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Dark Law #1
Dark Theory
A robot yearns to remember. A thief struggles to forget. A galaxy on the verge of collapse.
On the fringe of a broken civilization, a robot awakens with no memories and only one directive: find his creator. But in the village of Korthe, Beetro finds only radioactive pestilence, famine, and Miree—a tormented thief with dreams of retiring after her final score. Meanwhile, the fiefdom is plunged further into chaos when a new warlord seizes control, recasting serfs as refugees and leaving derelict robot peasants in his wake. With a shared interest in survival, Beetro and Miree team up to pull off an impossible castle heist: steal a single flake of dark matter, the world’s most valuable and mysterious ore.
But as they trek through the feudal wasteland in search of answers, they realize the true extent of the chaos surrounding them: the stars are disappearing from the sky and the entire galaxy is unraveling. As he uncovers his origin, Beetro discovers he may be the key to the salvation of the cosmos—or its destruction. Time, space, and loyalty become relative as he learns the real reason he was created.
A mind-bending science fiction epic with the bones of a fantasy traveling quest, Dark Theory unfolds through a journey of betrayal, identity, and unlikely friendships in a world of darkness set at the edge of space and time.
On the fringe of a broken civilization, a robot awakens with no memories and only one directive: find his creator. But in the village of Korthe, Beetro finds only radioactive pestilence, famine, and Miree—a tormented thief with dreams of retiring after her final score. Meanwhile, the fiefdom is plunged further into chaos when a new warlord seizes control, recasting serfs as refugees and leaving derelict robot peasants in his wake. With a shared interest in survival, Beetro and Miree team up to pull off an impossible castle heist: steal a single flake of dark matter, the world’s most valuable and mysterious ore.
But as they trek through the feudal wasteland in search of answers, they realize the true extent of the chaos surrounding them: the stars are disappearing from the sky and the entire galaxy is unraveling. As he uncovers his origin, Beetro discovers he may be the key to the salvation of the cosmos—or its destruction. Time, space, and loyalty become relative as he learns the real reason he was created.
A mind-bending science fiction epic with the bones of a fantasy traveling quest, Dark Theory unfolds through a journey of betrayal, identity, and unlikely friendships in a world of darkness set at the edge of space and time.
807 pages, Hardcover
First published April 17, 2022
About the author
Wick Welker
10 books760 followersWick Welker is the the winner of the Self Published Science Fiction Contest SPSFC4 with Saint Elspeth and a two time finalist of the competition as well. Start with either Dark Theory or Saint Elspeth for an intro into his writing.
https://wickwelker.com/
https://wickwelker.com/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
November 27, 2021
4.5 Stars- This book blew my mind!!
The author definitely knows how to write some damn good sci-fi!
I loved these characters! We have a few different people and ish that play very important parts in the book. The way they come together and weave into each other’s lives is so cool! And, the most important part is that I followed along with the book just fine. I usually get confused but I pretty much knew every crazy thing that was going on.
There are some gruesome parts but it’s still good. Miree in particular is a very strong female character. You don’t always like her but eventually……. and the stuff she goes through will make you cringe. I love the all of them. The majority of them have issues in one way or another but they have some messed up circumstances!
And the things that happen on the earth gives me the creeps as something crazy like that could really happen.
Anyhoo, I loved it and look forward to the next books!!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
BLOG: https://melissa413readsalot.blogspot....
AMAZON REVIEW: https://www.amazon.com/review/R3MUOQC...
The author definitely knows how to write some damn good sci-fi!
I loved these characters! We have a few different people and ish that play very important parts in the book. The way they come together and weave into each other’s lives is so cool! And, the most important part is that I followed along with the book just fine. I usually get confused but I pretty much knew every crazy thing that was going on.
There are some gruesome parts but it’s still good. Miree in particular is a very strong female character. You don’t always like her but eventually……. and the stuff she goes through will make you cringe. I love the all of them. The majority of them have issues in one way or another but they have some messed up circumstances!
And the things that happen on the earth gives me the creeps as something crazy like that could really happen.
Anyhoo, I loved it and look forward to the next books!!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
BLOG: https://melissa413readsalot.blogspot....
AMAZON REVIEW: https://www.amazon.com/review/R3MUOQC...
November 8, 2022
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Dark Theory is an ambitious and imaginative blend of fantasy and hard science fiction.
I don’t think I was ready for Dark Theory. When I first stumbled upon the stunning cover art of Dark Theory by Wick Welker, my attention was instantly intrigued. Damonza did a great job with the cover art, the cover art captured the bleak—with a spark of hope—tone of the book, and as you read through the novel, you will see more of its brilliance. There are a few beautiful interior arts, too! As far as I know, Dark Theory is Welker’s first epic science fantasy novel, and my goodness, I totally did not expect this book to reach this level of imagination. Combining astronomy, time travel, parallel universe, warping, and many other scientific theories into this fantasy-esque world is never easy. And I am not insane enough to claim I understand every single aspect of the science implemented into the narrative here. I can, however, say that fantasy and hard sci-fi have been mixed nicely in Dark Theory, and I will have to read more books by Wick Welker after this.
Dark Theory is the first book in Dark Law series by Wick Welker. I am just going to briefly repeat the official premise here. A robot yearns to remember his past. A thief struggles to forget her past. A galaxy on the verge of collapse. On the fringe of a broken civilization, Beetro awakens with no memories and only one directive: find his creator. But in the village of Korthe, Beetro finds only radioactive pestilence, famine, and Miree—a tormented thief with dreams of retiring after her final score. Meanwhile, the fiefdom is plunged further into chaos when a new warlord seizes control, recasting serfs as refugees and leaving derelict robot peasants in his wake. With a shared interest in survival, Beetro and Miree team up to pull off an impossible castle heist: steal a single flake of dark matter, the world’s most valuable and mysterious ore.
This is the premise of Dark Theory, and I suggest you not look further into what this book is about. The details of the mind-bending science fiction epic with the bones of a fantasy traveling quest in Dark Theory should be experienced instead of told by someone else. Dark Theory revolves around themes like trust, unlikely friendship, betrayal, civilization, and identity in a dark and chaotic world. And in the midst of all the hard science-fiction elements, the characters and these themes persevere to make sure Dark Theory provide an entertaining, suspenseful, and meaningful journey instead of drowning in its scientific jargon. Yes, there were several sections where the compelling pacing of the narrative was disrupted due to all the scientific discussions. But overall, this was not a big issue. And I am sure other readers have the chance to enjoy reading these sections more than I did. At its core, Dark Theory is still about the characters and their journey, and I think discussing the four key characters will be the best way to tackle this review.
First, let's talk about the two main characters with the most page count. Miree and Beetro. Miree is a tricky one, and I have no doubt this character will be one of the decisive factors in influencing the reader's investment in the book. Miree was, in a few words, immensely unlikable. She's a character purposely written to be unlikable, and her constant awful treatment of her peers was hard to tolerate and get through. Do note that I do not think infuriating characters instantly mean they're poorly written. Rin from The Poppy War trilogy is an immensely unlikable character. However, I also think she's incredibly well-written because she IS written to achieve some purpose in the narrative, and the conclusion of her story achieved them. Miree is, in a way, someone similar to Rin. Welker has prepared the background and reasoning on why Miree acted the way she did, and this can be found in the second half of the Dark Theory. Until then, readers will have to be patient before they reap the reward.
Beetro, on the other hand, is a character I loved immediately from the first page. And my investment in his POV chapters persisted until the end of the book. Actually, it kept increasing with each page. Beetro's search for his past and the revelations he unveiled were so satisfying to read. I loved reading about his character's development and the unlikely friendships he made along his journey. I know some readers are tired of the amnesiac main character's trope, but I tend to love it. As always, any tropes (whether they're used often or not) depend a lot on execution and each reader's subjective experience. From my point of view, Beetro's story reminded me of Caeden's absolutely amazing storyline in The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington. And if you don't know, Caeden transformed into one of my favorite characters in speculative fiction. We'll find out whether Beetro can reach that height with more books in the series.
But Dark Theory is not only about Miree and Beetro. Multiple other characters were involved, and one of my other favorite characters in the book besides Beetro is Ribcage. I think Ribcage gave the story a charm and lightness to counter the darkness of the series, and her Jumping ability (teleportation) was always cool to read. It is true that as a character, Ribcage did not develop as much as Miree and Beetro did. But her presence, friendship, and unpredictability throughout the novel made the narrative more engaging. Then there's also Arym. Arym was the one I initially felt lukewarm about, but several revelations and world-building intricacies were given through his POV chapters. And I don't think the book would be better without his POV chapters and the culture of the Cribmen. Eventually, as expected, every POV character's story in Dark Theory converged. And the result was incredible.
I'm leaving many great things about Dark Theory from this review simply because of spoiler reasons. As I said at the beginning of this review, many factors and details in Dark Theory, from the way I see it, are words that should be read and experienced by each reader instead of told in a review. Let the unpredictable and ambitious world-building and journey take you on a ride. Dark Theory is an ambitious undertaking from Wick Welker. Although, personally speaking, there were a few hiccups in pacing, the characters and their struggle to do good in this dark and forsaken world were inspiring, tense, and satisfying to read. I look forward to reading the second book in Dark Law. But before that, I think I might end up plunging myself into reading the author's previous standalone hard sci-fi novel first: Refraction. Overall, this is an exciting first book in a new science fantasy series suitable to fans of traveling quests in fantasy, hard sci-fi, and The Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy by Cixin Liu.
You can order this book from: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Blackwells (Free International shipping)
You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions | I also have a Booktube channel
Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!
My Patrons: Alfred, Andrew, Andrew W, Annabeth, Casey, Diana, Dylan, Edward, Elias, Ellen, Ellis, Gary, Hamad, Helen, Jesse, Jimmy Nutts, Joie, Kristina, Lana, Leigh, Luis, Lufi, Melinda, Meryl, Michael, Miracle, Nanette, Neeraja, Nicholas, Radiah, Reno, Samuel, Sarah, Sarah, Scott, Shawn, Xero, Wendy, Wick, Zoe.
Dark Theory is an ambitious and imaginative blend of fantasy and hard science fiction.
“You get a little older—either wiser or dimmer, not sure—and you realize the questions don’t matter. It’s what you do with the mystery that matters.”
I don’t think I was ready for Dark Theory. When I first stumbled upon the stunning cover art of Dark Theory by Wick Welker, my attention was instantly intrigued. Damonza did a great job with the cover art, the cover art captured the bleak—with a spark of hope—tone of the book, and as you read through the novel, you will see more of its brilliance. There are a few beautiful interior arts, too! As far as I know, Dark Theory is Welker’s first epic science fantasy novel, and my goodness, I totally did not expect this book to reach this level of imagination. Combining astronomy, time travel, parallel universe, warping, and many other scientific theories into this fantasy-esque world is never easy. And I am not insane enough to claim I understand every single aspect of the science implemented into the narrative here. I can, however, say that fantasy and hard sci-fi have been mixed nicely in Dark Theory, and I will have to read more books by Wick Welker after this.
“My answer to you, my friend—watch me. Some bots assert that language is the sieve by which we understand qualia. However, me and others who think like me, believe that language is the chain that tethers us to this ground. It is the reason I believe I have brain freeze when there is no logical reason that a digging bot should ever have that experience. Yet, language can also be the wings by which we may fly above the mists of confusion. If we change our language, we change the very nature of our consciousness. If we can communicate more succinctly, we will understand the nature of our beings—it will change the way we perceive our own reality.”
Dark Theory is the first book in Dark Law series by Wick Welker. I am just going to briefly repeat the official premise here. A robot yearns to remember his past. A thief struggles to forget her past. A galaxy on the verge of collapse. On the fringe of a broken civilization, Beetro awakens with no memories and only one directive: find his creator. But in the village of Korthe, Beetro finds only radioactive pestilence, famine, and Miree—a tormented thief with dreams of retiring after her final score. Meanwhile, the fiefdom is plunged further into chaos when a new warlord seizes control, recasting serfs as refugees and leaving derelict robot peasants in his wake. With a shared interest in survival, Beetro and Miree team up to pull off an impossible castle heist: steal a single flake of dark matter, the world’s most valuable and mysterious ore.
This is the premise of Dark Theory, and I suggest you not look further into what this book is about. The details of the mind-bending science fiction epic with the bones of a fantasy traveling quest in Dark Theory should be experienced instead of told by someone else. Dark Theory revolves around themes like trust, unlikely friendship, betrayal, civilization, and identity in a dark and chaotic world. And in the midst of all the hard science-fiction elements, the characters and these themes persevere to make sure Dark Theory provide an entertaining, suspenseful, and meaningful journey instead of drowning in its scientific jargon. Yes, there were several sections where the compelling pacing of the narrative was disrupted due to all the scientific discussions. But overall, this was not a big issue. And I am sure other readers have the chance to enjoy reading these sections more than I did. At its core, Dark Theory is still about the characters and their journey, and I think discussing the four key characters will be the best way to tackle this review.
“But that’s the thing about power… there’s one rule and one rule only to remember. Power corrupts.”
First, let's talk about the two main characters with the most page count. Miree and Beetro. Miree is a tricky one, and I have no doubt this character will be one of the decisive factors in influencing the reader's investment in the book. Miree was, in a few words, immensely unlikable. She's a character purposely written to be unlikable, and her constant awful treatment of her peers was hard to tolerate and get through. Do note that I do not think infuriating characters instantly mean they're poorly written. Rin from The Poppy War trilogy is an immensely unlikable character. However, I also think she's incredibly well-written because she IS written to achieve some purpose in the narrative, and the conclusion of her story achieved them. Miree is, in a way, someone similar to Rin. Welker has prepared the background and reasoning on why Miree acted the way she did, and this can be found in the second half of the Dark Theory. Until then, readers will have to be patient before they reap the reward.
Beetro, on the other hand, is a character I loved immediately from the first page. And my investment in his POV chapters persisted until the end of the book. Actually, it kept increasing with each page. Beetro's search for his past and the revelations he unveiled were so satisfying to read. I loved reading about his character's development and the unlikely friendships he made along his journey. I know some readers are tired of the amnesiac main character's trope, but I tend to love it. As always, any tropes (whether they're used often or not) depend a lot on execution and each reader's subjective experience. From my point of view, Beetro's story reminded me of Caeden's absolutely amazing storyline in The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington. And if you don't know, Caeden transformed into one of my favorite characters in speculative fiction. We'll find out whether Beetro can reach that height with more books in the series.
“Sometimes you get a second chance at redemption, sometimes you're an outcast for the rest of your life. None of these things make you good or bad—you just are, Beetro. You find someone who gives two shits for you, and you try to do the same for them. It’s not binary, this good and evil thing. We live on a spectrum, and we dance wildly across it most of our days.”
