LitPick Review
Light in the Abyss is a science fiction novel that takes the reader back into the world of Blackwood and Virtue. This story begins with Lord Liam Blackwood and Petty Officer Amelia Virtue, as well as their crew of the HMSS Daring, being sent by His Imperial Majesty to retrieve the Suncatcher. The Suncatcher is an venerated object belonging to the nobles that has been missing for quite some time. Because His Imperial Majesty has new intelligence -- the Suncatcher was last in the hands of the alien Theropod Shordar -- the HMSS Daring has been ordered to find this alien and retrieve the Suncatcher before he gets rid of it. During their first meeting with a Theropod, Liam is too overprotective of Amelia when he thinks she is in danger and attacks the alien. Now both Amelia and another crew member are severely injured and Liam is expected to sail directly to Shordar. At the same time, his and Amelia’s relationship is threatened as he continues to display a suffocating sense of overprotectiveness. While this mission must turn out the way His Imperial Majesty required, now Liam has two clashing yet both equally important aspects of his life.
Opinion:
This book was intriguing. While it is the third book in a series, it was not necessary to read the other two, I discovered. The fact that a strong female character is one of the main characters was appealing as you don’t often see that in books. I really liked Liam as well, seeing as he had strong motivation and was well-developed. The plot was quite interesting as it did have sci-fi elements with the added touch of sailing through sea, not space. It was fast-paced, yes, but I did find it lagged at certain points. There was not as much action as I was expecting from a novel such as this, though, seeing as there was a lot of discourse.
I thought that having the book in third-person POV was a strong decision to make, although it did detach from the characters just the slightest bit. Instead of being in their head and knowing what they were feeling and thinking, we just got to watch. The writing style was creative and easy to understand. It fits with all of the details and secrets this book holds. One of the main things I did not like about this book was the interchanging rank with last name with first name. I had to go back several times in some chapters to see which character they were talking about. I also noticed a few punctuation errors that were easy to dismiss, seeing as nobody is perfect. I believe the ending to this novel was great, setting up the next book, if there is one, nicely.
I would recommend this novel to young adult science fiction fans who like some action, romantic troubles, and lots of character / world-building development.
