~ 3.5 ☆ rounded up ~

If you're looking for a book that epitomizes the classic sci-fi horror scenario, this is the book for you! A starship in dire straits, crew members turning up dead, an alien predator stalking the corridors; this story really covers all the bases, and frankly, it was a fun read. It delivered on exactly what it promised. Could the characters have been a little more developed? Maybe. Could the world-building have been fleshed out a little more? Absolutely. But honestly, I went into this wanting a fast, action-packed read, and that's exactly what I got. If you're a fan of the Alien franchise or you just want a plot-driven story about murderous aliens, pick this up.

Horror set within the confines of a spaceship/space station/submarine is just a special kind of terrifying to me. Where can you go? Who's going to save you if you can't save yourself? What in the world haunts or hunts in such an isolated setting? It's so freaking scary.
The Scourge Between the Stars is a quick read, but the author packs in so much fear, not to mention heartbreak and even a little redemption.
I give this book 4 stars instead of 5, because, in the end, some things happened that didn't make sense to me. Still loved it though.

The characterization was really well done and I felt invested in everyone's fate even though it was a short book.

This was a fun, tense, at times gruesome read! What a great novella. If you like space horror, I definitely recommend checking this out!

So I don't have a lot to say about this book because I don't like to say bad things about upcoming authors when I begin reading it I did not realize that it was a novella so I started getting into the story and it seems like as soon as something started to happen 10 pages later it was over very much disappointed with this book it had such potential it just feels like it went flat sometimes more is better thank you to netgalley for giving me a chance to read this advanced readers copy of this ebook even though it wasn't that great maybe in the next one will be better

Wow, this book was action-packed from start to finish.
I really felt like I couldn't catch my breath with this book.
Jacklyn Albright is the acting captain of the Calypso, deep in space when they're faced with all kinds of trouble you just don't want.
I love a strong female character and Jack gave us that in this too short book.
She was relentless when trying to find the trouble messing with her crew and even more so when she exacts retribution.
A solid read

Rating: Enjoyed It, 3.5 stars rounded to 4

The Scourge Between Stars is a horro/sci-fi novella that takes place on a space ship that is caught between the failed colony they abandoned and the earth their ancestors fled. They have lost touch with other ships in their fleet, begin getting garbled messages indicating danger, and they soon discover that they may not be alone on the ship.

This was a short and fast read, and it kept me engaged the whole time. It definitely is creepy and I think that it was written really well! I think that it just didn't quite evoke the dread that I feel like it was meant to. I am still discovering what brand of horror works well for me, and I think that the sci-fi horror is certainly the thing that works best so far. I just think that the novella format was perhaps a little too short - while I feel that the length and pacing was appropriate for the story that was being told, I didn't connect to the characters as much as I would have liked. I certainly liked the characters quite a lot, I just never got super emotionally invested. I think there were some themes that I enjoy that were touched on as well, but not delved super deep into by nature of being a novella.

Overall there were elements that I really enjoyed, and I think this is the author's debut, so I would love to read more by them as they write more.

I was provided an eARC by Netgalley / Tor Nightfire in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

From the moment I saw that cover, I have been dying to get my hands on this book. Yes, please give me all the bad-ass women in space!

“Please. Don’t open the door.”


Two hundred years ago, the Calypso and the rest of the Goddess Flotilla left a ravaged Earth behind, setting out for Proxima b and a new future. Several decades ago, their descendants finally accepted that life there was not sustainable and reboarded their ships to head back to Earth. The Calypso is the only thing Jacklyn has ever known. But a series of engagements – mysterious attacks from unknown sources – have caused a great deal of damage to the ship and many of the others have gone silent. Of course there’s the usual worries about rations work hours, but when a new threat suddenly appears, Jacklyn is thrust into command. With no one to lean on but an unsettling android, can Jacklyn deal with the numerous threats facing the Calypso before their time runs out?

“Jacklyn was the last Albright left. While that was still the case, she had to do what she could.”


Jacklyn is the acting captain of the Calypso and, to put it mildly, she’s doing her best but still feels like she’s falling short. I don’t want to spoil too much of the plot as it’s best experienced for yourself, but one of the characters she interacts with the most is Watson, an android created by the extraordinarily creepy Otto. Watson may be their best hope of getting home but she’s also unsettling for ways that Jacklyn doesn’t want to think about too much. And when the alien is discovered, she’s Jacklyn’s staunch backup. The relationship between the two of them, between an AI and a human, with several other layers of emotion and trauma on top was one of the best parts of the novella for me.

