The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown | Book Review

This one is for all of you sci-fi horror fans! 

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

Released April 2023

Source: Received for Review Consideration

Goodreads  | Amazon

Ness Brown's The Scourge Between Stars is a tense, claustrophobic sci-fi/horror blend set aboard a doomed generation ship harboring something terrible within its walls.

As acting captain of the starship Calypso, Jacklyn Albright is responsible for keeping the last of humanity alive as they limp back to Earth from their forebears’ failed colony on a distant planet.

Faced with constant threats of starvation and destruction in the treacherous minefield of interstellar space, Jacklyn's crew has reached their breaking point. As unrest begins to spread throughout the ship’s Wards, a new threat emerges, picking off crew members in grim, bloody fashion.

Jacklyn and her team must hunt down the ship’s unknown intruder if they have any hope of making it back to their solar system alive.

My 2 Cents for Free!

The Scourge Between the Stars is a good choice if you like a quick and to-the-point alien 👽 spaceship adventure.

I’m not a huge sci-fi/alien reader (unless the aliens are the love interests but that’s something entirely different and none-of-yer-business, lol) but I do like a dark and terrifying hell in space story sometimes. But I think I’ve finally come to the realization that I prefer the Event Horizon bleak types better than the straight-up sci-fi types so keep that in mind when you see these three stars.

Jacklyn (Jack) is the acting captain of the Calypso - a giant spacecraft housing 6000 people after a failed attempt to colonize another planet. The captain, also her father, has barricaded himself inside a room and refuses to perform his duties. Jack is doing her best while dealing with grief, a hopeless mission, a mutiny, a degrading ship, a food shortage, and “engagements” that keep banging up the ship and harming/killing people. As if all of that weren’t enough, there’s also something inside the walls posing a new threat . . .

Jack is a terrific character, well fleshed out and you will understand her motivations but she’s pretty much the only character you get to know here. There are a lot of plot threads going on and once the action kicks in, it’s all action all the time which is fine if that’s your thing. There are some eerie bits thrown in, some gory scenes, ominous warnings, and a frightening claustrophobic situation but this Alienesque novella is more sci-fi adventure-suspense novel than anything else. So, for me? I liked it well enough. The pages moved because the writing is engaging even though it wasn’t entirely my thing. It might be yours though.

⭐⭐⭐

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