The Void

While this novel is not horrible, neither is it really any good. I have not read the author's other (and apparently award-nominated) work, so I entered into this book with no preconceptions.Disappointment, pure and simple. It became obvious that the author cribbed lines and situations from Scott's 'Alien', Cameron's 'Aliens', Disney's 'The Black Hole', and the major themes of Anderson's 'Event Horizon'. It never felt like a homage, but simply lazy and derivative. Anderson's film did show lots of promise, but failed on a number of levels. It would have certainly been interesting for Talley to take up the scenario of 'Event Horizon' with a Lovecraftian or cosmic horror spin and improve on it (certainly not a difficult feat), but the author failed.One of THE major shortcomings of this novel was that there was little suspension of disbelief. The author clearly has little grasp of physics and never communicates future life or travel that convincingly. It felt as if we were reading about a slapdash crew of modern people stuck on a boat, as opposed to humans almost two centuries from now on interstellar craft.Most pulp SF authors from the 1930s-50s did better with their narratives of future life and technology - this was a REAL defect of this work. I understand that Talley's book was NOT hard SF, but some basic or more creative world-building would have immersed the reader into the future life and the events on board the spacecraft in the novel. The technology can be vague and superficial as long as it convinces the reader that the characters (and the author) interact with their environments in a consistent and believable fashion. The elements of future life and travel in this novel were simply lazy and unconvincing.The characters were not particularly deep or three-dimensional, and their motivations pretty average fare.The shadowy "others" were a bit of a letdown. They were NOT particularly alien, the horror not really that cosmic in scope, and the third act was pretty pedestrian. Here is where the author cribs from the films 'Event Horizon' and 'The Black Hole', simply aping the shallow elements of those films and lazily pasting a thin Judeo-Christian theme on the ending.No true cosmic horror. No deep character study. You could even forgive those faults if the story was immersive or creative, but no such luck here. I give it two stars for what little spin the author did on adapting the plots of previous works for this book (the increasing insanity among spacefarers, the desperation of finding a safer way of space travel), but it really deserves one star.Avoid this book!

Excellent story. Great character development. The book was a real page turned. Just spent the whole weekend binge reading it. I believe Mr. Talley is now one of my favorite authors. This is a must read for Sci-fi fans and fans of cosmic horror....

Brett Talley's follow up to his magnificent Lovecraftian novel, "That Which Should Not Be", proves that he will carve out a place for himself among modern horror authors. This is a thoroughly enjoyable sci-fi/horror/thriller.While there are a handful of creepy-crawlies that jump from the darkness, Talley's true mastery is his development of horror through narrative, tone and mood. He builds his story upon a backbone of well-known fictional elements - "The Matrix", "The Odyssey", the film "Event Horizon". And while a bit derivative, it works extremely well and I found myself aching to finish the story."Void" is quite short and doubling the size, Talley would've had the opportunity delve deeper into the characterizations and further flesh out the backstory. That aside, I heartily recommend this book.

The first two-thirds of the book were gripping and enjoyable: the idea of ancient eldritch beings existing, biding their time, in an unknown dark universe found only through rips in space-time is a compelling one; and the way that suspense is built through fragments of history and dream is skillful. I particularly liked the brisk pacing, that didn't linger upon inconsequential aspects of the characters' lives that so many books add to (unsuccessfully) "thicken up" the characterization.But it is when the evil phantom beings are actually encountered that the story became disappointing to me -- these entities looked and acted like disgruntled humans, instead of the strange and cosmic elder gods that are the existential threat in the Cthulu mythos.

I enjoyed The Void. The author, Brett Talley has a distinctive writing style that might take some readers a little time to get used to. The Void is deep space and the possibilities that hang over the travelers while they are in hyper sleep sets your nerves on edge.The book did remind me of the movie Event Horizon. But the book takes a twist at the end that's interesting and creepy. I certainly enjoyed that. It was well worth the read.Teresa Reasor

I could not put this book down once I started reading it. I have long been a fan of the space horror genre. Alien, Event Horizon. The Void touches on the best of these types of stores and kicks things up a notch. You are presented with an irresistible mystery, one which will not let go of you. One which, as you progress through the story, makes you need to know the answer. And be afraid to know. The novel is well written and detailed, with characters you will be interested in. Their fates will matter to you. Again, loved this book. Hope to see more from Mr. Talley in the future.

I find reading before bed a relaxing way to ease into sleep. This book has turned this nighttime ritual into an outright travesty (dare I say nightmare?), keeping me up until 4 or 5am with only a half bottle of whiskey able to soothe me into an uneasy sleep.Fortunately, it was a fast page turner, so this only ruined a week's worth of sleep.I recommend this book for daytime viewing only and with Lesley Gore's "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" blaring in the background to break the mood that Talley's book has set.

I really enjoyed the combination of Science Fiction and horror that was interwoven in this story. The applied science is easy to understand even for people who don't have a college science degree. Brett Talley made the dialogue mesh well with the science horror and a bit of mystery rolled in. The ending had a great resolution to the overall story line that was satisfying without being too wishy washy (happily ever after).

Brett J. Talley’s debut novel “That Which Should Not Be” was widely lauded as an impressive debut. After reading it I must admit I didn’t really see what all the fuss was about. It was okay but not quite the book that reviews had led me to believe. It came across as a stitched together pastiche of Lovecraft and horror clichés.When his second novel, “The Void” became available, I thought I would give him a second chance. A science fiction/horror novel about the perils of deep space travel and what lurks in the minds of men, it sounded quite good. Unfortunately after reading the novel I can’t say I’ll be making a beeline to read any more of his work. The plot is centred on the development of warp drives as a means of travelling between the stars in a few hours. The unfortunate side effect of this warp is that it tends to send people insane. To counteract this, travellers go into stasis sleep but everyone experiences consistently dark and terrifying dreams. But what is behind the dreams? As the unfortunate reader of this is about to find out, another weak and derivative patchwork of “been here before”, “really?” and “I’m sure I’ve seen this in a film”.And you would be right. Event Horizon is the film. An experimental ship travels through black holes and reappears after years of being lost. No one is quite sure what happened to it. Then it is discovered adrift with all of the crew dead or gone. Another vessel finds it and hallucinations, fear, madness and death spread like wildfire through the crew. I wouldn’t have minded so much had it not been for the complete lack of pace, style and characterisation contained herein. The style of writing jumps all over the place and Talley just cannot seem to keep a consistent tone. He can’t decide whether he is writing a Lovecraftian novel or a science fiction thriller. The Void is an apt title for this book. It just didn’t do it for me on any level whatsoever. Shadowy creatures appear, bland characters disappear and, like the crew of the ill fated freighter Chronos, you will be adrift and praying for it all to end quite suddenly. Avoid.

As they make the jump across space the six occupants of the Chronos experience the usual nightmares of warp sleep. However, when they emerge from warp speed early, they awake to find themselves frighteningly close to a black hole and a ship that should no longer exist - the Singularity. When they explore the dead ship they find a terror greater than any nightmare lying in wait for them.I have to say that The Void combines horror and scifi to great effect and I loved it

I enjoyed the story, it was a quick read without any lengths. The author has quite a potential, I'll give his lovecraftian novel a shot.