A Path in the Darkness

Aeon 14: The Intrepid Saga #2

by M.D. Cooper, Khristine Hvam (Narrator)

The colony ship Intrepid is falling into a star. The ship's AI has lost control of the engines and core systems. Battling a saboteur who strives to isolate him, his last act is to wake Colonel Tanis Richards from stasis. Tanis finds herself alone on a dying ship, unable to contact the AI. She must discover what has happened and save the Intrepid from burning up in the star's angry red light. Even if she is successful, the journey to the colony world of New Eden is just beginning. With decades of travel ahead, she will somehow have to find a path in the darkness.

Genres: Science Fiction, Military Fiction, Audiobook, Space Opera, Fiction, Adventure, Space

Audio CD

First published January 21, 2015

About the author

Malorie Cooper likes to think of herself as a dreamer and a wanderer, yet her feet are firmly grounded in reality.

A ‘maker’ from an early age, Malorie loves to craft things, from furniture, to cosplay costumes, to a well-spun tale, she can’t help but to create new things every day.

A rare extrovert writer, she loves to hang out with readers and people in general. If you meet her at a convention, she just might be rocking a catsuit, cosplaying one of her own characters, or maybe her latest favorite from Overwatch!

She shares her home with a brilliant young girl, her wonderful wife (who also writes), a cat that chirps at birds, a never-ending list of things she would like to build, and ideas…

Reviews

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A Path in the Darkness (The Intrepid Saga #2)” is not lesfic, but continues to feature terrific women characters as key and secondary characters in a military SciFi space opera.

I liked “A Path in the Darkness” more than book #1 in this series, but a bit less than book #4 (which was rebranded as book #1 of a spinoff series, and which I read first). The book continues the story of the colony ship Intrepid and the voyage to New Eden. The SciFi elements continue to be very cool, and this book humanizes Tanis more. The backstory of her demotion and nickname “The Butcher of Toro” is explained, and now that the Intrepid is underway, Tanis allows herself to acknowledge that she has fallen in love with Joe. For a hetero romance within a military SciFi story, their romance is actually done very well. Lots of emotion and no graphic descriptions of sex.

The lighthearted banter between characters that I enjoyed in book #4 is more evident here than in book #1, and I’m glad to see (hear) it. The narrator continues, btw, to do an absolutely fantastic job with this series!

Jessica is introduced here. She was mentioned briefly in book #4 as being similar to Cheeky, but while she’s similar in that they both are very vocal about having outsized libidos, Jessica is introduced as being more than just a little bit slutty. Her body modifications are designed to make her a human barbie doll, and she gets nervous that she’ll run out of men to fuck during a spaceflight. She’s also not nearly as funny as Cheeky. Trist nicknames her “robo doll cop” and flirts with her, which is pretty funny.

I really like Trist as a secondary character btw. She reminds me of Sera from book #4 with her jokes in the face of authority, she’s funny, and the green-goo replacing her body organs makes her pretty cool in a SciFi series.

As far as the story goes, our heroes continue to battle sabotage and face death throughout “A Path in the Darkness”. Rogue AI’s, a battle in a forest within the Intrepid…it’s all good stuff!

Bob, the AI for the Intrepid, begins showing a personality, and we hear from him directly, not only through his human avatars.

The book ends with a tease from a supervillain, and I’ve already started the sequel! 5* for “A Path in the Darkness”!

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

2-1/2 stars: I was so excited to read this book because the previous one was so good and this one sounded like it would also be exciting. Except it wasn't. I actually thought it was kind of boring. As I was listening to it, I just wanted it to be done. Even the action scenes couldn't hold my attention. On top of that, I felt there was too much focus on the romance between Tanis and Joe. I like a good romance and I also enjoy romance mixed in as part of non-romance stories, but it didn't work for me here. The undertones worked well in book 1, but in this one there was too much. Not 100% sure I'm going to move on to book 3. Going to have to think on it.

