By Dennis E. Taylor

Audible, out now

After a huge explosion at Yellowstone, humanity’s future rests with a group of students who have made a surprising discovery…

Ray Porter provides a nuanced and expressive reading of Dennis Taylor’s early novel, which he has reworked prior to its recording for Audible (with a sequel on the way – although a long way off, according to various reports). I’ve not encountered Taylor’s writing before so can’t judge how much of an improvement has been made to the original text, but Outland comes across a lot of the time as a rather big world-building exercise with snarky remarks overlaid. That’s almost an inevitable byproduct of the characters he focusses the story around, and as the seriousness of the situation becomes increasingly clear, it does dampen down to an extent.

Taylor follows in the footsteps of writers like John Scalzi or Ernest Cline (Ready Player One) in his use of pop culture references, although often it feels more like a Buffy the Vampire Slayer script in terms of the shoehorning in of the various gags. The story is very much about the characters (I’m not sure how well the science involved would stand up to scrutiny), and you do find yourself engaged with them, particularly as the stakes are raised and they cope (or don’t cope).

Verdict: Outland isn’t breaking new ground for the genre, but it’s a competently told tale that will appeal to those who are looking for an entertaining, if not challenging, SF story. 6/10

Paul Simpson