"Black Hole Sun" by David Mcinnis Gill

340 pages

In Annos Martis 238--Mars Year 238--Durango is a Regulator, a specially trained operative hired by rich people to retrieve their kidnapped loved ones. He's rough, he's tough, and he's seen it all...that is, until he's approached by representatives of a mining community who want him to help them get rid of the Draeu, a violent, cannibalistic subspecies that terrorizes the miners. Durango agrees to take the job despite the fact that it's not his typical work and it takes him farther out on the Martian frontier than he's used to. He sets off with his crew: Vienne, his beautiful, loyal, tough-as-nails second-in-command; Ockham, an aging Regulator veteran; Fuse and Jenkins, a pair of super-goofy Regulators; and, last but not least, Mimi, the snarky artificial intelligence unit "flash-cloned" to his brain. When they arrive at the mines and start learning more about their mission, it becomes clear that there's more going on than they're being told. The Draeu are after more than simply people to eat--they believe that the miners have a treasure. Not just any treasure, either--a very dangerous treasure that Durango is all-to-familiar with.

It took me a while to get into "Black Hole Sun," but when I did I really liked it. The action is non-stop but there's a lot of humor mixed in as well, which isn't the case with many sci-fi novels. Durango, Vienne, and Mimi are characters who are very easy to like and it's not hard to relate to them despite the unfamiliar environment and situation they are in. The plot is interesting and there's a nice surprise at the end. My one complaint is that I wish the author explained more about the world this story takes place in. There are a lot of new terms and jargon that aren't defined, and this made the conversations and action sequences hard to follow sometimes. I think that's part of the reason why it took me so long to get into this book. Other than that, I found "Black Hole Sun" to be a fun, interesting story, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.