Nightflyers by George R. R. Martin

Blurb

The crew of the starship Nightflyer is heading into the outer reaches of known space in search of a legendary alien race known as the volcryn.

The mission is led by Karoly d’Branin and the ship captained by the mysterious Royd Eris, who appears only as a hologram who drifts among them, sometimes playing chess with the beautiful and brilliant warrior, Melantha Jhirl.

Soon the explorers begin to feel they are being watched. Macabre accidents befall them one by one. Is there someone else on board? Royd won’t say. And there is no turning back: the volcyrn are near…

Review

When I picked this up last month I was quite excited because I enjoy reading Martin’s work outside of A Song of Ice and Fire. I was not disappointed. 

As I was reading this I could clearly see it was an earlier work of Martin’s because the writing was less sophisticated than his newer works and his characters were not as in depth as his newer creations. However, this is also a novella so there isn’t too much room for development of characters. None of these things I minded though as I couldn’t put this book down. 

The crew of the starship Nightflyer all have certain skill sets and qualifications so they can research the illusive Volcryn. The head of these researchers is Karoly but the captain and owner of the ship is Royd. Royd only appears to the crew as a hologram but it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems on the starship and horrific events start to unfurl. 

Royd tries his best to put everyone at ease and tries to be everyone’s friend but he makes a special bond with Karoly and shares Karoly’s passion for wanting to find out more about the Volcryn. Royd forms a very special bond with the wonderful Melantha though and it soon becomes clear that that bond will be one that neither will break. 

I love a good sci-fi read and the only fault I found with this book was that it was too short (not something I associate with a book by Martin)! I would have loved a more in depth novel with more background information about everyone and the worlds they come from but I can’t complain because what I did have was a wonderful, action packed little book. I would happily read this book again and have recommended it to my husband who also loves sci-fi. I give this book a big 5 Dragons out of 5 Dragons. 

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About the author

George Raymond Richard Martin (1948) is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer.