Edge of Nowhere by Felicia Davin (Nowhere #1)
Releases: July 31, 2018
M/M Sci-Fi
Self Published

Reviewed by Mandi

This book hooked me right from the beginning, and while it may have slowed down a bit in the middle, I still enjoyed it.

Set not too far into the future, there are people in the world called runners, who can walk into this dark, vast, unknown space they call The Nowhere (maybe think of it a little like the Upside Down from Stranger Things). Runners can be anywhere, and in a snap of their fingers, they are in darkness and can travel anywhere they want in a matter of seconds. They describe it as swimming through the air – and as long as they know the coordinates or if they’ve been to the place before, they can get there.

Kit, one of our heroes, is a runner. They are far and few between, and no one knows why they have this ability. Kit makes a living by running errands for people. For example, he starts the book by taking a dog from one state to another, through the Nowhere. Traveling through the Nowhere makes runners tired and extremely hungry, so Kit is always eating to boost his energy. This is how the other hero, describes Kit when he first meets him:

The person in question—short and slender, purple-haired, tan-skinned—was young and androgynous. Unconscious, but alive and seemingly unharmed, as long as Emil didn’t count that eye-searing combination of color in the outfit as a form of violence. Logic told Emil this was the runner Quint Services had hired to take him back to QSF17.

The runner certainly didn’t look like anyone else who worked at Quint Services Headquarters, given the hair, the tight black jeans, and the t-shirt with orange slashes across the chest. Come to think of it, the runner didn’t look like anyone else Emil had ever seen. Emil studied the angle of the cheekbones and the small, rounded point of the nose as if they might offer clues. The runner had a nice face, but one that resisted categorization.

He gets asked to take a person from Earth to a faraway station in outer space – and it’s for a really large sum of money so he goes for it. When he arrives to get the person, who happens to be our other hero, Emil has been sedated and is unconscious. Kit feels weird about transporting a person who doesn’t give consent, but he can’t pass up the huge amount of money.

Emil has been working on a team at a place called Quint Services Facility 17, a base hidden in an asteroid. His team is researching the Nowhere and trying to breach it, without being a runner. Recently, there was a large explosion at the facility, which injured Emil and he has been down to Earth to be questioned about why the explosion occurred. The explosion not only partially destroyed the main scientist’s lab, but the scientist is missing and strange things are happening in his lab now.

Kit goes to take Emil back to his asteroid, but in the Nowhere, a strange lighted object attacks Kit and sends both Kit and Emil to a strange land. Together, they have to figure out how to get back to a place they recognize and figure out what is inside the Nowhere that is after Kit. Oh, and along the way they fall in love.

There are many things I liked about this book. First of all, it’s diverse. There are people of color, gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and people of all sizes. The world felt very well represented.

Kit and Emil are really sweet guys with flaws, that they overcome to love each other. There is a pretty intense attraction between them, and their chemistry and sexual tension are done well. Emil is more the strong protector type, who looks at Kit, who always seems to be fighting for his life in the Nowhere, and gets spit out tired and starving, and he takes care of him. Kit is more scrappy – orphaned at a young age, he has had to fight to survive. His fight continues at Emil’s facility, where Kit hides out to try to figure out what is happening in the Nowhere. He meets Emil’s entire team, and while it took me a bit to figure out everyone and settle down on who is who, the team plays a big part in this book.

It does slow down a bit in the middle – but overall there is a lot of action and a nice romance journey. There will be a book two with the same cast, but there is a solid HEA in this one. A nice sci-fi read – I like this author’s voice a lot.

Grade: B

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