juste pour voir nos héros gagner des épreuves (nos héros l’ont, juste ils ne peuvent pas l’exploiter à cause du planning serré des Jeux).

Le seul avantage des jeux au final était de nous présenter d’autres branches de l’armée, leurs différences, ainsi que plusieurs personnages qui vont se révéler importants pour la suite (plus les familles des héros, qu’ils ne voient que 2 fois par an vu qu’ils sont seuls sur une base militaire loin dans le système solaire)

J’ai aussi un petit « mouais » concernant les temps de trajet.
A un moment ils vont au secours d’un vaisseau qui a perdu son moteur (et donc ses systèmes de survie) et a qui il reste 10 minutes avant de tomber en rade. Et franchement … 10 minutes pour sortir de la station, s’harnacher, voyager vers le vaisseau, l’accoster, ouvrir la porte qui ne s’ouvre plus et faire sortir tout le monde (qui n’a jamais été dans le vide)… c’est beaucoup trop peu non?

Pour le reste, niveau background un point que j’ai bien apprécié c’est l’idée qu’une nouvelle branche du catholicisme c’est développé avec l’expansion de l’homme dans l’espace, une qui prétend que seule la Terre est « sacrée » et que tout ceux qui s’en éloignent perdent leur lien avec le sacré.
Les patrouilleurs ont une dérogation pour rester dans le système solaire comme ils sont la protection de la Terre par rapport à l’au-delà. C’est d’ailleurs pour cette raison que le capitaine du vaisseau de nos héros reste dans ce service alors qu’elle aurait pu faire une grande carrière dans l’armée, elle est respectée et pourrait aller très haut. Mais sa foi lui interdit de s’engager dans la flotte qui allait plus loin que le système solaire.

Sinon point le plus positif de l’ensemble, l’intrigue principale était très sympa, .
Il n’y aurait eu qu’elle j’aurais surement été bien plus enthousiaste sur l’ensemble. J’avais envie de savoir le fin mot de l’histoire, j’étais bien prise dedans.
Je crois que j’ai ressentit les jeux comme une perte de temps vis à vis de cette partie la qui me plaisait énormément. D’autant plus qu’avec le nombre de pages réduites par ces activités secondaire, du coup ce n’est pas l’intrigue la plus complexe et tordue qui soit.

Les personnages sont attachants, ils sont assez nombreux au final et la petite équipe fait chaud au cœur. Je comprend la comparaison avec Becky Chambers sur ce point. C’est très ouvert, divers, et leurs interactions sont très agréable à suivre. L’avantage c’est qu’ici on a une vrai intrigue en parallèle, ça donne un gros plus quand même.

Au final j’ai passé un bon moment … sur une partie de l’ensemble, le reste étant plus oubliable.
Mais ça n’en reste pas moins une lecture agréable. J’ai envie lire la suite maintenant que les Jeux sont terminés et qu’on n’aura donc plus ce problème la dans le futur (du moins j’espère).

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun with a lot of great characters. Um...and some romance. Yay!

[Phil Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to give up after the 23rd crying heart-to-heart/confessional. It's just too much and not fun at all. Some other things that just made me grit my teeth in frustration:
- the constant introductions of the characters. There's one scene where they're entering Ria's building where they introduce themselves each, one by one, to 3 different people after each other
- the whole trope of 'it's hundreds of years in the future, but one character is REALLY into the 20th/21st century!'. It's lazy and just gives an excuse for the author to put anachronisms in the book to make the reader feel included. See Demolition Man or the Will Smith I Robot
- The Jenx character (sp? I listened to the audiobook). Just having her every response be violence and it played off as cute. Oh, someone hurt Max's feelings so Jenx broke her nose! Isn't that adorable?! Just got real old
- Talks of 'the collapse' and how bad things got during our century, but nothing in the society really seems that different. Apparently there are still huge corporations/families that control everyone's lives, the military is still a very huge deal... the world building just felt very superficial.
- The talk about the 'game' as if it was the most important thing in the world. I get the reasons why, but it just really felt anti-climatic and i didn't care about it at all.
I made it about 2/3rds through and gave up