But Dark Theory is not only about Miree and Beetro. Multiple other characters were involved, and one of my other favorite characters in the book besides Beetro is Ribcage. I think Ribcage gave the story a charm and lightness to counter the darkness of the series, and her Jumping ability (teleportation) was always cool to read. It is true that as a character, Ribcage did not develop as much as Miree and Beetro did. But her presence, friendship, and unpredictability throughout the novel made the narrative more engaging. Then there's also Arym. Arym was the one I initially felt lukewarm about, but several revelations and world-building intricacies were given through his POV chapters. And I don't think the book would be better without his POV chapters and the culture of the Cribmen. Eventually, as expected, every POV character's story in Dark Theory converged. And the result was incredible.
“My circumstances were given to me—that’s true. But my circumstances are not my life. My life is what I turn it into. Me and you are in the same circumstances right now, right? Both picking through garbage. But I suspect we have very different lives…”
I'm leaving many great things about Dark Theory from this review simply because of spoiler reasons. As I said at the beginning of this review, many factors and details in Dark Theory, from the way I see it, are words that should be read and experienced by each reader instead of told in a review. Let the unpredictable and ambitious world-building and journey take you on a ride. Dark Theory is an ambitious undertaking from Wick Welker. Although, personally speaking, there were a few hiccups in pacing, the characters and their struggle to do good in this dark and forsaken world were inspiring, tense, and satisfying to read. I look forward to reading the second book in Dark Law. But before that, I think I might end up plunging myself into reading the author's previous standalone hard sci-fi novel first: Refraction. Overall, this is an exciting first book in a new science fantasy series suitable to fans of traveling quests in fantasy, hard sci-fi, and The Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy by Cixin Liu.
“The universe doesn’t care if we don’t understand it. It will go on doing what it wants and that is exactly how time works. The future bends back toward the past, but it does not form a circle with the same past, rather, it spirals toward an ever-changing timeline, one that is similar but starts to change with each iteration around the spiral of time. This is how nature protects itself against time paradoxes.”
You can order this book from: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Blackwells (Free International shipping)
You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions | I also have a Booktube channel
Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!
My Patrons: Alfred, Andrew, Andrew W, Annabeth, Casey, Diana, Dylan, Edward, Elias, Ellen, Ellis, Gary, Hamad, Helen, Jesse, Jimmy Nutts, Joie, Kristina, Lana, Leigh, Luis, Lufi, Melinda, Meryl, Michael, Miracle, Nanette, Neeraja, Nicholas, Radiah, Reno, Samuel, Sarah, Sarah, Scott, Shawn, Xero, Wendy, Wick, Zoe.
November 5, 2021
WHOA…stop the presses! Are you a fan of science fiction? If so, DARK THEORY by Wick Welker is a 5 star MUST READ adventure.
Our story opens in the distant future with Lucindi and Miree scavenging through a pile of discards for anything of value to sell so that they can eat. Their immediate surroundings are dry, dusty and somewhat poisioned. Lucindi, a giver, and Miree, a taker, are partners for mutually beneficial reasons.
Why are things the way they are? Can Lucindi and Miree individually affect change? Will those they interact with be better for knowing them? What happens when they find a discarded robot? What is its purpose?
DARK THEORY takes us on an accelerated journey to answer these and other questions that evolve. Some moments will be disturbing and graphic but each step on the journey will lead us to the penultimate and staggering surprise at the end of the scientific quest. It is mind-bending.
My thanks to Wick Welker for my copy of his eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Our story opens in the distant future with Lucindi and Miree scavenging through a pile of discards for anything of value to sell so that they can eat. Their immediate surroundings are dry, dusty and somewhat poisioned. Lucindi, a giver, and Miree, a taker, are partners for mutually beneficial reasons.
Why are things the way they are? Can Lucindi and Miree individually affect change? Will those they interact with be better for knowing them? What happens when they find a discarded robot? What is its purpose?
DARK THEORY takes us on an accelerated journey to answer these and other questions that evolve. Some moments will be disturbing and graphic but each step on the journey will lead us to the penultimate and staggering surprise at the end of the scientific quest. It is mind-bending.
My thanks to Wick Welker for my copy of his eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Read
October 19, 20211/21/26: you can get the first half of this book FREE on my website: https://wickwelker.com/
4/10/24: Dark Theory just placed as a finalist in the SPSFC3!
5/1/23: Dark Theory placed as a finalist for the Eric Hoffer award!
2/25/23: Audiobook out today!
9/28/22: Dark Theory cover art won 2nd place out of 300 books in the SPSFC competition!
4/17/22: Launch day! Available in ebook, paperback and beautiful hardback. Thanks!
4/15/22:
Got a little Goodreads giveaway going on in preparation for launch. Sign up for a free ebook of Dark Theory. Launch day 4/17/22!
4/3/22:
Putting the final touches for launch day coming 4/17/22!
2/20/21:
I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed Dark Theory ARC. I think the initial reception seems pretty positive. I'll be putting the finishing touches in the next 2 months and it will be available for ebook, paperback and hardback on April 17, 2022. It's still available on NetGalley. Thanks!
10/19/21:
Dark Theory is my 5th published novel and represents the best thing I've ever produced. It is epic sci fi but has the bones of a fantasy traveling adventure. ARC copies will be available soon on NetGalley and I'll be sending ARC ebook love notes to my favorite reviewers and Goodreads pals. (If you're my Goodreads friend and I don't reach out to you, just message me if you're interested in an ARC ebook copy). Because this is a pretty long book, the ARC time period is 6 months! I absolutely love this book and I hope ya'll do to. It has my favorite character I've ever written (and no, it's not Beetro).
4/10/24: Dark Theory just placed as a finalist in the SPSFC3!
5/1/23: Dark Theory placed as a finalist for the Eric Hoffer award!
2/25/23: Audiobook out today!
9/28/22: Dark Theory cover art won 2nd place out of 300 books in the SPSFC competition!
4/17/22: Launch day! Available in ebook, paperback and beautiful hardback. Thanks!
4/15/22:
Got a little Goodreads giveaway going on in preparation for launch. Sign up for a free ebook of Dark Theory. Launch day 4/17/22!
4/3/22:
Putting the final touches for launch day coming 4/17/22!
2/20/21:
I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed Dark Theory ARC. I think the initial reception seems pretty positive. I'll be putting the finishing touches in the next 2 months and it will be available for ebook, paperback and hardback on April 17, 2022. It's still available on NetGalley. Thanks!
10/19/21:
Dark Theory is my 5th published novel and represents the best thing I've ever produced. It is epic sci fi but has the bones of a fantasy traveling adventure. ARC copies will be available soon on NetGalley and I'll be sending ARC ebook love notes to my favorite reviewers and Goodreads pals. (If you're my Goodreads friend and I don't reach out to you, just message me if you're interested in an ARC ebook copy). Because this is a pretty long book, the ARC time period is 6 months! I absolutely love this book and I hope ya'll do to. It has my favorite character I've ever written (and no, it's not Beetro).
May 7, 2022
This is a work of excellent 'Hard Sci-fi', set in a post apocalyptic far future with elements of fantasy. It tackles intriguing issues of astrophysical phenomena, AI, etc while weaving an interesting plot.
The first third was a bit slow (would have rated five stars if not for that) building up to a great finish that left me really excited and looking forward to the next book in the series.
The world building is fantastic and I have to say top notch, this being the second book by the author I've read. The first one is titled 'Refraction' and was quite enjoyable too. Will definitely take a look at the rest of the authors' offerings, he remains one of the best indie writers I've come across.
I'll Highly recommend this to readers that like their Sci-Fi with a dash of fantasy.
2022 Read
The first third was a bit slow (would have rated five stars if not for that) building up to a great finish that left me really excited and looking forward to the next book in the series.
The world building is fantastic and I have to say top notch, this being the second book by the author I've read. The first one is titled 'Refraction' and was quite enjoyable too. Will definitely take a look at the rest of the authors' offerings, he remains one of the best indie writers I've come across.
I'll Highly recommend this to readers that like their Sci-Fi with a dash of fantasy.
2022 Read
October 22, 2021
4/5 stars.
Received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest view. And the ARC is CHONKY!
This was a massive feat and quite the journey.
Dark Theory takes place in the far future, a very far future where our Earth has fallen into social, environmental, and astronomical disarray. A robot named Beetro awakes in a junkyard and is taken in by two women named Lucindi and Miree. At the same time, a young girl in the same town as our robot and his awakeners named Ribcage struggles to eat daily, but her timing-bending teleporting powers give her some aid. In another part of the world, Arym, a young man from a society that lives undergrown and are all clones of one man, wants to escape the confines of his daily life and live in the world above. Two things change everyone's lives: a power-crazed general trying to conquer what remains of the world and the fact that the galaxy, or possibly the entire universe, is going through some sort of flux making the Earth even less hospitable. Soon, that general comes and kills Lucindi, setting Beetro, Miree, and Ribcage off on their own journey to both recover Beetro's past and purpose and for Miree to make a mountain of coin. Meanwhile, Arym meets someone interesting who will change his view on the world forever.
Wick Welker's Refraction was a gem of hard science fiction, however Dark Theory has become his next ambitious story. And it's not a gem, but a temple for physics and astronomy-based science fiction. Now, that temple isn't perfect. It's got some cracks and blemishes in some places, but overall that temple still stands massively and elegantly.
I want to go ahead and this out of the way: the biggest problem with Dark Theory is that it needs some line edits. Now do remember that I have an ARC, hopefully Welker and/or a line editor has or is catching these errors and has or is fixing them before the final release date. There's a few misspelled words here and there; I can't remember everything but I remember one sentence said "Ribcage huge the horse" or something like that. I'm certain "huge" is supposed to be "hug". There's also one sentence where part of it has been tabbed down into the next paragraph. And also there needs to be some commas before the non-name identifiers (I don't know the proper word here) of characters. Like at the end when Ribcage says to Miree: "Well let's go get your castle your majesty," there should be a comma before "your majesty." I hope it doesn't sound like I'm nitpicking, because I'm not. They were errors I noticed and it doesn't ruin the story or its themes, but they're noticeable.
Okay, that aside, let's talk about the characters and their arcs. Our four central characters go through A LOT, some more than others. This is something I really enjoyed about the book and things that I feel are missing from a lot of recent sci-fi and fantasy books. The journey. No, not necessarily the hero's journey, but the journey from one place to another, and maybe back again. I won't spoil the ending, but I felt like so much was done between it and the beginning. Miree is probably the character who goes through the most, and she is probably the character I have the most thoughts about.
Truth be told, I felt very conflicted over Miree for a long time. For one, she starts out very unlikeable and very cruel to those around her, with one exception. Granted this cruelty in the beginning was only something she showed on the outside, her internal thoughts, although only a little less cruel, showed some vulnerability and nuance. Sometimes Miree got really grating. I don't think her anger and disloyalty to certain other characters was forced necessarily, but dear Lord did she need to dial it back sometimes or just be quiet for a time. Eventually, Miree does go through a rough patch that softens her some and we do eventually learn her past and it explains why she is--and dear God, her past and what she goes through is so dark and rough. By the end of everything, I think Miree went through the biggest transformation and while I can't say that I like her now, she is still the most interesting character.
Beetro was equally as interesting. He tries to uncover his past and find who made him and why. Beetro's internal dilemmas on how to treat others, on whether to help someone or not, and his judgment of human character were fascinating to read. It's not necessarily a new trope or storyline within sci-fi, but Welker has an interesting take on it, especially with him often remembering Lucindi's kindness juxtaposed with Miree's harshness. Seeing his powers developed was really fun too. His kind heart was very nice too. I won't spoil what happens to him, but I was sad at his fate, but it appears there's hope for him.
Arym started off being my favorite character. His discoveries in the world above and his meetings with Hawera were so interesting. The society of the Crib was very interesting and to see how he both fights against its imprint on him and accepts how some of it is still apart of him was a very nuanced take on him. I got a bit irritated when he and Arym had an awkward moment that hindered their relationship for a time. He eventually apologizes and they reconcile, but I'm just tired of that trope. I'm tired of the guy has an awkward with whatever girl he's attracted to for whatever reason and he mopes about her for some time. I've seen in it Adult and YA and manga and I'm just tired of it. Arym goes through his own growth pangs though they aren't as jaw dropping as Beetro's and Miree's. BUT! There is a revelation about him that's pretty interesting, one that relates to the rest of the Crib too.
I loved Ribcage and I wanted more of her. She's still a developed character; it's eye-opening to see a bandit child who, despite being deadly, still had a child-like perspective of this post-apocalyptic world. She was such a fresh breath of air in comparison to the other characters. I felt so sorry for her, even at the moment she didn't know someone needed to be sorry for her.
The writing itself is just as good as it was in Refraction. Welker knows how to weave in the scientific information into the prose and dialogue. I was lost on some things, but that's just because the science was beyond me. There are some fairly dark moments within the book, and Welker knew how to give the prose in those moments a sinister feeling and being quite descriptive in the more grittier parts.
But there was one moment that made me cringe a little. At one point later in the book, after being shipwrecked, Miree is offered a jetpack to get away to go to Orion, the city of her destination. She gets mad and goes on a little mini rant about how the men who offered it her are implying they want her to sit back and and settle down like women who have babies. I was just like...what? When Miree's backstory is revealed later this rant kind of makes sense, but still none of the men were implying that. The only man who ever said anything slightly sexist to Miree was Galiaro, but even then he wasn't saying she should sit down and have kids. This mini rant felt a little forced and disingenuous. Again, with her later backstory it kind of makes sense, but it felt triggered by nothing relevant in the context of the scene.
Like Refraction, Dark Theory is hard science fiction. Welker has done meticulous details on physics and astronomy and their subsequent effects on the environment. I'm not very good ay physics (barely passed it in high school) and I do have more an interest in astronomy, but don't really know much science about it, so I can't judge how accurate things are. However, you do get a feel for how important it is to the book's world and story.
The end is very much a cliff hanger, but it appears that Welker will be continuing this series, so that'll be interesting to see. I appreciate Miree being bisexual (or at least sapphic) .
The epilogues definitely stirred me up, so I'm excited for what comes next.
Received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest view. And the ARC is CHONKY!
This was a massive feat and quite the journey.
Dark Theory takes place in the far future, a very far future where our Earth has fallen into social, environmental, and astronomical disarray. A robot named Beetro awakes in a junkyard and is taken in by two women named Lucindi and Miree. At the same time, a young girl in the same town as our robot and his awakeners named Ribcage struggles to eat daily, but her timing-bending teleporting powers give her some aid. In another part of the world, Arym, a young man from a society that lives undergrown and are all clones of one man, wants to escape the confines of his daily life and live in the world above. Two things change everyone's lives: a power-crazed general trying to conquer what remains of the world and the fact that the galaxy, or possibly the entire universe, is going through some sort of flux making the Earth even less hospitable. Soon, that general comes and kills Lucindi, setting Beetro, Miree, and Ribcage off on their own journey to both recover Beetro's past and purpose and for Miree to make a mountain of coin. Meanwhile, Arym meets someone interesting who will change his view on the world forever.
