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Dark Space (Sentients of Orion #1)

by Marianne de Pierres (Goodreads Author)

3.4 of 5 stars 3.40 · rating details · 140 ratings · 16 reviews

While drifting in space, lost due to navigational failure, a mineral scout discovers God. When word gets out, academics from the studiums across Orion scramble to gain the Entity's favor. However, not all the sentients of Orion hold this "god" in awe--some, like the philosophers of Scolar and the Transhumans of Extropy are deeply suspicious. Onto the grand stage of interpl...more

Paperback, 416 pages

Published May 3rd 2007 by Little, Brown Young Readers (first published 2006)

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Dec 30, 2011 Tal rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-book, sf-fantasy

While drifting in space, lost due to navigational failure, a mineral scout discovers God. When word gets out, academics from the studiums across Orion scramble to gain the Entity’s favor. However, not all the sentients of Orion hold this "god" in awe—some, like the philosophers of Scolar and the Transhumans of Extropy are deeply suspicious. Onto the grand stage of interplanetary academic politics, intellectual conceit, and dubious theology walks Baronessa Mira Fedor. Her planet has been torn apa...more

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Mar 24, 2011 Mardel rated it 5 of 5 stars

The first time I ever heard of Marianne De Pierres was when I picked up this totally bad-ass looking book called Nylon Angel. It was a kind of cyperpunk/sci-fi/urban fantasy mix. I guess that's why she's considered a speculative fiction writer. After reading Nylon Angel, I searched high and low for the other two of the series (Parrish Plessis series) Code Noir, and Crash Deluxe. Hell of a trilogy. One I kept thinking about long after reading.

After reading works from two separate series, and taki...more The first time I ever heard of Marianne De Pierres was when I picked up this totally bad-ass looking book called Nylon Angel. It was a kind of cyperpunk/sci-fi/urban fantasy mix. I guess that's why she's considered a speculative fiction writer. After reading Nylon Angel, I searched high and low for the other two of the series (Parrish Plessis series) Code Noir, and Crash Deluxe. Hell of a trilogy. One I kept thinking about long after reading.

After reading works from two separate series, and taking a peek at a third of her series (Sharp Shooter under the name Marianne Delacourt) I feel like any book by Marianne De Pierres I pick up is going to be well written, with numerous interesting characters, a variety of character "voices", good dialogue and excellent narration. The book will be interesting with twists, suspense and a sense of ...well being there.

Dark Space is about a three separate people whose lives cross paths; it's also about a entity called Sole, for a lack of any other name. It seems there was this space traveler/partier - kind of a lazy boy who likes to keep his mind rather altered (haha, likes to get high) and on one of this "explorations" comes across this entity - who either saves him or put him in danger in the first place. This entity has no real body, and the result of this discovery is that beings from other planets consider him/she/it a godlike being. This entity - Sole, likes to explore other minds and to do this has convinced people to set up a place to collect beings who want the priviledge of being mind-explored....not always a pleasant experience, and one that leaves them altered, in a way.

The other half of this story is about Tekton, Mira and Trinder. Tekton's story doesn't quite run concurrently with Mira and Trinder's. Tekton is one of those who've been picked to be explored by Sole. There he comes into contact with JoJo, the one who "discovered" Sole. Tekton is not a very nice being, rather he is rude, priviledged, snobby, and feels entitled. He's also in competition with his cousing to create. His task, given to him Sole, is to create or explain Beauty to Sole. This leads to ....problems. Explaining would be spoilers. During his stay at this learning/exploration point Tekton comes into contact with others who are there for the same thing - to be explored by Sole, and to in turn, explore Sole. It's doubtful who's getting the best of the situation...

Mira and Trin are from another section of the universe. Both are attending a type of university for flying spaceships - among other subjects. Their families are among some that have migrated from one planet to others, in order to live life as they choose- only they bring with them some very oppressive beliefs that have been handed down throughout the generations. Trinder's family is the ruling family, very priviledged and totally in charge. They own a few mining planets and are filthy rich. Trinder has grown up not knowing even how to dress himself. He's never had to do anything for himself at all. Despite this, he is attending school and is next in line for the Principality.

Mira's family is connected to Trinder's and she is the first female in a very, very long time to inherit the ability to communicate telepathically with the biozooms - a type of sentient space ship. The pilots all need to be able to communicate with these certain ships. Only the ship in question belongs to Trinder's family. Mira's story opens with Trinder's father betraying her by commanding her ability to be gene-spliced from her and given to Trinder. Which would eventually drive her mad. In a panic, she runs away, to her aunt's home...

What follows, is Trinder being banished from his father's presence and punished by being put to "work", even though he's not skilled at ANYTHING. Mira's aunt's planet ends up being invaded by these beings that annihilate humans....Mira and Trin's paths intersect again....

The novel is full of twists and turns. There is action, danger, escape and more danger. Betrayals and acts of bravery. Suffering and small moments of contentment. It is an epic space opera with a bit of a cliff hanger ending.....

