Immortal Aberration by Calum Lott

At a Glance: A Pedal to the Floor Sci-Fi Novella

Immortal Aberration doesn’t waste a single page, it’s packed with action, a compelling plot, and some interesting systems where Lott carefully blends in some fantasy elements, making this SciFantasy novella a page turner from the very first sentence. The story hits it’s stride quick, and once it does it’s non stop action right until the very end.

Taking place in the Valsollas Galaxy we’re introduced to our protagonist Ludaan when he is a young man on Deladus, a crime ridden planet where he is forced to steal and even sometimes kill to survive. He’s rescued by a ranking member of The Black Ocean Guild with promises of freedom, family, and most importantly a way off of Deladus.

The Black Ocean Guilds purpose in the universe is to keep forbidden tech from getting out into the civilian population, but it’s true function beneath the facade is to keep the knowledge of Rebirth from the public, and the guild does it’s job well because no one in the Universe knows the power even exist.

Cos Realm: Ascension for Travel

Immortal Aberration puts a unique twist on the typical fast travel systems of the genre by leveraging what they call the Cos Realm to ascend, a higher dimension of pure energy that allows the user to move between worlds. While one is ascending, they experience a type of euphoria, hallucinate, heal, and discover more about themselves. When you descend the feelings and effects linger but eventually fade, leaving our protagonist trying to hold onto the feeling as it fades. I was pretty convinced that someone just kept feeding the protagonist shrooms while they just flew through space, but jokes aside Lott created a very unique, fantasy adjacent fast travel system that allows him to take some interesting avenues with the story.

Lott also started to lay the groundwork for some galactic statecraft which he presents in a way that gives you enough to be interested, but not so much that it bogs down the short story. Velutran’s are governed by 10 Sages, and one of them is tied to the guild and is the sole Sage with knowledge of Rebirth. It leads to a small foreshadowing of what I hope becomes a much deeper plot point in the series.

The guild is full of what feel like wayward souls brought together into this found family under the Guild Mother. She is the one responsible for hunting down and destroying those who know and leverage Rebirth, using her guild members as her sword. She works together with their Sage to keep things under wraps and commands a fleet of Greatswords—what they call their starships—which was another fun departure from the typical sci-fi naming convention.

Once guild members complete their training and graduate they receive a signet ring that give them the history of what the guilds true mission is by integrating them into a hive mind called the Nexus that acts as a central database and means of communication via a telepathic link. They also get their Crystala which is an almost transparent armor that surrounds it’s weilder in a mist to protect them, staunches bleeding, and forms their multiple different weapons.

I’ve faced death countless times. I’ll face death countless more. My crystala is my sword and shield. Costhrall flows through my elan vital granting me strength. Costhrall lends me its light to blind the darkness.

Character Bonds: Developed Quickly

Immortal Aberration leans on the found family trope—one of my personal favorites—to create the emotional bonds between the characters, which in some cases works, and some cases feels like the bonds are a little rushed. The problem with the novella format is—in my opinion—that it’s an incredibly difficult format to get the character relationships to mean something to the reader and make them care about those bonds between them. Some bonds were stronger than others, but some left me feeling agnostic towards them.

Ludaan is our protagonist and POV for this story, while we get his origin story briefly, we mostly see Ludaan as a member of the guild who quickly develops a talent for killing Zenlian Dreadminds—the thralls of the Zenlian Empire—and is clearly being groomed to take over as the second in command after Bastion. Ludaan has some depth, he’s an obedient solider, cares for his found family deeply, and wants nothing more than to wipe the Zenlian out of existence.

Bastion is our grizzled and battle hardened commander. He takes on the role of mentor and father figure to Ludaan, after he pulled him out of the pits of Deladus and provided him with purpose. Second in command of the guild, he conveys these qualities through action and some pre-battle speeches. He is the most real connection in the book, you can feel how much he cares about Ludaan and he was an entertaining read.

Carellus is the Mind Scourer of the group, she wears a specialized Crystalas that allows her to access the minds and memories of the Zenlians to gather information about their enemies, maps, plans, etc. She’s in my opinion the most interesting of the supporting group, she is a bit short tempered, and adds a sense of dread with some of the information she unearths. Carellus is our lore and world-building vessel, used in a way that allows Lott to provide these key pieces in a way that doesn’t feel like an info dump, which is incredibly important in the novella format.

The supporting cast consists of a few different people throughout the story, but the most focal of them were Rier and Leonyd who Ludaan trained and graduated with. They provide some interesting dialogue and some good moments that keep the story feeling grounded as they jest with each other, but ultimately they didn’t really resonate to much with me outside of those times. The one who resonated a little more for me was Suchine, Ludaan found him in a similar situation to his own and took him into the guild.

Fast Paced Action: The Mission Takes Center Stage

Calum Lott didn’t shy away from using the first few chapters of Immortal Aberration to lay the groundwork for his new world which allowed me to jump into the action without feeling lost. Around the 20% mark the action begins and Lott doesn’t take his foot off the gas for the rest of the book. This story is full of action, some gruesome moments, and a great example of how you can use a book 1 to deliver a ton of action to keep the reader entertained while simultaneously leaving enough seeds to build up anticipation for future releases.

The mission revolves around going to retrieve a Rebirth Doc, someone who uses the forbidden tech to practice Rebirth, who is being held by a nameless lord that serves our overarching antagonist, Empress Zenli. We don’t find out much about the Empress other than that she is the leader of all that is evil and undead in the universe. Lott manages to still make the threat of the Empress felt as the story progresses, but keeps the focus on the nameless lord, while building up suspense and dropping some twists that he weaves into the action as the guild squads descend into what seems like a living hell in search of the Rebirth Doc.

