
Member Reviews

Revenant X is the second book in the Red Space series by David Wellington. This series begins with Alexandra Petrova and the crew of the Artemis being sent by an organization called Firewatch and the United Earth Government to investigate Paradise-1, a deep space colony with which they had lost communication. Shortly after arrival, Petrova’s crew find themselves fighting for their survival as they investigate why Paradise-1 went silent.
Set immediately following the events of Paradise-1, Petrova and her crew find themselves stranded on the surface of the planet after the unscheduled rapid disassembly of their spacecraft. As they explore the settlement they quickly come face-to-face with what remains of the settlers. These creatures, called revenants, are zombie-like, animalistic, and prone to violence. As the crew of the Artemis continues to explore the planet, encountering increasing numbers of revenants, they discover the real reason they were sent to Paradise-1.
Revenant X is very fast-paced and plot-focused. Each chapter is quite short (just a few pages) which increases the pace of the novel even further. It’s easy to sit down and read ten chapters before you realize what you’ve done. In some ways, this is great. The book is infinitely readable and the short chapters and fast pace only help with this. In other ways, it’s not so great. It can be difficult to really sink into any given chapter because it’s practically over before it’s begun. This creates a sense of being flung through the narrative in an uncontrolled way. The characters move from emergency to emergency so quickly with little time to reflect on the situation that each conflict starts to blend into the next making the book feel repetitive.
The heavy focus on the plot also results in less of a focus on the characters. Readers do not really spend much quiet time with these characters, as they are constantly running from disaster and for their lives. Petriova, Zhang, Rapscallion, and Parker don’t really change much over the course of the story. The character arcs are largely superficial, which is a shame. Petrova is an interesting character with a traumatic past that was explored a bit in Paradise-1, but there’s surely more worth exploring. The same can be said for Dr. Zhang and Parker who often feel less like characters and more like devices that exist to push the plot forward at convenient times. For character-focused readers, this may make the story difficult to invest in. But readers who prefer a jam-packed plot will likely be pleased.
The Red Space series is pitched as edge-of-your-seat space horror. The horror part of that is decidedly less pronounced in this second installment. Maybe it’s the change of setting—the surface of a planet replacing deep space and abandoned space ships—or perhaps it’s the non-stop race to the end of the book, propelling readers through 469 pages in the blink of an eye. Maybe it’s the fact that after the first book, readers have a much better idea of what and who are behind the conflicts facing Petrova and her crew, so the mystery is a bit less mysterious. Regardless, some of the horror magic is missing.
Overall Revenant X is an appropriate follow-up to Paradise-1. Equally as readable and propulsive but lacking in some of the horror elements that worked well in the first book. The characters bring more of the same strengths, weaknesses, and personalities to the party as they romp around this alien planet. And readers do learn more about the greater conspiracy at work behind the scenes. But as a piece of space horror, the book does fall a bit short.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
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Oh boy, this was disappointing. Revenant-X unfortunately suffers from a terminal case of “trilogy syndrome:” It’s the second book in a trilogy, and thus ends up mostly spinning its wheels instead of moving forward the plot.
I actually enjoyed Paradise-1, I thought the action was very well-written and the story mostly engaging, with good ideas. I did not feel the same about this book. The plot setup is essentially that Patrova and team go somewhere, they get swarmed by the boring zombie “revenants,” they escape, they find a new goal, and repeat. This book is entirely too long for the story it actually told. I thought the reveals were cliche and somewhat predictable, and the characters frustrating and stale. The worldbuilding and overall plot is still interesting but there’s far too little attention given to it.
I really do like Wellington’s work, but this just left me bored and disappointed. I doubt I’ll be returning to read the third book.
1.5/5 stars, rounded up to 2.

