For some reason, I just didn't get into this book like I did the first one. It wasn't that it was *bad* just that it was... almost too easy.

I feel in too minds about saying that last line, because some of what Mars gets herself into in this book is truly horrific, but at the same time, she does choose it. It's made very clear at multiple points of the book that she could have just chosen a different way at any time if she'd been willing to sacrifice different people.

Mars as a protagonist is a hero without much in the way of power flaws. She rolls natural 20s with every single step. I mean, maybe she has to concentrate somehow, but she's been genetically engineered to be able to do stuff that makes her a very OP character.

And, for me? There just wasn't enough emotional space or vulnerability in this book to set aside that power. Did she seem to regret some of her actions at the end of the book? Yeah. But that was right at the end, and it wasn't given all that much time or space. To me, this book read like a George Lucas-like explosion movie that was all shock and wow but not a lot under it.

Wow, it took me far too long to pick up the threads of the story again from the previous novella. I think this is probably my fault more than the novella itself, though, and it's not as though a novella series has a lot of space to keep reiterating things in between installments. Void Black Shadow as a whole is... rather dark, really. The first book was already like that, of course, but it gets worse, with Mars heading into a high security prison where people are tortured in order to rescue someone who was endangered thanks to her.

The ending is particularly wrenching, with Mookie's reactions to what's happened to him hitting that perfect note of complicated devastation. I hope we'll see more of Mookie and the rest of that crew, though I'll also welcome more characterisation for Pale. (And a proper name would be good, too.)

A good read, if rather dark... as, I suppose, the title already suggests.

Corey J. White has given us a sterling second installment in his Voidwitch Saga series of novellas, the first of which possessed the equally evocative title of "Killing Gravity." "Void Black Shadow" more or less picks up where the first novella left off, which is to say, with Miriam Xi using the power of the mind to protect herself ... and yeah, maybe killing a couple of people. But that'd be telling.

As happens in many "found family" tales (I'm thinking here of Becky Chambers' "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet" series), this second installment takes that family and scatters it, and much of the plot architecture and dramatic tension centers around the separation of these now-beloved figures. Luckily, in a shorter work like "Void Black Shadow," that separation doesn't get dragged out for 300 pages, and the reunions, such as they are, keep the pacing from devolving into a slow and scattershot affair.

As in "Killing Gravity," White isn't so much reinventing the wheel as writing solid and serviceable fiction which relies upon time-honored tropes and maybe improves upon them a bit. You have, without delivering serious spoilers, the archetypes of prison planet and spacefarers with mental powers, just to name two of these tropes. River Tam would be proud. (Captain Reynolds would be rolling his eyes, but secretly standing up for it.) This is straightforwards science fiction, and a worthy middle act. I will of *course* be excited to remain plugged in through the final act, whenever that should arrive on shelves at the bookstore.

As a second instalment in the Voidwitch Saga, it wasn’t much different than the first one. The good part is that it doesn’t suffer of the second book syndrome; the bad part is that there isn’t any development. There is no character growth, no worldbuilding whatsoever, only killings upon killings.

First volume, Killing Gravity, did not impress me, but at least my interest was sparked to know what happened to Mookie and to learn more about the little pet. I thought the writing will improve but I guess I was wrong.

Ocho, the little pet wasn’t developed any further; rescuing Mookie and the whole prison part was too far-fetched, to put it mildly: Mars, besides being Rambo, here is also Superman - her powers are beyond belief.

But if you like only action and fighting, I guess you’ll like this one. It was ok to read it after a few hectic days at work, but that's about it; I won’t be continuing with this series any longer.

After reading Killing Gravity I immediately sought out the next book in the series. Void Black Shadow by Corey J. White is the second book in the Voidwitch Saga, and a great second installment to the series.

The Voidwhich Saga is a series of novellas about Mars Xi, a woman raised from childhood to be a weapon of the state. Imbued with incredible power which even her captors didn’t fully understand, she is now free. MEPHISTO, the ones who created her, have taken a friend hostage. And Mars will stop at no lengths to get him back.

If you want to see what with thought of Killing Gravity, the first book in the series, you can find it here.

