The Demon’s Fate – Kyle Belote

The Demon's Fate by Kyle Belote
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An action-filled, space adventure with an amnesia-stricken crew!

I was immediately attracted to The Demon’s Fate because of its beautiful cover and unusual premise: the crew of a small spacecraft awakens not knowing who they are, where they are going, or why. The only information the ship’s artificial intelligence (AI), SAVI, can give them is general; all other information is classified and inaccessible without the ship commander’s (who has amnesia) passcode. Asking the right questions of the AI, the crew determines that they are fleeing the last planet they visited with a beautiful, alien artifact aboard, and one of their members was left behind.

There are five crew members on the small ship, and the author gives each one a distinct and well-defined personality. I could easily see each one in my mind as if I knew them. As the story goes on and the crew begins to remember things, the characters remain faithful to the personalities that they awoke with, although, some have hidden strengths that come forth when needed. I liked each of the characters, including the ship’s AI and the synth, Emma.

The action takes place both aboard ship, and later in the book, on the planet, Celestia 6. The ship itself is well described, and I had no trouble seeing the layout of things. It is a small craft, but that just made it feel homey, familiar, and comfortable. The author created a planet with a variety of terrain and populated it with alien peoples and some crazy, wild creatures. The world-building included giving readers a glimpse into the aliens’ past and current life as well. And the bad guys are evil, making some decisions that are made later in the story very difficult.

With so much happening action-wise, you wouldn’t think that the story would have room for moral dilemmas, but it does: several, in fact. Without giving away the plot, the ship’s commander must puzzle out problems regarding artificial intelligence and synthetic humans, getting information out of an enemy combatant, and weighing the pros and cons of risky actions.

The Demon’s Fate is one of those books that I think would make a great action film and would have been the great start of a series (I would totally get the next one.) There are some unanswered questions at the end of the story. I recommend this book to science fiction readers. There are sexual situations (and the subject of sexual assault is a major plot point, in case that is a reader’s aversion), so this is for a mature audience.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

See my original review on Reedsy Discovery!