A review by sergek94
Nightflyers by George R.R. Martin

5.0

“Man invents gods because he’s afraid of being alone, scared of an empty universe, scared of the darkling plain.”

In the infinite deep and dark nooks of space, it is said that an ancient alien race, called the volcryn, have been roaming the universes for millennia. Their history predates that of Christ, and a group of scholars finally have the chance to venture into space and get a chance to make contact with them. Led by the passionate Karl D'Branin, this crew manages to board a ship called the Nightflyer, led by a captain who chooses to remain hidden from the rest of the crew members, for reasons he refuses to divulge. During this trip, the crew navigate the darkest corners of space, but they soon discover that the true danger to their lives lies way closer than they realized. Their very own ship is hiding a sinister presence, intent on annihilating all of them in unimaginably brutal ways.

This is actually the first story I read by Martin, having largely avoided his more popular fantasy series due to a lack of interest, since I was overly exposed to that world from the TV show. I was very curious to read his SF works though, to see how he tackles the genre. I am glad to say that this story did not disappoint. The atmospheric element in this story is top-notch, and the reader can easily imagine themselves far from any known humanity, sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of space. There is a bleakness to the story, giving us the impression that we're doing nothing but slowly heading to our doom, and the only safe space we have, our ship, the only location sheltering us from the ruthlessness of the depths of space, serves as a nest to a chaotically destructive evil presence. Nowhere is safe, and darkness is closing in, and despite the confines of the story being quite limited, since we don't really get to see much except for the ship, we get the sense that this world is immense, and that its history goes eons back, and that our characters are definitely not the centre of the universe. The alien entities described are fascinating, and I was left craving for more, wanting to learn more about them. The character dynamics were fun to read, and even though character work wasn't spectacular, they were still entertaining and did not bore me. This is a short story after all, and I don't expect much depth in all aspects.



But for a short story, this accomplished what it was supposed to for me. It was gripping from the start and got progressively more interesting as the events reached their climax. I loved the horror aspects here, as a fan of graphic horror, this definitely delivers, and certain scenes (like a floating eyeball staring at you right before you get brutally murdered) were a chef's kiss for the genre. This is a great blend of SF and horror, with great atmospheric prose and a looming sense of dread. This was dense in all the right ways, despite being short, and I repeat once again, the alien descriptions fascinated me.



I just discovered that this has been adapted to a series, and despite the ratings not being that high, I will be watching it to see how this story fares through visual media, because it certainly has potential.

I recommend this book if you're in the mood for some nice space SF with a nice dose of gore and horror. This was a memorable one, and looking forward to reading more by George R.R. Martin.

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“I accept what I am, but I did not choose it. I experience human life in the only way I can, vicariously. I am a voracious consumer of books, tapes, holoplays, fictions and drama and histories of all sorts. I have experimented with dreamdust.”