Fiona Knight's Reviews > Pitch Dark

It was a long wait for this book, and I'm happy to say it did not disappoint. Though I've found myself reading less and less YA since first I added this book to my shelves, I flew through this book (despite the fact that I was really enjoying it so I tried to make it last - I have terrible willpower).

We're mainly following Tuck and Laura - that's pronounced as Laora in the Spanish style - two teens from very different backgrounds. Tuck is essentially from history; he's woken from 400 years of cold storage as the book begins. He's aboard the John Muir, one of many ships jettisoned from Earth as a terrorist group did their best to ensure the human race's end - and the John Muir contains something that might mean humanity's survival.

Laura is aboard a ship crewed by those who search for ships like the John Muir - lost treasures in space. Right from the start she's clearly in a tough spot - her recently ex-boyfriend and his family have her under their control by use of a parasitic technology called a subjugator. Think Kilgrave if you've watched Jessica Jones - they just have to speak her name with their commands (the incorrect and Anglo pronunciation of her name just to make it that much more humiliating) to establish control. It's a violation and one that's treated as such throughout the book - a tricky subject that I thought was well handled.

The story itself varies between horror-ish, to survivalism and science fiction with some action. The people all reliably act like people - someone with broken toes has a cry, for example. The villains are a little flat - they want to take down a rival family for mostly murky reasons - but after reading the author's note, I get it. The romantic subplots were realistic and well-paced; they didn't get in the way of the story.

Overall, YAY it's finally here! I loved this book, and I'm so excited to read it again in a couple of months :D