I have been waiting (im)patiently for this book ever since I finished reading Paradise-1 back in 2023. I really enjoyed that book! I loved the blend of horror and sci-fi, but that cliffhanger-ish ending was brutal! I was so excited to continue the story and Revenant-X did not disappoint!
In the last book, we left the cast of characters just as they had FINALLY arrived on planet Paradise-1. They were sent to find out why the colony stopped communicating, and boy do we find out! When they first arrived on the planet, it is desolate. Not a Soul in sight. Well, at least at first. Let's just say there is a reason this book is called Revenant-X ... And that's all I'll say about that...
But I really enjoyed unraveling the mystery behind the abandoned colony and the missing colonists. It was wild! I don't feel like this book was as scary as the last one, but it still did have some really good creepy scenes. It also had some really good action and tension which I enjoyed, but it also gave me anxiety because I've really come to love these characters. Lol.
Speaking of these characters, I've really enjoyed seeing their character development and especially seeing their relationships with one another change over time. The camaraderie between them all was one of my favorite things about this book! They didn't really like each other in the last book, so they've come a long way in not only trusting each other but also genuinely caring for one another. The way they supported each other, their interactions, the cute moments between Parker and Petrova... I loved it so much!
I also liked these characters as individuals, so it made me so sad to see them go through all of these horrific things. Especially Parker 😭 He is so sweet and precious and doesn't deserve to be hurt further. This is me pleading with the author to stop torturing him 😭😂 The way I am so attached to these characters is unhealthy 😆
I even love the robot Rapscallion! But how can you not? He is the embodiment of sass. Lol. Plus, even though he's a robot, I feel like he also cares about the rest of the crew, too.
I obviously really enjoyed this book. Lol. I'm glad we finally got some answers in regard to Paradise-1, but omg does this book ALSO end in a cliffhanger! I need to know MORE! I am honestly still in shock after everything that happened. But I liked the story and the mystery, and while I don't feel like this book had the same nonstop suspense of the last book, it still had some good tension throughout. Plus, this was just really well written and I am enjoying the expanding mythos of this series. I cannot wait to see what happens next! And I swear, if these characters don't make it out of this okay, I will never recover.

Continuing where Paradise-1 left off, this sequel to the scifi horror novel continues the journey of Firewatch agent Alexandra Petrova and her fellow crewmates of the Artemis as they explore the supposedly abandoned colony of Paradise-1. This was deeply thrilling and well written as the characters each discover the secrets the colony holds, as well as each character's own secrets. I loved this second book of the Paradise-1 Trilogy. It continued the story in an engaging way while also furthering the mystery of the Paradise-1 colony. The action was thrilling and the horror was terrifying. I can't wait to see how this all ends in book 3!

I devoured the first book in this series and this was such a fantastic follow up. I can't recommend this series enough, it totally deserves way more hype. Don't be intimidated by the size of this book, it reads so fast and you won't be able to put it down. The sequel gave us many answers left unknown from the first book and the tension and action are ramped up. The plot thickens and the stakes are even higher. If you like scifi horror, this is a must read!

I was excited to get Revenant-X because I do enjoy horror sci-fi, but I did not pay attention to the listing saying this was book 2 of a planned series. This was an oops on my part, but I did read the first book Paradise-1 which did have all the expected body horror. Revenant-x was less gruesome and more of an eerie horror. The setting of a desolate planet with zombies really did keep me reading and I was anxious to see what would happen to Petrova and Zhang. I liked the deepening of their relationship (this is NOT a romance book), and I continued my deep abiding appreciation of Rapscallion. I thought Wellington wrapped this book up nicely, while planting the seeds for book 3.
Thank you to Orbit and Netgalley for the arc for review purposes.

I always struggle to commit to books that have (or are intending to have) sequels. I *hate* to be disappointed by disliking a sequel when I loved the first. Luckily, Wellington has written another sci fi space horror that has me wanting a third.
The elephant in the room has to be the revenants which are a sort of deep space mindless zombie. This will likely turn off some readers but I still found them creepy as hell and there was a logic in their goal. I found Revenant-X does a great job at expanding characterization. I enjoyed Petrova, Zhang and DEFINITELY Rapscallion significantly more than the first entry in the Red Space series.
I do feel as though Wellington didn’t take advantage of the descriptions of Paradise 1 as much as I’d have hoped. The infinite possibilities of planet variance are out there, but Paradise 1 felt a bit boring. Just could’ve gone harder with the (literal) world building. Overall I still really enjoyed the storyline.
At times the story veered off into the cinematic but I look forward to seeing where Wellington takes us with the third entry. If desolate space horror is your jam then I’d give this series a try. It’s much easier now that two books are out as that cliffhanger from Paradise 1 was savage.

