Dark Space (Book 2): The Invisible War

Another will written space opera fantasy world 🌎 paranormal family and friends relationships adventure thriller novel by Jasper T. Scott (Dark Space book two). I had a difficult time tying this novel with book one although it has been a period time since I listened 🎶 to book one. Give it a try it may work for you. I continue on to book three. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa read all kinds of different books 📚. 2023 😀😯👒Jasper T. Scott is one of my favorite authors. Happy reading in 2023🌙There are just too many authors and/or series that I enjoy, oh such fun HA HA happy day

This is the second book in a series. I had read the first some time ago, so I'd let a lot of key information slip my mind. Who are the good guys, who are the bad guys, how did they get where they are now? So I strongly recommend reading book 1 first.Once I got past the mess my bad memory put me in, the story started drawing me back in. As I remember book 1 doing as well. It's a compelling story that turns the page easily.The characters are well done. Sci-fi can easily sacrifice character building for cool tech and brilliant wishful science, but the characters here feel pretty strong. No cardboard cutout protagonist and antagonist.The writing style reads well. Enough so I'm kind of surprised Jasper is not a better known author. He's got the chops.I recommend this book for scifi fans, for fans of twisting plots and for readers who like to spend more time in the same universe (there are 9 books, this is the second).I do not recommend this book to someone who wants a one and done relationship with an author. This book leans heavily on its predecessor and drags you right into book three without a hickup.I enjoyed the read a lot and am happy to give this book 5 stars.

I am a tough rater for sci-fi and fantasy, having read Isaac Asimov (most get a 5 here), Joanne Bertin (4-The Last DragonLord), Tolkien (need I say more?), Sarah Zettle(4-Isavalta Triology), RR Martin(5-Song of Ice and Fire), JKRowling(4-Harry Potter), Sara Douglass (5-Axis Trilogy), and many more that are mature authors with rich plots, characters, and context. Jasper T. Scott is just not of their caliber...yet. Having said this, I do give his Dark Space first two books a "3" stars because the plot is rather unique to my 40 years of reading sci-fi, and I delight in new ideas (that being warp buoys, telepathic slaves, and mind control implants all put together. His context is rather spare, however, keeping only to the world immediately surrounding the character whose viewpoint he is showing. His characters are developed with few "tags" that make them lovable, or hateable, or richly human. Perhaps Jasper may be on his way to becoming one of the above greats, but would offer this advice:1. Stick to one timeline. It takes incredible skill to weave disparate timelines together without frustrating the reader, and that is what I feel. I think it would be better to spend the time with the hero's wife in the present as she looks back and stick with her until her story is done and she is in the present. We all know that since he is taking any time at all with her, she is very likely to have survived. (no spoilers, I don't really know)2. Build the entire world to give a rich context. Are we so advanced as to have warp speed, etc., without ideology on peace, war, foods, planet types, family structure, races, poverty, governmental structures per planet? What is the galaxy the aliens come from, what do they look like, what is their ideology? How extensive was our colonization, where is Earth, what are the details on the warp tech, etc? (He spent far too long on details of how to fly the Nova's, but that should have stayed in his notes or been an appendix. I didn't really care.) The plot is the thing to tease the reader, not skimping on the context and character development.Having said all this, I find it worthwhile to continue with the series because it does have enough entertainment value. I have this book a 3 because I like it ok and the plot is interesting enough for me to want to know how the conflicts resolve. I am hoping that it isn't another Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, or other "shoot-em-up with cool guns and lasers until the good guys win" plot. I hope Jasper develops his universe into something as interesting as the books in the above list. Best wishes, Jasper! (A 1 or 2 means I don't read on)