Wick Welker's Refraction was a gem of hard science fiction, however Dark Theory has become his next ambitious story. And it's not a gem, but a temple for physics and astronomy-based science fiction. Now, that temple isn't perfect. It's got some cracks and blemishes in some places, but overall that temple still stands massively and elegantly.
I want to go ahead and this out of the way: the biggest problem with Dark Theory is that it needs some line edits. Now do remember that I have an ARC, hopefully Welker and/or a line editor has or is catching these errors and has or is fixing them before the final release date. There's a few misspelled words here and there; I can't remember everything but I remember one sentence said "Ribcage huge the horse" or something like that. I'm certain "huge" is supposed to be "hug". There's also one sentence where part of it has been tabbed down into the next paragraph. And also there needs to be some commas before the non-name identifiers (I don't know the proper word here) of characters. Like at the end when Ribcage says to Miree: "Well let's go get your castle your majesty," there should be a comma before "your majesty." I hope it doesn't sound like I'm nitpicking, because I'm not. They were errors I noticed and it doesn't ruin the story or its themes, but they're noticeable.
Okay, that aside, let's talk about the characters and their arcs. Our four central characters go through A LOT, some more than others. This is something I really enjoyed about the book and things that I feel are missing from a lot of recent sci-fi and fantasy books. The journey. No, not necessarily the hero's journey, but the journey from one place to another, and maybe back again. I won't spoil the ending, but I felt like so much was done between it and the beginning. Miree is probably the character who goes through the most, and she is probably the character I have the most thoughts about.
Truth be told, I felt very conflicted over Miree for a long time. For one, she starts out very unlikeable and very cruel to those around her, with one exception. Granted this cruelty in the beginning was only something she showed on the outside, her internal thoughts, although only a little less cruel, showed some vulnerability and nuance. Sometimes Miree got really grating. I don't think her anger and disloyalty to certain other characters was forced necessarily, but dear Lord did she need to dial it back sometimes or just be quiet for a time. Eventually, Miree does go through a rough patch that softens her some and we do eventually learn her past and it explains why she is--and dear God, her past and what she goes through is so dark and rough. By the end of everything, I think Miree went through the biggest transformation and while I can't say that I like her now, she is still the most interesting character.
Beetro was equally as interesting. He tries to uncover his past and find who made him and why. Beetro's internal dilemmas on how to treat others, on whether to help someone or not, and his judgment of human character were fascinating to read. It's not necessarily a new trope or storyline within sci-fi, but Welker has an interesting take on it, especially with him often remembering Lucindi's kindness juxtaposed with Miree's harshness. Seeing his powers developed was really fun too. His kind heart was very nice too. I won't spoil what happens to him, but I was sad at his fate, but it appears there's hope for him.
Arym started off being my favorite character. His discoveries in the world above and his meetings with Hawera were so interesting. The society of the Crib was very interesting and to see how he both fights against its imprint on him and accepts how some of it is still apart of him was a very nuanced take on him. I got a bit irritated when he and Arym had an awkward moment that hindered their relationship for a time. He eventually apologizes and they reconcile, but I'm just tired of that trope. I'm tired of the guy has an awkward with whatever girl he's attracted to for whatever reason and he mopes about her for some time. I've seen in it Adult and YA and manga and I'm just tired of it. Arym goes through his own growth pangs though they aren't as jaw dropping as Beetro's and Miree's. BUT! There is a revelation about him that's pretty interesting, one that relates to the rest of the Crib too.
I loved Ribcage and I wanted more of her. She's still a developed character; it's eye-opening to see a bandit child who, despite being deadly, still had a child-like perspective of this post-apocalyptic world. She was such a fresh breath of air in comparison to the other characters. I felt so sorry for her, even at the moment she didn't know someone needed to be sorry for her.
The writing itself is just as good as it was in Refraction. Welker knows how to weave in the scientific information into the prose and dialogue. I was lost on some things, but that's just because the science was beyond me. There are some fairly dark moments within the book, and Welker knew how to give the prose in those moments a sinister feeling and being quite descriptive in the more grittier parts.
But there was one moment that made me cringe a little. At one point later in the book, after being shipwrecked, Miree is offered a jetpack to get away to go to Orion, the city of her destination. She gets mad and goes on a little mini rant about how the men who offered it her are implying they want her to sit back and and settle down like women who have babies. I was just like...what? When Miree's backstory is revealed later this rant kind of makes sense, but still none of the men were implying that. The only man who ever said anything slightly sexist to Miree was Galiaro, but even then he wasn't saying she should sit down and have kids. This mini rant felt a little forced and disingenuous. Again, with her later backstory it kind of makes sense, but it felt triggered by nothing relevant in the context of the scene.
Like Refraction, Dark Theory is hard science fiction. Welker has done meticulous details on physics and astronomy and their subsequent effects on the environment. I'm not very good ay physics (barely passed it in high school) and I do have more an interest in astronomy, but don't really know much science about it, so I can't judge how accurate things are. However, you do get a feel for how important it is to the book's world and story.
The end is very much a cliff hanger, but it appears that Welker will be continuing this series, so that'll be interesting to see. I appreciate Miree being bisexual (or at least sapphic) .
The epilogues definitely stirred me up, so I'm excited for what comes next.
February 18, 2022
Dark Theory (Dark Law, #1)
by Wick Welker
Wow and fantastic are the two words that come to my mind when I think of this book! There are layers upon layers to uncover in here. It deals with a small robot that is found by two women that savage scraps at a junkyard to trade for food. One wants to help the robot and the other wants to dismantle it for parts. The kind woman wins and they get the robot water and it starts up. This starts an amazing adventure!
There are many civilizations on this world too. Very interesting worlds in themselves. One lives underground and all males. Another came from another world and stay hidden from current mankind. There is a religion that catches robots and people and makes them half and half. Also controlling them with chips in their brains.
There are robots that are sentient and those that are not. It's a fascinating world! Most of the world is so radioactive that standing water is undrinkable.
The plot is based around several key characters. Mostly around the robot, Beetro, from the junkyard. He can't remember anything before his reboot. He just has a drive to find his creator. Along the way the robot meets a wonderful cast including a little girl that can teleport short distances. There is also a General that is taking over the world and is cruel and heartless. He too is after the team.
The story is unpredictable, suspenseful at times, violent at key moments, funny at times, but always intriguing and stretches my mind with time, space, dark matter, and theories! I loved everything about this book! I wouldn't change a thing! It was a long book but it flew by. I read it all in one day. I just couldn't stop myself! I can't wait for the next book! If you read one science fiction book this year, make it this one!
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me have a chance to read this awesome novel! The opinions are all my own!
by Wick Welker
Wow and fantastic are the two words that come to my mind when I think of this book! There are layers upon layers to uncover in here. It deals with a small robot that is found by two women that savage scraps at a junkyard to trade for food. One wants to help the robot and the other wants to dismantle it for parts. The kind woman wins and they get the robot water and it starts up. This starts an amazing adventure!
There are many civilizations on this world too. Very interesting worlds in themselves. One lives underground and all males. Another came from another world and stay hidden from current mankind. There is a religion that catches robots and people and makes them half and half. Also controlling them with chips in their brains.
There are robots that are sentient and those that are not. It's a fascinating world! Most of the world is so radioactive that standing water is undrinkable.
The plot is based around several key characters. Mostly around the robot, Beetro, from the junkyard. He can't remember anything before his reboot. He just has a drive to find his creator. Along the way the robot meets a wonderful cast including a little girl that can teleport short distances. There is also a General that is taking over the world and is cruel and heartless. He too is after the team.
The story is unpredictable, suspenseful at times, violent at key moments, funny at times, but always intriguing and stretches my mind with time, space, dark matter, and theories! I loved everything about this book! I wouldn't change a thing! It was a long book but it flew by. I read it all in one day. I just couldn't stop myself! I can't wait for the next book! If you read one science fiction book this year, make it this one!
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me have a chance to read this awesome novel! The opinions are all my own!
April 3, 2022
4.0 Stars
This is an entertaining and imaginative piece of epic fiction. This is the kind of science fiction I love, but struggle to find within the genre.
As someone who loves stories involving artificial intelligence, this one wae right up my alley. Beetro was an immediately likeable personality bringing a lot of mystery and fun to the narrative.
The tone of the story was a little more light and entertaining than I initially expected. The story is filled with a lot of amusing banter between the main characters. The storytelling and prose and quite straightforward making this a surprisingly accessible piece of science fiction, despite the length.
The narrative actually felt reminiscent of fantasy, which is not a criticism in this case. The regressed medieval setting would normally lend itself to a fantasy world and so it was enjoyable to find such a regressed world in this imagined future.
Needless to say, I really enjoyed the beginning of this new epic science fiction series and am now dying to read the next book.
I would highly recommend this series to new and seasoned science fiction readers looking to get a lost in an immersive new story.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author.
This is an entertaining and imaginative piece of epic fiction. This is the kind of science fiction I love, but struggle to find within the genre.
As someone who loves stories involving artificial intelligence, this one wae right up my alley. Beetro was an immediately likeable personality bringing a lot of mystery and fun to the narrative.
The tone of the story was a little more light and entertaining than I initially expected. The story is filled with a lot of amusing banter between the main characters. The storytelling and prose and quite straightforward making this a surprisingly accessible piece of science fiction, despite the length.
The narrative actually felt reminiscent of fantasy, which is not a criticism in this case. The regressed medieval setting would normally lend itself to a fantasy world and so it was enjoyable to find such a regressed world in this imagined future.
Needless to say, I really enjoyed the beginning of this new epic science fiction series and am now dying to read the next book.
I would highly recommend this series to new and seasoned science fiction readers looking to get a lost in an immersive new story.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author.
March 15, 2022
Buckle up bitches. Time for a 1 star review. There will be spoilers ahead so stop now if you actually want to read this dung pile.
This book was terrible. The writing was god awful. This book was disingenuously placed in the queer sci-fi section on NetGalley. Miree's sexuality was handled horribly. She is in love with Luci and then you kill her off at the very beginning. She is fawning over this woman and then marginally grieving her death. After her death, there was no other mention of her sexuality UNTIL she met a man. Some fucking hero who tries to sacrifice himself to save her and then she is suddenly attracted to man? No mention whatsoever up till this point that she has ever had any feelings for men UNTIL one decides he needs to be a true gentleman, because obviously a true gentleman can turn her straight. If she was bi or pansexual sure, that's one thing. But she was introduced as a woman who loves women and it was never addressed otherwise until a "hero" came to save the "damsel in distress". She ACTIVELY hated men in this book and then one just comes in and sweeps her off her feet?
Then we get to the bullshit that is Arym. Fucking. Arym. God I fucking hate him. His entire plot arc pissed me off to no end. When he met a woman for the first time he automatically decided that he needed to own her. That she was his. And that he was attracted to her. The fact that the author put the whole "he's a straight man, living a lonely life with only men. He wants to be with women but he is only able to be with men. (who were his genetic clone btw, but we'll get to that bullshit later.) And he feels so lonely with all these men who can find comfort (incestuous comfort I might add) into one another. But, woe is me, I can't have that. I, as a straight man, feel oppressed." EVEN THOUGH BEING STRAIGHT IS THE FUCKING DEFAULT. At this point, Ch 10ish. I checked out who the author was and it made 100% sense as to why he would write something so stupid.
And now let's get to the Crib. I hated everything that happened with the Crib. Major plot hole: how in the hell did Arym's stupid ass not realize that they were fucking clones. He literally has to be stupid to not notice that 20,000 copies of himself, in various stages of aging are walking around.
And that's not even addressing the fucking naming convention. Arstyl, Arym, Artum, etc. How do you expect anyone to keep up with 9 brand new character names in a single chapter where they all. look. the. same.
Now to address the writing. God was it juvenile at some points. They just threw in SAT words to make it sound better I guess. The quality of writing continued to decline as the book progressed. The end felt phoned in.
But let's really talk about how the women are treated in this book. Hawera, was a woman "sent around the mobius strip of time" to be the Eve of her people. Again. The way that Arym felt entitled to her was disgusting. The way he talks over her and the way he tries to force her to come with him and wouldn't stop until she slapped him? Disgusting. Miree was tortured the. entire. book. There so many scenes were she was tortured. Her eyeballs were burnt out. Her arm was chopped off. Her free will was taken from her. She was SA'd as a child. She gets wires woven through her skin and strung up. Just a no stop slew of violence against the woman, sapphic protagonist. Then there is Ribcage. The little street goblin who clearly shouldn't be handling a knife. She was constantly starved. Everyone in this stupid book was starved, but her especially. Having a visible ribcage was her brand.
This book was horrible. I will never recommend this book to anyone. I will not be reading the sequel.
This book was terrible. The writing was god awful. This book was disingenuously placed in the queer sci-fi section on NetGalley. Miree's sexuality was handled horribly. She is in love with Luci and then you kill her off at the very beginning. She is fawning over this woman and then marginally grieving her death. After her death, there was no other mention of her sexuality UNTIL she met a man. Some fucking hero who tries to sacrifice himself to save her and then she is suddenly attracted to man? No mention whatsoever up till this point that she has ever had any feelings for men UNTIL one decides he needs to be a true gentleman, because obviously a true gentleman can turn her straight. If she was bi or pansexual sure, that's one thing. But she was introduced as a woman who loves women and it was never addressed otherwise until a "hero" came to save the "damsel in distress". She ACTIVELY hated men in this book and then one just comes in and sweeps her off her feet?
Then we get to the bullshit that is Arym. Fucking. Arym. God I fucking hate him. His entire plot arc pissed me off to no end. When he met a woman for the first time he automatically decided that he needed to own her. That she was his. And that he was attracted to her. The fact that the author put the whole "he's a straight man, living a lonely life with only men. He wants to be with women but he is only able to be with men. (who were his genetic clone btw, but we'll get to that bullshit later.) And he feels so lonely with all these men who can find comfort (incestuous comfort I might add) into one another. But, woe is me, I can't have that. I, as a straight man, feel oppressed." EVEN THOUGH BEING STRAIGHT IS THE FUCKING DEFAULT. At this point, Ch 10ish. I checked out who the author was and it made 100% sense as to why he would write something so stupid.
And now let's get to the Crib. I hated everything that happened with the Crib. Major plot hole: how in the hell did Arym's stupid ass not realize that they were fucking clones. He literally has to be stupid to not notice that 20,000 copies of himself, in various stages of aging are walking around.
