Inner Space: A Novel Review

Inner Space BookInner Space Book
Inner Space Book Review

A Tense Thriller That Goes Where No Novel Has Gone Before

Every so often, a book drops through the letterbox here at TheXboxHub Towers, and the race is then on to find someone with the time and inclination to read it. And, once the book has been read and inwardly digested, then we can tell you, dear reader, about it and hopefully inspire you to put down the controller and lose yourself in a book. 

The book in question this time around goes by the name of Inner Space: A Novel, and while it has nothing to do with the 1987 film featuring a miniaturised submarine, it does have something to do with science fiction.

Coming from the pen of Jakub Szamalek, the writer behind games like The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, as well as the upcoming Blood of the Dawnwalker (which I am really looking forward to, by the way), can the writer turn his hand to a novel?

Well, I’ve read Jakub’s debut novel in English, and here I’ll try to tell you something about it. Without spoilers of course!

Cold War in Orbit

Now, the setting of this novel is not that of a galaxy far, far away, or even a long, long time ago. No, this is a book written in the here and the now. Having references to the invasion of Ukraine, or SpaceX and the issues that they have caused for the Russian space program, this is as up to date as it’s possible to get. 

The novel follows the exploits of the crew of Expedition 75, and their time on the International Space Station or ISS. Now, this is something that I have no idea about, never having been to space or even considered it a possibility, and so what Jakub manages to paint is a picture of a world in collapse, with a resurgence of the Cold War starting to resurface between the American and Russian halves of the crew. 

Sabotage and Suspicion

Being stuck in a tin can for six months with people that you may not actually like, let alone get on with, sounds like my idea of hell, and the way that the conditions are described in Inner Space has only reinforced my opinion. The tension between crew members, the inability to get a moment’s privacy or to be able to get away from someone if an argument has broken out means that even relatively small points of conflict can quickly escalate. But what if there is an actual problem, and the evidence points towards sabotage? What would happen then?

Well, that is the basic setup for Inner Space: there is an issue (no spoilers, remember?) and once the problem is acknowledged and measures are put into place to try and fix it, this is when politics starts to poke its nose in. The Russians seem to be looking for a way to break the contract they have with the Americans, which is more serious than it sounds. 

As an example, the thrusters that are used to maintain the orbit of the ISS are pretty much controlled by the Russian modules and so you can imagine that if the Russians were to separate the ISS, as is theoretically possible, that nothing good would come of it. But what if politics from Earth was to get involved in the day to day life of the ISS?

Narrative Strength and Conclusion

Well, again, nothing good is going to come of that, and while the action that unfolds is predictable, it is very well written and makes you care about the characters, even the villains of the piece. And, in classic thriller style, the bad guys apparently seem to swap around as the story of Inner Space goes on

!The characters on the ISS, as well as those back on Earth, are well written and nicely fleshed out, and I found myself beginning to actually care about what happened to the crew. The story spends most of its time in orbit, and while there are intervals set on the Earth, particularly in NASA, the space station is where most of the story happens, and the basis for the narrative unfolds. 

As I have stated repeatedly, I’ll not be going further into the story for fear of spoilers, but you can be sure that the writing style of Mr Szamalek is extremely good; more than capable of ensuring that the story comes alive. 

A Promising Debut from a Talented Writer

Inner Space is a proper page turner, and once the narrative has its hooks into you, you really do want to stick around to find out what happens. The only issue I have is that the narrative ends much more with a whimper than with a bang, and the story feels unresolved. There is so much build up to the events at the climax that the way the story draws to a close feels a little rushed and vaguely unsatisfying. 

Still, the rest of Inner Space will have you racing to the end, and I for one am very excited to see what Jakub Szamalek can do next. This may be his debut English novel, but I am confident it won’t be his last. 


Huge thanks go out to HarperCollins for providing a review copy of Inner Space. You can pick up a copy for yourself from all the usual book suppliers, like Amazon.