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riley_rose's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
tiffanyann's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
pilebythebed's review against another edition
4.0
Australian author Corey J White exploded onto the science fiction scene with his first Void Witch novella – Killing Gravity. That all action story focussed on void witch Mariam ‘Mars’ Xi, who has extreme telekenetic powers and is taken in by a group of scrap traders when pursued by the authorities.
Void Black Shadow opens not long after Killing Gravity ends. The challenge for White is what to do with a character who has just used her mental powers to literally destroy a whole armada of space ships. He does what most writers in this situation would do – he starts by creating a more powerful enemy (in this case Borg-like hive-mind cybernetic soldiers called The Legion) and then finds a way to take away those powers. Mariam loses her powers as for a while as she gives herself up to get into a moon-sized prison to try and rescue Mookie, one of her comrades from the first book.
Mars once again is the centre of this story. And while she has a few moments of introspection she is really defined by her actions. And she is constantly in action.
There was an opportunity after Killing Gravity potentially to slow things down and explore the universe that White has created a bit more fully. But that is not this book. Instead, White doubles down on the action and the pace with plenty of battles and scenes of psychic destruction. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Void Black Shadow once again scratches an itch for pacey, big budget space opera and is just the right length to be devoured in a single gulp and leave readers both satisfyingly exhausted and waiting for more.
Void Black Shadow opens not long after Killing Gravity ends. The challenge for White is what to do with a character who has just used her mental powers to literally destroy a whole armada of space ships. He does what most writers in this situation would do – he starts by creating a more powerful enemy (in this case Borg-like hive-mind cybernetic soldiers called The Legion) and then finds a way to take away those powers. Mariam loses her powers as for a while as she gives herself up to get into a moon-sized prison to try and rescue Mookie, one of her comrades from the first book.
Mars once again is the centre of this story. And while she has a few moments of introspection she is really defined by her actions. And she is constantly in action.
There was an opportunity after Killing Gravity potentially to slow things down and explore the universe that White has created a bit more fully. But that is not this book. Instead, White doubles down on the action and the pace with plenty of battles and scenes of psychic destruction. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Void Black Shadow once again scratches an itch for pacey, big budget space opera and is just the right length to be devoured in a single gulp and leave readers both satisfyingly exhausted and waiting for more.
someonetookit's review against another edition
5.0
It’s done. I am finished Mr White’s second instalment and what a whirlwind.
Once again, Mars never stays in one place for too long. It keeps the pace flowing for a relatively short publication, speeding through content others would take hundreds of pages to divulge.
Squid, Trix and Mookie all resume their places within the timeline of Mars’ devastating flight through the universe. Someone’s fate made me want to cry while another’s caused a burst of rage that saw my copy flying towards my loungeroom wall (followed by a lengthy apology and a scrupulous investigation of all pages it contained).
Overall I found this book a blood drenched, emotion packed feast for the mind. I just wish I had another instalment to tide me over 😔
Once again, Mars never stays in one place for too long. It keeps the pace flowing for a relatively short publication, speeding through content others would take hundreds of pages to divulge.
Squid, Trix and Mookie all resume their places within the timeline of Mars’ devastating flight through the universe. Someone’s fate made me want to cry while another’s caused a burst of rage that saw my copy flying towards my loungeroom wall (followed by a lengthy apology and a scrupulous investigation of all pages it contained).
Overall I found this book a blood drenched, emotion packed feast for the mind. I just wish I had another instalment to tide me over 😔
iam's review against another edition
5.0
Oof, this definitely managed to be more drastic, brutal and high-stakes than [b:Killing Gravity|33091587|Killing Gravity (The Voidwitch Saga, #1)|Corey J. White|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1479841956l/33091587._SY75_.jpg|53747864].
Content warnings include: character death, mass murder (like, A LOT), violence, graphic gore, graphic invasive surgery, unconsensual surgery, torture, imprisonment; mentions of sexual assault and coercion, bullying.
