About

Daros is written by Dave Dobson.

Daros book cover

Blurb

High above Daros, sixteen-year-old Brecca Vereen prepares to unload a cargo of trade goods aboard her father's ship, the Envy's Price. Nellen Vereen shows her a mysterious artifact bound for a contact below, one that will earn them a lot of credits, and one that they definitely won't be declaring to customs.

Materializing out of nowhere, alien invaders fire upon all ships, destroy the jump gate, and knock out communications. The Envy's Price is crippled, and as her father tries to guide it down from orbit, Brecca rescues the illicit artifact and jettisons in a life pod to an uncertain fate below.

On the flagship of the invading fleet, Navigator Frim tries to persist within the cruel autocracy of the Zeelin Hegemony, under constant threat of death, but wishing for something better. And then she notices a whisper of radiation above Daros – the trail of a cloaked Vonar ship. What are they doing in the midst of all this? And will the captain kill her just for revealing this disagreeable news?

Review

I like to try something different once in a while to cope with slumps from reading too many fantasy books. Graphical novels and science fiction help a lot in such cases. Ideally I'd like to read them regularly, but haven't found many that are light-hearted in tone.

Luckily, Daros turned out to be just the kind of story I like, with characters that I can root for. The humor, especially the chapter titles, worked well for me. Add a mysterious creature, a sassy AI, a fast paced plot with good amount of action to the mix, and you get an enjoyable read.

At the heart of the plot was a powerful artifact with different groups vying to gain access for different reasons. Brecca, a teenager working for her father on a merchant ship, found herself landing in Daros after the ship was damaged by an invading force. Frim, navigator of this invading fleet, doesn't want the mission to succeed as an attempt to derail the cruel hegemony. Their POV chapters worked well to present the situation from both angles (as well as other side plots). Some of the chapters were really short, but I got used to it and in some cases they contributed to the feeling of a fast paced plot.

I felt like the author had put a lot of effort into presenting the aliens — their physical characteristics, biology, way of thinking, etc. This was a standalone novel, with no indication of possible sequels. I hope there will be more books in this setting.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟☆

What others are saying

From Benjamin Roberts's review on goodreads:

A fun and light-hearted scifi adventure brimming with humour and alien weirdness. This felt like an end-season TV movie of a family scifi show, if that makes any sense at all. I particularly enjoyed the various alien species and how not-human they were, and the galaxy-scale worldbuilding that came in towards the end. There's loads of banter and loads of action - check this out if you're in the mood for something fun and uniquely weird!

From Francesca's review on goodreads:

I found this a fast-paced and entertaining story harking back to my favorite old-style science fiction where the focus is on different alien biologies and societies learning to coexist. Dobson approaches this with humor and goodwill. The villains have funny lines, the intelligent spaceship is delightfully difficult, and everyone has room to learn and grow.

Bingo

/r/Fantasy/ 2022 bingo categories:

  • Standalone (HM)
  • Non-Human Protagonist (HM)
  • Self-Published OR Indie Publisher (HM)
  • No Ifs, Ands, or Buts
  • Family Matters