And that's not even addressing the fucking naming convention. Arstyl, Arym, Artum, etc. How do you expect anyone to keep up with 9 brand new character names in a single chapter where they all. look. the. same.
Now to address the writing. God was it juvenile at some points. They just threw in SAT words to make it sound better I guess. The quality of writing continued to decline as the book progressed. The end felt phoned in.
But let's really talk about how the women are treated in this book. Hawera, was a woman "sent around the mobius strip of time" to be the Eve of her people. Again. The way that Arym felt entitled to her was disgusting. The way he talks over her and the way he tries to force her to come with him and wouldn't stop until she slapped him? Disgusting. Miree was tortured the. entire. book. There so many scenes were she was tortured. Her eyeballs were burnt out. Her arm was chopped off. Her free will was taken from her. She was SA'd as a child. She gets wires woven through her skin and strung up. Just a no stop slew of violence against the woman, sapphic protagonist. Then there is Ribcage. The little street goblin who clearly shouldn't be handling a knife. She was constantly starved. Everyone in this stupid book was starved, but her especially. Having a visible ribcage was her brand.
This book was horrible. I will never recommend this book to anyone. I will not be reading the sequel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 11, 2021
My thanks to the author Wick Welker for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Oooo, this was absolutely solid. There are a lot of fabulous things in this incredibly long book, and it is an incredibly long book - where its length does not make it any less enjoyable. It features a broad yet highly fascinating cast of well-developed and fully realised characters. The world building in this was also very detailed and intricate and featured a lot of things that I genuinely enjoyed and that I believed were constructed very well. That being said, I didn’t find this book to be perfect, I do have a few slight criticisms that depending on the type of reader that you are, could be very minor, which they largely were for me, hence the full shining five stars.
Now, I seriously had a blast of a time following each of these characters around, from Miree, to Beetro, to Ribcage. They were all unique individuals and had very distinct personas that clearly made them separate characters. It was very easy to tell who was speaking or whose POV it was from, due to the clearly differing nature and wide range of personalities that Welker has crafted here, and that is to be commended. Some characters, like Ribcage was both incredibly fun, but also frustratingly annoying to read about, and that’s a positive thing as there was so much soul and work put into each character that makes me as the reader experience a wide range of emotions with each character.
Now, my one slight critique, which won’t be an issue for many is that during the middle portion I did think that it dragged slightly. There was a lot of travelling, which I understand is what this book is about, and that’s totally fair ¬— a lot did happen during the travelling, and I certainly had a good time, especially the parts involving the Reticulum. That being said, it was like a couple dozen pages bit long for me? Naturally, this is all subjective, but in my opinion, it some scenes didn’t add a heap to the overarching story, although I may be wrong and be corrected in future instalments
Just generally regarding the plot, I did like it a lot. A heap happened in this novel, most of it highly enjoyable. Again, I did think it could have moved forward slightly faster during times, however I did think the start set up the rest of this story incredibly well, and there was quite a banger of an ending. I did like at how this was concluded while also clearly setting up the events of the next novel. I usually do prefer a more definite ending, yet certainly did not mind what occurred here at all.
Welker’s prose and writing is actually quite nice. It can get technical at times with a lot space and science-y jargon, which is a preference thing. I didn’t mind it much, other readers might mind it more. Other than that, it does flow really well and is not all that present which I like. The worse thing for me when reading books for the story and not the prose is that when the writing is either so flowery you can’t help but notice it, or so dry that it is just terrible, and I thought that this book’s prose achieved a good balance between the two which I appreciated.
Also, the worldbuilding in this was actually superb. There’s loads of detail and depth, whilst not being too much to remember. It was a, incredibly immersive world and there was a lot that made it different from other sci-fantasy novels, so that was great. There are such a wide array of cultures and identities in this world that I really enjoyed and cannot wait to explore more of.
Ultimately, I really liked this and despite a few slight flaws I had with it, I would highly recommend it and thought that this was a killer tale. 9/10
Oooo, this was absolutely solid. There are a lot of fabulous things in this incredibly long book, and it is an incredibly long book - where its length does not make it any less enjoyable. It features a broad yet highly fascinating cast of well-developed and fully realised characters. The world building in this was also very detailed and intricate and featured a lot of things that I genuinely enjoyed and that I believed were constructed very well. That being said, I didn’t find this book to be perfect, I do have a few slight criticisms that depending on the type of reader that you are, could be very minor, which they largely were for me, hence the full shining five stars.
Now, I seriously had a blast of a time following each of these characters around, from Miree, to Beetro, to Ribcage. They were all unique individuals and had very distinct personas that clearly made them separate characters. It was very easy to tell who was speaking or whose POV it was from, due to the clearly differing nature and wide range of personalities that Welker has crafted here, and that is to be commended. Some characters, like Ribcage was both incredibly fun, but also frustratingly annoying to read about, and that’s a positive thing as there was so much soul and work put into each character that makes me as the reader experience a wide range of emotions with each character.
Now, my one slight critique, which won’t be an issue for many is that during the middle portion I did think that it dragged slightly. There was a lot of travelling, which I understand is what this book is about, and that’s totally fair ¬— a lot did happen during the travelling, and I certainly had a good time, especially the parts involving the Reticulum. That being said, it was like a couple dozen pages bit long for me? Naturally, this is all subjective, but in my opinion, it some scenes didn’t add a heap to the overarching story, although I may be wrong and be corrected in future instalments
Just generally regarding the plot, I did like it a lot. A heap happened in this novel, most of it highly enjoyable. Again, I did think it could have moved forward slightly faster during times, however I did think the start set up the rest of this story incredibly well, and there was quite a banger of an ending. I did like at how this was concluded while also clearly setting up the events of the next novel. I usually do prefer a more definite ending, yet certainly did not mind what occurred here at all.
Welker’s prose and writing is actually quite nice. It can get technical at times with a lot space and science-y jargon, which is a preference thing. I didn’t mind it much, other readers might mind it more. Other than that, it does flow really well and is not all that present which I like. The worse thing for me when reading books for the story and not the prose is that when the writing is either so flowery you can’t help but notice it, or so dry that it is just terrible, and I thought that this book’s prose achieved a good balance between the two which I appreciated.
Also, the worldbuilding in this was actually superb. There’s loads of detail and depth, whilst not being too much to remember. It was a, incredibly immersive world and there was a lot that made it different from other sci-fantasy novels, so that was great. There are such a wide array of cultures and identities in this world that I really enjoyed and cannot wait to explore more of.
Ultimately, I really liked this and despite a few slight flaws I had with it, I would highly recommend it and thought that this was a killer tale. 9/10
November 23, 2021
Edit 18/04/22: just a heads up, this amazing book comes out today (the 18th for me but 17th for most of you) and I really recommend checking it out!
This review has been in my drafts folder for exactly two weeks now. I need to edit these senseless notes into something vaguely resembling legibility as a thank you to Wick Welker for so kindly sending me an ARC of his doorstop of a book.
Rating: 4 stars
Let's just jump straight in to the review. I have written and deleted so many intros that I need to just get over myself, stop over thinking and cut to the chase. Dark Theory is, as Wick first described it to me, "an epic science fiction kind of fantasy book." It has elements of hard science (yay!) which stood out as one of Welker's specialities in his sci fi debut, but also an underlining sci-fantasy narrative. When I first noticed this, I admit I was a little nervous for the overall outcome of the novel, as that is where Refraction (Wick's aforementioned sci fi debut) kind of fell apart for me. But Dark Theory goes from strength to strength.
We'll start off with characters (most people are character readers so I find it is more helpful to most for me to write reviews based on them). Like Refraction, the author does good job of setting up one POV strongly before introducing another, so the reader can establish some sort of grounding in the world and cast before it is built upon. That being said, for me there was never a character specifically well written and worthy of particular note.
Miree is more or less the main character of Dark Theory, and Wick really puts her through the wringer both before and during, and presumably after, the events of the novel. She comes from a mysterious background slowly unfolded throughout the story, which I found to come at a good pace, if a bit abrupt at the end. At times she does seem to reflect the "not like other girls" stereotype, but I think in this instance there were no "average" girls to compare her to, so it didn't actually bother me that much (which was a huge surprise for me). That being said, though, she still comes across rude and disrespectful - which is not a critique, being she is written to be unlikeable. Miree is very goal motivated, and often does things in the spare of the moment to help her reach that goal without thinking how they will effect her later. And they do. They really do. Even though she was portrayed all the time as a tough guy, I never really totally believed it. I can't really pinpoint exactly why I thought this, but that is how it came across to me, whether it was intentional or not.
Then we have Beetro. He is a robot who has woken up remembering nothing except the name of his maker and the desire to find them. (He is also the kind to balance out Miree’s general douche-ness.) Now, I have to preface this by saying any robot/droid/android character is a tough sell for me because my favourites list consists of only two entries: Data from Star Trek and Marvin from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That list really hasn't changed for me in, well, ever (I tried counting the years but couldn't quite narrow it down). So any character I come across in that category is immediately compared to what some would argue as the greats, which is hardly fair. Because, you know, it's Star Trek and Hitchhiker's, two monoliths of the sci fi genre across all mediums. But so is too often my experience with these things. The first fantasy books I ever read were The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and they have never been beat for me (though perhaps equalled). So I am kind of used to the fact that no AI will ever really measure up to Data and Marvin in my mind, and don't expect it to, nor let it influence my reviews of like characters. But the comparison is always going to happen, isn't it.
Anyway, about Beetro. I have in my notes from early on in the book that Beetro didn't really feel that robot-y, which was true, though it became less so as the novel went on. He was so lovely (I sound like a grandma; next thing I'm going to want to do is pinch his metallic cheeks) with his innocence towards the world, and this actually reminded me a bit of myself. I suppose that is why I am drawn to these kinds of characters so much. He just wanted to help people and is so dumbfounded when he is not able to, or when people reject his assistance. He tries to harden himself to the world after it hurts him, but inside he really has a kind heart that just wants to forgive everyone's wrong doings and reconcile. (Am I Beetro? I think I'm Beetro.) I also think that because we meet Beetro literally with a blank mind, the only experiences he has to learn and draw from are the events we read about in the book. It's kind of like we are watching him grow up before our eyes. But with this growth from (for all intents and purposes) his "birth", we see his innocence inevitably fade away, and I do feel Beetro lost a bit of his endearment during the ending sequence. Yet, I can see it was perhaps necessary in order to set up Dark Theory's sequels and the continuation of the Dark Law series (which I am particularly pumped for).
I can really only talk about one more character without getting too spoilery (and even then it will be brief), and that is Arym. When I first was introduced to Arym and his people whose names all start with "A", I made a note, and I quote (haha it rhymes): "Nooooooo a whole race of people whose names start with the same letter. My worst nightmare" and for a while there it was a struggle. Arym, Arstyl, Aryller, Arwyl, Arryn, Artul... they all started with not one, but the same two letters. I got lost for a while. Quite lost. Fortunately some spoiler stuff happened so I wasn't confused for too long.
There are other characters of note too, like Ribcage who had some great lines which were just my kind of humour, or Hawera, whose name looks (and sounds, if I am pronouncing it correctly) like it is of Māori or Polynesian origin.
As for the plot, it starts out as a heist story that was set up and executed what I thought at the time as rather mediocrely, but I now think through the benefit of hindsight that this was perhaps intentional, as the story moves beyond it pretty swiftly. It then kind of turns into a fantasy travelling story and a sci fi dystopia smashed into one. The latter was helped by the presence of the Reticulum, which felt so much like the Borg from Star Trek that it brought a huge grin onto my face when I first read their description. (I'm not claiming that the Borg was Wick's definitive inspiration behind the Reticulum, but there was a Star Trek reference only 19 pages into Refraction, so...)
Something I can say about Dark Theory is its cast of characters is quite small. That is a conscious choice made by the author, and it does work in this instance, but it also makes the world feel quite small due to the fact that the only named characters are the people we are following. I know this is comparing it to a giant, but for instance in Wheel of Time there are so many characters Jordan gives a name (2,782. Yep, that's right: close to three flippin' thousand). Some would say this is too many, but for me it makes the world seems so huge because we are getting a sentence or two about a person who has an entire life we can only guess about. The same thing happens in Tolkien's Legendarium. Part of the reason Middle-earth feels so big is because there are so many people in it, all with individual histories and families we only get a glimpse of. I think its limited character list lets down Dark Theory, which is the beginning of a series that is aiming to be epic in its scope. But I also understand it's very risky to jump in with 100+ named characters to a genre you only recently entered from a writing standpoint.
Dark Theory would also do so well as an audiobook. I was trying to think about narrators, and the only one I could think of was Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Fellow ARC receivers, just think about it. Michael with his deep rolling baritone of a voice playing up the innocence factor for Arym, kind of like his Olver voice, and then as the character learns more getting more and more serious in his tone. And then Kate, with the sarcastic and almost snarky voice she puts on for Shallan (and Min to some extent) for Miree. Ooh and her Lift voice for Ribcage. Maybe I'm overthinking this, but then again when do I not. Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that Dark Theory lends itself so much to the audiobook medium (it could also do well as an audio drama, I just thought of that) and I think it is worthy of a Michael Kramer and Kate Reading performance. Now that is high praise coming from me, and I don't say that often. In fact, I don't think I've ever read a book I can say that for.
Ok I have written about three different reviews for Dark Theory and have cut and pasted all the good parts to make this patchwork review. Now reading over it, I realise I have cut out most of the praise parts. I was told to be honest. Brutally if necessary. Yet there is this belief that most of the book community hold that positive reviews aren't to be trusted. To some extent I agree. My Wheel of Time reviews should never be taken as fact, because that are just me gushing for pages on end. My Tolkien reviews are so nostalgia tinged that any actual critical thinking is negligible. But I found myself looking at my positive paragraphs in this review as unreliable, and not as helpful or useful as my critiquing ones. That's why I think I left that audiobook section in (and later edited the Beetro section lauding it some more), because even though objectively it is poorly written, it reflects my raw enjoyment of this story.
To close, Dark Theory is one of those books where the Goodreads 5-star rating system has failed it, because even though I gave it only one more star than Refraction, (man, it's really not helping that Blake Crouch has books called Dark Matter and Recursion, and Welker has Refraction and now Dark Theory) it doesn't come close to reflecting the massive increase in quality between Wick's sci fi debut and his second entry into the genre. His skill, while already more than prevalent in Refraction, has grown exponentially with Dark Theory, that I cannot wait for his next book, within the Dark Law series or not. Because if the trend continues (and at this stage I think it shall) we may be looking at a potential five-star read on our hands here.
P.S. Oh, almost forgot, talk about a beautiful cover!!!