I am digging this series so much. It is huge- as in, big ol' books huge- but don't let that deter you! It's meaty, but in the good way where you don't even realize how long it is until you see the page count (I guess unless you're hefting around physical copies). Anyway, this book picks up where the series left off, and we're back with this wonderful group of characters that has become a found family to each other. The stakes are just as high as ever as they travel to a virtually unknown planet to see what the heck happened to the folks living there who the rest of the universe has lost contact with.
What they find is shocking and messed up and will test them at every single step. And then when you think things cannot get more dire... they do. My only slight qualm was that maybe a few of the scenes felt a little repetitive, but this is truly a minor gripe, because I loved seeing how our space crew would get their way out of the direst of straights. If you love an intense, thought provoking space thriller, this is a series you won't want to miss! Now, I just have to somehow wait for the next installment!
Bottom Line: Just as exciting and thrilling as the first book but I felt even more connection to the characters. Need more immediately!

This book is just as action packed as the first one. The chapters are super short, making for a quick, intense, and fun read. There wasn’t a moment in this book that I felt bored or easily distracted. I was having a blast the entire time. There were a few issues I’ve had with the series, but all of them are personal preference rather than anything else. We have great and interesting characters who all have real desires and flaws, a really interesting world, and zombies in outer space. What more could you ask for?

I absolutely flew through the first book in this series, which is especially amazing considering that the book was like 700 pages. I LOVED it--this is such a well-written and well done space horror. I was reeling after the ending of the first book and absolutely could not wait for this next installment. I loved it--this is the part of the plot that I was especially interested in, so I was absolutely thrilled that the series was taking this direction. I don't want to give too much away, because I think everyone should read book 1, but I will say that this expanded on the world, the characters and the existing plot in such a great way. I would like more please and thank you. My favorite character from the first book also is in this one so I was especially happy to see them come back. I just love this series, it's so compelling and interesting and well done. David Wellington, you've done it again.

Zombies. On a planet where humans had recently started a colony. Plus a surly, full AI robot. And a hologram of a dead guy.
This was a wonderful sequel to Paradise-1, and I can’t wait for the next one!!

Just As Long - And *STILL* Only Tells One Part Of The Story. As the title of this review harkens back to my original review of the first book in this series, PARADISE-1, I should note that in that review I specifically proclaimed "I personally would love a sequel that picks up moments after this book leaves off". Which is *exactly* what we get here. So yes, this is one of those series you really do need to read in order - and in this case, that means sitting down for about 1400 pages of scifi space horror.
I named a lot of different scifi franchises in that review of PARADISE-1, and while they are spot on for that book, this book feels more like a different scifi franchise, one that first released months after that book - the new (now 14 month old) STARFIELD. Players of that game will note that many of its planets are barren, rocky, and almost entirely devoid of any life at all - even humans looking for a pit stop. Which is largely the case with this book, and just as Starfield can admittedly get a touch repetitive in the "find this spot, get attacked by whatever is there, kill it, move to the next spot" mechanics... yes, that same type of storytelling comes to bear here.
Where Wellington shines, and truly helps the pacing and thus makes the read feel nowhere near as long as it actually is, is in his use of shorter chapters. There are nearly 120 chapters in this book, and thus by the time you're in the Chapter 30 range and roughly 25-30% done with the book... you find yourself looking back and thinking you haven't actually been reading that long. Even at Chapter 100 with another 100 pages or so left, you still don't think it has been that long, nor do you really think there is that much longer left. Or at least this was my own experience. :)
And yes, this one also ends with the reader demanding to see the next book immediately, as where the first book left off at a certain point that *demanded* a sequel, here things have changed and now it is because of the specific course of events and those still to come that the reader will be desperately waiting to see what happens next.
One note here, more on my personal experience, but possibly informative for others as well: I "only" read 335 books in the 644 days between reading PARADISE-1 and REVENANT-X, and Wellington does a solid job of bringing the reader back into the fold rapidly, even if you don't remember exact details of the prior book.
Very much recommended.

***Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF @ chapter 45/122 or 37%. I was absolutely convinced I would love this series. I love space operas with a ragtag group of characters forced to work together to survive. I also enjoy the horror sci-fi genre blend. In theory, I should love this series. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy Paradise-1. I thought it was fine, but I almost didn't make it through. I only finished because I requested this book as an eARC.
The characters are cardboard cutouts of the usual archetypes found in space operas. The writing is very simple (not itself a bad thing), but I felt no connection to either the characters or the situation in which they found themselves. Had these books been novellas I think I could've forgiven the lack of connection, but these books are well over 500 pages.

I received this ARC from netgalley.
I enjoyed the first book as a casual read and saw that there was as a follow-up, so was interested to see where the story would go. It's a bit of improbable meets implausible, with a seemingly impossible journey that just seems to happen, but once again it was a good casual read.
If you enjoyed the first book, this is definitely worth a read, if you weren't really sure, this won't change your mind. For myself, I'll read the next book to see where the story ends up.

Revenant-X picks up right where Paradise-1 left off with Petrova, Zhang, Rapscallion, and Parker finally crashed on the planet to which they fought so desperately to get. As they explore the deserted down and (nearly) barren wilderness, they begin to find breadcrumbs indicating that they're part of a much larger and older mystery than they thought. David Wellington introduces more interesting ideas with an abstract ominous antagonist but, unfortunately, Revenant-X suffers from some of the same pacing issues as Paradise-1.
First, the book is just too long. This story does not need over 500 pages to be told. I had a similar feeling in the first book, but to a lesser extent; the different ships and varied ways in which the basilisk presented kept the story interesting, if not a little repetitive. That repetition is dialed up in Revenant-X with our characters exploring vast areas of an uninhabited planet over and over until their attackers, the Revenants, arrive each time. These zombie-like creatures who are hellbent on stopping anyone from finding what's on the planet are interesting at first, but they play the same role throughout the book. Many of these "travel, search, get attacked, somehow get out" scenes blend together since they added little to the overall plot.
With that being said, Wellington has a crisp, clear writing style paired with short chapters that makes it easier to keep going from the reader's perspective when the narrative slows. He does a great job of keeping the structure and pacing moving in individual scenes.
The plot progressed the most rapidly in the last quarter of the book. While I appreciated learning more about the central mystery and finally moving the story forward, it felt abrupt compared to the rest of the reading experience. If Wellington had spaced some of this out earlier in the book (or at least built up some of these elements more than the planet exploration) the ending would have felt more satisfying. Pacing issues aside, the final few chapters were an exciting ride that both answered many of our crew's questions and set the stage for a high-stakes, climactic conclusion in the third book. Without spoiling anything, I can't wait to learn more about this new evil force and it's relationship to the basilisk and the basilisk's creators.
I enjoyed Revenant-X overall. Wellington created an interesting world with relatable characters and several compelling threads, but a little more focus is needed on tightening these up. I'm invested in the crew and will definitely read the final installment in the series once it comes out. However, I hope it is more succinct with satisfactory conclusions to the stories introduced so far.
Thank you to NetGalley an the publisher for a review copy of the eBook in exchange for an honest review.

Alexandra Petrova and her small crew - Dr. Zhang, the ghost of Sam Parker and that rascally robot Rapscallion, have managed to survive the mind parasite known as basilisk, and have landed on the first deep space colony, Paradise-1. Though it seems the colonists have all mysteriously vanished, the group soon discover they wish that were the case. What's left of the colonists are vicious zombie-like bodies, which they dub revenants, that seem hell bent on stopping them from finding what secrets the planet its mining operation have in store.
Though, again, Wellington has written a doorstop of a novel, he's done so in short chapters that nonetheless always contain a lot of action and constantly propel the narrative forward at a rapid clip. While I likened the previous book to The Walking Dead meets Event Horizon, this one felt a bit more like the movie version of World War Z but in space. The heroes find themselves in overwhelming peril time and again, mostly from hordes of revenants, though the basilisk in Petrova's head means she's never fully safe from it either. As there was an abundance, and maybe even an over-abundance, of scenes where it seemed like there was no way the characters would survive, it did eventually get to a point where it felt like some of that could have been left out, as all it did was lengthen the story and stretch credulity. After another long journey in this world, as much as I enjoyed the story, 'm not that excited it's only part two of a trilogy. Not sure there needs to be another 600 pages to wrap the story up.

