A fun sci-fi novelette, by James McLean and the latest installment in The Void in Between series.

I received a free ARC of Out of Breath from the author in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed Carrion Crew. I thought the worldbuilding and setting was fantastic. You can read my thoughts on it here. I’ve been looking forward to reading more from that world, and so I was honoured when James reached out to offer an ARC for Out of Breath to review. So, let’s get to it.

Blurb

With humanity on the back foot in a war against the Shells, some find themselves thrust into uncomfortable situations and are cross-trained to fill gaps. Terik is one such individual, a former life support engineer, who designed and implemented systems for ship use, has found himself in the role of a shipbound mechanic near the frontlines of humanity’s war. Through a mix of happenstance and bad luck, Terik is quickly forced to do things without a guiding hand.

Review

Out of Breath was an interesting vignette into the world introduced in Carrion Crew, following an engineer-turned-mechanic of a cargo ship as the crew do their part in humanity’s war effort against the Shells. As before, the Shells themselves remain somewhat of a mystery, though there is an exciting chase sequence involving some of their drone-like auxiliary craft.

The book delves deep into the crew’s camaraderie and the toll the war is taking on both them and wider humanity.

The prose is well-written and enjoyable, and the pacing is good although there were some bits of small-talk that seemed a tad redundant.

The story teases secretive factions and new technologies at play, hopefully to be explored more in later stories. I’m invested in the gradual world-building going on here and I would really like to see how this all comes together. There’s plenty of intrigue, and this serves as one of those intimate stories about how lives have been affected by the war.

Overall, I really enjoyed this short entry in this universe and I’m looking forward to reading more.