I want to read the next book in this series. Chaos Space. I know I've mashed up this "review" but that's what I do. I read a book, "talk" a bit about it, write what I like about it, and I have no idea how to analyse a book. I just read and enjoy, or put it aside. This book is a keeper, and I would recommend it to Science Fiction lovers.
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Oct 09, 2011 James rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: to-try-again

Before I review this I have to admit to a simple fact; now that I am in university most of my reading time is now taken up by non-fiction literature, so as a result I am being extra harsh on books and (hopefully) only reading the best.

That said, this book was way too sporadic in its characters for me. I don't know how best to describe it, except to say that the author didn't spend enough time with a single character in one go for an emotional connection to be be formed. That coupled with the wa...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Mark Webb rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: aww2013

This review forms part of my contribution to theAustralian Women Writers 2013 Reading Challenge. All my 2013 AWWC reviews can be foundhere.

Dark Space is the first of the Sentients of Orion series by Marianne de Pierres. The storyline primarily follows three characters - Baronessa Mira Fedor, a member of the planet Araldis' aristocracy and born with a genetic makeup that allows her to interact directly with living spaceships, Trinder Pellegrini the spoiled son of Araldis' planetary ruler and Tekt...more This review forms part of my contribution to the Australian Women Writers 2013 Reading Challenge. All my 2013 AWWC reviews can be found here.

Dark Space is the first of the Sentients of Orion series by Marianne de Pierres. The storyline primarily follows three characters - Baronessa Mira Fedor, a member of the planet Araldis' aristocracy and born with a genetic makeup that allows her to interact directly with living spaceships, Trinder Pellegrini the spoiled son of Araldis' planetary ruler and Tekton, an influential citizen of the planet Lostol chosen as a candidate to interact with a recently discovered powerful entity some think is God.

These three point of view characters are interesting selections. All of them are from positions of great wealth and privilege. None of them is particularly sympathetic (although for entirely different reasons). I think the reader is meant to side with Mira, but I found it hard to warm to her.

With three unsympathetic main characters you'd think the story would be in trouble, but the way the storylines interact really works. You see glimpses of the potential for growth in Mira and Trinder, and Tekton is so self centred and devious I found myself cheering for him. So while the characters were not sympathetic, I found them compelling. Just as good in my books.

The world building behind the story was comprehensive and consistent. There is plenty of ground setting in this first book for the rest of the series to build on. The cultures of the various planets and societies referenced, the implications of "humanesque" vs alien sentients and the technology were all well thought through and supported the story.

Italian is not the first culture you expect to see represented in a space opera. This created an interesting point of difference from a lot of other books. The repressed role of women on Araldis provided the source of a lot of the conflict in the novel. It was interesting to think about how some cultural traits that we consider backwards could flourish if the cohort who supports them were to get their own planet.

The plot was enjoyable, with plenty of political intrigue and short bursts of action. Interesting questions were raised and story arcs begun. I'll certainly be tracking down the rest of the books in the series to see how the story unfolds.

Recommended.

I also reviewed this book on my website.(less)

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May 26, 2012 Elijs Dima rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: avoid-at-all-costs

Do not expect Sci-Fi here.
Beyond the setpiece draping of 'generic space future', this is a romance novel seemingly aimed at young-adult demographic (whatever that actually is).
The chapters, events, characters all seem and read as if they were transcripts of a south-american telenovella.
The prose is somewhat stunted as well, throwing yet more curveballs at the reading experience.

If you want to read character-driven Sci-Fi.. Well, no, this is not worth it. If you want to read a romance novel.. Id...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Starts off a little like one of the good Science-Fiction novels, and then gets even better as de Pierres adds her interesting and engaging characters into the mix. Once you start, you're hooked, and you're on a ride with four of the best (and award-winning) novels around! A wonderful four-act story, very engaging.
I read these after the Ixion trilogy and was surprised to see some elements from that trilogy in this series (I can't say without spoiling one story or the other).
Plenty of room to con...more

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Aug 07, 2011 Jay rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian-authors, philosophy-and-religion, redrum, sci-fi, tab-a-in-slot-b

There's a line when it comes to sci-fi where it becomes too difficult for me to read. This book just tiptoes over that line. I had to really struggle to read it, which is a pity as I really liked Marianne de Pierres' Parrish Plessis series. I could get into it when the sci-fi was light, but then it would cut to Jo-Jo and Tekton and the biozoons and my head would spin and I'd have to put it down and take a breather.

So, good idea, but too hard for me to really follow.

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Jul 21, 2012 Mike rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

To start with I haven't finished the book. I was only able to make it a third of the way through before I simply couldn't pick it up anymore. This is one of the most awful things that I have ever attempted to read.

The story at the start is a high class girl has a gene to fly some sort of biological space ship, but since she is not male it would be (I guess) extracted from her and given to some one else. She said it might, or maybe will, turn her mad and runs away. The person she wants to give it...more To start with I haven't finished the book. I was only able to make it a third of the way through before I simply couldn't pick it up anymore. This is one of the most awful things that I have ever attempted to read.

