“We’ve got a little bit of a tactical problem on our hands.”
“What’s that chief?”
“It’s the Draeu. They can’t be killed.”
pg. 192
Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill
I’m going to use what it says on the inside of the book because I think it’s interesting:
“Durango is playing the cards he was delt.
And it’s not a good hand.
He’s lost his family.
He’s lost his crew.
And he’s got the scars to prove it.
You don’t want to mess with Durango.”
So basically, Durango lives in Mars which is like the Wild West of the Future and he’s taking on random jobs to support his father who is in jail. He gets this one job to protect a bunch of ungrateful minors in No Man’s Land and it turns out to be a much bigger adventure than he bargained for.
Obviously, this book is an action book. It works out quite nicely because it’s from Durango’s point of view and he’s got a nice bit of sass and spark to get you alternately chuckling and on the edge of your seat. I thought he was a nice character and his friends were cool too. I especially liked Vienne, who was his second in command. She was the epitome of girl power and as the kids these days would say, she’s pret sick.
That means awesome for all you old people. Pret being pretty sans a few letters; sick being so godly it makes you want to barf. All over the place.
Okay, maybe not that last bit, but you get the idea.
Anyways, what was great about Vienne was that she was what all girls should aspire to be: confident with who they are. Because all the time people are complaining that young women don’t have good female role models and that chick lit is full of pansy girls. But not everyone is going to be a lawyer and a doctor and as long as you’re okay with who you are, that’s fine with me. Never mind if you’re a pansy and you’re obsessed with your possibly paranormal boyfriend. It’s your life, yeah?
So Vienne was good. She kicked butt. There were some other girls too, but I don’t really care that much about them. If it comes down to romance, I’m for Durango and Vienne all the way.
By the way, I have to mention something odd here. So, in the book we meet Durango and Vienne, and then we meet some other girls and they all seem to like Durango because the author (master of subtlety that he is) keeps having them call him handsome and stuff and I got the feeling that he was setting up like a love pentagon or something. I’m frankly a little sick of love triangles, and luckily Durango had a bit of a one track mind (cough, cough, Vienne, cough, cough) but if he was already into one girl, then why bother creating romance with the others? Especially in a book this boyish and actiony. Seemed like a waste of time to me.
Not to mention, the other girls barely come across as worth caring about. They’re a little stereotypical. Though the rich one– whose name I can’t remember– was a little more interesting, I could tell what was going to happen with her before it did. Bleh. The problem with these other characters were that they just were. They tended to blend in my head a little. I admit, it’s been a few weeks since I read this, but even if I flipped through it, I couldn’t really say who was who without reading it over again.
The plot was also not too unique though I definitely thought the setting was. I liked the easy blend of futuristic and things we can already foresee. It made the wildly imaginative things seem based and realistic. I also like that Gill didn’t bother explaining too much about why people are on Mars, how they can survive, how each piece of technology works, ect. There wasn’t really room for long-winded explanations and as I read almost all of my questions were answered.
The writing was, as I said earlier, snappy. There were two things that I didn’t like, one of which comes back to the plot. First, Gill tried to put some slap-stick humor in there, but it totally came off as little-boyish and stupid. They were like…bodily humor jokes…which I can still get a laugh out of, but I think I’m the anomaly. The target market was, I believe, teens, considering that a few minor cuss words (ass, damn) were dropped, yet those few jokes made it seem like it was for 6 year olds. It was a mixed message and kinda ruined the sleek excitement the book gives.
The second thing was that in the story, there are parts about the enemy that are told in third person and I felt like they sucked a lot of the excitement out. Mostly because they let us know too much. I would have rather been left in the dark and maybe had Durango spy on the enemy or something to find these things out. Because the effect of that second piece of narration was the same as reading the enemy’s meeting minutes. It stole the mystery and tuned down the drama.
I definitely think the best thing about this book is that it’s a boy read. I mean, I’m sure girls will enjoy it, but it’s something that guys don’t have to hide if they want to read it. It’s a…manly book, I guess. Not pure paranormal romance, but action and adventure. I feel sorry for dudes that don’t want to read the same sappy stuff again—and for girls like me that are sick of it too! This kind of book, like the Hunger Games, offers a nice retreat.
All in all, I would say this is a good start for the series, if Mills decides to write more. He doesn’t have to, but I think he could. It was a nice, exciting read and I will definitely be passing it on to my brothers so that they may get similar enjoyment.
Ri’s Rating
QQQ/QQQQQ
3/5
0. Couldn’t get past chapter one for fear of wanting to kill myself. Book induced suicide…
1: Yuck. Ew. Below Average. Probably didn’t even read the middle and skipped to the end.
2. Ok. Would’ve been better if I’d written the ending and everything else.
3. Not bad at all. Very enjoyable. Quite nice. Recommendable.
4. My kind of book. Near ideal, but something was a little off (annoying names, bad ending, that sort of thing).
5. WOW. Makes me wonder why people watch T.V when this is out there. Really liked it. Don’t expect to see this often.
6 and above. What I want my book to be.
The Spotted Mushroom 