Review: Decently, If Densely, Written.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 24, 2014
Aurora:Darwin is a decently, if densely, written military science fiction with uneven pacing and quite a bit of egregious violence. It is also a strange throwback to an era when the military was all macho, women are supposed to be weak and are sex objects, everyone takes note of color of skin and nationality, and homophobia is common. And there is a strange paranormal undercurrent as well.The story is told from two perspectives: Captain Harris of the Aurora and new recruit Carrie Welles. Harris, whose duties in the UNF typically deal with taking care of pirates, is abruptly pulled off leave and assigned to find out why a science research station near Mars has ceased communication. He's also inexplicably assigned the first three women into military space service, ostensibly as a PR stunt, and one of them being sharpshooter Carrie Welles. What they find on the station hints at corruption high up and horrors they could not have expected on what should have been a routine mission. A low key romance between Carrie and the ship's young and attractive doc ensues.The pacing was kind of frustrating for me. For the first 70% of the book, pretty much nothing happens. They practice target shooting, do locker checks, get annoyed with each other, and not so subtle hints about what they are going to find on the station are dropped with a thud into the story. When the action finally does happen near the end, it never really takes off and sputters frequently. This should have been a heart stopping thriller/horror (with admittedly, not the most original of futuristic plot devices, but at least it doesn't involve aliens) but instead it just ended up with a lot of people being brutalized/murdered/injured/assaulted in very unpleasant ways.I admit, I was fairly bored through most of it and trying to skip through but it was so densely written that it was difficult, making it even more of a frustrating read. As well, the paranormal elements really felt left field in a military sci fi of science gone awry - and didn't add to the story in any way.I read book 1 and book 2 at the same time and book 2 segues right into more gory violence with a bit of torture porn thrown in for laughs. It was a bit too much for me - I wanted military sci fi with action and not a 'grunts in space' for 3/4 of the book and then suddenly horror and violence leaving me queasy. Then a really weird romance in the middle that completely emasculates our female character and turns her into a "does he love me or does he not?" mope.So, no, not a terrible book, hence the 3 star rating. And one I think that others will definitely enjoy. Unfortunately, after 2 books, I am going to leave the series.