The Scourge Between Stars

 

The Scourge Between Stars was a good debut. A little shaky at first and I thought it took a little while to get going but by the end I was completely invested. It's short too, a novella... although a book this length wouldn't have been a novella years ago, lots of vintage science fiction came in under 200 pages. At any rate, this was a good book. 

Jacklyn is first mate on a ship traveling back towards Earth after a failed colony effort. Unfortunately they are having problems with shortages of essential supplies, as well as frequent incidents where they are buffeted by strange forces. Some cosmic threat they can't perceive? It's not very clear. It soon becomes clear that that is the least of their problems though, when strange creatures are discovered aboard. And why is the captain missing? 

This has a definite terror vibe and I liked the tension as things got worse. I really liked how the author made me care about some of the officers and crew even though we hardly knew them.  

Another thing I liked was the setting- this is a generation ship with a truly massive setting. Literally miles of passageways, some of them not well lit, some thirty thousand plus crew... I love generation ship books and this one hit all the right elements.