A bit over a year ago, I called David Wellington's Paradise-1 "a fine example of just how fresh and enjoyable sci-fi horror can be when an author fully commits to an original premise." I wish I could say the same of its sequel, Revenant-X, which is largely content to play it safe as an overly familiar and overstuffed zombie book on an alien planet.
Picking up right where Paradise-1 left off, Petrova and her small group of companions and formidable survivors are stranded on the empty world. She has a psychic alien monstrosity, which she calls a basilisk, living in her head. Her lover, Sam Parker, is essentially a computerized ghost given shape and form by hard light. Zhang, the group's doctor, is kept habitually medicated by the device on his wrist lest he spiral out of control and kill himself. And then there's the appropriately named, anti-human robot, Rapscallion, who has deliberately built himself out of the most offensive toxic green-colored plastic a 3-D printer can produce.
The colony that once kept Paradise thrumming is a ghost town, as is the secret mining town that never made it ways into the official reports Petrova had access to when launched on this journey in the prior book. The entire settlement is dead. Or, more accurately, undead, thanks to all the colonists having been turned into ravenous hordes of monsters that exist only to kill. Lucky for them, they have four new candidates on the chopping block!
As the second in a trilogy, Revenant-X suffers from middle book syndrome. Whereas Paradise-1 felt fresh and exciting, with Wellington setting up a number of unique and horrifying set-pieces as if it were a haunted corn maze in outer space, Revenant-X is simply tiresome. Wellington wears out his welcome quickly with an over-reliance on rinse-and-repeat scenarios and lack of meaningful consequences (save for one instance particularly, but with Book 3 still on the docket, we'll just have to file that one under TBD). For a book about being stuck on a massive, dead world, this second Red Space title feels just as large and empty.
Petrova and company explore a facility and get attacked by revenants. They manage to escape and run elsewhere, where they get attacked by revenants. Rapscallion gets damaged and has to print off new body parts. They try to get to a communications tower to reestablish contact with Petrova's higher-ups at Firewatch and get attacked by revenants. Rapscallion gets damaged and has to print off new body parts. They craft a makeshift boat to sail down a river to get to the mining town, where they, of course, are attacked by revenants. Rapscallion gets damaged and has to print off new body parts. There's only a few small ideas tucked away within these 5oo-plus pages, and Wellington returns to them over and over and over with too little new to say about any of them. By the time we get some nuggets of fresh information to move the overarching plot of this series along, the book is just about over, with little in the way of either closure or fanfare because there's still a whole other book to wait for. We, along with Wellington, have simply been spinning our wheels this whole time.
Revenant-X didn't excite me the way Paradise-1 did, and although Paradise-1 was significantly longer than its follow-up, Revenant-X feels bulkier and longer by far. The repetition of ideas and scenarios make this book feel more cumbersome than it is, giving it a sluggish and tiresome pace. Instead of varied, threatening encounters, we're left feeling little more than, "Oh, this again?" Little of consequence occurs within these pages, despite the frequency of all its happenings. To his credit, Wellington does keep the action coming, even if it feels more like being beat over the head than anything approaching suspense or tension in the narrative.
With a bit more authorial self-control or firmer editorial oversight, Revenant-X could easily lose a few hundred pages and remain largely unchanged. As it stands now, it's more like a novelized version of those "this meeting could have been an e-mail" memes.