______________
Updates:
23/11/21:
Let me get my thoughts together and I'll be back! RTC
This review has been in my drafts folder for exactly two weeks now. I need to edit these senseless notes into something vaguely resembling legibility as a thank you to Wick Welker for so kindly sending me an ARC of his doorstop of a book.
Rating: 4 stars
Let's just jump straight in to the review. I have written and deleted so many intros that I need to just get over myself, stop over thinking and cut to the chase. Dark Theory is, as Wick first described it to me, "an epic science fiction kind of fantasy book." It has elements of hard science (yay!) which stood out as one of Welker's specialities in his sci fi debut, but also an underlining sci-fantasy narrative. When I first noticed this, I admit I was a little nervous for the overall outcome of the novel, as that is where Refraction (Wick's aforementioned sci fi debut) kind of fell apart for me. But Dark Theory goes from strength to strength.
We'll start off with characters (most people are character readers so I find it is more helpful to most for me to write reviews based on them). Like Refraction, the author does good job of setting up one POV strongly before introducing another, so the reader can establish some sort of grounding in the world and cast before it is built upon. That being said, for me there was never a character specifically well written and worthy of particular note.
Miree is more or less the main character of Dark Theory, and Wick really puts her through the wringer both before and during, and presumably after, the events of the novel. She comes from a mysterious background slowly unfolded throughout the story, which I found to come at a good pace, if a bit abrupt at the end. At times she does seem to reflect the "not like other girls" stereotype, but I think in this instance there were no "average" girls to compare her to, so it didn't actually bother me that much (which was a huge surprise for me). That being said, though, she still comes across rude and disrespectful - which is not a critique, being she is written to be unlikeable. Miree is very goal motivated, and often does things in the spare of the moment to help her reach that goal without thinking how they will effect her later. And they do. They really do. Even though she was portrayed all the time as a tough guy, I never really totally believed it. I can't really pinpoint exactly why I thought this, but that is how it came across to me, whether it was intentional or not.
Then we have Beetro. He is a robot who has woken up remembering nothing except the name of his maker and the desire to find them. (He is also the kind to balance out Miree’s general douche-ness.) Now, I have to preface this by saying any robot/droid/android character is a tough sell for me because my favourites list consists of only two entries: Data from Star Trek and Marvin from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That list really hasn't changed for me in, well, ever (I tried counting the years but couldn't quite narrow it down). So any character I come across in that category is immediately compared to what some would argue as the greats, which is hardly fair. Because, you know, it's Star Trek and Hitchhiker's, two monoliths of the sci fi genre across all mediums. But so is too often my experience with these things. The first fantasy books I ever read were The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and they have never been beat for me (though perhaps equalled). So I am kind of used to the fact that no AI will ever really measure up to Data and Marvin in my mind, and don't expect it to, nor let it influence my reviews of like characters. But the comparison is always going to happen, isn't it.
Anyway, about Beetro. I have in my notes from early on in the book that Beetro didn't really feel that robot-y, which was true, though it became less so as the novel went on. He was so lovely (I sound like a grandma; next thing I'm going to want to do is pinch his metallic cheeks) with his innocence towards the world, and this actually reminded me a bit of myself. I suppose that is why I am drawn to these kinds of characters so much. He just wanted to help people and is so dumbfounded when he is not able to, or when people reject his assistance. He tries to harden himself to the world after it hurts him, but inside he really has a kind heart that just wants to forgive everyone's wrong doings and reconcile. (Am I Beetro? I think I'm Beetro.) I also think that because we meet Beetro literally with a blank mind, the only experiences he has to learn and draw from are the events we read about in the book. It's kind of like we are watching him grow up before our eyes. But with this growth from (for all intents and purposes) his "birth", we see his innocence inevitably fade away, and I do feel Beetro lost a bit of his endearment during the ending sequence. Yet, I can see it was perhaps necessary in order to set up Dark Theory's sequels and the continuation of the Dark Law series (which I am particularly pumped for).
I can really only talk about one more character without getting too spoilery (and even then it will be brief), and that is Arym. When I first was introduced to Arym and his people whose names all start with "A", I made a note, and I quote (haha it rhymes): "Nooooooo a whole race of people whose names start with the same letter. My worst nightmare" and for a while there it was a struggle. Arym, Arstyl, Aryller, Arwyl, Arryn, Artul... they all started with not one, but the same two letters. I got lost for a while. Quite lost. Fortunately some spoiler stuff happened so I wasn't confused for too long.
There are other characters of note too, like Ribcage who had some great lines which were just my kind of humour, or Hawera, whose name looks (and sounds, if I am pronouncing it correctly) like it is of Māori or Polynesian origin.
As for the plot, it starts out as a heist story that was set up and executed what I thought at the time as rather mediocrely, but I now think through the benefit of hindsight that this was perhaps intentional, as the story moves beyond it pretty swiftly. It then kind of turns into a fantasy travelling story and a sci fi dystopia smashed into one. The latter was helped by the presence of the Reticulum, which felt so much like the Borg from Star Trek that it brought a huge grin onto my face when I first read their description. (I'm not claiming that the Borg was Wick's definitive inspiration behind the Reticulum, but there was a Star Trek reference only 19 pages into Refraction, so...)
Something I can say about Dark Theory is its cast of characters is quite small. That is a conscious choice made by the author, and it does work in this instance, but it also makes the world feel quite small due to the fact that the only named characters are the people we are following. I know this is comparing it to a giant, but for instance in Wheel of Time there are so many characters Jordan gives a name (2,782. Yep, that's right: close to three flippin' thousand). Some would say this is too many, but for me it makes the world seems so huge because we are getting a sentence or two about a person who has an entire life we can only guess about. The same thing happens in Tolkien's Legendarium. Part of the reason Middle-earth feels so big is because there are so many people in it, all with individual histories and families we only get a glimpse of. I think its limited character list lets down Dark Theory, which is the beginning of a series that is aiming to be epic in its scope. But I also understand it's very risky to jump in with 100+ named characters to a genre you only recently entered from a writing standpoint.
Dark Theory would also do so well as an audiobook. I was trying to think about narrators, and the only one I could think of was Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Fellow ARC receivers, just think about it. Michael with his deep rolling baritone of a voice playing up the innocence factor for Arym, kind of like his Olver voice, and then as the character learns more getting more and more serious in his tone. And then Kate, with the sarcastic and almost snarky voice she puts on for Shallan (and Min to some extent) for Miree. Ooh and her Lift voice for Ribcage. Maybe I'm overthinking this, but then again when do I not. Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that Dark Theory lends itself so much to the audiobook medium (it could also do well as an audio drama, I just thought of that) and I think it is worthy of a Michael Kramer and Kate Reading performance. Now that is high praise coming from me, and I don't say that often. In fact, I don't think I've ever read a book I can say that for.
Ok I have written about three different reviews for Dark Theory and have cut and pasted all the good parts to make this patchwork review. Now reading over it, I realise I have cut out most of the praise parts. I was told to be honest. Brutally if necessary. Yet there is this belief that most of the book community hold that positive reviews aren't to be trusted. To some extent I agree. My Wheel of Time reviews should never be taken as fact, because that are just me gushing for pages on end. My Tolkien reviews are so nostalgia tinged that any actual critical thinking is negligible. But I found myself looking at my positive paragraphs in this review as unreliable, and not as helpful or useful as my critiquing ones. That's why I think I left that audiobook section in (and later edited the Beetro section lauding it some more), because even though objectively it is poorly written, it reflects my raw enjoyment of this story.
To close, Dark Theory is one of those books where the Goodreads 5-star rating system has failed it, because even though I gave it only one more star than Refraction, (man, it's really not helping that Blake Crouch has books called Dark Matter and Recursion, and Welker has Refraction and now Dark Theory) it doesn't come close to reflecting the massive increase in quality between Wick's sci fi debut and his second entry into the genre. His skill, while already more than prevalent in Refraction, has grown exponentially with Dark Theory, that I cannot wait for his next book, within the Dark Law series or not. Because if the trend continues (and at this stage I think it shall) we may be looking at a potential five-star read on our hands here.
P.S. Oh, almost forgot, talk about a beautiful cover!!!
______________
Updates:
23/11/21:
Let me get my thoughts together and I'll be back! RTC
January 24, 2022
"Dark Theory" is a big book. Both in volume and in ambition. And, having a chance to familiarize myself with it after receiving an advanced reader copy – well, I‘m glad it did not disappoint me - au contraire!
Key points of what I liked:
• A sort of genre-fusion. This whole story has a vibe of a fantasy land. It‘s easy to dismiss it as happening on Earth and instead think of it as being set in some fictional land or at least in a galaxy, far, far away. Still, that feeling of a fantasy is just an outer shell for a quite hard sci-fi series. I have to admit, there‘s not many books that come into my mind that were written by fusing sci-fi with fantasy, but in this case it did and it did good.
• The characters. I really loved them – they are complex, well-written and evolving. It‘s easy to hate them in the beginning of the book, and even more easy to cheer and root for them towards the end. And I even had to admit that „I was wrong“ about a couple of them – they aren‘t so crazy or selfish or assholes as I thought after the introduction. There were a couple of secondary characters that could have been developed more, but, since it is only the first part of a trilogy, I have a feeling that they will get their chance to bask in the spotlight. And, well, let‘s be honest – secondary characters are secondary, they don‘t get that much action as the lead characters do. Though personally I love when even sidekicks get a glimpse of fame or, sometimes, even a couple of chapters of POV.
• I love when my hard sci fi is really hard. In the book acknowledgements, there‘s a „thank you“ for Liu Cixin for inspiration in astrophysics and dimensionality. And while I can‘t say that this book is similar to any of Liu‘s (and I would know, as I‘ve read almost all of them), the slight vibration of being inspired by him is between the pages all the time. I‘ve wrote above, that it is an ambitious book – and that‘s why it is. Writing a good sci-fi about gravity and photons and lower/higher dimensions is much harder than just a simple space western, with no disrespect for space westerns and their authors.
• The general story. Not much to say here, I just simply liked how the whole story did develop and what I‘ve been told.
Now a couple of things I liked less:
• Pacing. I had a bit of difficulty to fully immerse myself in the book. The first 1/3 seemed a bit too slow and too comprehensive for me. I get that it was done mostly in order to create vibrant characters and world, but it had been too much of battery scavenging and desert-pacing and at some point I‘ve started losing concentration. Still, after the certain threshold in the story the pacing evened out, so it‘s not that bad it could have been.
• Stylistic errors. I‘m not talking about missed commas or mistyping a word, though these also do happen. The errors I‘m talking about is an excessive overuse of the same pronouns. Basically, every pronoun for a character is only „he/she“ or the name. And while I think it‘s ok to use only he/she or the name if there aren‘t many pronouns in the text, this is a different case. For example, there‘s a part in the book, where „Beetro“ had been repeated seven times in eight lines – lines, not even sentences. So, that‘s definitely either some room for improvement, or a question of an experienced editor, who‘s not afraid to cut a few lines and use some synonyms for a better flow of the story.
Besides that, nothing more to criticize this book for. A very strong 4* rating, and I will definitely be looking forward to continuing the series.
Key points of what I liked:
• A sort of genre-fusion. This whole story has a vibe of a fantasy land. It‘s easy to dismiss it as happening on Earth and instead think of it as being set in some fictional land or at least in a galaxy, far, far away. Still, that feeling of a fantasy is just an outer shell for a quite hard sci-fi series. I have to admit, there‘s not many books that come into my mind that were written by fusing sci-fi with fantasy, but in this case it did and it did good.
• The characters. I really loved them – they are complex, well-written and evolving. It‘s easy to hate them in the beginning of the book, and even more easy to cheer and root for them towards the end. And I even had to admit that „I was wrong“ about a couple of them – they aren‘t so crazy or selfish or assholes as I thought after the introduction. There were a couple of secondary characters that could have been developed more, but, since it is only the first part of a trilogy, I have a feeling that they will get their chance to bask in the spotlight. And, well, let‘s be honest – secondary characters are secondary, they don‘t get that much action as the lead characters do. Though personally I love when even sidekicks get a glimpse of fame or, sometimes, even a couple of chapters of POV.
• I love when my hard sci fi is really hard. In the book acknowledgements, there‘s a „thank you“ for Liu Cixin for inspiration in astrophysics and dimensionality. And while I can‘t say that this book is similar to any of Liu‘s (and I would know, as I‘ve read almost all of them), the slight vibration of being inspired by him is between the pages all the time. I‘ve wrote above, that it is an ambitious book – and that‘s why it is. Writing a good sci-fi about gravity and photons and lower/higher dimensions is much harder than just a simple space western, with no disrespect for space westerns and their authors.
• The general story. Not much to say here, I just simply liked how the whole story did develop and what I‘ve been told.
Now a couple of things I liked less:
• Pacing. I had a bit of difficulty to fully immerse myself in the book. The first 1/3 seemed a bit too slow and too comprehensive for me. I get that it was done mostly in order to create vibrant characters and world, but it had been too much of battery scavenging and desert-pacing and at some point I‘ve started losing concentration. Still, after the certain threshold in the story the pacing evened out, so it‘s not that bad it could have been.
• Stylistic errors. I‘m not talking about missed commas or mistyping a word, though these also do happen. The errors I‘m talking about is an excessive overuse of the same pronouns. Basically, every pronoun for a character is only „he/she“ or the name. And while I think it‘s ok to use only he/she or the name if there aren‘t many pronouns in the text, this is a different case. For example, there‘s a part in the book, where „Beetro“ had been repeated seven times in eight lines – lines, not even sentences. So, that‘s definitely either some room for improvement, or a question of an experienced editor, who‘s not afraid to cut a few lines and use some synonyms for a better flow of the story.
Besides that, nothing more to criticize this book for. A very strong 4* rating, and I will definitely be looking forward to continuing the series.
January 15, 2022
I’d like to first start off by saying “thank you” to NetGalley and Wick Welker for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Science fiction is not a genre I typically read, but I found a lot of Wick Welker’s Dark Theory (Dark Law, #1) compelling and wonderful to imagine. The world building is terrific and peopled with a bevy of characters I found engaging and entertaining. The science actually made me feel a bit nostalgic, and reminded me of a much earlier time in my life when my understanding of physics was infantile at best, and I’d imagined DARPA scientists creating mad robots within their secret lair, like in comic books. Suffice it to say, the memory of that time, of youthful ponder and wonder at the vastness of the universe, emerging tech and spacefaring, that feeling was what guided me through this book’s science and the dynamics of Welker’s world. I found the nostalgia weirdly grounding, which helped me to not be overwhelmed when everything came to a head.
I loved most of the characters! Especially Beetro, Ribcage and Piot! These three were especially vibrant and awesome and I enjoyed them immensely. I absolutely hated Miree. And no I don’t give a fk about her circumstances because 700 pages of her being a snarling asshole isn’t going to make me sympathize with her woe is me super sad secret backstory.