[M.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a little below average compared to the previous book. What I was missing the most was the expansive setting. Setting the book in just a single ship (even if its a huge one) kind of made everything else a little more boring.

[Jean-luc · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing improved over the first volume but still cannot match what I usually read with other authors. 2 more books in the series, might make it to the end...

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forty years into the Intrepid's journey to New Eden, Colonel Tanis Richards is woken from stasis prematurely by the ship's AI as it is losing the battle against a saboteur apparently intent on keeping the massive colony ship from ever reaching its destination. With the ship headed directly into a star, systems and engines removed from the AI's control, and hidden dangers waiting on board, Tanis finds herself in a race against time to save the Intrepid and the millions travelling on her while also trying to root out anyone involved in the sabotage.

The second book in the series delivers a solid plot with a bunch of twists and plenty of thrills. We also delve deeper into Tanis's background and finally get the full story of what happened on Toro, which was only hinted at in the first book. With Jessica, an interesting new character enters the story here whom I'm looking forward to getting to know better.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this second installment in the Intrepid Saga. It's not quite the thrill ride the first book was, but it definitely kept moving and was entertaining in all the best ways. It had a bit less action and a bit more character development, as well as a bit more romance. I am a fan of romance, so I was very happy to see the relationship progress, but at the same time there were lots of exciting twists and turns and battles to keep my inner fighter happy. The book ended on a very satisfying note, and I am definitely ready to jump into the next book in this fabulous series. I haven't rated this one 5/5, but that's mostly in comparison to the first book in the series, which was totally awesome and is now in my Favorites list. If I could give partial stars, this would be a 4.5, as I did think it was excellent and will re-listen to it at some point.

[Ed Dragon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ends up even better than its own prequel - pleasant surprise.

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Missed the mark

It's an interesting, well written story and full of great characters. In my opinion however, it's missed the mark. It's just not as interesting. There's no pull, nothing that's so compelling I can't put it down.

Possible spoilers ahead.

Tanis was bold, brilliant and kick ass all in one in the first book. You do not get to see much of that in this second installment. I love the universe that this takes place in but this entire book took place on one ship (aside from a side mission on a smaller vessel). It's so limited and seemed kind of short. Finally towards the end is when some light begins to be shed on the situation and even then it does not leave a feeling of completion. The writer goes from the action and excitement of them being in the chase of capturing the saboteurs when all of the sudden it's over. The most exciting thing to happen on the ship the entire book and it was cut short?! I'll probably finish out the series but only in hopes the next book(s) is much more exciting.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is hard-core science fiction. I'm not sure I was really ready for that after having just finished a fantasy book. This book was a level of science fiction that even as a scifi fan I wasn't quite prepared for. That being said, it was hard for me to get into having not read the first in the series.
I found the AI's were a nice way to introduce new "characters" without them having to take up physical space in the scenes. I'm not sure I liked the nano-bots, it was too easy to use them as a way to look forward during battle. I am still on the fence with the mink links between some of the characters.
If you like hard-core science fiction, this series is for you. If you like a little more fantasy mixed in, then you may not enjoy this book so much.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

We're back with this very tough and active Lieutenant Colonel Tanis Richards of the colony ship Intrepid. Except you'll actually get thrown back 40 years earlier when the Intrepid was just getting ready to launch. There we are shown a scene where Tanis and Captain Jason Andrews are having a secret rendezvous at a cafe on Mars. She finds she was included in this meeting because she was eventually passed coordinates via her neural link that lead them to a pickup point. There a very strange thing happened. Tanis was voluntarily injected with a nano cluster that moved a very tiny container into her liver. She later finds out that she now has the complete plans on how to build picotech in her liver. Forget that you know this now.

Now back on the Intrepid, forty years have passes since their harrowing escape from the Solar System. The Intrepid has been sailing along on course with Bob, the super Artificial Intelligence (AI), controlling every aspect of the ship. Until it started having unreasonable and unknown problems. These problems were quickly causing the AI to lose control of the ship and it was falling towards a star. His only solution at this point was to awake Tanis Richard since she seemed to know how to fix problems or maybe she was just lucky and Bob thought he was going to need a whole lot of luck for this mission to continue.

