Book Review: Mark of Eternity by Zachary Moulder
Synopsis
On a world where there is only death and decay, Eve hopes to create.
Eve has never seen the light of day, nor known the beauty of a living world. Marooned on the dark side of an unforgiving planet, Eve and her parents, Eli and Nisma, scavenge the remains of their colony ship, the Eternity, with the hope of building their own means of escaping their post-apocalyptic prison.
But with time running out and constant setbacks and delays pushing everyone beyond their limits, Eve and her family soon find themselves at each other’s throats. Will they manage to pull together and flee their living hell? Or would they be doomed to a life of decay in an eternal night?
Featuring beautiful illustrations that keep you immersed in the story, Mark of Eternity is a science fiction coming of age novella with a sprinkling of fantasy and an overhanging grimdark atmosphere to tie it all together. This is one story that you'll pick up and won't put down until you turn the very last page.
The Review
Mark of Eternity was introduced to me through the indie book subscription ‘Your Paper Quest’. It was among the first books I received, but not one of the first books I tried, and that’s important to mention because after a string of DNFs, I was beginning to question whether the service was the right fit for me. Then along came this book, which single-handedly restored my excitement for an entire subscription service, and if that isn’t a ringing endorsement, then I don’t know what else is.
Starting with what Mark of Eternity does best, this story has a fantastic atmosphere. It quickly paints a bleak setting that is both tense and ominous. If the strings on a musical instrument being tightened to the breaking point could be personified in book form, it would be this. Yet it doesn’t accomplish this through constant action or threatening situations, just scene setting, description and monologue. It is phenomenally dark without the pretension of telling the reader to be scared, and that made it so much more immersive as a result.
The progression is standard fare for a science fiction survival story, but it is marked with solid characters who act appropriate to their circumstances, with such consistency to their motivations that you can accurately guess how they will react to events as they unfold. While that predictability might diminish the point of continuing for some readers, I thought it reflected well on Zachary Moulder’s ability to realistically reflect the humanity of his characters. This is all topped off by a fitting ending, gorgeous mid chapter illustrations and timely moments of tender charm to balance out the mood.
Like most debut books, especially in the indie scene where budgets and oversight are lacking, Mark of Eternity has some roughness around the edges. There are some plot holes and unresolved story lines that demand generosity on the part of the reader to overlook, particularly when it comes to one late character reveal that never really delivers on its build-up. Likewise there are spelling and grammar issues that are far too frequent and might make you double-take as you ponder what word the author should have used instead.
But as I’ve said in many of the reviews I have written, you can read leagues of books with perfect structuring and grammar that still fail to capture your imagination. So given the choice I would always pick the book that succeeds at developing a gripping story, flaws and all, over a technically sound but bland one.
Mark of Eternity is very much the former.