The story at the start is a high class girl has a gene to fly some sort of biological space ship, but since she is not male it would be (I guess) extracted from her and given to some one else. She said it might, or maybe will, turn her mad and runs away. The person she wants to give it to is not interested in it and has twists with some chubby twins he doesn't like. Then another story line is some one who will meet an alien intelligence and thinks the polite way of saying hello involves getting nude.

It simply doesn't describe anything the author is talking about. I got through the first third and simply had a vague clue what was going on in the story, which was bizarre but not entirely new. The details of the world were big holes where she uses the objects name, and never states any reference to what it is. It is hard to imagine a world that has no framework for what is being woven.

The language in it is terrible, like some one translated the book from Dutch but only knows German. Wrong tenses are used in describing the same scene, sentences where the word order doesn't make sense, and she adds words together with hyphens to seem more edgy (or something). Any sense of subtly is lost in the techno-babble, trying to figure out what parts mean that are worded badly, and lack of description of the world.

I can over look some scientific difficulties, but even at the start she just makes things up. Right off the bat she seems to think that the belt of Orion is this cluster of neighboring stars, when they are just three stars that are hundreds of light years away from each other. They just look like neighbors from Earth, which is basic cosmology. They are also closer to the galactic core then Earth which would make meeting an entity that exists in solely in deep space less likely.

This books only good use is a source of heat if you are freezing to death and have nothing else to burn. I can't believe anyone published this book and thought they could make money. They could of at least proofread it to make it less painful.(less)

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Oct 29, 2011 new_user rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi

Scifi survivalist flick meets Crash. Dark Space by Marianne de Pierres engages the reader on so many levels: multiple viewpoints, nonlinear narrative, mysteries, moral dilemmas, brutality, racism, sexism.

Any sort of synopsis will give away too much. Know that I was never bored, possibly because every scene moved the narrative forward and the dialogue to exposition ratio was high. Pierres expects her readers to glean cues from context. She borrows Italian words, invents futuristic by-words, and...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Louise rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: challenge-reads, fantastic-sci-fi

Rather a depressing book - with planetary invasions, skullduggery and double-crossing, rape, massacre, and a God-entity that makes meaningless comments between chapters. I found the characters to be rather shallow, and although this is the first of a trilogy, I am not inspired to read the next two to see if this changes.

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Feb 04, 2011 Helen Merrick rated it 5 of 5 stars

So having received Transformation Space for christmas (its a tradition - all the Marianne de Pierres books i have were presents from hubby :-)) I have been putting off reading it. Why? Because I wanted to do it right, and go back and start the whole series again so it is fresh in my mind. I've read each one the instant they came out, and its so easy to lose the connections, to remember the history and relations of all the characters. So the great re-read begins today.
Will I get through the firs...more

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Feb 23, 2010 Jaine Fenn added it

One of the best space operas I've read in a while; combines the sense of adventure and big-picture plotting I look for in my SF with confident and original world-building and interesting characters. I've already started on the next one in the series.

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May 17, 2012 Jeanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book but was confused about how she would bring the characters together. Once you finish Dark Space you want to keep reading the series to find out what happens and how the characters come together.

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Jun 10, 2011 Yolanda Washington rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was blown away by this book. Great Space Opera, with amazing multi-dimensional characters, and description so vivid you actually feel like you're in the midst of the story. I've read this book twice!

1 like · like · see review

Apr 27, 2013 Robyn rated it 2 of 5 stars

That's YA? lol I had to look up so many words. Guess im just a pleb lol

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Oct 29, 2007 Allan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

Good science-fiction tale with several story threads to keep things interesting.

Good, gritty political backstabbing and planetary invasion stuff while the antics of Tekton and JJ are verging on the hilarious.

A good start to the series that leaves you wanting to find out what happens next. I'll definitely be picking up the next one.

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May 23, 2013 Bribookreviews marked it as to-read

May 20, 2013 Themanalive rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

May 19, 2013 David Weiss marked it as to-read

May 19, 2013 Melissa Elliott marked it as to-read

May 18, 2013 Terence marked it as considerin-not-sure

May 18, 2013 Logan Blackisle marked it as to-read

May 17, 2013 Anderdith is currently reading it

May 16, 2013 Rivqa marked it as to-read

May 10, 2013 Derek is currently reading it

May 06, 2013 Commie Cupcake marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, owned, kindle

May 05, 2013 Kjell Martin Bøvre rated it 3 of 5 stars

Apr 26, 2013 Damon Austin marked it as to-read

Apr 23, 2013 Bkepub added it

Shelves: science, fiction, fantasy

Apr 21, 2013 Brody James marked it as to-read

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About Marianne de Pierres

Marianne de Pierres is the award winning author of the acclaimed Parrish Plessis and Sentients of Orion science fiction series. Marianne is an active supporter of genre fiction and has mentored many writers. She lives in Brisbane, Australia, with her husband, three sons and three galahs. Her newly released young adult dark fantasy novel, Burn Bright, is one of her most loved books. Burn Bright is...more

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Dark Space (Sentients of Orion #1)

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