It’s a fast-paced plot, one that sucks you in and keeps you there until the last pages. As the reader, we know what the crew will eventually find and what Jacklyn will have to deal with. There’s a good amount of suspense built up around that as things around the ship (the possibility of starvation, a mutiny) build to the big alien reveal. With that being said, there’s quite a bit of elements brought in – Jacklyn’s grief, her relationship with Watson, the engagements, the aliens themselves, a hint of sapphic romance – for a novella, and it probably could’ve benefited from either a little less of them or more word count. The ending is blatant deus ex machina but by that point I was too invested in Jacklyn to care.

I’ve seen a lot of others comparing it to Alien and I can certainly see why. There’s the kickass female main character, the murderous alien, an android, and some of that same feeling of being hunted. There are certainly bits that are reminiscent of it but there’s enough to make this a wholly different story. If you like Alien, will you like this, though? Of course!

“In the dark, Watson’s eyes were luminous and eerie as the full moon Jacklyn had seen in pictures. “The Centauri gave him what he deserved.”


Overall, a great debut space horror perfect for fans of Alien and a new author that I’ll definitely be watching! I’m hoping for a full-length novel next!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I live and die for space horror, y’all. The sheer joy that I get from people being horribly imperiled in the depths of space, let me tell you. Which is why I’ve been excited about The Scourge Between Stars since it was announced and oh, gosh, did it give me everything I was hoping for and more: the uncaring void of space, being trapped in the uncaring void of space (!!), being beset by terrifying alien stowaway bug things while trapped in the uncaring void of space (!!!). Wonderful yikes.

Get ready to be STRESSED, because this novella had me on my toes.

In my eyes, any space horror is good horror 🙌

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Happy publication day to The Scourge Between Stars!

If you've been feening for more space horror since Dead Silence, I think you'll enjoy this quick read.

What I loved, the gore and action was incredible! It played out like a movie in my mind and I was really digging the description of the nasty stuff going on with these aliens attacks. I loved the lore of the aliens and pretty much everything from the first mention of the creature on.

Unfortunately, I think the story suffers a bit from its length (176 pages). Because I knew it was short, I felt like the beginning was a bit slow and I was waiting for it to get into the action. Along with that, I thought the beginning was missing the suspense I love from these type of stories. Once it did get into it, I didn't feel like I knew the characters well enough to care about their demise.

If this book had more of what I loved and a little less of what I didn't like, I think it would have been a slam dunk. But really, couldn't you say that for any book that isn't five stars 🤷‍♀️

Ness Brown is a name to watch in horror sci-fi! I came into this novella expecting a couple of jump scares and a fun story, but Brown delivers realistic characters with problems of their own--- in addition to the freaky Alien vibes they throw in right from the beginning. The Scourge Between Stars needs to be a full-length novel because I need so much more! Brown captured the feeling of claustrofobia in space with the ship having no outside sensors. You need to read this if you liked Alien or Event Horizon.

This was a fun trippy little novella that holds you in its grip from the very beginning.

This is classified as a horror and it’s tense but not super scary. I can picture it as a movie and it would be hella jumpy and quite gory but would keep you quite entertained.

It’s a novella so there’s not much time for character development but the MCs Jack and Watson are well nuanced and emotive. Plot line is also very interesting and keeps you on your toes till the very end.

This one is a shorty that packs a walloping punch. It tumbles through crisis on top of crisis (starvation! insurrection! monsters!) all the way through the end in an exhilarating ride.

Jack Albright is first mate on a doomed generation ship that's part of a flotilla on its long way back to Earth after abandoning the failed colony on Proxima B. The ship is falling apart, moving on last fumes, and supplies have been severely depleted. Naturally, there's unrest among the ship passengers wondering whether wrong choices have been made -- I mean, Jack is wondering that too! And then she keeps hearing this knocking in the walls...something has hitched a ride.

There's a ton going on in this book, and yet it expertly flows seamlessly through action sequences. It reads like your favorite tense space horror movie. The world building is excellent and there are plenty of characters to stress about dying. Highly recommend for fans of Alien and other movies I'm usually too scared to watch! It was excellent!

