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A review by prationality
The Dark Zone by Dom Testa
4.0
When last we checked in on the intrepid crew of the Galahad, a coup is averted, relationships are broken, and they’re all pretty lucky to get through the Kulpier Belt. This time around we get more alien life forms (they kind of look like birds…sort of)! And more angst! And someone is going to die–Lita’s second in command in the sick bay Alexa is having prophetic, but morbid, dreams of a person being mourned and memorialized. Another legacy from the Cassini (truly, the gift that keeps on giving).
In some ways Alexa’s dream, which she’s not fully able to comprehend or understand because she doesn’t know who is going to die, or how or even when, is the underlying tension of the book. As the reader, you know it’s coming, that at some point a character we’ve read about for the last few books and gotten to know will not be there again. As Alexa attempts to discuss the dream with Bon, the fear she has about that future is palpable.
Then there are the creatures that attach themselves to the Galahad. They are, mostly, non-threatening and seem to be largely a reconnaissance measure. By who or for what reason, no idea. I sometimes have to remind myself that there is no “Prime Directive” for the Galahad crew–their goal is to survive and reach their new home. Everything else is left to them to figure out.
Channy’s first pangs of romance and love was largely unappreciated by me. On the one hand it was a new facet to explore–her love interest, Taresh, has a unique view on romance in the stars–and a new way for Channy to develop. Her constant “perky moral support” role was tiresome, to say the least. Except that after the mess that Gap’s relationship with Hannah became, the confusion that is Triana/Bon’s relationship, added to the whole thing with Bon/Alexa…the situation with Taresh felt more like a way for Testa to give Channy a viable excuse to be distracted. A trend I have noticed throughout the books is that something needs to be distracting the kids emotionally. Every time.
Once again the crew faces an outside problem–that of the Outer Space Birds, but it takes a backseat to the internal woes of the teenagers. Until the two collide, and the aftermath is less than pretty, and the ending is startling. Not quite what I expected, though in hindsight it makes more sense. The overwhelming guilt, the increasing disillusionment, the decrease in concentration….
In some ways Alexa’s dream, which she’s not fully able to comprehend or understand because she doesn’t know who is going to die, or how or even when, is the underlying tension of the book. As the reader, you know it’s coming, that at some point a character we’ve read about for the last few books and gotten to know will not be there again. As Alexa attempts to discuss the dream with Bon, the fear she has about that future is palpable.
Then there are the creatures that attach themselves to the Galahad. They are, mostly, non-threatening and seem to be largely a reconnaissance measure. By who or for what reason, no idea. I sometimes have to remind myself that there is no “Prime Directive” for the Galahad crew–their goal is to survive and reach their new home. Everything else is left to them to figure out.
Channy’s first pangs of romance and love was largely unappreciated by me. On the one hand it was a new facet to explore–her love interest, Taresh, has a unique view on romance in the stars–and a new way for Channy to develop. Her constant “perky moral support” role was tiresome, to say the least. Except that after the mess that Gap’s relationship with Hannah became, the confusion that is Triana/Bon’s relationship, added to the whole thing with Bon/Alexa…the situation with Taresh felt more like a way for Testa to give Channy a viable excuse to be distracted. A trend I have noticed throughout the books is that something needs to be distracting the kids emotionally. Every time.
Once again the crew faces an outside problem–that of the Outer Space Birds, but it takes a backseat to the internal woes of the teenagers. Until the two collide, and the aftermath is less than pretty, and the ending is startling. Not quite what I expected, though in hindsight it makes more sense. The overwhelming guilt, the increasing disillusionment, the decrease in concentration….