Pelquin's Comet (The Dark Angels Book 1)–Ian Whates

There is more than one way to skin a cat and there is certainly more than one way to start a new scifi universe. In Pelquin's Comet (The Dark Angels Book 1)Ian Whates has taken the approach where many elements are introduced in the first novel and are given a surface treatment while the key story unfolds. This sets the series up nicely for future books but unfortunately means the novel often reads like a pilot episode of a TV show. It is likely my dislike of this is personal as it seems to be a common trope, whereby the ensemble are introduced; key organisations named (and clearly marked as good vs. evil) and then finally ending in a cliff hanger hoping for the network executives (or readers in this case) to commission (or read) further instalments.

It would be unfair to say that I did not like this book, but I’m not sure that I found the universe, characters or general premise interesting enough to make it likely that I would read further books set in the Dark Angels universe.

Things I liked

• The potential for a transhuman vs. baseline-human conflict
• An interesting terrorist(?) organisation

Things I didn’t like

• Mysterious Elder alien civilisations
• Yet another insectoid alien race
• Evil corporations

Essentially what got me was that this was not an engaging enough story to overcome the rather stock base it was made from.

3/5