Like I would have rather read 50 chapters dedicated to Qithara and the plight of the Thekora, before and after the Alcheans showed up. Beetro gets my props for asking the real questions about the cost of Alchean supremacy. I really hope WW will continue on this thread throughout the series because it gave me pause, as a woman of colour, and endeared me to Beetro even more for his thinking about the subjugation of the Thekora.
The story is a bit lengthy but not particularly strenuous. The journey felt light in the first half but then everything is sort of chucked at you in the last quarter and it got a bit challenging to process. The reward is there, though, if you go about it patiently. Anyway, I thought this was great beginning to what will surely be a pretty intense and wild series.
Science fiction is not a genre I typically read, but I found a lot of Wick Welker’s Dark Theory (Dark Law, #1) compelling and wonderful to imagine. The world building is terrific and peopled with a bevy of characters I found engaging and entertaining. The science actually made me feel a bit nostalgic, and reminded me of a much earlier time in my life when my understanding of physics was infantile at best, and I’d imagined DARPA scientists creating mad robots within their secret lair, like in comic books. Suffice it to say, the memory of that time, of youthful ponder and wonder at the vastness of the universe, emerging tech and spacefaring, that feeling was what guided me through this book’s science and the dynamics of Welker’s world. I found the nostalgia weirdly grounding, which helped me to not be overwhelmed when everything came to a head.
I loved most of the characters! Especially Beetro, Ribcage and Piot! These three were especially vibrant and awesome and I enjoyed them immensely. I absolutely hated Miree. And no I don’t give a fk about her circumstances because 700 pages of her being a snarling asshole isn’t going to make me sympathize with her woe is me super sad secret backstory.
Like I would have rather read 50 chapters dedicated to Qithara and the plight of the Thekora, before and after the Alcheans showed up. Beetro gets my props for asking the real questions about the cost of Alchean supremacy. I really hope WW will continue on this thread throughout the series because it gave me pause, as a woman of colour, and endeared me to Beetro even more for his thinking about the subjugation of the Thekora.
The story is a bit lengthy but not particularly strenuous. The journey felt light in the first half but then everything is sort of chucked at you in the last quarter and it got a bit challenging to process. The reward is there, though, if you go about it patiently. Anyway, I thought this was great beginning to what will surely be a pretty intense and wild series.
April 11, 2022
Thanks to NetGalley, Wick Welker, & Independent Book Publishers Association for an eARC of this book. The following review is my honest reflection on the text provided.
As the beginning of what looks like it could be an epic series, I thoroughly enjoyed Dark Theory .
These characters are complex and evolve to tell a gripping story of friendship and fighting back against all odds. Don't worry; there are plenty of underdogs to choose from here. This dystopian world is harsh, and only the strong survive - there's very little opportunity for anyone to thrive.
"Mankind has proven that they cannot wisely wield the technology they develop and that's the era in which we now live. May as well be the stone ages."
Not for the faint at heart; many of the torture/experimentation scenes are incredibly gruesome and explicit. Not a fan of gore, I did a fair bit of skimming here, but they did not detract from the overall experience.
Dark Theory takes you on a profound journey, with a good balance between worldbuilding and active plot. The science is prominent but not overwhelming, the characters are realistic and unique, and this dystopian vision of a future Earth is terrifying. Though I'm not even sure how many books are planned in this series, I'm very much looking forward to another instalment.
"Why did it take the end of the world for her to finally start getting her emotional shit together?"
Review originally posted here on Britt's Book Blurbs.
As the beginning of what looks like it could be an epic series, I thoroughly enjoyed Dark Theory .
These characters are complex and evolve to tell a gripping story of friendship and fighting back against all odds. Don't worry; there are plenty of underdogs to choose from here. This dystopian world is harsh, and only the strong survive - there's very little opportunity for anyone to thrive.
"Mankind has proven that they cannot wisely wield the technology they develop and that's the era in which we now live. May as well be the stone ages."
Not for the faint at heart; many of the torture/experimentation scenes are incredibly gruesome and explicit. Not a fan of gore, I did a fair bit of skimming here, but they did not detract from the overall experience.
Dark Theory takes you on a profound journey, with a good balance between worldbuilding and active plot. The science is prominent but not overwhelming, the characters are realistic and unique, and this dystopian vision of a future Earth is terrifying. Though I'm not even sure how many books are planned in this series, I'm very much looking forward to another instalment.
"Why did it take the end of the world for her to finally start getting her emotional shit together?"
Review originally posted here on Britt's Book Blurbs.
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February 19, 2024
I read this book as a judge on the Wayward Stars team in the SPSFC3 (third annual, self-published science-fiction competition), in the semi-finals round (it did move on to the finals around after this). This is my own personal review and does not represent the views of the team or any other individuals other than myself.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable read. I ended up giving it 3.5/5.0 stars and rounding up to 4 stars for Goodreads. I think the characters make the story here. Beetro is one of the more interesting characters I've read in a while, and one I'll not be forgetting soon. It's journey through this storyline is my favorite part. I also enjoyed the myriad of sci-fi elements in the story as well. It created a good storyline with several twists and turns.
Two things that kept me from giving it a higher rating are the length, and then the final ending. The book is very long, and even with pretty good pacing for most of it, it still did feel like it dragged on in parts. I was a little daunted a few times after I had been reading for quite some time to see how much more I had left. On the ending, I think it just didn't go the way I expected so much and I wasn't as happy with that.
Overall, I think this was a fun read, and I do look forward to reading the next book in the series.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable read. I ended up giving it 3.5/5.0 stars and rounding up to 4 stars for Goodreads. I think the characters make the story here. Beetro is one of the more interesting characters I've read in a while, and one I'll not be forgetting soon. It's journey through this storyline is my favorite part. I also enjoyed the myriad of sci-fi elements in the story as well. It created a good storyline with several twists and turns.
Two things that kept me from giving it a higher rating are the length, and then the final ending. The book is very long, and even with pretty good pacing for most of it, it still did feel like it dragged on in parts. I was a little daunted a few times after I had been reading for quite some time to see how much more I had left. On the ending, I think it just didn't go the way I expected so much and I wasn't as happy with that.
Overall, I think this was a fun read, and I do look forward to reading the next book in the series.
March 23, 2023
I give this five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dark Theory
First, I’ve had this book on my shelf for 3 months which I got from my friend Jord, from a BOOKMAS exchange this past December! But I have been doing more audio due to the lack of time with work!
I was given an audio version from the author himself, for an honest review so Thank you Wick!
Beetro is such a nice, enjoyable AI character, reminded me of Johnny Five and or Wall-E. he was a lost puppy looking for a certain individual.
Beetro dreams!!!!!
I loved this, the bickering had me in stitches at times while listening!
Lucindi
Miree
Ribcage
Rektor Tarysl heals the mind and soul
Arym
Waryl: a digkid
Cribmen
Criminal Organization called the Kish!
Some of these characters are just scavengers forced to live a life, without knowing where they came from.
Or at least they don’t think so.
Definitely a hodgepodge of characters all the ones that I just mentioned, but they all have a unique voice which made the story carry-on, very easily, through the narrative of the narrator into the imagination on my mind.
I love the narrator she was spot on!
The world building very cool times I can give it a Tatooine look but yet different. If anybody ever remember the series Krypton where they had their hatchery where the babies were born, there’s something of similarity of that in this book.
I kind of want to call it a ……………. Sci-Fi-Tastic Quest Adventure
It is mind-bending story which grabs you from every angle that you can imagine changes it up every other chapter and keeps you thinking on what the hell is going on.
I recommend this book of fans of Megan O’Keefe and Ada Hoffman can’t wait for the sequel and now I have to find another book from this author, cause I kind of like his way of writing.
Dark Theory
First, I’ve had this book on my shelf for 3 months which I got from my friend Jord, from a BOOKMAS exchange this past December! But I have been doing more audio due to the lack of time with work!
I was given an audio version from the author himself, for an honest review so Thank you Wick!
Beetro is such a nice, enjoyable AI character, reminded me of Johnny Five and or Wall-E. he was a lost puppy looking for a certain individual.
Beetro dreams!!!!!
I loved this, the bickering had me in stitches at times while listening!
Lucindi
Miree
Ribcage
Rektor Tarysl heals the mind and soul
Arym
Waryl: a digkid
Cribmen
Criminal Organization called the Kish!
Some of these characters are just scavengers forced to live a life, without knowing where they came from.
Or at least they don’t think so.
Definitely a hodgepodge of characters all the ones that I just mentioned, but they all have a unique voice which made the story carry-on, very easily, through the narrative of the narrator into the imagination on my mind.
I love the narrator she was spot on!
The world building very cool times I can give it a Tatooine look but yet different. If anybody ever remember the series Krypton where they had their hatchery where the babies were born, there’s something of similarity of that in this book.
I kind of want to call it a ……………. Sci-Fi-Tastic Quest Adventure
It is mind-bending story which grabs you from every angle that you can imagine changes it up every other chapter and keeps you thinking on what the hell is going on.
I recommend this book of fans of Megan O’Keefe and Ada Hoffman can’t wait for the sequel and now I have to find another book from this author, cause I kind of like his way of writing.
April 11, 2022
I read this as an ARC on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
1 star.
I’m not usually one to give such harsh reviews, but not only I didn’t like this book at all I think it has some objective problems both in the writing and in how some themes are handled.
Let’s start with the things that I liked:
►The setting was quite interesting, that while fully sci-fi, or well, post-apocalyptic after a more technological advanced classic sci-fi, felt almost fantasy at times and I like it.
►Ribcage was a cool character. Gremlin kid with powers is always amazing.
►There were a lot of cool concepts, probably too many to be all explored with some level of detail but they’re still cool.
What I didn’t like.
I will not go into details, in case you want to read it, but for me, it was a nightmare and after dragging myself for the first half of the book (400 pages of barely something), I decided to drop it.
But here is a list of SOME of my problems with the book in random order because I already spent too much time on this.
►The writing is bizarre, in some parts the author proves to be able to write quite well and with a certain complexity and ability to describe, in others, there is no description at all. I still have no idea about how Miree looks or what is most of the people in this world wearing, except for dirt? Some paragraphs go into the details about X thing happening and then you have a “and then they marched for a week and arrived.” to summarize the rest of the event. I had the impression that the author wrote the parts he was interested in / liked and then connected them halfheartedly.
The beginning is one of the most affected parts and I struggled to overcome the first chapters, especially since the dialogues are simplistic and flat and you can’t distingue who is talking half the time.
It’s all tell and no show.
►SO MANY DEUX EX MACHINA. And so many dialogues for lore exposition/lore drop.
► The characters are some of the least characterized ones I read in a lot of time, they aren’t even just stereotypes, they’re just there and you can easily summarise them with one or two words. I remember thinking after taking half a day's pause, “Ah, yeah, this is the angry woman protagonist and this is the man one.” and that’s all I have to say after about 400 pages about them.
Also, nobody likes nobody else and while this might be a narrative choice, because “they come from a gritty and dark and angsty and terrible post-apocalyptic world where you have to kill or be killed”, it makes it difficult to care about anyone or to make any travelling section (and there is so much going around in this book) not being a sluggish fest.
►This book was listed in the LGBTQ + category of NetGalley, but despite one of the protagonists, Miree, being bi/pan (and if you want to count them, there are the incestuous clones that seem to have a preference for the male gender, except our POV clone that is the poor lonely special heterosexual) it’s anything but queer.
The woman who is Miree's initial love interest is killed in the first 3 chapters and except for a couple of very vague and mundane attraction phrases, and the fact that her death accelerates a plan she already had in mind, there is well little about it and all it’s forgotten at the appearance of the male LI. In general, the aforementioned plot thread has the feeling of being an afterthought. It's not queerbaiting, but is it like the adjacent? XD
“Are you a boy or a girl?”
“I’m a man” (said the robot just rebooted that didn’t even know his name)
► Especially for being a sci-fi, he is painfully biological determinist, to the point that a character who until now has only seen clones of himself (and has never noticed it, but these are details), at the sight of a woman, who he doesn't know what she is, is instinctively drawn to her looks, her breasts and overwhelmed by a desire to protect her. And this is only the most striking case.
►That entire POV was painful to read because Arym is the scifi version of the "nice guy" and his behaviour towards Hawera is awful (but not in a “this is grey and morally ambiguous character” but in a “why should I care about this mediocre man” kind of way.)
So yeah, to summarise, I would like to have the hours spent on this book back.
1 star.
I’m not usually one to give such harsh reviews, but not only I didn’t like this book at all I think it has some objective problems both in the writing and in how some themes are handled.
Let’s start with the things that I liked:
►The setting was quite interesting, that while fully sci-fi, or well, post-apocalyptic after a more technological advanced classic sci-fi, felt almost fantasy at times and I like it.
►Ribcage was a cool character. Gremlin kid with powers is always amazing.
►There were a lot of cool concepts, probably too many to be all explored with some level of detail but they’re still cool.
What I didn’t like.
I will not go into details, in case you want to read it, but for me, it was a nightmare and after dragging myself for the first half of the book (400 pages of barely something), I decided to drop it.
But here is a list of SOME of my problems with the book in random order because I already spent too much time on this.
►The writing is bizarre, in some parts the author proves to be able to write quite well and with a certain complexity and ability to describe, in others, there is no description at all. I still have no idea about how Miree looks or what is most of the people in this world wearing, except for dirt? Some paragraphs go into the details about X thing happening and then you have a “and then they marched for a week and arrived.” to summarize the rest of the event. I had the impression that the author wrote the parts he was interested in / liked and then connected them halfheartedly.
The beginning is one of the most affected parts and I struggled to overcome the first chapters, especially since the dialogues are simplistic and flat and you can’t distingue who is talking half the time.
It’s all tell and no show.
►SO MANY DEUX EX MACHINA. And so many dialogues for lore exposition/lore drop.
► The characters are some of the least characterized ones I read in a lot of time, they aren’t even just stereotypes, they’re just there and you can easily summarise them with one or two words. I remember thinking after taking half a day's pause, “Ah, yeah, this is the angry woman protagonist and this is the man one.” and that’s all I have to say after about 400 pages about them.
Also, nobody likes nobody else and while this might be a narrative choice, because “they come from a gritty and dark and angsty and terrible post-apocalyptic world where you have to kill or be killed”, it makes it difficult to care about anyone or to make any travelling section (and there is so much going around in this book) not being a sluggish fest.
►This book was listed in the LGBTQ + category of NetGalley, but despite one of the protagonists, Miree, being bi/pan (and if you want to count them, there are the incestuous clones that seem to have a preference for the male gender, except our POV clone that is the poor lonely special heterosexual) it’s anything but queer.