If you liked Paradise-1 you'll like Revenant-X, as it's familiar in all aspects.
Like Paradise-1, Revenant-X has the same flow: quick and punchy writing with short chapters that end on a hook. Though many complained about this, I personally was fine with that aspect in Paradise-1. I wasn't reading either of these because I was looking for a literary masterpiece, and sometimes reading the equivalent of a popcorn film can be good fun. In that sense, Revenant-X was as entertaining as the previous book so no complaints here.
Story-wise I preferred Paradise-1 by far. While Paradise-1 is Event Horizon with extra body horror, Revenant-X feels more like zombies combined with Cibola Burn (book 4 of The Expanse). There's still a heavy dose of mystery with trying to figure out what the revenants are and what exactly happened on Paradise-1, but the eventual reveal just wasn't as compelling for me and felt generic. One of the twists felt easily telegraphed from the first few interactions, and some plot points from the first book were tied together in this book in a way that felt unnecessary and overly complicated. You can tell that this is a trilogy fully planned out from the beginning, with the red string chart already set up in a complex way. I would have preferred less complexity in that regard. I'm still looking forward to book 3's conclusion, but where the story goes feels like it's been done so many times before. And yes, I realize that book 1 also was a mishmash of tropes and themes that have been done before, but Event Horizon-style explorations are still pretty rare comparatively in fiction, so I loved it.
My main criticism is minor but important: there's minimal to no refreshers for people who haven't read the first book recently. There's a few one liner descriptions, but you're dropped straight into the action as if you just read the last chapter of book 1. I had to stop and go back and re-read plot summaries and reviews to remember the characters and what was going on, as for example I at first thought "Petrova" referred to her mother, and that we were starting with memories of when her mother was first on Paradise-1. So I hope that improves for book 3. Strangely, some of the refreshers happen well into the book; for example, explaining how Rapscallion can put his processing power into a ton of other machines at once. It's described when he actually does that again ~3/4 into the book, but these sorts of character details would be nice to remember when you start reading the book.
Overall if you enjoyed how Paradise-1 felt you'll surely enjoy Revenant-X. I do hope book 3 skews back towards more unusual concepts and also includes more refreshers this time.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC and chance to review this!

4.5 stars
Revenant-X by David Wellington is the kind of sci-fi horror that I cannot put down because I’m so completely enthralled by it and find it impossible to put the book down.
Once again David Wellington manages to create such a perfect air of horror that the entire read is wrought with tension and paranoia. At every moment the reader is left wondering when something horrifying will jump out at the characters and the concern this generates for their safety is intense as no one ever feels safe. This second book in the series uncovers all new territory and I was super excited to read it as the characters finally reached planet-side at the very end of the first book, and this sequel explores the all new world of Paradise-1 and the mysteries that Petrova was sent to uncover.
The characters are just as compelling as they were in the first book, I loved every one of them for different reasons and desperately wanted them to survive. They are all so different and yet form such close bonds through the trials they endure. This time they face a new threat in the form of revenants and the mystery just deepens which had me flipping through the pages and unable to stop. I will say the sequel was not quite up to the standards of the first book in my opinion, but I still loved it immensely and both wanted to race through it to finally get some answers as to what is going on with Paradise-1, and also did not want the book to end. I think this comes more from the fact of there being a touch less horror vibes as in Paradise-1, and this was an element I was obsessed with. Again though, it is still an incredible book and I loved it immensely, and was deeply obsessed with the entire read.
The ending was satisfying in that it finally felt like some answers were starting to present themselves, and yet at the same time had me devastated that it was over because I just need more. It also left things at such an interesting point that I may or may not have yelled out “no!” when I turned the page just to find out that it had been the last one and the book was over. I cannot handle the wait I’m not going to have to deal with until the next book. Consider me addicted to this series, I just want to keep reading it and cannot wait until the third book releases.

_Revenant-X_ by David Wellington is an action-packed space horror read with likable characters and multiple perspectives. It’s the second book in the _Red Space_ trilogy, and continues to follow Petrova, Zhang, Parker, and Rapscallion on Paradise-1 as they search for survivors of the agricultural colony. They soon run into inhuman monsters, and must fight to find out what happened to the colony and to save themselves. It will keep you reading and leave you wanting to follow the crew in the next book!