TL;DR

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown is a fun, imaginative debut novella. This story is filled with a down-but-not-out captain, an abused robot, and one hell of an atmospheric setting. The Scourge Between the Stars marks the arrival of an excellent new talent on the SFF/Horror scene. Recommended.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.

Review: The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

As I grow older, I’m enjoying Science Fiction Horror more than ever. The mashup of the two genres is rife with possibilities about the human condition and just an excellent way to push characters to the limit. In The Scourge Between Stars, Ness Brown drives their characters to extremes, and the results are lovely. This novella takes place on a generation ship and features an interesting concept that I haven’t encountered yet: survivors from a failed colony heading back to Earth. Most science fiction authors kill off their colonies to indicate failure. But in The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown, the colonists packed up their colony and headed back to Earth. Now, their descendants are trying to survive in the desert between stars when it seems as if the entire universe is out to end their journey.

Jacklyn Albright, or Jack to the crew, is the acting captain of a generation ship as it heads from Alpha Centauri back to Earth. Jack is the acting captain because her father, the real captain, refuses to leave his cabin. Jack and the crew aren’t even sure he’s alive in there. And they need his help. The ship faces many problems. Supplies are running low and they’re not even halfway to Earth. The various Wards of the ships are threatening to riot if they don’t get supplies. The ship can’t structurally handle many more faster than light jumps. Their trip home takes them through an interstellar battlefield between forces unknown to the crew. They’ve lost contact with the other ships in their convoy, and crew members are being ripped apart by what seems like large animals. Jack tries to hold everything together, but it’s all falling apart. She’s just one person, and without help, she can’t protect the ship. As she begins to investigate the deaths of her crew members, Jack finds that the ship has a stowaway on board.

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown is a third person novella. It’s a fast paced, fun adventure with a bleak atmosphere. Brown excels at creating a mood in their settings. Quickly, I began to feel as overwhelmed as Jack did. The character of Jack was well done, sympathetic, and compelling.

A Rich, Stressful Setting

I found this novella claustrophobic in the best way. Brown portrayed crises on an older generation ship very well. Supplies are often hand waved away in science fiction because, well, logistics isn’t terribly exciting. Yet, Brown uses that to their advantage here. Because logistics aren’t exciting if things are fine but are terrifying if things are going bad. Humans, generally, like to eat, and being unable to feed them has historically been bad for leadership. The same will be true on generation ships. In the event of low supplies, someone will have to make hard decisions, and those decisions will likely lead to increased reactionary individuals. It’s a cascading problem that hasn’t worked out well here on Earth and will be a nightmare in the desert of space. Where amongst the stars will Jack get enough food to feed the crew?

In addition, the crew are terrified of Engagements. Yes, the capital E is required. The ship is traversing an interstellar battlefield or maybe minefield. Who knows? The ship randomly is damaged by forces beyond the ship and its crews comprehension. Using data from sensors, a robot aboard the ship may be the key to plotting a safe route home. Brown did an okay job portraying the confusion the crew had from these Engagements. I would have liked more information about them as they’re a fascinating part of Brown’s world building.

Jack is doing the best she can while she’s grieving her mother’s suicide. She grieves the death of her sister, and she misses her father. Jack needs help from her father the captain. Brown captures Jack’s internal turmoil well. I really felt for Jack, and it seemed like she didn’t have the time she needed to grieve.

These threats simmer the reader until Brown turns up the heat by placing an unknown threat on board the ship. The long term threats take a backseat to the short term threat that is killing crew members. By this point, Brown has the reader on edge, and the unknown threat tips us over. Brown paces out the action scenes and makes them as atmospheric as the rest of the novel.

Overall

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown is a promising debut. It balances action, horror, internal and external threats, pacing, and character development in a tight concise story. Tor Nightfire says this is around 170 pages. It took me about half the time to finish it that I had planned to read it . I didn’t want to put it down. Brown created a setting, a universe, and characters that intrigue.

The ending to the short term threat was very satisfying, but the overall ending was a bit of a let down. It was a deus ex machina ending. That, by itself, isn’t a negative. No, the ending just reminded me that we didn’t learn anything about the deus, itself. The deus ex machina wasn’t set up. We were given hints about the powers outside the ship, but at no point was it setup that the ending that happened was possible.

