The cover art of Will Alers’ Origins: A Descent into The Wicked promises an epic and high-concept science fiction adventure story with bold splashes of horror, and that is exactly what you get when you pick up this novel.

The story begins with a prologue of interviews involving miners who encountered the mysterious substance only known as “Dream Matter.” “It turned us into savages,” Prisoner #15 says, giving readers a sense of dread right from the beginning of this story and elevating the level of intrigue early. “Having children became a rare commodity; food became scarce.” This is a promising start to a novel with an intellectually stimulating premise. 

After the prologue, we meet our hero Samuel O’Dalis – an everyman who unwillingly discovers an ancient inter-dimensional alien species that threatens to destroy the very fiber of reality. This dark science fiction story reminds me of the literature of H.P. Lovecraft combined with the Alien franchise.

Video games have gotten pretty good over the years, and the dialogue in Origins sounds to me like it could have been from some forgotten video game in the early 2000’s. Or maybe I just played a lot of alien invasion video games. While the characters are interesting, I thought that their dialogue could have been more streamlined and grounded.

This is a high concept science fiction story with a lot of thought put into the ideas and science behind this epic fantasy world. There is a lot of time spent explaining all the different concepts and technical aspects of a variety of things throughout the story. Readers who like to delve deep into the technical aspects of a story and immerse themselves in the details of a fully fleshed out world will have plenty to enjoy in Will Alers sci-fi epic.

Just like the ancient alien species that terrorizes the world of Will Alers’ Origins, there is a good story lurking within these pages. Origins: A Descent into The Wicked is a fascinating alien invasion story with thought-provoking ideas inside of a detailed world.

Pages: 94 | ASIN: B09DQ9XMCW