Voided; Ace Parlier

“Voided” has a super strong start: a skilled space fighter pilot is plucked from incarceration with the promise of freedom if she can complete a mining run that will help turn the tide of a war that their side is badly losing. In a nutshell, that’s what this book is about, or, what it starts out being about. The longer Nena works on this massive space ship, the more other elements come into play: the rights of sentient AI constructs, mysteries around what the commanders of this fleet are actually trying to accomplish, and a harrowing bargain with an ancient race that feels rather Faustian the more the reader learns.  All of those subplots get interwoven into a fast-paced military space odyssey that makes the world feel rich and full. “Voided” would absolutely scratch whatever itch a lover of hard science fiction could have. But, personally, all the plots that “Voided” attempts to address just needed more time to marinate for me.

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While some of my qualms are completely personal (I am not a fan of grown, tough as nails women constantly giggling and overusing cutesy platitudes like “sweetie”, or “girlie” with one another as platonic terms of encouragement), but some I feel are big enough to mention so future readers can manage their expectations. The author genuinely excels at setting up a big galactic conflict that feels authentic to a naval space battle, and I had a lot of fun with that! And each individual subplot was fascinating, even if I thought the seriousness of those plots got a little lost at times with how casual and playful Nena approaches both people and dire situations. But I don’t think any of those really good and deep plots ever got a resolution (satisfying or otherwise) and that really put a damper on my overall enjoyment, sadly.

If this book had been the first of a series, that lack of resolution would not have bothered me. The ending was certainly very unexpected; it was a twist I didn’t see coming which is always great! Or it would be if it didn’t come as such an abrupt surprise which left me genuinely wondering if my book was missing pages. But nope, it appears not. Which, unfortunately, means that all the interesting issues “Voided” brings up, I am not left pondering because none of them marinated long enough to give me a sense of closure given that surprising ending.  I could have brushed off my personal tastes with how the female characters acted with one another, I just wish that ending hadn’t left me so frustrated and in need of answers, any answers! Which is why this is a 3.5 star read for me, but it is a fast-paced sci-fi space saga so if that’s your thing, you may like it more than me. And thanks to the author for providing me an ecopy!