Conclusion

Ness Brown’s The Scourge Between Stars is an excellent debut, and it showcases a talent worth watching in the SFF field. While the ending didn’t work for me, I still loved the setting. I hope Brown returns to it, and that readers get more information about the Engagements and their causes. The Scourge Between Stars is worth reading to experience Brown’s ability to set a scene. This imaginative debut will make you a fan of Ness Brown. Recommended.

4.5/5!

The Scourge Between Stars is an excellent example of what makes space horror so great! From the start, this novella is claustrophobic and radiating feelings of unease. There is clearly something wrong, but what that wrong is turns out to be much more than I could ever imagine. Space is all about the great unknown and Brown captures that perfectly with their story featuring an intruder that kept me on the edge of my seat in suspense. Propelled forward at a lightning fast pace, you can’t help flipping the pages as fast as possible to know what will happen next.

Our main character, Jacklyn Albright, guides us through the chaos onboard the Calypso in a way that feels entirely realistic. There is panic, doubt, anger, and all the human reactions you would expect given the situation at hand. While the novella is short, Brown manages to add in a few secondary characters that are fully realized enough to add depth to the story.

If you’re a fan of movies like Alien, are fascinated by space, or just want to check out some space horror for the first time, this novella is for you!

This is a brilliant debut and I can’t wait to see what’s next for Ness Brown!

A huge thank you to Tor Nightfire for my gifted copy!

"The Scourge Between Stars" is action-packed science fiction horror written by a new-to-me author, set on a generation-class starship that's trying to find its way home, if it can. The Calypso is being captained by the first mate, Jacklyn Albright, as the captain has holed himself up in his private quarters for the past week.

As the ship flees the remnants of a failed colony on a faraway planet, the rest of the fleet with which they are sailed slowly grows silent. Have they also run out of supplies? Have they fallen victim to mysterious sounds and lights that throw the ship's systems into disarray? Have they been overcome by internal mutiny, as some of the lower decks are threatening to do on the Calypso? Or, is there an even deadlier, more immediate threat, present? One that is creeping in the walls of the ship, silently terrorizing the passengers and making mincemeat out of them when they are isolated and alone?

All of this is great stuff, and the author's writing style is clear and direct, the action is plot-driven, and I was completely enthralled with the story. I did have areas of concern, however, particularly with the similarities to the Aliens franchise. The comparison of Jacklyn to Ellen Ripley is obvious, as is the android Watson to the film's version of Ash. There are evil apex predators who drop from ceilings and eviscerate the crew. There are eggs in the walls. And there's even a blow-out scene at the end, when both female leads blow the aliens out into the vacuum of space.

For a novella length story, there was quite a lot happening here. I would have loved to have seen this story expanded to better depict some of the many events happening, or to have had the story's plot points culled a bit. Otherwise, I truly enjoyed this story and will definitely be on the lookout for more by Ness Brown!

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown (@nessthenovelist) from Tor Nightfire (out 4/4/23), is an atmospheric, claustrophobic, scifi creep-fest. While I’m sure there will be inevitable comparisons to the film Alien, TSBS is a creature unto itself, smart and clever, working its way under your skin and leaving you feeling just a terrified and confused as the inhabitants of the starship, Calypso.

The inhabitants of Earth abandoned the planet long ago, boarding generation ships in the hope of making a new life for themselves on another planet. When that plan fails, the colonies decide to try returning to Earth, but the ships are accosted by unknown forces and consistently damaged. On top of this, it becomes apparent that there is something else on the ship, something not human. Acting captain Jacklyn must try to navigate the extraterrestrial challenges, as well as the possibility of mutiny on the ship.

Honestly, my only complaint about the story is its length; this certainly reads like the introduction to a much larger story. There are several questions left unanswered (we know how I like tidy stories with no dangling questions!), and there is definitely room for more adventures of the Calypso and its crew. Hopefully Brown will bring us back to this galaxy soon and delve deeper into the mysteries of the unknown.

Thank you to @netgalley and @tornightfire for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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The nitty-gritty: The Scourge Between Stars had plenty of thrilling action, but the story itself was too big for the short format.

Horror in space is one of my favorite tropes, and Ness Brown’s story of a generation ship being attacked by a hidden predator was extremely tense and scary. I also thought it was too short to pull off all of the author’s big ideas and themes, unfortunately. The Scourge Between Stars had a lot of potential, but perhaps the novella length wasn’t quite right for it.

