BOOK REVIEW: Weird Space: Satan's Reach by Eric Brown

Weird Space: Satan's Reach by Eric Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Satan's Reach is the second volume in the Weird Space series, a thrilling Space Opera series created by master SF author Eric Brown.

Telepath Den Harper did the dirty work for the authoritarian Expansion, reading the minds of criminals, spies and undesirables. Unable to take the strain, he stole a starship and headed into the unknown, a sector of lawless space known as Satan's Reach. For five years he worked as a trader among the stars; then discovered that the Expansion had set a bounty hunter on his trail. But what does the Expansion want with a lowly telepath like Harper? Is there validity in the rumours that human space is being invaded by aliens from another realm? Harper finds out the answer to both these questions when he rescues an orphan girl from certain death; and comes face to face with the dreaded aliens known as the Weird. Satan's Reach is the second volume in the Weird Space series, a fast-paced action-adventure that pits humanity against the unimaginable Terror from Beyond.

Carrying on from events a little while after those of The Devil's Nebula, this book rips into another action-packed adventure. This time, we follow Den, a runaway telepath, who is on the run from a double set of enemies. The flight takes us across a huge swath of space known as Satan's Reach and we drop in on some wonderful locations and planets along the way. By now, the Vetch and humans have formed and uneasy alliance to deal with the threat of The Weird, of whom we learn a bit more and their desire to occupy known space from their place in another dimension. At the end of the book we again meet some characters from the first book, and the story hints at another installment, which I hope gets written, although I've not heard anything yet. All in all, Eric Brown fails to disappoint me again.

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