Dark cover art

Dark

The Dark Trilogy, Book 1

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Dark

By: Paul L. Arvidson
Narrated by: Benjamin Fife
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About this listen

In the strange labyrinth of pipes on the planet called Dark, things are falling apart. Dun doesn't want to be a hero, he just wants to find an answer to the terrifying dreams he's been having. But the answers, the real answers, are going to take him places he's never imagined and tear him from the only home he's ever known.

With a half-finished map from his missing father, an old friend, a new friend, and the mysterious Myrch to guide him, he journeys through parts of his world he's never imagined. Are his dreams real foretellings? Who can he trust to be who they say there are? What are the strange forces that seem to be literally pulling their world apart?

As he travels through a world that is much bigger than he thought it was, what he won't know will kill him. And everyone he knows.

©2016 Paul L. Arvidson (P)2020 Paul L. Arvidson Adventure Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera Space Fiction Dream

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It’s an ok story but just not that exciting. The characters are well presented and interact with each other well. It’s an interesting premise of a story it’s just sadly not that engaging. The narrator was fantastic and was the saving grace of this book

It’s alright but not exciting

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On a strange planet called Dark, Dun has been having strange dreams. Is he becoming a foreteller? Are the dreams a vison of what will happen some time in the future? He is given a mission and must journey to find the Machine Folk. With his friend Padg and the alchemist Tali, he sets off to find answers. Will he find his missing father and what dangers must they face on the way?

The Dark is an exciting tale of adventures on another world.

Adventures on a strange planet

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Isn't it strange that, unless told otherwise, we assume that the main characters of a book are like us, human? The planet Sirius 4, is better known as Dark, because that is what it is, and it's inhabitants have evolved, adapted to life there. Without light, they cannot see and so their other faculties - smell, touch, hearing and the ability to feel changes around them in air movement - are far more accute. Additionally, like moles, they live underground in pipes and tunnels. This was, for this reader, the intriguing part of the story which, for a long time, fuelled any interest. Author Paul L.Davidson skillfully paints vivid pictures of environment using just these senses: it was some time into the story before the realization of darkness translated from page to this reader's head and, after that, any interest was lost.

It had drawn me in with the opening paragraph, a distress beacon message from a serviceman, Lieutenant Myrch Western, last of the mission to the deep space colony, and found in 2610. Immediately the question - what had happened to the rest of the mission? And to Lt. Western? Was he ever found or did his distress call not reach responders in time? I read on with anticipation, only to be plunged into the world of Dun, missing fish, and his prescient dreams. This is his journey, sent, with two friends from his people, to find out why the e!here hadn't heard from their neighbours recently. My interest was lost, then, other than the oddity of the descriptions. Was the mysterious Myrch in the story the same one who had sent that emergency message? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

I was fortunate enough to receive a freely gifted complimentary copy of Dark, at my request, from the rights holder via Audiobook Boom. Thank you. I am finding it hard to rate this book. Although cleverly written with an original idea at the heart of the background story, I found it difficult to form a relationship with any of the characters and, therefore, with their quest. But the narration by Benjamin Fife was excellent, interspersed with occasional, and well sited, sound effects, which helped carry me through to the end. I can see the attraction of such a story, both the public quest and inner changes, a sort of litRPG fantasy without the levelling up gaming aspect, but not for me. I kept reading not for any interest in Dun and his friendships but because, once started I hate to give up on a book, and in the hope of some sort of resolution which didn't occur. Perhaps in the latter stories to come.

"Are you soldiers, spies or stupid?"

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the story is hypnotic and the characters well described early on so that I quickly became invested in their well-being. The story is well written and easy to read. It appealed to my love of science fiction and mystery as well as a good adventure. It took me a while to reconcile the narration by Benjamin Fife to my own imagination as to how the characters sound. I was initially thrown by the American accent but I soon got over myself and enjoyed being read to.

characterisation

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