Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

Dead Space: Best Science Fiction of 2021 (So Far)

Who else is obsessed with science fiction that provides both mystery and horror elements? Not just me? Fantastic. In that case, you’ll want to check out Dead Space by Kali Wallace. It was one of my favorite science fiction novels to drop in 2021.

There was a time when Hester Marley felt like she had control of her life. She had a project she loved to work on, coworkers she could rely on, and a passion for what she did. But that was all before the accident.

Now, she’s indebted to a company she doesn’t care about, working a dead-end job that she barely tolerates and feeling more than a little bit isolated by it all right up until she’s assigned to investigate the death of one of her old coworkers.

Writing

Dead Space is one of those novels that immediately sucked me in and wouldn’t let go. It was dark and chilling in all the right ways and pulling in elements from space operas to help fill in the rest. It made the whole thriller and hunt-down-the-murderer story feel all the more compelling.

Hester’s story is one of many plot points worth focusing on in this novel. Her backstory takes a while to fully unfold and presents a mystery. A mystery on top of the whole murder mystery at hand that is.

The complexity of it all was delightfully refreshing, as were all the twists and turns. Kali Wallace used our expectations and assumptions to her advantage, creating a wholly different story.

The result? It was a novel that kept me engaged until the end, as I still tried to see how it would all resolve. I also want to give major bonus points for all the representation that was in Dead Space.

Development

As you might have guessed, there’s quite a lot of surprise, gore, and death inside Dead Space. The murder mystery in space element demands that fact, and several other subplots pop up that result in more action and violence along the way.

All of which worked to keep the pace going steadily onward. Hester’s investigation had the right balance of information and action, giving us enough reasons to care and pumping up the adrenaline regularly.

Speaking of Hester, her character development moves forward in leaps and bounds throughout this novel. It’s moved along by all of her backstory that is slowly revealed. All of this becomes reverent to the main plot, further developing the people and world (well, space) around her.

I won’t speak too much about the conclusion – because I don’t want to spoil it – but I will say that this has become one of the most satisfying endings I’ve read in quite some time. It fits the story’s tone (and main character) perfectly.

Conclusion

Dead Space was a detailed, determined, and diverse read. One that blended many different science fiction elements to create something both new and oddly familiar. It had strong horror tones as well, which I personally adored. I enjoyed this novel so much that I will officially add Kali Wallace to my list of “must-read” authors.

This review was originally written for Word of the Nerd, but has been ported over to Quirky Cat’s Fat Stacks now that the site has shut down.

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