Russ Allbery: Review: Dark Class

Review: Dark Class, by Michelle Diener

Dark Class is the fifth novel (not counting the
skippable novella) in Michelle Diener’s Class 5
romantic science fiction series. As with the previous novels, this follows
romance series conventions: There are new protagonists, but characters
from the previous books make an appearance. It’s helpful but not that
necessary to remember the details of the previous books; the necessary
background is explained enough to follow the story.

By now, series readers know the formula. Yet another Earth woman was
secretly abducted by the Tecran, encounters a Class 5 ship, and finds a
way to be surprisingly dangerous and politically destabilizing. This time,
Ellie has been mostly unconscious since her abduction and awakes in a
secret Tecran base after the Tecran have all been murdered. There is a
Class 5 AI involved, but not a full ship; instead, Dark Class picks
up (or, arguably, manufactures) a loose end from Dark Minds. Other than that break from the formula, you know what
to expected by now: a hunky Grih, a tricky political standoff, a
protective Class 5, a slow-burn romance, and a surprisingly capable
protagonist who upends politics through plucky grit and refusal to
tolerate poor treatment. Oh, and a new selection of salvaged clothing and
weapons to make Ellie beautiful and surprisingly dangerous.

If you are this far into the series, you probably like the formula. That’s
my position. I don’t care about the romance, but something about the
prisoner to threat evolution of the kidnapped protagonists and the growing
friendship with an AI makes me happy. This is not great literature, but it
is reliably entertaining with a guaranteed victorious protagonist and
happy ending, making it a comfortable break from more difficult books with
emotionally wrenching scenes.

Dark Class is one of the better executions of the formula because
it has long stretches of my favorite parts of these books: exploration of
mostly-abandoned surroundings for neat gadgets while the AI and the
protagonist slowly build a relationship of mutual respect. This book has
bonus drones with minds of their own and an enigmatic alien spaceship that
provides a fun mid-novel twist. The Tecran and the Grih repeatedly
underestimate Ellie and are caught by surprise at dramatically satisfying
moments. It’s just fun to read, and I save this series for when I need
that type of book.

As with the other books of the series, Diener’s writing is serviceable but
not great. She repeats herself, uses way too many paragraph breaks for
emphasis, and is not going to win any literary awards for prose quality.
The series is in the upper half of self-published works, and I’ve
certainly read worse, but either the formula will click with you or it
won’t. If it doesn’t, the prose is not going to salvage the book.

There is some development of the series plot, but it’s mostly predictable
fallout from Dark Matters. This book is
mostly tactical and smaller in scale. I am a little curious where Diener
is going with political developments, since the accumulated Earth women
and Class 5 ships are in some danger of becoming a sort of shadow
government through sheer military power, but I’m dubious this series will
have enough political sophistication to dig into the implications. It’s
best enjoyed as small-scale episodic wish fulfillment for female
protagonists, and that’s good enough for me.

If you’ve read this far in the series, recommended; this is one of the
stronger entries.

Followed by Collision Course, which breaks the title convention for
the series.

Rating: 7 out of 10