The woman who is Miree's initial love interest is killed in the first 3 chapters and except for a couple of very vague and mundane attraction phrases, and the fact that her death accelerates a plan she already had in mind, there is well little about it and all it’s forgotten at the appearance of the male LI. In general, the aforementioned plot thread has the feeling of being an afterthought. It's not queerbaiting, but is it like the adjacent? XD
“Are you a boy or a girl?”
“I’m a man” (said the robot just rebooted that didn’t even know his name)
► Especially for being a sci-fi, he is painfully biological determinist, to the point that a character who until now has only seen clones of himself (and has never noticed it, but these are details), at the sight of a woman, who he doesn't know what she is, is instinctively drawn to her looks, her breasts and overwhelmed by a desire to protect her. And this is only the most striking case.
►That entire POV was painful to read because Arym is the scifi version of the "nice guy" and his behaviour towards Hawera is awful (but not in a “this is grey and morally ambiguous character” but in a “why should I care about this mediocre man” kind of way.)
So yeah, to summarise, I would like to have the hours spent on this book back.
June 12, 2023
Giving this my personal 2023 Indie Book of the Year Award.
Holy cow this was outstanding! This may be my favorite self published book I’ve ever read. Literally the only reason I gave this a chance was because of the cover. I have too many books to read to spend my time with self published books but when the cover is this nice, I will gladly give it a shot.
I think the main reason I liked this so much is because it really feels like a fantasy novel with sci-fi elements to it vs just a sci-fi novel, but boy when he gives you the elements he gives you the most mind boggling, otherworldly information that no human other than Welker can fully understand. In fact Welker tried his best to dumb it down as simply as you possibly could and I still couldn’t grasp it. It’s like if an astronaut told you how to fly a ship in step by step instructions you’re still not going to get it. He incorporates time traveling, astronomy, black holes, how gravity effects time, and much else. Even though I didn’t understand a lot of the science it didn’t take away the fun I had with this novel in the slightest.
My favorite parts of this story are the characters and the little cliffhangers at the end of every scene!
The story follows Beetro, an AI robot that doesn’t remember anything about himself other than he needs to find Galiaro but he has no idea who or where or what Galiaro is. He becomes friends with several people who are all memorable in their own ways. They later find out the whole galaxy is in danger and must work together to save it.
Well done Wick. I am very excited for the next installment!
Holy cow this was outstanding! This may be my favorite self published book I’ve ever read. Literally the only reason I gave this a chance was because of the cover. I have too many books to read to spend my time with self published books but when the cover is this nice, I will gladly give it a shot.
I think the main reason I liked this so much is because it really feels like a fantasy novel with sci-fi elements to it vs just a sci-fi novel, but boy when he gives you the elements he gives you the most mind boggling, otherworldly information that no human other than Welker can fully understand. In fact Welker tried his best to dumb it down as simply as you possibly could and I still couldn’t grasp it. It’s like if an astronaut told you how to fly a ship in step by step instructions you’re still not going to get it. He incorporates time traveling, astronomy, black holes, how gravity effects time, and much else. Even though I didn’t understand a lot of the science it didn’t take away the fun I had with this novel in the slightest.
My favorite parts of this story are the characters and the little cliffhangers at the end of every scene!
The story follows Beetro, an AI robot that doesn’t remember anything about himself other than he needs to find Galiaro but he has no idea who or where or what Galiaro is. He becomes friends with several people who are all memorable in their own ways. They later find out the whole galaxy is in danger and must work together to save it.
Well done Wick. I am very excited for the next installment!
Read
December 20, 2021I've gotten a good way into this book, but unfortunately it's a little too dark and intense for me at this time, which is a shame because I enjoyed parts of it quite a bit, and I wanted to find out what happens. I may come back to it later when I feel like I can handle it.
Thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a copy of this book.
Thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a copy of this book.
December 12, 2023
Honestly refreshing hard sci-fantasy. This book offers discussions on AI discovering what it means to be human but also goes into multidimensions, time curves, physics concepts as well as cloning and so much more!
Worth the read.
Worth the read.
April 21, 2024
4.25-Stars
Dark Theory by Wick Welker was my first reading from the Finalist round of the SPSFC-3 competition. I picked this one to be first for a couple of reasons. The first is I had already heard some positive chatter about this one as a couple of friends had read it not that long ago and seemed to enjoy it. The other is the fact it is the only one of the four finalists that I need to read which had an audio version available. I wanted to jump on the finalist reads as soon as I could to make sure I had enough time to get to them all. This rating and review are strictly of my own opinion and do not reflect in anyway our team scores for the SPSFC-3 competition.
The pacing was fairly smooth. This read was not without it's handful of editing issues but I never felt they were distracting enough to trip me up much. As previously mentioned I opted to utilize the audiobook version which was narrated by Elizabeth Phillips. This read was conducted as an immersion read taking advantage of the narration as I followed along visual. This allowed me to still try and catch errors in the e-book version which I didn't come across many glaring issues to trip me up. This story does have a couple of different story arcs taking place throughout the read. This might be difficult or uncomfortable for some readers but I though the author and narrator did a great job keeping me focused on what was happening throughout.
The world building was one of my favorite aspects of this read. The different levels of the world the majority of the story takes place is interesting enough. Toss in the possibilities of other dimensions and or timelines and things can get very interesting. There was a lot of mystery of what was going on and what had happened prior to the start of the book. It takes a good amount of time to eventually fill in many of those questions we might have as readers. I am in the camp that actually enjoys stories that are designed in this style.
The character building takes some twists and turns and may seem drawn out at times but I thought the author still did a good job overall. I was hesitant at the start of the story as I have really been struggling with books focused on younger characters but I think in time there is a solid mix of age ranges with the characters. I also find myself enjoying stories with artificial intelligence (robots with human characteristics) lately. Beetro was a very interesting character to see his story arc progress. Even Ribcage who was one of our youngest characters and took some time for me to get attached to, eventually won me over as well.
This author is not afraid to lose characters early and often though. I was very disappointed in one of our early and most significant deaths of a character. However, that characters spirit is an underlying trait which is brought up time and time again which helps several characters become who they are by the end of the story. These types of aspects remind me of individuals who made huge impacts on my life when I was young and helped me change my trajectory on where my life was heading.
In the end I did enjoy this read. As I said there is a lot going on and I think there is a lot of different appeal to be found for different readers with this story. There is plenty of traditional creative science fiction aspects such as technology to be found. There is also the different dimensions and timelines and another interesting part is the history of the previous races and their technological advancements which it seems we only scratched the surface of possibilities in book one. Out of the reads I've had in this competition, this is up there as far as feeling like a very polished and well put together story.
I personally will be keeping an eye on this series. I have noticed there is a novella currently available showing as #1.5 so I might try and get my hands on that in the next couple of months.
Dark Theory by Wick Welker was my first reading from the Finalist round of the SPSFC-3 competition. I picked this one to be first for a couple of reasons. The first is I had already heard some positive chatter about this one as a couple of friends had read it not that long ago and seemed to enjoy it. The other is the fact it is the only one of the four finalists that I need to read which had an audio version available. I wanted to jump on the finalist reads as soon as I could to make sure I had enough time to get to them all. This rating and review are strictly of my own opinion and do not reflect in anyway our team scores for the SPSFC-3 competition.
The pacing was fairly smooth. This read was not without it's handful of editing issues but I never felt they were distracting enough to trip me up much. As previously mentioned I opted to utilize the audiobook version which was narrated by Elizabeth Phillips. This read was conducted as an immersion read taking advantage of the narration as I followed along visual. This allowed me to still try and catch errors in the e-book version which I didn't come across many glaring issues to trip me up. This story does have a couple of different story arcs taking place throughout the read. This might be difficult or uncomfortable for some readers but I though the author and narrator did a great job keeping me focused on what was happening throughout.
The world building was one of my favorite aspects of this read. The different levels of the world the majority of the story takes place is interesting enough. Toss in the possibilities of other dimensions and or timelines and things can get very interesting. There was a lot of mystery of what was going on and what had happened prior to the start of the book. It takes a good amount of time to eventually fill in many of those questions we might have as readers. I am in the camp that actually enjoys stories that are designed in this style.
The character building takes some twists and turns and may seem drawn out at times but I thought the author still did a good job overall. I was hesitant at the start of the story as I have really been struggling with books focused on younger characters but I think in time there is a solid mix of age ranges with the characters. I also find myself enjoying stories with artificial intelligence (robots with human characteristics) lately. Beetro was a very interesting character to see his story arc progress. Even Ribcage who was one of our youngest characters and took some time for me to get attached to, eventually won me over as well.
This author is not afraid to lose characters early and often though. I was very disappointed in one of our early and most significant deaths of a character. However, that characters spirit is an underlying trait which is brought up time and time again which helps several characters become who they are by the end of the story. These types of aspects remind me of individuals who made huge impacts on my life when I was young and helped me change my trajectory on where my life was heading.
In the end I did enjoy this read. As I said there is a lot going on and I think there is a lot of different appeal to be found for different readers with this story. There is plenty of traditional creative science fiction aspects such as technology to be found. There is also the different dimensions and timelines and another interesting part is the history of the previous races and their technological advancements which it seems we only scratched the surface of possibilities in book one. Out of the reads I've had in this competition, this is up there as far as feeling like a very polished and well put together story.
I personally will be keeping an eye on this series. I have noticed there is a novella currently available showing as #1.5 so I might try and get my hands on that in the next couple of months.
January 8, 2022
Phew, quite the Sci-Fi blockbuster at 800 pages. A real roller-coaster ride through some of the most popular astrophysics buzzwords of our era - Dark Energy, dark matter, quantum entanglement, black holes, time-lines, all threatening the existence of not just the earth but the universe!
Surprisingly, the scale of the action on earth is confined to no more than a few hundred kilometres, and with a principal cast of no more than a dozen or so characters. A good idea I think, as the character building and the empathy you build (for some, at least) is easier with the small number.
The scenery suggests a post apocalyptic future Earth but it turns out to be far more complicated than that. There are villains and hazards galore too, for the small team to handle, individually or as a group. It has plenty of exciting moments, pain and tragedy, and twists that I didn’t see coming.
I could see some resemblance to the Chinese SciFi The Three-Body Problem (the author also mentions as inspiration), which I read recently with its frequent use of popular, and heavy duty, SciFi concepts. I think this may be an issue for some readers and even I, an avid popular science reader, found the science orientated explanations pretty heavy in places, as I did in The Three Body Problem. Maybe I come with too much baggage too as I couldn’t resist querying in my mind how far some of the concepts were taken to explain the problems the world faces. Though I appreciate, as when dealing with magic systems in fantasy, that a reader of fiction should try to suspend critical facilities and go with the author’s imagination. There are also one or two Deus ex Machina moments, for me (e.g. a rather too convenient escape route from a city) but given the density of science concepts and the action rich plot that’s pretty good in 800 pages.
So, for me, engrossing and highly imaginative. It didn’t seem like 800 pages, and didn’t drag one bit. Not a perfect match to my taste, as sometimes the mind (and world) bending science concepts threatened to overwhelm the importance of very well constructed characters, including a good AI character.
And this doesn’t seem to be the end. A lot of story arcs are resolved but there’s more to be done, it seems, in a likely follow up.
Tough to rate given it’s wide plot range; 5* for imagination and overall concepts, and very good characterisations. 4* for the rather dense science content which I found pushed a bit too much to the forefront of the plot, and 3.5* for it’s occasional use in explaining some physical events (tides!) - sorry, my Physics education is hard to ignore! Maybe 4-4.5* overall.
A strongly recommended choice for the reader of Science-rich SciFi who appreciates epic style storylines. As I mentioned, similar in style to The Three-Body Problem but with far better characterisations. I think this author is still warming up, and there’ll be more epic SciFi to come.
An ARC, with an honest review. I don’t know the author other than being a GR friend with some similar reading tastes.
Surprisingly, the scale of the action on earth is confined to no more than a few hundred kilometres, and with a principal cast of no more than a dozen or so characters. A good idea I think, as the character building and the empathy you build (for some, at least) is easier with the small number.
The scenery suggests a post apocalyptic future Earth but it turns out to be far more complicated than that. There are villains and hazards galore too, for the small team to handle, individually or as a group. It has plenty of exciting moments, pain and tragedy, and twists that I didn’t see coming.
I could see some resemblance to the Chinese SciFi The Three-Body Problem (the author also mentions as inspiration), which I read recently with its frequent use of popular, and heavy duty, SciFi concepts. I think this may be an issue for some readers and even I, an avid popular science reader, found the science orientated explanations pretty heavy in places, as I did in The Three Body Problem. Maybe I come with too much baggage too as I couldn’t resist querying in my mind how far some of the concepts were taken to explain the problems the world faces. Though I appreciate, as when dealing with magic systems in fantasy, that a reader of fiction should try to suspend critical facilities and go with the author’s imagination. There are also one or two Deus ex Machina moments, for me (e.g. a rather too convenient escape route from a city) but given the density of science concepts and the action rich plot that’s pretty good in 800 pages.
So, for me, engrossing and highly imaginative. It didn’t seem like 800 pages, and didn’t drag one bit. Not a perfect match to my taste, as sometimes the mind (and world) bending science concepts threatened to overwhelm the importance of very well constructed characters, including a good AI character.
And this doesn’t seem to be the end. A lot of story arcs are resolved but there’s more to be done, it seems, in a likely follow up.
Tough to rate given it’s wide plot range; 5* for imagination and overall concepts, and very good characterisations. 4* for the rather dense science content which I found pushed a bit too much to the forefront of the plot, and 3.5* for it’s occasional use in explaining some physical events (tides!) - sorry, my Physics education is hard to ignore! Maybe 4-4.5* overall.
A strongly recommended choice for the reader of Science-rich SciFi who appreciates epic style storylines. As I mentioned, similar in style to The Three-Body Problem but with far better characterisations. I think this author is still warming up, and there’ll be more epic SciFi to come.
An ARC, with an honest review. I don’t know the author other than being a GR friend with some similar reading tastes.
December 26, 2023
I received this book as part of the SPSFC3, as I'm a judge. This book is a quarter-finalist.
My overall thoughts are that Dark Theory is a solid, fun sci-fi, but there are certain things about it that didn't work for me.
The plot is fun if you don’t mind outlandish concepts that take a lot of liberties with science. And the way the story unfolds ensures that you’re never sure where it’s going or what is going to happen next - I did find that aspect quite engaging. Yet, in the same vein, there were so many times when I wondered about the logistics of certain aspects - like how the characters got food, how far away places were from one another, how their shoes hadn’t disintegrated, etcetera. Likewise, the story also meanders quite a bit. While I thought how the characters were brought together in various ways and the detours they made along the way made sense, it also gave the story a bit of a “small world” feeling. What are the chances of one character running into another half a world from home in a dark alley, for example? These coincidences happen quite a bit.
