THE AKROUIX

In Nguyen’s SF debut novel, aliens abduct various earthlings and confine them to a distant prison, where they endure various physical and psychological torments.

As the story opens, a Saturn-shaped UFO suddenly appears over near-future Earth and abducts numerous prisoners. The kidnappers are Morleisx, extraterrestrials from light-years away with multiple arms and belligerent attitudes. They lock the humans in a prison called the Polorjx, overseen by the temperamental Akekkjij Moasirj, who subjects them to interrogations and torture. Akekkjij claims the captives’ lives are of supreme importance, but he still kills them when the mood takes him. The abductees come from a variety of backgrounds. Will Friede is an American CIA agent, and Sergei Pronkov is a Russian petroleum engineer. Kaizo Oyama is a guilt-ridden Japanese architect. Azriel Nisim is an Israeli lobbyist, and South Korean aspiring actor Iris Kim is Friede’s former girlfriend. James Mitt is a stalwart member of the British Royal Navy. A late appearer is Harry the Striker, a notorious American right-wing extremist. But the aliens most admire a Chinese gang whom they snatched along with their nefarious leader, Boss Wang; the Morleisx admire the gang’s nationalist spirit, so they enjoy privileges in the chaotic, violent prison. One inmate—an old foe of Akekkjij’s—is a Morleisx. Who can be trusted in Friede’s jailbreak scheme? Nguyen’s prose has a colloquial style at times that will sometimes inspire double takes: An unnamed alien guard, for example, “amounted to a Morleisx version of John Rambo, making anyone pee their pant at first sight.” The work also features highly dubious science, including invisible drones and do-it-yourself interplanetary radio sets. Overall, it often reads like a throwback prisoner-of-war yarn with a comic-book vibe, which can be moderately engaging. Its international gallery of outlandish characters is still in place at the inconclusive conclusion, which seems to promise more antics in potential sequels.

A space-prison yarn that offers simple thrills but doesn’t raise the bar(s) for its genre.