Odyssey One Book 4 By: Evan Currie
Published On: July 8, 2014
Narrated By: David de Vries

I really, really love this space opera series. Once I realized what a space opera gem I had, I flew through all the audio books at super sonic speed. It has everything I’d want in a series: space battles that include cat-and-mouse games, new planet and species discoveries, and an enemy that is easy to root against. There is a classicness to the style and format, which is incredibly easy to read and follow. However, out of all the books in the series this one is my least favorite and when I read the series again it will be the book I intentionally skip.

At the end of book 3, Homeworld, the Drasin had found their way to Earth and began their attack. Earth had a few heroics up their sleeves, but they could not hold back forever the eventual invasion of the Drasin. Now in book 4, Out of the Black, the fight with the Drasin is on Earth, herself. Starting in New York City, we see various efforts of the citizen themselves, but also efforts led by Captain Weston. The fight seems overwhelming hopeless, but Weston always seems to have a new trick to make things seem not so grim.

As I mentioned above, the fight is primarily on Earth and not in space, which is also why it is my least favorite book in the series. Logically, I understand as a series direction why the fight needed to come to Earth, but I also know that I enjoy my space opera to be in space. The time spent on land felt overly long and even though we got to see many of our favorite characters it dragged the story down. The plot does eventually find its way back into space, but for me the length spent on land was just too much to make up for the little space within the book.

The audio version of this book was once again terrific. David de Vries really knows how to bring characters to life with all their different accents and speaking styles. To me, listening to this series on audio is the best way to go and helps bring all the fighting and urgency of the situation to life.

Rating: 3 stars

Description:

Deep in blackest space, the Drasin have watched humanity’s journey to the stars—and determined that a species as barbaric as ours has no place in the cosmos.

The wreckage of the starship Odyssey, once Earth’s greatest guardian, lies strewn across New York City. Abandoned by all but its captain, Odyssey’s sacrifice covered the withdrawal of countless troops as the Drasin assault ravaged the planet. When Captain Eric Weston finally emerges from the rubble, impossibly alive thanks to the mysterious “Gaia,” he knows with the Drasin it’s kill or be killed.

But not all of the heavens have proven hostile. The Priminae have felt the full brunt of Drasin aggression on their own home world, and they won’t leave humanity to face annihilation alone. Together with what’s left of the crews of the Odyssey and other starships, they race to join Weston and his group of Earth-bound survivors for a desperate last stand.

The final battle of the Drasin War brings bestselling author Evan Currie’s Odyssey One series to its shattering conclusion.