Voidverse by Damien Ober (book review).
The Sinker arrived on the day of deciding, bringing news from a distant brother. Fairviel was a peaceful rock amid the Sink, the void that surrounds everything. Each year, boys that are of age decide to rise or to stay. To jump into the sink and rise up and see what they can find. Perhaps they can find the fabled Central City that exists at the centre of everything. Fairviel distrusts those who sink into the void. Thank you for the news that they bring, but carefully watching for sinking into the void is the opposite of the aspirational rise.
Emery dreamt that night of sinking into the void, the friction of the sink whipping around her, and something pulling her downward into the endless black. To save her son, she will follow the sinker down and find a world beyond the pastoral peace of Fairview.
The Sinker hasn’t thought of her name in many rests. She is no longer what she had been born as. She is a creature of the sink and the rise, moving through the void and adding to her map, sword ready and eyes quick. But the past has a habit of coming back to bite, and hers has more teeth than most.
‘Voidverse’ is almost a high fantasy novel. Just replace villages and towns scattered through a wilderness with communities on rocks, like asteroids, in a vast void that you can jump into and survive. These are not rocks suspended in space as we would understand it. A prepared traveller can traverse this gap. This gap is a void that you can tether your cow in to save space. These communities of people on their rocks are simultaneously alone in a vast blackness but also connected by it. The roads are difficult, but all it takes is a jump into the unknown and a trustworthy map, just like in any fantastic fantasy novel.
Ober delivers a beautifully problematic fantasy world, with ships that can traverse the void and strange anomalies that can power things, heal them, or hurt them, which are possibly magical but more likely scientific. This almost-fantasy world is so different from anything I’ve read. While the descriptions of the blackness and the roar of friction got old as the novel went on, the fractured world remains intriguing.
Is it half-formed or shattered? At no point did I believe that this world was intended to be the way that it is. This world is broken and wrong, and people are just surviving, struggling to find meaning and connection in their lives amidst the chaos and despair. How and why are the things I hope to discover?
The characters each have their own intriguing plots. The Sinker has a deadly past that poses a threat not only to her but also to everyone she encounters. Emery has a recurring dream that is driving her into the unknown depths of the void, away from her peaceful village and family. They meet Crooked Arm, a prince of a powerful rock, and learn of a strange prophecy that foretells a massive danger threatening their world and the void. Each character’s story links together and uncovers more of what I was most interested in: the world.
While the characters are captivating, for me they are vehicles of the greater mystery that is the world and the void. Those words conveyed to me a lack of emotional engagement with the characters. For me, they merely existed as figures on a screen, not as individuals who deeply impacted me. This perspective is understandable when considering Ober’s screenwriting resume, which includes the unusual show ‘The OA’, a series that captivated me more for its world than for the specific characters who inhabit it. This critique is not negative; rather, it highlights how the world itself serves as a character, shaped by these human-like figures.
This book is highly recommended for those who enjoy epic quests, revenge, strange prophecies, and bizarre worldscapes. This book simultaneously reminded me of classic high fantasy like Tad Williams’ ‘The Dragonbone Chair’ and the TV show ‘The Expanse’ (yes, the show is based on a book, but I have yet to read it). While it took me a little while to find my way into this novel, I am going to be waiting to see if there is a sequel (I hope there is a sequel) just to learn more about this strange space that Ober has created.
LK Richardson
February 2026
(pub: Saga Press/Simon & Shuster, 2026. 336 page hardback. Price: $30.00 (US), £22.00 (UK). ISBN 978-1-66806-560-0).
check out website: www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Voidverse/Damien-Ober/9781398535916