Blindspace

By: Jeremy Szal

Narrated by: Colin Mace

Length: 21 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Vakov Fukasawa is a Reaper. An elite soldier injected with a dangerous drug called stormtech: the DNA of a genocidal alien race, the Shenoi. It makes him stronger, faster, more aggressive. At a price.

A price that, if the House of Suns cult isn't stopped, all of humanity will have to pay.

Vakov saved his estranged brother from the cult and killed their leader. Now they want his head on a spike, and they're hunting him and his friends down to get it, while continuing their mission to awaken the Shenoi and plunge the galaxy into mindless violence and chaos. There's a dangerous journey ahead, but Vakov and his misfit crew of eccentric aliens, troubled bounty hunters and rogue hackers will take any risk to stop the alien awakening. Only there's one risk Vakov hasn't shared: the one he himself poses. He got a terrifying glimpse of the Shenoi in the depths of interstellar space, and the violent nightmares he's suffered since suggest their DNA isn't just inside his body - he might already be fighting them for his mind . . .

©2021 Jeremy Szal (P)2021 Orion Publishing Group

Critic reviews

"This frenetic, grisly sucker-punch of a book manages to be everything you could want from sci-fi, while also carving out its own niche with a rusty slingshiv." (Fantasy Book Review)

"Vakov Fukasawa is a former soldier, addicted to the biotech inside his own body that makes him constantly crave for action. And there is plenty of action in this fast moving novel, but not at the expense of ideas, or of humanity, or of vivid descriptions of Szal's carefully imagined war-torn galaxy." (Chris Beckett)

This book ripped my heart out. In a good way!

The Common series by Jeremy Szal is proving to be some of my favourite science-fiction being written today. It's got all the relentless action sequences, heart-wrenching emotion, and visceral set-pieces of any good adventure, but it's the fantastic character work and the well-crafted relationships between these characters that really makes these books stand out. It's impossible not to get swept up in their ambitions, their hopes, their dreams, as you get to know them, flaws and all. And then you feel so much fear for them when everything goes to hell and you just know something terrible is going to happen.

This book builds fantastically off Stormblood. The world-building, the dialogue, the characters, which was great in the first book, truly shines it. There's several scenes (you'll know it when you see it) that ripped my heart out through my mouth. In a good way.

I can't wait for the next one!

An excellent, hardcore sequel!

Story-wise, Blindspace is immensely satisfying! There's so much to get your teeth into here, and you're constantly filled with anxiety, wondering what the hell Vakov is going to do (or what's going to happen to him), or picking your jaw up off the floor after a plot twist or after a fantastic reveal about the stormtech or the world at large. There's no middle-book syndrome here! It's full speed ahead from page one.

You'll be blown away by Szal's ability to write personal action, immense sweeping scale, and claustrophobic fear in a way that I haven't seen before outside of Joe Abercrombie (and maybe some Black Library books).
Szal also has the ability to make you give a damn about the characters on this adventure. My favourite were Vakov, his side-kick companion Grim, and the big, horned alien Space Marshall Juvens. Szal fleshes out characters already seen in the first book, while adding several new faces into the mix, while giving them all time to shine.

Blindspace is a pheromonal piece of science-fiction that I wish I could read again for the first time. Highly recommended!

Love this series soo much

Blindspace was a fantastic follow-up to Stormblood. The world-building and cultural elements, especially with the new locations and aliens, were top-notch. I particularly enjoyed learning more about the Shenoi. Though there were some more relaxed moments compared to Stormblood, the balance was just right and the emphasis on Vakov's relationships with his fireteam was a plus. The progression of Vakov's relationship with his brother was handled well and was exactly what I was hoping for.

A solid follow up!

Blindspace is a wonderful follow up to Stormnlood! It’s gonna be hard waiting,for the next installment.

Extreme repetition, torture, and self flagulation

This books is incredibly mind numbingly repetitive, it feels like we can't go 5 minutes without repeating one of the three same trains of thought. The main character is incapable of thinking more than 10 minutes ahead and is always double guessing and criticizing how he does everything, which is fair because he does everything wrong according to himself and every other character. Also he gets tortured more frequently than Anastasia gets banged in 50 shades of gray.