The first thing we want to point out here is an interesting one. This is a Christian title (see below), but the vast majority of the book is told through the eyes of unbelievers in a very secular-focused setting. We found it very interesting as believers to see the story through their eyes and watch as the author slowly introduce the core Christian aspects of the story. But this approach does lead to a solid chunk of the potentially concerning content. For example, Bayden is really strained relationship with his father, who captains the ship much of the story revolves around. This leads to Bayden often being disrespectful (“what’s wrong dad, no one to yell at?”, “Just give me a minute to dropkick you into a black hole”, “and I’m saying, butt out!”, “Just get lost, ok?”). There are also multiple times where it references these characters cursing. The curse words are never shown, but this does happen quite often. E.g., “spat a curse”, “stifled a curse”, etc. This really points to a bit of an older / more mature audience so the reader can appreciate that what they are seeing is the negative behavior of a non-Christian character.
The other item that points to this being for a bit of an older / more mature teen type reader is the fighting and violence that comes more towards the end of the book. The book culminates in a relatively intense war-like scene. While we don’t want to overstate the violence by any means, and the author is certainly intention is how it is handled, we do want to point it out so you can choose whether this is ok for your readers. Examples of this content: a limb is severed, death counts are shared, “Nothing remained but hand to throat melee of desperate men locked in intense combat”, a weapon is “plunged through the front of the governor’s chest and out of his back”. Also, while not violent, another more mature and sadder scene comes when a non-believer is fading away after being injured and upon finally starting to think about eternity ends his life seeing only darkness before him.
Other things to be aware of:
Bayden admits to watching “scare flicks” when younger and the book sadly has him describe them as “fun at the time”.
At one point Bayden says he “found himself somewhat cheered by the fact that Simon (his dad) might be willing to break the law on his son’s behalf” (although, in fairness, in this book this is often pointing to a corrupt law presence).
When visiting a rough place, the group is told to watch for people “who might otherwise be inclined to cut a throat or two”. Similarly, it mentions “nasty rotten people who’d rather slit your throat”.
Some of the crew “gambles their pay”.
Someone crosses their fingers
Soldiers drink ale for a special occasion.
A woman makes an “obscene gesture”
A cocky pilot notices “the fine shape of the female technician”
A man refers to “all three of my women”
Bayden “keeps a subtle eye on Gale’s figure”.
A soldier “muttered a prayer to the matron saint of warriors”.
The following terms are used: ghoul, shut up, duh, dirty look, hellish