Review: Daros by Dave Dobson
Blurb:
Plunged into chaos
High above Daros, sixteen-year-old Brecca Vereen prepares to unload a cargo of trade goods aboard her father's ship, the Envy's Price. Nellen Vereen shows her a mysterious artifact bound for a contact below, one that will earn them a lot of credits, and one that they definitely won't be declaring to customs.
Materializing out of nowhere, alien invaders fire upon all ships, destroy the jump gate, and knock out communications. The Envy's Price is crippled, and as her father tries to guide it down from orbit, Brecca rescues the illicit artifact and jettisons in a life pod to an uncertain fate below.
On the flagship of the invading fleet, Navigator Frim tries to persist within the cruel autocracy of the Zeelin Hegemony, under constant threat of death, but wishing for something better. And then she notices a whisper of radiation above Daros – the trail of a cloaked Vonar ship. What are they doing in the midst of all this? And will the captain kill her just for revealing this disagreeable news?
Review:
Daros was a fun sci-fi adventure featuring multi-species interactions, various levels of technology along with its impact on different societies/species, complex intercultural dynamics, and good humor.
The FMC is a teenage human on her divorcee dad’s sketchy trading ship when they get yeeted into the main conflict with three other main alien species and an AI intelligence society. There are also other alien species that are less involved.
These other societies/species are where the book shines and this is not sci-fi where all the aliens are just humans with blue skin or tentacle hair. There are significant biological and societal differences that make logical sense. The technological gaps between the societies is apparent and plays a large role in how things pan out.
The secondary main character is from the perspective of one of the “enemy” aliens who has turned traitor against her people, and it makes for a really interesting PoV. An empathic society that has grown technologically past the point of empathy made this particularly unique and I really just had fun with how the whole thing was presented. The hatchery and role implantation concept was very cool.
As for the MC, her dynamic with the AI was the main point of humor in the book and it was entertaining to see this develop throughout the book. She is a teenager, but she’s competent and not emotionally unhinged so I appreciated that. Apart from the humor, there was still depth to the character and her relationships, and I’m a sucker for bittersweet father-daughter dynamics in books so that was nice to read here.
I would put this in the YA category. I was sort of waiting for something to take it out of YA based on the author classifying it as adult, but I personally felt that this was YA, just the sort of YA that many adults can still enjoy. I think a good comp for this is Angel From the Rust by Jason Link (also sci-fi that features a teenage FMC and a father-daughter dynamic). It has plenty of explosions, combat, and general mayhem, but no gore, cursing, or particularly difficult/problematic subjects. There is death and violence though.
It did take me a good ten chapters or so to warm up to the book due to the teenage MC, which is typical for me and YA books. But once the story got momentum, it was easy to enjoy.
Props to the author for hilarious chapter titles. Really, the balance of humor and depth in the book was wonderfully done. The plot was efficient and fast paced, never slowing. And the characters were all interesting and unique. The ending was executed perfectly, tying up every loose end in a satisfying way.
