The novel “The Devil’s Nebula” by Eric Brown was published for the first time in 2012. It’s the first book of the Weird Space series.

Ed Carew is the commander of an old starship and along with his pilot Lania and his engineer Jeb lives at the limits of the Expansion’s laws. He was hired to retrieve a precious work of art in a museum abandoned on a planet now part of the Vetch aliens’ space but in fact was also paid to do something else.

The mission gets greatly complicated by the presence of Vetch but especially when Ed Carew and his crew leave the planet and are intercepted by Expansion starships. The three of them are captured and sentenced to death for various crimes committed in the course of their lives and to stop their execution must agree to carry out a dangerous mission.

The Weird Space series is set in a future where humanity has colonized several planets organized into a political structure called the Expansion. Over time humans have encountered various alien species including the Vetch. “The Devil’s Nebula” begins years after the end of a war between the Expansion and the Vetch which ended with a peace treaty in which the two interstellar powers established the boundaries of the respective spheres of influence.

The treaty led to the give the Vetch some planets colonized by humans. The consequence was their hasty evacuation where many objects were left behind, including works of art. “The Devil’s Nebula” begins with the not exactly legal attempt by Ed Carew and his crew to go to recover a statue on one of those planets.

This initial part of the novel is used mainly to introduce its protagonists and provide some information about the Expansion and the Vetch. The capture of Ed Carew and his crew, their death sentence and the offer they cannot refuse starts the main storyline and adds to our understanding of humanity’s situation of its relationship with the Vetch in that future.

During the first part of the novel are some chapters set on another planet, in a colony where humans seem to live in a rather primitive way together with another species. In particular, it follows the perspective of a little girl named Maatja that gives us from the beginning the idea that on the planet there’s something strange going on.

It’s the typical case in which two stories that begin separately and then merge into a single plot because the mission that Ed Carew and his crew are forced to carry out is on that planet. “The Devil’s Nebula” was labeled as space opera because it’s set in a future where interstellar travel is normal and in the novel there are a number of those but it’s a bit limiting.

Eric Brown uses elements of classic science fiction including space opera but also planetary romance considering the fact that a good part of the novel takes place on a single planet. Elements that mix science fiction and horror are also included, again classics that have been used several times in the course of the history of science fiction.

Sometimes Eric Brown uses some cliches in the development of the characters starting with the protagonists who live at the limits of the law and often far beyond it. In the course of the novel he manages to give them a certain depth and to develop other characters in a story that is greatly based on them and their relationships.

“The Devil’s Nebula” has a length somewhat limited by today’s standards being less than 300 pages. This allows to keep the pace fast in a story that is mostly action so from this point of view reminiscent of classic science fiction. The narrative is fluid because Eric Brown gives just basic information on scientific and technical elements so from that point of view it’s a style very different from that of some authors of the most recent space operas.

Honestly “The Devil’s Nebula” doesn’t contain original features and they aren’t developed particularly in depth. It’s a novel competently written which is fine for people who appreciate adventureous science fiction with not many complications. It’s the first in a series and lays the foundation for future developments but the story has its conclusion so you can read it and then decide if you want to go ahead with its sequels.