The plot twists are amazing! I enjoyed reading it.BUT; the characters become less likable than in the first novel.Ethan was a nice bad guy, like Han Solo, a smuggler with a heart of gold, but in this novel he becomes a leader not worth following, a heartless dictator.Atton was a nice boy in the first novel, in this one he is just a pragmatic amoral survivor.And Alara in the first novel was a beautiful loving girl, but in this one she discovers she was/is in love with a married man (Ethan) and she regrets her love.So, while the plot keeps you in acute suspense, you beguin to care less and less for the fate of the characters. If the aliens end up eating Ethan, who is now a heartless dictator, we will not cry, it is not a tragedy. If Alara never sees again Ethan, it is better, since she regrets loving him and he is married to another woman. And if Atton dies during his mind probe, it is no great loss of this pragmatic amoral survivor who behaves in an insulting manner to Alara.The great assets of this author are his plots, but he needs to build his characters with redeeming or lovable characteristics and as he builds his plots, he needs to pay attention to the feelings of his characters. When you read what is happening to them there is no feel of tragedy, because there is no background to feel affliction, for example, Ethan is married to Destra, but they never think of each other, they never miss each other, they never feel melancholic remembering the good times together, so, their separation is no big deal, if they never see each other again, nobody feels bad about this.

I almost stopped reading book one after the 10th 'frek' & 'motherfreker' but glad I did not. The plot is interesting and it does have some good twists. However I felt all the characters were too black and white, the writing had little depth and the connection between the two main characters was too convenient. I scanned thro' a lot of the dialogue between the characters.Having said that, I enjoyed the book, read it in record time (partly due to the scan reading) and am looking forward to book 3. JT Scott clearly has a fertile imagination but is not yet up there with the likes of Neal Asher, Stephen Donaldson & the great & lamented Iain M Banks. The 3 stars, I think, is a fair rating when compared with the aforementioned authors . Overall I would recommend this series of books.

I really enjoyed the first book, and looked forward to reading the second. It would be hard to understand this book if you had not read the first, so definitely start at the beginning of the series.I enjoyed the way it shifted between the multiple plot lines and characters - this keeps up the pace of the book and makes it an interesting read. I also thought the new characters helped expand the Dark Space universe. I also like the way that the technology seems appropriate and believable - no magic technology that just appears at random as a way to get out of a situation.I would have liked to see some of the aspects expanded upon. Not wanting to give any plot away - certain telepathic abilities are very useful in the plot and would be very interesting areas to go into. It would have expanded the characters.Looking forward to book 3 as this one ends too soon.

I gave this book a 4 star rating because it is good. I have read ALOT of sci-fi, and find myself turning to new authors and their intapped imaginations to fulfil my Sci-fi fix. Jaspers first book Dark space was very fast paced and as a reader you learnt alot and jumped around the galaxy very quickly following the main character and then being introduced to everyone else.In his second book he takes the pace down just slightly which makes it easier to keep up and thats important as yet again so much happens.Theres something in Dark Space for every sci0fi fan, from Romance to Dogfights to Intrigue and an interesting back story which in II we begin to learn about.New Authors are always needed and I find that they fit into a good trend, their first book has the bones and the clothes and then their books after get flesh and muscle in them and you start getting page turner after page turner.Jasper T Scott is one to watch I think.

I've long been a fan of sci-fi, growing up in the era of Blake's 7 and Dr Who, but have struggled to find quality sci-fi reading material. The modern era of writing is littered with predictable plots, poor character development and unoriginal ideas.None of these issues can be levelled at the Dark Space books.The first book is excellemt and so is this one which carries straight on from book 1. The characters are well developed and you do actually care what heppens to them. The acid test for me is that you read the book in next to no time - a great page turner and whether it is classic writing or not I cannot judge but it is hugely enjoyable.

I have enjoyed both books in this series so far.They are written in a refreshingly uncluttered style, and don't necessarily attempt to mirror current military units, that is to say not written as if a future world would be dominated by or modelled on current superpowers.The plot lines seem realistic and although containing some twists and turns don't have the annoyingly mysterious habit of suddenly revealing unlikely and unbelievable characters and events as some other books do.