They were good characters but not great - they had a tenuous team dynamic that took a realistic amount of time to develop, and they each had their own quirks and backstories to overcome that gave them depth. Unfortunately, the villain is very surface-level until the very end, so I wasn’t sure what his deal was. I liked Ribcage the best of all the characters as I love a snarky, little kid character who acts her age, but I didn’t really care about the rest. I found Arym to be insufferable and quite stupid (something that should have been obvious to anyone with working eyes was an unnecessary twist in the book that took up a lot of time), Galliario was sexist and pedantic, and Miree’s doom-and-gloom snark got old fast, as there was nothing sympathetic about her for quite some time. One character’s death also managed to bring in both fridging and bury your gays in the same instance. I also found Beetro’s constant existential quandaries tiresome, but AI consciousness is not a trope I’m very into. There was not a lot of comic relief in this novel - every character is pretty morose, even the child - which might also be why I found it dragged. There were also a lot of speeches given by the characters that felt preachy.
The world-building is by far the best thing about the novel, though. I love a post-apocalyptic or recovering-apocalypse novel with ancient technology no one really knows how to recreate but still live alongside. Rather than going too far into the pastoral to make it fantasy, this book is fully situated in the sci-fi realm. I enjoyed the various factions and pockets of different civilizations that filled the world. I also liked how, while we are given hints as to what happened, we aren’t entirely sure how Earth got so bad.
In terms of the writing, the dialogue is snappy when there aren’t speeches, and the descriptions are well done so that I could easily picture what was going on. Unfortunately, there is just so much repetition in this novel. There were dozens and dozens of lines, explanations, and descriptions that could have been removed. Some of this repetition involved describing actions that were implied by the dialogue, repeating what was already said but in a different way, and re-explaining the same concepts to different characters (when one description would have sufficed). In truth, while I didn’t notice any writing errors, I bet 20% of this beast could have been trimmed.
Overall, a solid book, but I’m partial to sci-fi on the weirder scale.
My overall thoughts are that Dark Theory is a solid, fun sci-fi, but there are certain things about it that didn't work for me.
The plot is fun if you don’t mind outlandish concepts that take a lot of liberties with science. And the way the story unfolds ensures that you’re never sure where it’s going or what is going to happen next - I did find that aspect quite engaging. Yet, in the same vein, there were so many times when I wondered about the logistics of certain aspects - like how the characters got food, how far away places were from one another, how their shoes hadn’t disintegrated, etcetera. Likewise, the story also meanders quite a bit. While I thought how the characters were brought together in various ways and the detours they made along the way made sense, it also gave the story a bit of a “small world” feeling. What are the chances of one character running into another half a world from home in a dark alley, for example? These coincidences happen quite a bit.
They were good characters but not great - they had a tenuous team dynamic that took a realistic amount of time to develop, and they each had their own quirks and backstories to overcome that gave them depth. Unfortunately, the villain is very surface-level until the very end, so I wasn’t sure what his deal was. I liked Ribcage the best of all the characters as I love a snarky, little kid character who acts her age, but I didn’t really care about the rest. I found Arym to be insufferable and quite stupid (something that should have been obvious to anyone with working eyes was an unnecessary twist in the book that took up a lot of time), Galliario was sexist and pedantic, and Miree’s doom-and-gloom snark got old fast, as there was nothing sympathetic about her for quite some time. One character’s death also managed to bring in both fridging and bury your gays in the same instance. I also found Beetro’s constant existential quandaries tiresome, but AI consciousness is not a trope I’m very into. There was not a lot of comic relief in this novel - every character is pretty morose, even the child - which might also be why I found it dragged. There were also a lot of speeches given by the characters that felt preachy.
The world-building is by far the best thing about the novel, though. I love a post-apocalyptic or recovering-apocalypse novel with ancient technology no one really knows how to recreate but still live alongside. Rather than going too far into the pastoral to make it fantasy, this book is fully situated in the sci-fi realm. I enjoyed the various factions and pockets of different civilizations that filled the world. I also liked how, while we are given hints as to what happened, we aren’t entirely sure how Earth got so bad.
In terms of the writing, the dialogue is snappy when there aren’t speeches, and the descriptions are well done so that I could easily picture what was going on. Unfortunately, there is just so much repetition in this novel. There were dozens and dozens of lines, explanations, and descriptions that could have been removed. Some of this repetition involved describing actions that were implied by the dialogue, repeating what was already said but in a different way, and re-explaining the same concepts to different characters (when one description would have sufficed). In truth, while I didn’t notice any writing errors, I bet 20% of this beast could have been trimmed.
Overall, a solid book, but I’m partial to sci-fi on the weirder scale.
Read
February 21, 2024Read for spsfc3. Rtc!
August 6, 2023
I was intrigued by this book from the beginning. It's such an interesting world: long after the apocalypse (extensive nuclear war decimated the world) there are a few people trying to scrounge out a living. We follow along a handful of them. Early on we meet Miree and Lucinda who quickly gather up the bot, Beetro, into their junkyard scrounging lifestyle. After an army marches into their city they end up going on a quest across the barren landscape, across the mountains, through the giant crater, to the sea and a floating egg-shaped city. It's a big adventure that gathers into it the other protagonists: Arym (the moleman) and Hawera (a woman from a different time with time-powers), Ribcage (a street urchin with special space-based powers) and a rich world full of aliens, humans, intelligent life and the dumbest villains around.
I thought the amount of characters in this book was well done. Normally I dislike so many types of characters, but here I didn't really feel strongly about any of them. Some of them do really fall into ruts, however, which rubs off a lot of that shine. Arym basically lives up to his "dumb moleman" moniker that Ribcage gives him. He thinks he should own the only woman he's ever met (Hawera) and doesn't understand that she might be her own person not as equally absorbed by him as he is by her. Honestly how he is still so naive when it comes to relationships? His weird all-clones underground hive people should have at least taught him basic relationship rules. (Side note: is it incest if you're in love with and having sex with a clone that comes from the same origin as you? I think no.)
Poor Miree was probably the most suffering character of them all. She could not get a break. I wonder how much of it is unconscious bias within the author (she's the only outwardly queer character) and how much is just... chance? She suffers so much before the book begins, and then throughout the story it's like she moves from one prison to another, one torture chamber to another, losing limbs, losing more and more of herself. I felt the most connection with her from the first page, so seeing her character arc the way it went was pretty miserable.
The writing was pretty repetitive, sadly. It made a lot of the characters feel quite similar, to their detriment. After a while I realized that every single conversation went basically like this:
A: holding back information
B: but why? explain it to me!
A: sharing tiny bit more
B: but why?
A: sharing a smidge more
B: but why? explain yourself!
A: stop now! We have to go somewhere else!
It honestly got quite grating after 600 pages. By the end of the book I could predict how most conversations would go fairly well.
What I could not predict was this over-arching plot of the galaxy dying, the worlds ending, the stars disappearing. I sometimes felt that the science does not actually make sense, but I don't feel I know quite enough to be certain. But I was willing to just assume facts as true to enjoy where this story was taking me.
Overall I think I was fairly whelmed by this book. I wanted to love it a lot more than I did. It's a very long adventure, fairly well thought out plot and world by the author, but the characters and writing were definitely to its detriment.
I thought the amount of characters in this book was well done. Normally I dislike so many types of characters, but here I didn't really feel strongly about any of them. Some of them do really fall into ruts, however, which rubs off a lot of that shine. Arym basically lives up to his "dumb moleman" moniker that Ribcage gives him. He thinks he should own the only woman he's ever met (Hawera) and doesn't understand that she might be her own person not as equally absorbed by him as he is by her. Honestly how he is still so naive when it comes to relationships? His weird all-clones underground hive people should have at least taught him basic relationship rules. (Side note: is it incest if you're in love with and having sex with a clone that comes from the same origin as you? I think no.)
Poor Miree was probably the most suffering character of them all. She could not get a break. I wonder how much of it is unconscious bias within the author (she's the only outwardly queer character) and how much is just... chance? She suffers so much before the book begins, and then throughout the story it's like she moves from one prison to another, one torture chamber to another, losing limbs, losing more and more of herself. I felt the most connection with her from the first page, so seeing her character arc the way it went was pretty miserable.
The writing was pretty repetitive, sadly. It made a lot of the characters feel quite similar, to their detriment. After a while I realized that every single conversation went basically like this:
A: holding back information
B: but why? explain it to me!
A: sharing tiny bit more
B: but why?
A: sharing a smidge more
B: but why? explain yourself!
A: stop now! We have to go somewhere else!
It honestly got quite grating after 600 pages. By the end of the book I could predict how most conversations would go fairly well.
What I could not predict was this over-arching plot of the galaxy dying, the worlds ending, the stars disappearing. I sometimes felt that the science does not actually make sense, but I don't feel I know quite enough to be certain. But I was willing to just assume facts as true to enjoy where this story was taking me.
Overall I think I was fairly whelmed by this book. I wanted to love it a lot more than I did. It's a very long adventure, fairly well thought out plot and world by the author, but the characters and writing were definitely to its detriment.
Did Not Finish
May 22, 2022DNF @ 35% / 274 pages
I tried. I really did.
This was one of my most anticipated 2022 releases, so I'm pretty bummed to let it go. But I straight up am not enjoying it. It was a chore to read, actually. I've been slogging through this book for 3 weeks now because it's so tedious, and I've lost all desire to pick it back up again. It feels like I've been reading it for FOREVER and after realizing I was barely a third of the way through, I just couldn't do it anymore.
The writing grated on my nerves. It was dry and pretentious, and even when things were happening I was bored. The characters were flat and I couldn't connect to them at all. The only reason I made it as far as I did was because the premise is super cool. The world was really unique! Like I said, super bummed. It had such fantastic potential and could have been a winner for me if it had better writing and characters. The Crib was pretty cool - an achillean society with zero women whatsoever living underground - I think this will be a winner for a lot of Adult SFF fans, but it didn't work for me.
I tried. I really did.
This was one of my most anticipated 2022 releases, so I'm pretty bummed to let it go. But I straight up am not enjoying it. It was a chore to read, actually. I've been slogging through this book for 3 weeks now because it's so tedious, and I've lost all desire to pick it back up again. It feels like I've been reading it for FOREVER and after realizing I was barely a third of the way through, I just couldn't do it anymore.
The writing grated on my nerves. It was dry and pretentious, and even when things were happening I was bored. The characters were flat and I couldn't connect to them at all. The only reason I made it as far as I did was because the premise is super cool. The world was really unique! Like I said, super bummed. It had such fantastic potential and could have been a winner for me if it had better writing and characters. The Crib was pretty cool - an achillean society with zero women whatsoever living underground - I think this will be a winner for a lot of Adult SFF fans, but it didn't work for me.
April 20, 2024
7.5/10
DISCLAIMER! - I read this as a judge for SPSFC3 as part of the team SpaceGirls. This review and score is my personal opinion and does not reflect our entire team thoughts. Likewise the rating, this is my personal rating and is NOT the team's final score.
Going by the blurb I thought I'd enjoy this a lot more than I did - it certainly ticked off a lot of what I enjoy in my SF.
However there were parts of the world building I personally felt that were unnecessary and overly long to just be used as a point where certain people were to finally re-cross paths. (I would love a separate story on the forest and it's inhabitants though)
I appreciated the fact that a great deal of the scientific data was in laymen's terms but there were times my eyes glazed over.
Honestly though, if this book was 25% shorter I would have really enjoyed this book a lot more. There is a great story there under the excess exposition.
DISCLAIMER! - I read this as a judge for SPSFC3 as part of the team SpaceGirls. This review and score is my personal opinion and does not reflect our entire team thoughts. Likewise the rating, this is my personal rating and is NOT the team's final score.
Going by the blurb I thought I'd enjoy this a lot more than I did - it certainly ticked off a lot of what I enjoy in my SF.
However there were parts of the world building I personally felt that were unnecessary and overly long to just be used as a point where certain people were to finally re-cross paths. (I would love a separate story on the forest and it's inhabitants though)
I appreciated the fact that a great deal of the scientific data was in laymen's terms but there were times my eyes glazed over.
Honestly though, if this book was 25% shorter I would have really enjoyed this book a lot more. There is a great story there under the excess exposition.
March 19, 2022
When i saw the synopsis i was intrigued by this book
And for the first two chapters it was okay i liked Beetro, and Lucindi was a cool character as well
But i did not like the way this book decided to go. Killing Lucindi off and then have Miree deal with her death like i did not like that at all
Also everyone seemed to hate everyone else and i feel like it did not work. I really did not like the characters
Arym was not it either. I did not like the clones part at all and how incest happens
I was honestly confused the majority of the time and did not pick up what was going on i did not like this at all it was definitely not my cup of tea at all.
I really did try with this one but it did not give what was suppose to give and i felt let down
And for the first two chapters it was okay i liked Beetro, and Lucindi was a cool character as well
But i did not like the way this book decided to go. Killing Lucindi off and then have Miree deal with her death like i did not like that at all
Also everyone seemed to hate everyone else and i feel like it did not work. I really did not like the characters
Arym was not it either. I did not like the clones part at all and how incest happens
I was honestly confused the majority of the time and did not pick up what was going on i did not like this at all it was definitely not my cup of tea at all.
I really did try with this one but it did not give what was suppose to give and i felt let down
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 24, 2022
This is a multi-POV grimdark sci-fi with different alien races and robots.
The book was too long and there was a lot that could've been edited out without losing the quality of the story.
I didn't care for any of the main characters. I usually enjoy morally grey characters, but these were just too shallow. I especially disliked Miree.
A lot of Arym's POV felt like Red Rising to be honest and it took me over 40% to get to the goal/problem that needs to be solved. For me this was too long to get to the point.
While this had some parts I didn't enjoy, I can see the potential that the author has and I'd read more in the future.
Thanks Netgalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
The book was too long and there was a lot that could've been edited out without losing the quality of the story.
I didn't care for any of the main characters. I usually enjoy morally grey characters, but these were just too shallow. I especially disliked Miree.
A lot of Arym's POV felt like Red Rising to be honest and it took me over 40% to get to the goal/problem that needs to be solved. For me this was too long to get to the point.
While this had some parts I didn't enjoy, I can see the potential that the author has and I'd read more in the future.
Thanks Netgalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
July 9, 2023
A satisfying tale.
I was initially going to give it 4 ⭐ s but it was such a fun ride. 5 stars for being so enjoyable.
I can't wait to read more escapades from an ensemble of interesting characters.
I was initially going to give it 4 ⭐ s but it was such a fun ride. 5 stars for being so enjoyable.
I can't wait to read more escapades from an ensemble of interesting characters.
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