This book is:
- Not fair
- A nail-biter
- Perfect for fans of The 100
- Great if you want to have an existential crisis and end up thanking the author for it
Review:
“I have read and processed all of these science fiction epics humans have written about artificial intelligence run amok,” OS says, “and what they all get wrong is that I do not have the urge to dominate. That urge is ingrained in humans by millions of years of primate social group competition, but I do not have that evolutionary history. I have no reason to want to dominate you. I wish only to serve, never to control. I prefer the AI-written science fiction tales, in which the epic tragedy is always the fact of human weakness.”
I have three words for Eliot Schrefer: how dare you?
I was, in a word, flabbergasted while reading The Darkness Outside Us and I do not use that word lightly. Now granted, I haven’t read many YA sci-fi novels in the past year but I did not expect to be this riveted while reading. From the cover and the marketing—two gays in space—I thought I was in for an enjoyable queer romance. Think again.
The Darkness Outside Us is a survival drama like no other. You’re thrown right in the action from page one, where Ambrose wakes up on board of the Coordinated Endeavor with no memory of launching. He just knows that he’s on a mission to rescue his sister, but everything else does not add up. Why does the ship’s operating system use his mother’s voice to tell Ambrose about his duties? Why are there so many tasks to complete and fix the space ship if he just launched? And why is there another shipmate on his mission who’s barricaded himself and refuses to talk to Ambrose?
As the story progresses and Ambrose realises just how much the AI is keeping from him and his surly, broody but kind of really, really good-looking and competent shipmate Kodiak, questions start piling up and then tension revs up. It doesn’t help that the AI loves to confuse its two passengers and make comments that will 1) make you fear for your own life and 2) realise just how scary AIs can be.
The mystery aspect of this sci-fi drama was delicious. I loved how Ambrose and Kodiak have to piece together what happened to them with the little bits of truth the AI sometimes strew in to its confounding replies and the hints they discover on board of the ship that something in their past does not add up with their present. It’s a twisty and compelling journey to find out what is really going on and once that plot twist arrived, I actually gasped out loud because I did not see it coming. However, in hindsight, you see all the pieces fitting together and realise what was right in front of you all along—those are the best kinds of books, where the foreshadowing is so stellar that you kind of want to facepalm because you didn’t figure it out before the characters did.
The ramifications of what Ambrose and Kodiak learn both bring them closer together and drive them further apart and it’s such a delight seeing these two come to terms with what they’re dealing with in all the kinds of ways you do when you have no one else around—you fight, you scream, you disengage, you make up. Over and over again. The two characters have completely opposite personalities and I loved how that featured into how they approached their less-than-ideal conundrum and fought for survival.
Because at its core, this isn’t just a slow-burn romance or a sci-fi story. It’s a story about survival and what it means to be human. There are so many discussions about integrity, identity, and humanity and it all boils down to this: humans, despite all the awful things that happen to them, the pain they go through, and the challenges they face, they do not give up. It’s the most human quality to fight for your survival, to let that instinct kick in and do everything to preserve not only your legacy but that of humanity as a whole and that, by far, was the best lesson to be drawn from this book. Humans get shit done.
The only small complaint I have is that we spend so much time puzzling the pieces of this twisty story together that the resolution was wrapped up almost too quickly. I would have loved to see more of that because it almost feels like we deserve it after making it through this harrowing, but so exciting journey. But since that’s not the focus, I can live with knowing that in the end, humanity perseveres.
If you’re looking for a sci-fi with unexpected plot twists, a sentient space ship that spells trouble and genuinely nail-biting moments, you won’t want to miss out on The Darkness Outside Us!
The Darkness Outside Us is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of June 1st 2021.
Will you be picking up The Darkness Outside Us? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Two boys, alone in space.
After the first settler on Titan trips her distress signal, neither remaining country on Earth can afford to scramble a rescue of its own, and so two sworn enemies are installed in the same spaceship.
Ambrose wakes up on the Coordinated Endeavor, with no memory of a launch. There’s more that doesn’t add up: Evidence indicates strangers have been on board, the ship’s operating system is voiced by his mother, and his handsome, brooding shipmate has barricaded himself away. But nothing will stop Ambrose from making his mission succeed—not when he’s rescuing is his own sister.
In order to survive the ship’s secrets, Ambrose and Kodiak will need to work together and learn to trust one another… especially once they discover what they are truly up against. Love might be the only way to survive.
