The Burning Dark was an uphill battle, to say the least; I confess I’m surprised I finished it.

Every little twist was so clearly signposted, you could see it from… well, from space, which was perhaps its biggest sin, and undercut any tension Christoper was trying to build. This wasn't helped at all by the problem of repetitive prose. Beyond the predictability, the characters felt largely flat and tropey, and it was difficult to get invested in them as a result. Despite coming in at 336 pages and making a “valiant,” attempt to include female characters (in the form of the not-like-other-girls action-chick, and…

Spoiler

the villain

) I’m pretty confident that it somehow fails to pass the Bechdel test. It's also, regrettably, one of those books where at times, it seems like the characters are acting stupidly and overlooking the obvious. This is explained away with in-universe reasons, but it makes for a deeply frustrating reading experience and definitely felt like an excuse for the characters to continue to act conveniently for the plot, as opposed to in accordance with sense, which was a pretty great way to break immersion.

I’ve found myself with a growing fondness for horror and suspense-oriented fiction set in space, and it’s a niche with a fair amount of competition. To be blunt, I think this particular title is easily outcompeted.

On a final, spoilery note, I appreciate that much modern horror is inspired by

Spoiler

Japanese folklore, but the way that Izanami’s racial features are stressed with regard to her role as the villain just didn’t sit quite right with me. I don’t have Japanese heritage, so I wouldn’t be comfortable making a judgment on this, but especially with the majority of the cast being white, it certainly rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe another Japanese member of the crew would have offset that weirdness?