It turns out that the Intrepid has a saboteur aboard. A very deadly saboteur who has not only compromised several systems, but has caused considerable damage to the Intrepid's ramscoop. It now appears that the saboteurs are about to debark the ship using one of the available of the Triton Class Pinnaces. Tanis headed for that docking bay to stop them, but also asked Bob to awaken Joe, the military pilot and now her boy friend. She didn't want to run around this immense starship by herself especially with all the systems going off-line or malfunctioning. To make matters worse, some of the servitors (robots) were turning hostile due to the faulty programming being fed into them. So, she had to be aware of that danger while hunting down these saboteurs. That's just the beginning of their problems.

The next big problem is how to get the Intrepid back on course for new Eden. For that, they have to wake most of the command crew including the Captain. They find out that without additional lithium, they don't have the required fuel to break their fall into this star and get back on course. The only way to do this would be to send someone or two into a nearby asteroid field to retrieve a rock that contained a sufficient amount of lithium. Joe was the obvious candidate to do that since he was the Chief fighter pilot for all ships except the Intrepid. It was Tanis's opinion that he couldn't do this mission alone so she volunteered to go with him. It was going to take a considerable amount of time, but while they were gone, the Intrepid was going to have to get repaired enough to get them on a slightly different course. Then the starship with Joe and Tanis would have to find the Intrepid and manage to meet back up with it before their starship ran out of fuel. All of this would work if nothing else aboard the Intrepid broke or was further sabotaged. That didn't happen.

While Tanis and Joe successfully made it back, they found two more crew that had become saboteurs and they had damaged another very necessary component of the starship. It was then decided that their original destination of New Eden was not going to be feasible giving the conditions of the ship. They would have to stop in Kapteyn's Star system and make major repairs which would actually require them to establish a semi-permanent colony on one of the planets in that system. They could be there, repairing the ship for a hundred years or more!

So, they have a long ways to go if the ship can still make it. They think they have found all the saboteurs, but they don't know for sure. Everyone in stasis has been once again thoroughly vetted and they all seemed to be who they are thought to be, but there were numerous people on Earth who strongly disliked the idea of sending out colony ships. Those people would do just about anything to stop the Intrepid from completing its mission. Then there was Jessica, the TBI Agent found in one of the stasis capsules when she wasn't even supposed to be on the ship. She had been in pursuit of a very dangerous criminal that was called simply Myrrdan.

Was Myrrdan aboard the Intrepid also? Jessica didn't know, but she did know she had tracked him to the Intrepid and suddenly found herself woken up by Tanis forty years after the ship had left the Solar System. Myrrdan was exactly the type of criminal that would be interested in picotech. What was he really up to and how far would he go? More importantly, why couldn't Bob, the super intelligent AI, find any trace of Myrrdan aboard the ship?

Lastly, we also get to find out about Tanis' background and specifically about why she is called, "The Butcher of Toro". It's interesting, but not that reasonable for what happened to her after that mission. And we get some insight into Joe, her new love. It really blossoms in this book, if you're into that kind of thing!

I'm moving on to book 3, "Building Victoria" since I really like the way this story is developing.

[Spencer Pierson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interrupted

I like this authors imagination and writing, but this book had what felt like short stories scattered throughout. It interrupted the story for me, as he provided extensive back story or introduced a new character out.

[Ronald Gibbs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not readable

Not readable. It's still being edited? White highlighted passages unconnected thrown in between non highlights passages. Something isn't finished. Is this amazons problem or the author?

[Clint · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little Sci-Fi romp, kind of like a Stephanie Plum goes to space... with an internal AI and body mods that make up for being the the right place at the right time, if "right" means getting shot and in trouble...