The second book in this series differs greatly in tone from the first. This contrast is made all the more stark when reading these books back to back. Void Black Shadow tackles the horrors mentioned but unseen in Killing Gravity and brings them to the forefront of the narrative. The feeling of pure adventure and the wholesale destruction Mars wreaks with little recompense in book one are gone. Instead, Mars must confront her actions since escaping MEPHISTO including the literal of thousands she’s slaughtered while trying to evade recapture. The majority of this novella takes place within a prison made for only the most egregious criminals. It is dark in a way the first book was not. Mars might murder her enemies in the way most heroes in large action/adventure science fiction movies and TV shows do, but she does not partake in the sort of torture and cruelty her enemies specialize in, and that is something we see firsthand here.

While I was unsure how I felt about this shift in tone and pacing at first, it is definitely to the stories benefit. Mars is a main character whose plans do not always turn out the way she foresaw. The line between self-preservation while on the run from objectively evil individuals/government states and committing equalative atrocities is one that is blurred, but one that Mars must confront. I greatly respect the book for taking the time to delve into this so well. What I expected was another fun romp through space with a main character slowly healing from a lifetime of hurt tracking down her old enemies and exacting revenge with a few bumps in the road. This? This was not what I expected, and it was wonderful because of that.

If you don’t like darker stories that include things like torture, this might not be for you. Nothing in here was particularly bloody or gorey – no more than the first book at any rate. But the darkness, the psychological torture, and the palpable sense of fear in sections might not be something for every reader, so do be warned if you think this might not be for you.

I do wish we saw just a little more of some of the other side characters. Yet, because of the book’s first person narrative, that was largely impossible. Hopefully we will get more story with Squid and Pale in the next novella.

Speaking of the next novella in the Voidwitch Saga, I am absolutely going to be reading it. I cannot wait to know how this wraps up. There are a number of subplots that haven’t been wrapped up yet, but are edging closer to a conclusion, and while I want to say that I feel like I knew where the story is going those same ideas proved to be totally wrong in relation to this book. In all, I would definitely recommend reading Void Black Shadow by Corey J. White and the Voidwitch Saga overall.

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.

This trilogy has a great mix of both scifi and fantasy elements. Our main character Mars developped strong telekinesis powers after being experimented on by an evil corporation as a child. Plagued by the memories of her torture Mars spends her time avoiding the people that gave her voidwitch powers by traveling from one end of the galaxy to the other. The first book Killing Gravity starts off when her spaceship gets destroyed in an altercation and shes rescued by a crew of scavengers. Now with friends to protect and tired of being on the run, Mars finally decides to fight back.

Mars is a killer who accumulates an incredibly high death count during the first two books. After everything shes been through killing is her instinctive reaction, but thats doesnt mean she doesnt have a conscience because she does. It just didnt stop her from committing mass murder to save her new friends. From a different point of view she might come off as the antagonist and I love that about her. All the side characters were fantastic, but especially Pale and Squid. I also freaking love Mars cloned cat-thing Ocho, but Im surprised it was able to deal with all the screaming inside Mars helmet when she uses her power.

This had some great LGBTQIA+ diversity with our main character Mars being bisexual and Squid being non binary. Trix, another bisexual crew member is in an open relationship with Mookie. In this world triples are just as accepted as couples which I thought was really cool. Another part of the world that I really enjoyed was the tech heads and futuristic technology in general. The AI in Mars new ship Waren was just great. I loved how the writing was easy to get into. The pace was gripping with a lot of action and a high stakes plot. I personally dont like reading about captivity and torture, but this is still a favorite series of mine.

I wish it were longer since each book is about 200 pages. With them being on the shorter side I feel like it causes some things to happen too easily. Plus we didnt get to spend as much time getting to know all the amazing characters and exploring the world. There was also this confusing moment where Trix was complaining about Pale being dangerous, but then didnt want to sedate him. I was kind of sad with the way things ended, but it was realistic and Im hopeful will get more of the side characters in the third book. I think I enjoyed the first book a bit more, but this was still a compelling sequel with wonderful diversity. Ill read whatever this author comes out with next.

Future Posts: Spring Favorites, Monthly Wrap Up, Book Haul, Book Tag, & Readathon Wrap Ups

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.