Information:

• Goodreads: 3.96 out of 25 ratings
• Age Category: Adult
• Series: Red Space, book 2
• Genre: Sci-Fi Horror

Summary:

After the events of Paradise-1, the crew has landed. Petrova, Zhang, Parker, and Rapscallion begin their mission of finding the community on the planet, but everything is eerily quiet. Until Zhang starts screaming. What they find on Paradise-1 is nothing they ever would have imagined and it just gets worse and worse for our crew. Bless their little hearts.

Review:

This book is just as action packed as the first one. The chapters are super short, making for a quick, intense, and fun read. There wasn’t a moment in this book that I felt bored or easily distracted. I was having a blast the entire time. There were a few issues I’ve had with the series, but all of them are personal preference rather than anything else. We have great and interesting characters who all have real desires and flaws, a really interesting world, and zombies in outer space. What more could you ask for?

The characters carry the series. I would not give a holy hot damn about the plot if I didn’t care about Petrova, Zhang, Parker, and Rapscallion (Rapscallion is, indeed, my favorite). Sure, Petrova and Parker’s relationship doesn’t feel believable to me because we were dumped into them having already had a past – a one night stand from what I understand – and we’re still supposed to believe they have these intense feelings after that. That’s besides the point because I am still a sucker for how much Parker loves her. And Petrova’s dilemma about having these weird and complicated feelings for him while also knowing that he isn’t real can be gut wrenching. Especially when we see how much Parker struggles with the fact that he does not have a real body in this book. He can touch things, he can move them, but he cannot feel them, in such a strange way, is heartbreaking.

Zhang has made so much progress by the end of the book. He began without really wanting anything to do with anyone. He basically just didn’t like anyone and was a coward who didn’t want to do much of anything, yet somehow also got roped into it. With this book, he and Petrova kind share leadership. They’ve developed this interesting relationship – I don’t wanna hear it about how their relationship is a trauma bond. I know that, they know that, we can move on. They’re basically besties now that have a sibling-ish dynamic. He’s just going with the motions, trying hard to not die and to keep his friends from dying too. Sweet little Rapscallion is constantly having to remake his own bodies. I would die for Rapscallion and his bright green bodies. He is precious to me. He is the savior of the day most of the time and also the humor – love seeing him try to understand humans, cause we’re silly. The characters are a 9/10.

But here’s the thing. I wish Wellington could commit to actually killing someone. Listen, I love em all. I adore these character and I don’t want anyone to die. However, we have had about 3-4 times a major character has died (one of em twice). Then they somehow continue to come back. I don’t like that trope and I have an especially hard time when it’s done more than once. I was nearly gotten with a character death, felt some tears prickling my eyes. Was pretty bummed out for a few pages. And then even more bummed when they came back. I don’t like having that emotional impact and then having it nearly immediately taken away ends up usually making it feel cheap for me.

Aside from that, the book is full of action and anticipation. I loved every bit of it. There are some moments when the book makes some comments or explores a topic. Zhang and Rapscallion talk about why people feel the need to burn books. Zhang has pretty intense PTSD. There’s a few mentioned of whether or not Parker is even really Parker and, if so, how much of him is real when he’s a copy of a copy. Parker’s storyline throughout this is him dealing with not having a body and how differences between our minds and our bodies can lead to even bigger issues. But its mostly just a fun sci-fi horror and I love that.

The prose is simple. Wellington doesn’t go overboard on the descriptions, yet the characters still feel real and the world still feels lived in and alive. The way he writes keeps constant tension on the story without ever feeling as if I’m drained or exhausted. He seems to allow his small and to the point sentences to propel the story further. He’s a master at saying so little while also conveying so much. This helps make the story of three people and a robot exploring a planet and searching for a lost colony feel even more exciting. Also, zombies in outer space controlled by an alien more ancient and powerful than our human minds could ever comprehend? I’m in. Admittedly, the villain’s monologue at the end felt a little cliche, even more so when it happened twice. But I still don’t find myself able to complain much about it at all.

I would love to know your thoughts about the book if you’ve read it! Thanks for tuning in and I’ll see yall soon!