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robotghostattack's review against another edition
3.0
Lots of action. Like.... So much smooshing of soldiers. The whole story is like angst, smoosh, angst, lots of smoosh, anger, bad choice, smoosh smoosh smoosh. The characters I loved in the first installment were barely involved, and the abilities of the main character have had to be made so huge and all-encompassing that the enemies really never stood a chance. I'm not sure where the story can go from here, the stakes and action were so over the top that it is hard to imagine how they could be made better.
That said, I really like the main character. I enjoyed my afternoon with this story, and I'm sure I'll read the next one.
That said, I really like the main character. I enjoyed my afternoon with this story, and I'm sure I'll read the next one.
eol's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
leticiatoraci's review against another edition
4.0
This was very entertaining, a bit full of battles and short on side character appearance but still a page turner. I'm still on this series bandwagon.
barb4ry1's review against another edition
3.0
Mars isn't the one to mistreat. She's a living weapon, a genetically-manipulated psychic super soldier able to crush spaceship fleet with her mind. MEPHISTO company engineered her, and some of its representatives want her back. They have her friend. Mars won't stop until she's settled her debts and recovered her friend.
Mayhem ensues.
The body count is high, and there's plenty of violence in this book. Things get much darker and brutal than in the first novel. Grisly details of scientific experiments are visual, and they may be difficult to digest by more sensible readers. They're not explicit but not much is left to the imagination.
The cast of characters isn't the biggest one but is diverse, and there's some nice LGBT representation. The main character is bisexual, one of her friends - Squid is, well, non-binary? He's them. There's also an open relationship between crew members. All in all, a fun team.
While worldbuilding is imaginative and some scenes were entertaining, the plot is quite linear and straightforward. Characters remain flat, and their motivations aren't particularly deep. Mars is reckless, emotional and illogical. Not a problem per se, but a problem for me as a reader.
Overall, it's entertaining space adventure novella. Brutal, fast and furious. I'm not sure if I'll read the sequels, but I liked it more than the first book in the series.
I received the copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Mayhem ensues.
The body count is high, and there's plenty of violence in this book. Things get much darker and brutal than in the first novel. Grisly details of scientific experiments are visual, and they may be difficult to digest by more sensible readers. They're not explicit but not much is left to the imagination.
The cast of characters isn't the biggest one but is diverse, and there's some nice LGBT representation. The main character is bisexual, one of her friends - Squid is, well, non-binary? He's them. There's also an open relationship between crew members. All in all, a fun team.
While worldbuilding is imaginative and some scenes were entertaining, the plot is quite linear and straightforward. Characters remain flat, and their motivations aren't particularly deep. Mars is reckless, emotional and illogical. Not a problem per se, but a problem for me as a reader.
Overall, it's entertaining space adventure novella. Brutal, fast and furious. I'm not sure if I'll read the sequels, but I liked it more than the first book in the series.
I received the copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
blackmetalblackheart's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this more than the first in the series. It is quick paced and super violent. However, it suffers from the same problem of the main character being vastly overpowered. It takes a lot of the suspense away.
lainy122's review against another edition
3.0
Holy crap this series got dark fast.
'Killing Gravity' was a fast paced adventurous romp with fantastic world building and brilliantly diverse characters who were fun to cheer on. There is very little cheering in 'Void Black Shadow'. Instead of whacky adventures, we spend the majority of the book in a really really bad space prison. Where really really bad things happen.
The tone shift is huge, especially reading these two books back to back.
The protagonist in the first book was just coming into her super spacey powers, and here they have become fully realised; unfortunately at the same time her moral compass has degraded from wobbling a bit back and forth to completely spinning around out of control. Events conspire to test her already nebulous sense of right and wrong, and though Mars recognises in herself her increasing ability to brush aside the value of a human life, she doesn't really do anything to mitigate it - if anything she starts to embrace it.
The body count for this one is off the charts people!
I can't help but wonder how different the outcome for Mars would have been if my fav character from the first book - Squid, who is the best you guys - had been able to feature more prominently in the events leading up to climax of the novel.
Not the light-hearted romp I signed up for based on the first Voidwitch book, but I still can't wait to see what's going to happen when the dust settles.
'Killing Gravity' was a fast paced adventurous romp with fantastic world building and brilliantly diverse characters who were fun to cheer on. There is very little cheering in 'Void Black Shadow'. Instead of whacky adventures, we spend the majority of the book in a really really bad space prison. Where really really bad things happen.
The tone shift is huge, especially reading these two books back to back.
The protagonist in the first book was just coming into her super spacey powers, and here they have become fully realised; unfortunately at the same time her moral compass has degraded from wobbling a bit back and forth to completely spinning around out of control. Events conspire to test her already nebulous sense of right and wrong, and though Mars recognises in herself her increasing ability to brush aside the value of a human life, she doesn't really do anything to mitigate it - if anything she starts to embrace it.
The body count for this one is off the charts people!