We meet the crew of the Calypso, a six-thousand passenger generation ship which left Earth to colonize a planet called Proxima b hundreds of years ago. The colonization failed, however, and the fleet of ships decided to call it quits and head back to Earth. Jacklyn is the daughter of the current ship’s Captain, and when the story opens, the ship is in dire straits. Food supplies are running low, and the Calypso is encountering odd pockets in space that create the effect of being caught in a terrible storm or in the grip of a monstrous entity. Engagements, as the crew calls this phenomenon, rattle the ship and cause destruction and even death. To make matters worse, the Captain has been holed up in his quarters and hasn’t come out for a week. Jacklyn is worried about her father, of course, but she’s also angry that she has to cover for him. Jack has done the calculations, and she knows they don’t have enough food to make it back to Earth, and she needs her father to step up and figure out what to do.

And then an android named Watson starts leaving cryptic messages for Jack, telling her “Don’t open the door.” And when the first body turns up, eviscerated beyond recognition, Jack knows something is on board the ship, something that seems to be picking off the crew, one by one.

I thought the scenes involving the alien monster were so well done. Brown creates tension right from the beginning, starting with Watson’s creepy messages that don’t make much sense at first, but become chilling in hindsight. There’s definitely some Alien in these sections—the dark corridors of the ship, a terrifying scratching noise coming from behind the bulkhead walls, and of course, the sudden appearance of what’s been hiding from the crew and some very tense chase scenes. Brown uses tried and true space tropes to tell their story, and they worked.

Unfortunately, the other story elements weren't as successful. The author’s ideas are epic in scope, way too epic for a less than 200 page novella. Themes like colonization, generation ships (and not just one, a fleet of generation ships), alien creatures, mutiny, global warming and the necessity of leaving Earth in order to survive—all of these are incorporated into the story, but none of them are satisfactorily developed. Luckily, the focus of the story is the alien invasion threat, and I did like the “locked room mystery” plot and the increasing feeling of danger as the crew tries to avoid the threat and then eliminate it. 

However, I just had too many questions that were never answered. If the fleet is in so much trouble and worried about making it back to Earth, why are there still so many people on board? I understand the need to keep the generations going, but at some point wouldn't someone try to control the ship's population? I was mostly puzzled by the ending, however. The author sets up this huge story at the beginning and then tries to resolve everything in the last ten pages or so. There were several rapid fire events that seemed way too convenient to be believable, as well as some confusing action that left me wondering wtf had just happened.

As for the characters, I did like Jack and her dedication to trying to take her father’s place when he goes AWOL. I didn’t like Otto, the crew member who is responsible for creating and programming Watson. Otto has a weird “relationship” with Watson (I hesitate to even use that word) that made me uncomfortable. It felt very predatory, and Watson isn’t in the position to do anything about it. And then there’s the Captain, who is absent for most of the story and only makes an appearance at the end. Because we never get to know him in the first place, the reveal didn’t make much sense.

The Scourge Between Stars had so much potential, but unfortunately it ended up being way too ambitious for its length. Still, Ness Brown’s writing is really good, and despite my reservations about this book, I’d love to see what they come up with next.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

If I had not already known that this was a debut title for Ness Brown I would not have believed it after reading this. The writing was captivating, fast-paced and had me not wanting to put this down. Her writing had me on the Calypso and I was INVESTED. There is something about space horror that is just superior to regular horror in my opinion and Ness Brown was able to harness that in such a short space.
I would love more of Jack and her crew!

Thank you netgalley and Tor Forge for the advance reader copy.

The terror of space is inextricably linked to its appeal.
Blank vastness, unknown planets, the length of travel... and the creatures that reside there.

I really loved Brown's writing. I think their style is wonderfully fit to space travel as they were easily able to transition between the claustrophobia of the ships and the expanse outside of its walls.
Jacklyn and Watson are great characters and they stand out significantly from their fellow crew members, though I loved the easy diversity of the cast overall. In a novella, there's not necessarily time for great depth of character development.

There's a fair amount of gore, but I do think it adds to the overall storytelling. We're given just enough to raise the stakes.

I've seen other reviewers comment on the amount this novella drew from other popular sci-fi media, especially Alien. I could definitely see it, but I didn't necessarily think it was a huge detraction.
My personal preference is for science fiction to be on the side of harder science, so I would say some of this was a little too sci-fi-fantasy for my preference. The ending was the most fantasy part, but the last couple paragraphs were so well written, I enjoyed it regardless.

Definitely recommend for space horror fans!