It's probably better for me to not think too deply about the events of this book. It could be argued that Mars is forced to commit a lot of the (literally thousands) of murders she committs, except... uuuh, yeah, it was still a deliberate decision to write her as killing entire cities.
Mars is far from a villain, she cares deeply about the people closest to her, she has a sense of duty and justice, but following her fate is bleak. And her story is far from over.
I'm definitely enjoying the series, but dwelling too long on what happens in it would probably put a bit of a damper on that enjoyment. Nevertheless, some things made me laugh, and I love the casual inclusion of nonbinary people in the worldbuilding.
Speaking of worldbuilding, it definitely gets expanded in the second novella of the series.
If you enjoy action-heavy SciFi with overpowered protagonists trying to keep their friends save, and don't mind the various content warnings, you will enjoy this!
Content warnings include: character death, mass murder (like, A LOT), violence, graphic gore, graphic invasive surgery, unconsensual surgery, torture, imprisonment; mentions of sexual assault and coercion, bullying.
It's probably better for me to not think too deply about the events of this book. It could be argued that Mars is forced to commit a lot of the (literally thousands) of murders she committs, except... uuuh, yeah, it was still a deliberate decision to write her as killing entire cities.
Mars is far from a villain, she cares deeply about the people closest to her, she has a sense of duty and justice, but following her fate is bleak. And her story is far from over.
I'm definitely enjoying the series, but dwelling too long on what happens in it would probably put a bit of a damper on that enjoyment. Nevertheless, some things made me laugh, and I love the casual inclusion of nonbinary people in the worldbuilding.
Speaking of worldbuilding, it definitely gets expanded in the second novella of the series.
If you enjoy action-heavy SciFi with overpowered protagonists trying to keep their friends save, and don't mind the various content warnings, you will enjoy this!
catbooking's review against another edition
2.0
This one feels more emotionally hollow than the first one. The bad guys are rather dumb, and never developed beyond being eeeeviiiil. The horrible events never feel horrible, because the protagonist does not react beyond mentioning how things are horrible. Nor is she stoic, willing to accept horrible things by the strength of her sheer stubbornness. Finally, all other characters are beyond flat and seem to only be there to press buttons and pilot ships that Mars cannot physically reach.
So this will be the last book of the series I read. I was hoping it would get better. Hoping some of the wrinkles would get smoothed out. Unfortunately that didn't happened.
PS: the covers are very pretty and I wish the books were as great as they are.
So this will be the last book of the series I read. I was hoping it would get better. Hoping some of the wrinkles would get smoothed out. Unfortunately that didn't happened.
PS: the covers are very pretty and I wish the books were as great as they are.
joerobson's review against another edition
3.0
Ok, it was quite good. I thought he painted himself into a corner having a character who is basically all-powerful, and he hasn’t really worked out a way to make it balanced yet.
Xi literally pulls planets out of the sky but in the final scene she leaves the station surrounded by imperial ships, because...? And his solution to control Xi in the prison is pretty lame. And any remorse she shows is basically “I felt really fucking bad. Really fucking awful. I felt so guilty. Really fucking guilty. And bad and fucking awful.” And then she kills another city full of people because they are employed by the same galaxy-spanning megacorp that made her the way she is? Although fair enough, who works for a company called Mephisto, seriously.
I hope in the next book Xi has to deal with making really precise telekinetic movements, because that seems like the only way to show her in any trouble whatsoever when she can crush entire fleets and end up with nothing more than a sore throat and a headache. Jeez.
Also less of the cat. Who cares. Flush it out the airlock. Unless the cat ends up secretly being her sister who was extra mutated by the space witch program.
Xi literally pulls planets out of the sky but in the final scene she leaves the station surrounded by imperial ships, because...? And his solution to control Xi in the prison is pretty lame. And any remorse she shows is basically “I felt really fucking bad. Really fucking awful. I felt so guilty. Really fucking guilty. And bad and fucking awful.” And then she kills another city full of people because they are employed by the same galaxy-spanning megacorp that made her the way she is? Although fair enough, who works for a company called Mephisto, seriously.