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate that the romance stayed mostly in the background, but jeez, these colonists can't catch a break! I didn't care about Jessica and am annoyed we spent so much time establishing her backstory so her villain could be introduced also. I'm not interested in the rest of the series.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A silly interlude that could have been compounded into a larger novel. Ugh. $3.99 every 250 pages. F this series.

[Billie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine but I wasn't as engaged as with the last one

[Clay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before picking up the cliffhanger where the previous book left off, we get a chapter set before Intrepid's launch. I figured this was setting up some deus ex machina for later in the book. Pleased that this never came to pass.

Even 40 years out from launch, the forces trying to keep the colony ship from New Eden still have an "ace" up their sleeve to sabotage the mission. The plot then revolves around tracking down breaks in the systems, fixing them (as best they can and usually with some kind of firefight) then going on to the next crisis brought on by the situation. In the middle we get a new character (along with 2 1/2 chapters of backstory that actually turned out to be more relevant than I initially figured it would) and another unexpected monkey wrench tossed into the mix.

Overall this seemed to be just veering from one problem to another, some manufactured, some environmental. Not too absorbing, but it does end with promise of further problems in the next book. Sure, it's what I should be expecting from the series and the main character, but it can tend to appear to be repetitive as the cast jumps from the pan into the next pan closer to the fire over and over again.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warning: serious page turner that will consume your weekend

I spent way too much time reading this over the weekend. Really great page turner.

First, everything has gone wrong again. But as the story starts to take off you get a series of brilliant flashbacks to both ground you in backstory, and change the tempo. It felt like a really good idea to me. This is a series book, so we need to know more.

Now I think that after the everything has gone to hell some of the shipboard fights were over the top. The fact that the best AI in the universe was fooled so easily is not very reassuring for the fate of this venture.

But I did really enjoy the book, and plan to start the next one right now (seriously).

[Dennis Zimmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this this is the second book in the Aeon 14 series and all I can say is, Michael Cooper you've blasted another one into outer space. The twist and turns that the author brings to the book are out of this world, pun intended. Michael Cooper writes in a way that leaves the reader begging for more. Because it's just that good. His characters, Tanks, Joe, Bob, and the rest of the crew are easily relatable and you empathize with them. Read this book and you will definitely want to read more.

[Melvin Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 2 of a 3 book series was fun and addicting. I need to read the third book just to see what happens next. Although a lot of the action is implausible, its no worse than reading superhero stories which is essentially what the protagonist Tanis Richards is. If you're into space opera with lots of action and likeable, if somewhat shallow, heroes, give this series a try.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good sequel to Outsystem. There were a few spots building up the second storyline that fell a little short for me but I really enjoyed seeing Tanis' relationships with the other crew members explored.

[Kevin Beck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tanis and the crew of the Intrepid once again have to deal with sabotage and must make a long detour to fix the ship to continue their colonization mission. Tanis and Joe finally spend time together overseeing the ship during its long detour for repair.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent involved story, takes a bit of concentration but there is plenty of twists and even new interesting characters.
This 2nd book leaves lots of new possibilities for further adventures in the Aeon 14 universe.

[Mcnook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good 2nd book in the Intrepid saga

The pace picks up but also shows down with Tanis not being in as many life and death gun battles. This time it's averting the ship crashing and other things you also get to find out what happens on Toro.

[Leif Dolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Start of a new world

How many things do you need to do to make a new world and a home? It makes me happy to read this book and see that love will be around in the future

[William Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good second book

I could have sworn Tania saw two people carrying Amy to the pinnace, then she seemed to disregard the missing person somehow. The only true flaw.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read books one and two as a combined volume called Destiny Rising. See review for volume one. Hint - buy it read it and get the next book.

[David Goodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The person I thought was the hero,was not ,and went backwards in timeline in the 2nd book

[Sean M. Heffernan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Space adventure

The continuing adventuring of the Intrepid crew trying to get to new home. Will they get there? Who knows? One person dose.

[GC Fraser · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reviewed this book as part of the collection "The Intrepid Saga", M.D. Cooper.