Reviewed by Maria Stoica for Readers' Favorite

The Void by William F.F. Wood is the fifth volume in the riveting space adventure, The Ruins of Arlandia series. The terrible war that spread throughout the galaxy is about to be decided. For decades, two evil races called the Goremog and the No’Rath have been fighting one another while seeking to exterminate all life forms from the universe. Entire, innocent civilizations have been obliterated as their planets have been either infested by the horrid Dark Terrors of the Goremog or burnt and occupied by the No’Rath. It is said that only one weapon can stop the extermination by disabling the enemies’ technology and throwing them back into their stone age. It has been split into ten segments and spread across the universe, hidden in well guarded bases.

Calvin, Astra and their friends, the last amongst their dying people, are on their way to finding the last three segments of the weapon. But before they can continue, they need to worry about the sudden power down on their space ship and Dark Terrors on board. With their repair robots destroyed and the computers shredded to pieces from the inside, life support is down alongside sensors, weapons and defenses. Worse, still, they have existed in hyperdrive, the only safe place left since everywhere else in the universe there are Goremog scouts with the bad habit of calling bigger ships to their aid. The fifth volume is a thrilling hide and seek game between Calvin and Astra's small ship and the Goremog and No’Rath armadas. Outer space isn’t the most hospitable of places and they are all dependent on their ship to keep them alive, both from the deadly vacuum outside as well as from the enemies’ laser fire. The pressure builds even higher when the ship takes damage beyond imagination and gaps appear in its walls.

This is the best book in the series as William skillfully portrays delicate strategic situations throughout the heroes’ quest to retrieve the weapon’s segments. The characters have well defined personalities and come up with creative solutions to their seemingly impossible tasks. The writing is action based and fast paced with occasional descriptions, all accompanied by Calvin’s insights. Although the book relies on details from the previous volumes, the reader can quickly understand the characters’ dangerous whereabouts and the intuitive technology. The Ruins of Arlandia is a great series to start your adventures in the thriller space genre, but it would also make a remarkable read for adrenaline lovers. What would you do if your planet was caught in the crossfire between two superior races?