I hope in the next book Xi has to deal with making really precise telekinetic movements, because that seems like the only way to show her in any trouble whatsoever when she can crush entire fleets and end up with nothing more than a sore throat and a headache. Jeez.
Also less of the cat. Who cares. Flush it out the airlock. Unless the cat ends up secretly being her sister who was extra mutated by the space witch program.
wilsk's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
3.0
kieralesley's review against another edition
4.0
One of the books I was excited for this year and it didn’t disappoint, delivering a raging follow-up novella to Killing Gravity.
A good sequel retains what made the first one cool without covering the same ground as the first and White delivers.
Void Black Shadow mostly focuses on an inescapable prison world from which Mars is attempting to spring Mookie – captured during the climax of Killing Gravity. The setting is darker in this novella and doesn’t pull the punch on the callousness of the prison or other related aspects such as human and animal experimentation. It’s not gratuitous, but might be a bit confronting for some readers.
The fight scenes remain spectacular, including the few where Mars doesn’t use her powers. They’re dynamic and make really good use of the different environments and circumstances the fights take place in. They feel big and smart.
The worldbuilding is bigger this time, fleshing out places and elements of the wider world Mars inhabits and managing to feel sprawling despite only focusing on a few locations and small core group of characters. New ideas and mash-ups of old concepts combine to make something familiar and original at the same time. A particular favourite were the android prison guards able to be jacked into by operators from a remote location, reminiscent of fighter drone pilots.
One of the most interesting parts of Void Black Shadow for me was seeing Mars’ morality start to slip. Where in Killing Gravity she was a justified ball of vengeful rage, in Void Black Shadow not only do we encounter the full scope of the damage she wrought in Killing Gravity, but the body count rises… and rises. Mars stops occasionally to think, but justifies the actions to herself, while those around her start to question whether she’s actually doing the right thing.
There isn’t much to complain about here and the problems I had were small. For example, I found a later scene where Mars meets up with a group of other psychics a little lightweight and the characterisation generally a little light on and not really building on from Killing Gravity, but these are minor and don’t take away from what is, on the whole, a great sequel.
Importantly, Ocho remains one of the best things about this series. I want a weirdo cat thing snuggle-climbing around in my spacesuit and I challenge anyone to argue differently after reading this.
A good sequel retains what made the first one cool without covering the same ground as the first and White delivers.
Void Black Shadow mostly focuses on an inescapable prison world from which Mars is attempting to spring Mookie – captured during the climax of Killing Gravity. The setting is darker in this novella and doesn’t pull the punch on the callousness of the prison or other related aspects such as human and animal experimentation. It’s not gratuitous, but might be a bit confronting for some readers.
The fight scenes remain spectacular, including the few where Mars doesn’t use her powers. They’re dynamic and make really good use of the different environments and circumstances the fights take place in. They feel big and smart.
The worldbuilding is bigger this time, fleshing out places and elements of the wider world Mars inhabits and managing to feel sprawling despite only focusing on a few locations and small core group of characters. New ideas and mash-ups of old concepts combine to make something familiar and original at the same time. A particular favourite were the android prison guards able to be jacked into by operators from a remote location, reminiscent of fighter drone pilots.
One of the most interesting parts of Void Black Shadow for me was seeing Mars’ morality start to slip. Where in Killing Gravity she was a justified ball of vengeful rage, in Void Black Shadow not only do we encounter the full scope of the damage she wrought in Killing Gravity, but the body count rises… and rises. Mars stops occasionally to think, but justifies the actions to herself, while those around her start to question whether she’s actually doing the right thing.
There isn’t much to complain about here and the problems I had were small. For example, I found a later scene where Mars meets up with a group of other psychics a little lightweight and the characterisation generally a little light on and not really building on from Killing Gravity, but these are minor and don’t take away from what is, on the whole, a great sequel.
Importantly, Ocho remains one of the best things about this series. I want a weirdo cat thing snuggle-climbing around in my spacesuit and I challenge anyone to argue differently after reading this.