Book Review: Revenant-X by David Wellington

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Revenant-X by David Wellington

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Genre: Science Fiction, Horror

Series: Book 2 of Red Space

Publisher: Orbit Books (November 5, 2024)

Length: 512 pages

Author Information: Website | Twitter

When David Wellington’s Paradise-1 came out, it wasn’t exactly to rave reviews, though I found myself enjoying it all the same—far more than I expected, in fact. That experience (along with that infuriating cliffhanger) actually left me eager to see how the space horror action will continue, and I was quite excited to check out Revenant-X. In the end, I thought it was an engaging sequel, stronger than its predecessor in some areas, but there were some weaker parts as well.

The story picks up right where the first book left off (so make sure you’re caught up before you read this next part!), with Firewatch agent Alexandra Petrova and her team stranded on a desolate, nightmarish planet. Her team has dwindled to include her former flame Sam, whose physical form is now a digital projection; Zhang, the nervous medic forced into a leadership role; and Rapscallion, their puckish artificial intelligence which resides in the patchwork robotic body that he cobbled together from a mess of printed parts.

The environment they’ve found themselves in is equally disorienting and bleak. Petrova is still dealing with a psychic alien presence that has invaded her mind, and occasionally takes control. The planet’s former colony along with its mining operation has been completely destroyed, overrun by a mysterious plague which has turned its residents into a horde of feral, bloodthirsty creatures called revenants that bring to mind space zombies. For this already broken down and fragile team, simply staying alive at this point seems straight-up impossible.

Not unexpectedly, the horror elements are more in-your-face this time, leaning heavily into the action. Despite the high stakes though, the main problem with Revenant-X comes down to its massive page-count, which really doesn’t warrant 500+ pages (as I recall, this was a similar complaint I had with the first book, which was 700ish, so an improvement, I guess). After the short intro, I noticed a pattern in the story, which pretty much boils down to our characters embarking on a long quest to get from Point A to Point B. Along their journey, they encounter many difficulties that range from getting lost to revenant attacks—lots and lots of revenant attacks. These scenes, while full of thrills and excitement, are nevertheless light on depth and unfortunately start to get a little tiresome after the first half-dozen times it happens.

That said, I’m still enjoying the character interactions and the gradual development of their relationships. Each member of the group has a unique backstory and a personal arc that continues to evolve as they confront their individual challenges, like Petrova’s struggle with the entity known as the basilisk, everyone’s adjustment to Sam’s current existence as a hard light construct, Zhang’s battle with his own mental health, and of course who can forget my favorite, Rapscallion and his peculiar approach to his human crew’s hangups. All the revenant activity in narrative somehow manages to avoid overshadowing all these moments of character growth, keeping me invested in their survival.

Ultimately, Revenant-X is a solid sequel that builds on the foundation of Paradise-1, even if it does run a little long and doesn’t fully capitalize on its action-heavy potential. But if you enjoy sci-fi horror movies like Alien and especially the later ones in the franchise, then I think you’ll feel right at home.

More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of Paradise-1 (Book 1)