Review: Out of the Dark by David Weber

Out of the Dark is the first book of a new series by David Weber. Set in a near-future earth, Out of the Dark is a glimpse at an apocalypse brought on by alien invaders.

One of the qualities that helps to make Out of the Dark stand out is the use of the Alien invaders as viewpoint characters. I loved how the cultural differences between the aliens and humanity colors the interactions.

As much as I loved the Alien viewpoints, I had a hard time connecting with many of the human viewpoints. Until the end when all the viewpoint characters came together it was was to keep them straight and that made it difficult to care about what they were doing.

Despite the difficulty I had with some of the points of view, I had trouble putting Out of the Dark down. I loved how Weber treated the invasion and the destruction of civilization. It definitely made me think about how I would survive (or not) in the situation presented. Would the city I live in/near be one of the ones destroyed in the first waves of attacks on major population and technology centers or would it be one of the ones destroyed for resisting?

Despite the generally dark atmosphere of the novel, it ended with hope for the human race and the promise of more books to come as the human race speeds to rebuild and catch up to the rest of the populated universe.

I don't think this was one of Weber's better books but I did enjoy reading it and will definitely catch the next book in the series. I see a lot of potential for this new series.