I can't help but wonder how different the outcome for Mars would have been if my fav character from the first book - Squid, who is the best you guys - had been able to feature more prominently in the events leading up to climax of the novel.
Not the light-hearted romp I signed up for based on the first Voidwitch book, but I still can't wait to see what's going to happen when the dust settles.
bibliophilicjester's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. I needed to reflect a bit on this one, and I still don't understand how I feel, lol. So I'm just going to ramble for a minute.
At some point while reading this I thought it'd be better as one long book as opposed to three novellas, and that's not usually how I feel about shorter works. And I don't really know why I feel that, just that maybe Mars getting vengeance and taking the fight to mephisto is a larger arc for a full length novel, and it could've had three different parts as many sff books do.
There's also this conflicting feeling I have that I REALLY don't understand. Because it seems like Mars kills SO many people at once without a thought. But...she does feel awful about it. And at one point in this book, she's given a number of deaths she was recently responsible for, and it really fucks her up. Maybe it's just the act of reaching out and destroying a fleet of ships in self defense...seems a bit flimsy on the self defense. It feels more like an attack and use of her power for shots and giggles. There's a point in the first book when she worries she killed an ally by mistake bc she just like annihilated everyone in the building and she panics hard. But it also shows how careless she is with killing. But ALSO. At the same time. She really is just a pissed off little kid on the inside who had her childhood stolen from her. So it bothers me but I get it. See?! Conflicted feelings.
I do NOT have conflicted feelings about Squid, whom I adore. Trix is meh, Mookie is likable and forgettable to me, and I really don't care about Sera. Seven/Ocho is adorable as would be expected. But I didn't realize how much I loved Squid until they showed up in this book and I was like YES. Not only are they likable and badass, but I feel like earning their loyalty is something you hold onto forever. They're also everything I expect in a captain/wrangler of other people on their ship. I love the moments when Mars is like ugh I'm sorry I got all of you into this. And Squid is like...
At some point while reading this I thought it'd be better as one long book as opposed to three novellas, and that's not usually how I feel about shorter works. And I don't really know why I feel that, just that maybe Mars getting vengeance and taking the fight to mephisto is a larger arc for a full length novel, and it could've had three different parts as many sff books do.
There's also this conflicting feeling I have that I REALLY don't understand. Because it seems like Mars kills SO many people at once without a thought. But...she does feel awful about it. And at one point in this book, she's given a number of deaths she was recently responsible for, and it really fucks her up. Maybe it's just the act of reaching out and destroying a fleet of ships in self defense...seems a bit flimsy on the self defense. It feels more like an attack and use of her power for shots and giggles. There's a point in the first book when she worries she killed an ally by mistake bc she just like annihilated everyone in the building and she panics hard. But it also shows how careless she is with killing. But ALSO. At the same time. She really is just a pissed off little kid on the inside who had her childhood stolen from her. So it bothers me but I get it. See?! Conflicted feelings.
I do NOT have conflicted feelings about Squid, whom I adore. Trix is meh, Mookie is likable and forgettable to me, and I really don't care about Sera. Seven/Ocho is adorable as would be expected. But I didn't realize how much I loved Squid until they showed up in this book and I was like YES. Not only are they likable and badass, but I feel like earning their loyalty is something you hold onto forever. They're also everything I expect in a captain/wrangler of other people on their ship. I love the moments when Mars is like ugh I'm sorry I got all of you into this. And Squid is like...
helenid's review against another edition
5.0
Revenge saga; with cute sidekick. The moral here is don't experiment on children and let them reach adulthood. Just saying...
colossal's review against another edition
4.0
Another brutal novella in this series about a living weapon who just wants to be left alone, but is constantly drawn back into conflict with the Empire that created her.
Mars Xi has fallen in with a crew of misfits, and she now has a mission to rescue one of them from the clutches of MEPHISTO and a whole new horrific sub-group of super-weapons. But to do it she has to fight her way out of an inescapable prison world and fight off an unstoppable army of cyborg soldiers, while keeping her friends alive.
When I say brutal, I mean brutal. It seems that the author has balanced a character with near omnipotent telekinetic ability with a universe that constantly asks "what's the worse thing that could happen to Mars and the people she cares about now?" and then does it. It's actually almost over an internal line where I resist caring about these characters because of whatever horrible fate is sure to await them.
Still, interesting space opera with a uniquely powerful character who may actually be the monster that her enemies call her.
Mars Xi has fallen in with a crew of misfits, and she now has a mission to rescue one of them from the clutches of MEPHISTO and a whole new horrific sub-group of super-weapons. But to do it she has to fight her way out of an inescapable prison world and fight off an unstoppable army of cyborg soldiers, while keeping her friends alive.
When I say brutal, I mean brutal. It seems that the author has balanced a character with near omnipotent telekinetic ability with a universe that constantly asks "what's the worse thing that could happen to Mars and the people she cares about now?" and then does it. It's actually almost over an internal line where I resist caring about these characters because of whatever horrible fate is sure to await them.
Still, interesting space opera with a uniquely powerful character who may actually be the monster that her enemies call her.