This review is about David Wellington’s Paradise-1, the first book in the Red Space trilogy. Before diving into that, though, I need to touch on another book briefly for reasons that will become clear.
Over the Christmas holiday this past year, I binge-read the three books that make up Sebastien de Castell’s Argosiprequels. If that’s unfamiliar, de Castell has another series set in the same world as the Greatcoats (which I’ve reviewed here and here) but on a different continent. On this continent, there’s a loose order of nomadic cowboy warrior bards called the Argosi. We meet them in the Spellslinger series through Ferius Parfax, who mentors the main character in their ways. The Argosi prequel series explores Ferius’s adolescence and how she became the rootin’ tootin’ Argosi we see in Spellslinger.
The Argosi series is excellent, and I plan to write reviews of those books in the future. My favorite of the series is The Fall of the Argosi. In this book, a young Ferius encounters the Red Scream and its cultists. The Red Scream is a verse that drives listeners mad and incites violence. It’s a terrifying concept, and de Castell handles it brilliantly, creating one of the best books I've read in recent years. As I read Wellington’s Paradise-1, I kept thinking back to The Fall of the Argosi and the Red Scream, because Paradise-1 does similar things, but even better. That’s high praise from me.
Paradise-1 follows a trio of misfits sent to make contact with a planet where a colony ship has established a new off-world community. Alexandra, a space cop who made a mistake and is being punished, Zhang Lei, a doctor with a dark past, and Sam Parker, a failed pilot with whom Alexandra has a history, make up the team. They travel via FTL with a Ship’s AI and a robot named Rapscallion, who is fantastic. Things quickly go awry: upon exiting FTL, the AI is stuck in a cycle of endless rebooting, and the ship is bombarded with giant crates of yams. Thus begins one of the most gripping space horror novels I’ve read. It’s like The Expanse meets Alien meets the Red Scream from The Fall of the Argosi, with a similar type of horror awaiting the protagonists. It turns out a parasitic alien thought is driving all ships sent to this planet mad, and the crew must navigate not only the virus but also other deranged ships and crews, each in their own way.
Honestly, this book was riveting. Once I started reading, it was hard to put down. I spent most of my day off devouring it. Paradise-1 is twist-heavy, with surprises every few chapters, and very few of them were predictable. The book’s set pieces were also fascinating. Although most of the story takes place on ships, Wellington skillfully uses the mysterious illness and the varying ages of the ships to create distinct settings. Some action scenes felt like horror movie versions of The Martian. For instance, an early scene with the yam missiles seemed like a nod to The Martian, and a later scene featuring a cool monster stands out as one of the book’s most interesting recurring ideas taken to a wild extreme.
Wellington’s characters are also great. The small cast allows for deep character development. My favorite was Rapscallion, the robot, who is both helpful and sarcastic, making him one of the most delightful characters I’ve read this year. Wellington uses Rapscallion to provide a unique perspective on the humans he shares the ship with. In the hands of a lesser author, this might not have worked as well, but Wellington pulls it off brilliantly.
The book ends on a cliffhanger with a “to be continued” note, but fortunately, I won’t have to wait long for the follow-up. Revenant-X comes out in November and is now one of my most anticipated reads for the last quarter of the year. Expect a review when it’s published. If I had a “Gnome Recommends” sticker, I’d definitely put it on this book.