Dark Run: Keiko, Book 1

This book was a pleasant surprise. I discovered it while browsing the Amazon digital bookstore on my Fire. I was looking for a sci-fi book less about galactic politics and more about the small fish who have to live in such an expansive future. Unfortunately, I have found such low-level, character-driven sci-fi novels to be as rare in literature as they are on television or in the movies. Maybe that is why TV series like Firefly and Cowboy Bebop are so beloved?Speaking of Firefly, this is a book that will please anyone enamored with that show. As with Firefly, "Dark Run" is about a ship, Keiko, that is crewed by a motley mix of shady characters, in this case two bottom-feeding smugglers/bounty hunters, a mercenary, a teen hacker, a bad tempered brother and sister duo who serve as engineer and pilot respectively, and a Maori brawler. This team earns a living doing jobs no one else wants to do, especially smuggling runs (aka, "dark runs"). As you might expect, when you work in the shadows, it is only a matter of time until you get offered that job you can't refuse....or else. That is what happens here when the captain of this motley crew, Ichabod Drift, a desperado-like character right out of a Western, is blackmailed into taking a job from a former employer or face having his past as a notorious pirate be exposed.From the opening pages, "Dark Run" is a brisk read filled with fun action sequences and a few twists that keep the book a real page-turner. Author Mike Brooks setting is also an interesting one. I like "working man" futuristic visions - i.e., less about chrome-covered futures and more about dark and dirty dystopian settings - and while "Dark Run" isn't quite as shadowy as I would have liked, Brooks paints a believable future that runs the gamut from the comfortable wealthy to the working-class dingy. If I have one complaint about "Dark Run," it is that I wish he spent more time developing this interesting setting. It is a shame that we only get the briefest summations of the galactic colonial powers and their politics, as well the the growing transhuman cult that sees people replacing entire body parts with cyberware for fun, work, and religious belief.Overall, "Dark Run" was a fun read. I am happy to see that two more books are planned (of course - a trilogy is demanded from every publisher these days just because) because Brooks laid a good if a bit too thin foundation with this one. Hopefully, subsequent books will fill in those few gaps in the narrative. If you like shows like Firefly, Cowboy Bebop or books like The Expanse, "Dark Run" should prove an entertaining experience for you. Recommended. My precise score is 3.5.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A fast-paced adventure/heist with witty dialogue and well-drawn, larger-than-life characters. I found every member of the crew interesting and would follow a story about any of them. Several people have compared this to Firefly, and I think browncoats will definitely appreciate this book. However, there were appreciable differences. The world-building is rich, and the universe is unique. The characters are NOT direct analogs of the Firefly crew. The tone, however, is very similar, so if you enjoyed Firefly, you should give it a read!

It is a well written book that does not surprise. I thought the characters were very interesting, but the plot just fell flat.

It's a fun sci-fi book with entertaining if at sometimes paper thin characters. Felt at times like Firefly the show but less polished. Was a good read.

It's fairly rare when I bother to do written reviews of books. I like them or don't like them to varying degrees and don't feel like it's important to tell people why I like them. That and I don't much like having to analyze a book I read for enjoyment because it wrecks it for me sometimes.This book, I wanted to do at least a little something for. I don't think it's had enough praise personally.There are a lot of people that compare this to Firefly*. It does have some of the things I valued most about Firefly such as the interplay of characters. You'll find a similar layout. A Captain that's got a past and a mostly stable moral compass...maybe it wobbles a little, sometimes. A strong female first mate or whatever you'd deem her, an amazing pilot, a talented engineer, and a mercenary. There are also characters that aren't exactly dups of the crew. Such as the tech wizard (I know sort of River, but not) and the gentle giant (sort of like Shepherd Book, but not). We have the tropes in other words.Having said that, let me pause for a moment in this review (if you don't want to read my rant skip one paragraph). Some reviewers I have seen seem to think it's a sin or in some way degrading to note tropes in authors writing. Why? Tropes are an easy way for us puny humans to understand the world around us. They help writers build stable stories. The problem with tropes is when they are over used or too predictable. When EVERY $#%& @$*% *$#@ &%$# time you turn on the TV or open a book you find yourself SO UNGODLY BORED with the entire %$&#ing universe because you already know how the book or show ends within 5 minutes of watching or 10 pages of reading. Some people prefer this and that's fine, for them, for me, I need to be kept guessing. It's one thing to have a framework so you know, to move into the construction world for a moment, this building is going to be a rectangle and have 3 floors. However, If I open a book and already know, for the sake of the example, that there are going to be 3 bathrooms, 2 hot tubs, 65 windows, 35 doors, 6 different carpets coming in blue, green, turquoise, violet, puce and yellow (swatches with paint samples for each room available to the left). The siding will be an off blue and the shingles will be gray and slightly concave...then I don't really need to take your tour do I?Anyway, review back on. I loved the interplay Mr. Brooks built into the characters. The silent histories he was able to fold in and expand upon as needed. For to my understanding a virtually new author to build such a beautiful interplay is amazing. I'm sure editing, alpha and beta readers will have had something to do with it, but you can do all the editing and rereading you want, but if the writer doesn't have what's needed in him or her to pull that information in and push it out better, then there really is no point and no help for it.This is NOT a Firefly dup or knock off as I have seen sometimes, but I'd say it has a neighboring soul. I don't do the best reviews because I don't do them often, as noted at the beginning of this whole huge thing. The best I can say is if you haven't tried this book, you should. If you're good at reviews, do it. It's worth it, in my opinion.* For those who aren't quite as much of a geek as me, Firefly was an American Space Western Drama series that ran from 2002-2003 on Fox written and directed by Joss Whedon. You may have a better idea of the world if you saw the 2005 film adaptation Serenity.

Hier stimmt alles, die Charaktere, die Technik, die Handlung - ein pageturner auf hohem Niveau ist das. Gottseidank gibt’s eine Fortsetzung!

A fun, quick read that has affable characters and a zippy storyline. Kinda like those action-adventure movies of the 90s.

This was a fairly standard space adventure, featuring an action-packed plot, and a likeable diverse cast of characters, that aren’t necessarily all nice guys/gals but not the grimmest of them all either. Not too deep on plot, and lots of room left to explore the characters and the world in future novels. A nice light read, and good start to a series that I am looking forward to continuing.I did run across this book on a humorous sci-fi list. While it did have a few snort worthy moments--in the good way, not in the author just wrote something too ridiculous to conceive way-- I would call this lighter in tone before I’d call it humorous.c/p from my gooreads

I was captured from the beginning, and finished the story wanting more. Dark Run is a quickly-paced, fun and absorbing story about a motley crew of space adventurers who attempt revenge against someone from the captain's past. We learn about the crew as the story unfolds, and every one of them has a story to tell. The universe of Dark Run is the distant future, not only of Earth but the entire interplanetary system. I really liked how Dark Run shows us the grittier side of space travel - where people have learned to live in less ideal conditions and scarce resources (organic and inorganic) are plundered from every corner.

The book came on time and exactly as described.