Review: The Old Man and the Void by Karina Fabian
The Old Man and the Sea iiiiiinnn spaaaaace!!!!
What happens when you have an aging prospector on a dry streak searching for relics in the accretion disk of a black hole? A lot of crazy things. Time in the accretion disk moves slower than outside it, and even the most experienced prospector can get in over his head.
Dex Hollister, experienced relic hunter, is about to find himself in over his head – and in the adventure of a lifetime.
The story
The story opens with Dex Hollister dreaming of his deceased wife, Scarlet. Raised on a wildlife preserve, Dex spends the dream scaling a mountain with his bride-to-be to show her the alien animals he loves, hoping her reaction will prove that she is “the one” for him once and for all. They reach the creatures’ nest, whereupon Scarlet’s mouth drops open wide in wonder…
…and his ship’s AI, Santiago, wakes Dex up to remind him they have work to do today.
Fishing in and around the accretion disk of a black hole has certain effects. Not only does it wreak havoc with gravity, making “diving” into the black hole in a ship dangerous, it causes several diseases and disorders in the human body. One such affliction led to Scarlet’s death, and Dex himself is suffering from Disk Activated Memory Disorder. This disorder means that he loses track of where and when he is, as well as who is and is not with him. He essentially has space-and-time-inflicted dementia. Although there are ways to ameliorate and/or slow it down, there is no cure. The disorder will kill him, sooner or later.
But today is a big day for Dex and Santiago. They are pursuing their biggest prize in the disk yet – an intact alien battleship.
At some point in the past, the black hole was the site of a battle between two extinct alien races. The languages of each race are nearly incomprehensible to humanity, so hunting and retrieving relics caught in the accretion disk is big business. Despite the risks, the rewards in terms of technology, money, and notoriety are unparalleled.
Dex is in the job primarily to contribute to human knowledge, as anything salvageable pulled from the black hole can be studied and reverse-engineered by humanity – with a fair bit of time and effort. A large number of Santiago’s modifications, which allow the ship to dip further into the black hole’s disk than other vessels, came from alien tech Dex and Scarlet caught and had reverse-engineered by her family. That’s why they were so successful over the years.
Now alone and dying, Dex intends for this ship to be his “big score,” the prize that will allow him to go to the afterlife with pride when death finally comes for him. But the alien ship has ideas of its own: when Dex and Santiago manage to snag it, the battleship opens up the throttle, dragging them further into the black hole than they have ever gone before. The simple retrieval turns into a battle for survival against the alien ship, the black hole, and the Disk Activated Memory Disorder. Dex must race against time to get himself, his ship, and their prize out of this disaster in one piece – or face a long, slow death in the event horizon!
The characters
Dex is stubborn, proud, and strong. It is very easy to cheer for him on his adventure as he refuses to give up and let death take him. His age, though, means that a reader will wince a time or two at some of the near misses he has that are far too close for comfort. For an elderly gentleman with a variation on dementia, Dex makes sure it doesn’t hold him back or slow him down. He is a man on a mission and he intends to see it through – no matter what gets in his way.
Santiago’s personality is a wonderful combination of Andromeda’s Romy and Tony Stark’s AI, JARVIS. It takes work to make an artificial intelligence endearing, but Fabian accomplishes this and makes it look easy. Part mother hen, part apprentice, and all loyal friend, the times during the narrative when Santiago is knocked out of commission are nerve-wracking. One wrong circuit blows and he’s dead, leaving Dex alone and without help. Thankfully, Santiago is as stubborn as his captain. He refuses to go into the long good night quietly, too.
The world
The world of The Old Man and the Void blends the best of Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda with Joss Whedon’s Firefly, Star Trek, and Stargate SG-1. The temporal threats that Dex and Santiago must navigate could have come out of any of the three major sci-fi franchises. Meanwhile, the gritty, lived-in reality of Firefly finds a new expression in what is essentially an Old West prospector’s game in space. In particular, the technology in the story has the practical mindset of Firefly meshed with the more operatic themes of Andromeda, making the world wondrous at the same time one has to laugh at the idea of how people would adapt fantastic technologies for “simple” devices like eyeglasses.
The politics
None at all. The book is completely politics free.
Content warning
The book is a PG-13 novel. There is no gore, no sex, and no violence that would give anyone nightmares. It is a pleasant read that will entrance audiences of all ages.
Who is it for?
Fans of the aforementioned Star Trek, Stargate, Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, and Firefly. Anyone who likes a good time travel story or wants to see the tropes played with in new, fascinating ways will also enjoy it. Those who like the puzzle of trying to figure out a centuries’-old culture with mysterious gods and myths will like it, too. And, of course, anyone who liked The Old Man and the Sea will enjoy the transliteration of the story from Earth’s Ocean to the depths of space.
Why read it?
It is a good book that retells a good story in a new setting. Who doesn’t want to see a classic reimagined in a way that might make it even more interesting?