Review - Dark Space by Lisa Henry

Dark Space

by Lisa Henry

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Volume 1 of Dark Space

Tags: Science Fiction

Posted in Book Reviews on 12 August, 2026

Brady was conscripted at sixteen into the space force defending Earth from the Faceless, a highly advanced alien race. He left his father and little sister behind. Three years into his ten year term, Brady wants nothing more than to go home. Life on one of the military space stations defending the solar system is not nearly as exciting as the recruiting posters made out. Then again, the young man featured in most of the posters, Cameron, was taken prisoner by the Faceless five years ago, the only human taken prisoner rather than killed outright. Speculation over Cameron’s fate is one of the main topics of conversation among the recruits. When Cameron is suddenly sent back to the station, the story isn’t like anything the men imagined, and as a trainee medic, Brady is thrown right in the middle of it.

This first book of a series imagines a somewhat dystopian future Earth, ravaged by climate change and now under attack by a much more technologically advanced group of aliens. It’s a well-trodden concept. The twist here is that when Cameron is returned, he’s in a stasis chamber. Brady’s commanders don’t know how to deal with the alien technology and nearly kill Cameron trying to get him out of the chamber. A quirk of the Faceless tech ties Brady and Cameron together, making Brady a sort of human pacemaker keeping Cameron’s heart working. The two not only share a heartbeat, but thoughts and dreams as well.

We get the story entirely from Brady’s point of view. He’s definitely what you would call an angry young man. Brady has a lot to be angry about. He grew up in a refugee camp in the Australian desert. His mother died while he was still young. His father remarried, but the woman abused Brady and then left after giving birth to a baby girl. Brady essentially raised his half sister since he was nine, then had to leave her behind when he was drafted.

We only get to know Cameron through Brady, although since Brady shares some of Cameron’s dreams, we get to know him relatively well. Cameron grew up in the same region as Brady, but his family was middle class, living in a comfortable home in a green neighborhood. And, unlike Brady, Cameron is unapologetically gay. He’s the kind of man Brady wants to dislike, but after witnessing the dreams Cameron has about what happened during his captivity, he can’t hate the man.

“Dark Space” is available from Smashwords or see Bookshop.org to purchase from an independent bookseller.