The novella format in my experience as a reader is always a difficult sell in sci-fi and fantasy because the genre demands so many elements due to the nature of how much is being created, and usually a few things are left a little underdeveloped. Lott for me executed well with Immortal Aberration I’m almost all areas of the genre, but the one area I would have liked to see a little more focus was the side character bonds. We get a glimpse into them in the lead up to main mission, but it wasn’t enough for me to become as invested in the found family Ludaan has, which lessened the impact of some later moments. I am a self proclaimed “character first” reader and I still found the book very enjoyable, just was left a little wanting in that department.

The pacing was great, while it is quick, it doesn’t move so fast that you can’t track whats happening and the goal is always at the forefront of the conflict as it unfolds. Lott does well when writing sci-fi inspired battles, using great descriptive language to paint a picture of what is happening. He uses the characters to subtly explain the worlds tech, leveraging creative dialogue in the heat of the moment so that he doesn’t break the immersion of the more intense battle scenes, while simultaneously ensuring the reader understands what this new tech is doing.

Life has meaning when living, that is true, but it is only solidified in death—forever fused into the currents of the cosmos.

Between The Sheets: No Ascension to the Bedroom

Immortal Aberration doesn’t break the mold in the spice department, which I think is the right choice for the format, any kind of deep intimacy with this chapter length would have felt off or would have taken a lot of the page count to build to, which earns this a 🌶️ (1.0) on our spice scale.

Found family is the focus here with the standout being the type of paternal bonds formed between Bastion and Ludaan as well as the transference of that type of connection as Ludaan takes Suchine under his proverbial wing. There was some moments that had a tinge of romantic feelings, but that also could have just been me reading into things during the moment.

Bro Reading Comfort: Zero Embarrassment Certified

Lott may have painted some gruesome battle scenes, but nothing in Immortal Aberration will be having you blush if you’re eyed reading this one during your morning commute, earning it a 😳 (1.0) on our comfort scale.

The cover art for this one screams sick ass sci-fi story, and the color choices are incredible! We need more purple in the book world like this, the cover screams “pick me up”. I was sold on reading this before I even knew what it was about, so any person who judges the book by it’s cover in my opinion will instantly grab this one. It might start some conversations if you’re in a more bookish place with it, but other than a possible social interaction, there is no concerns reading this one out in the wild.

Darkness Factor: Themes Fit The Story

Immortal Aberration has some great sci-fi battles with descriptive scenes but nothing too over the top, there are no difficult topics that are traversed here either, just a pure sci-fi adventure to defeat the big bad earning this one a 💀 (1.5) on our darkness scale.

The action scenes are great, and get a little gory in the descriptions, but nothing over the top and should be familiar territory for anyone who reads the genre. There was also no undertones of darker themes that I really picked up on that I would say make this a darker read than any other sci-fi which was a welcome thing since I just finished some thematically heavy series.

I suppose all sons think of their fathers in that way. But that was foolish. He was just a man, albeit brave and strong-minded, but still just a human; a thing of flesh and bone, held together by the grace of Costhrall, now forever returned to the Great Ocean Above.

Book Battlefield: A Budding SciFantasy Genre

Calum Lott has said that this is going to be a series of novellas similar to how Murder Bot is released, with Sun Eater meets Warhammer 40k vibes. While I personally haven’t read any Warhammer or played any of the games, I have a lot of friends who have and I can totally see where this comparison makes sense. I also finished Shadows Upon Time right before I picked this one up and I can see why Lott makes this comparison, not so much in the philosophical and deep thematic undertones that Christopher Ruocchio deploys throughout the Sun Eater series, but in the way Lott paints the picture of the sci-fi battle scenes, has that cosmic horror undertone, and his use of blending fantasy elements into the book.

I think we’re going to start to see more of the SciFantasy style of storytelling with the success of things like the Sun Eater series, and Lott clearly intends to be a first mover into that genre which I personally am thrilled about and can’t wait to see more of these genre blending styles of writing.

Should You Bother?

For Fans of Genre Blending: Calum Lott is one of very few that I’ve read willing to blend fantasy elements into a sci-fi story and I think he did a great job of it in Immortal Aberration, if you’re looking to see if you enjoy this SciFantasy style this would be a great entry point.

For Sun Eater Fans: I think if you enjoyed how Christopher Ruocchio blends fantasy into sci-fi and the cosmic horror aspects you’ll enjoy the way Lott uses those styles in Immortal Aberration.

For Fans of Fast Paced Action: This is a perfect book for those that want to get that dopamine hit of a cool sci-fi battle with interesting new tech in a few hours of reading.

For Those Short on Time: Lott gets a lot done in the short page count with Immortal Aberration but delivers a full arc, stellar sci-fi combat, and will leave you with the opportunity to continue in the future, all while being able to still take care of the weekend chore list.

Final BroMantasy Verdict:

Calum Lott has created something really cool with Immortal Aberration leveraging an emerging trend of of blending sci-fi with fantasy elements in this SciFantasy book one. Being a novella, it requires a certain style to be able to tell a full story in this condensed format and in spite of the short page count, Lott delivers. He put together a fully formed arc, fast paced action, World-Building that is sprinkled throughout in creative ways, and he brings it all home in a satisfying conclusion earning it a 4/5.

Lott created a really cool story here that grabbed my with it’s first sentence and held me until the last page. It explodes with action around the 20% mark and doesn’t let up until the end of the book. I literally couldn’t put it down outside of being forced to by demands from the duo of small women that run the show in my house. The exploration of space travel via an energy plane was so clever, and the fact that the characters describe the experience as basically being on a great shroom trip just added a certain ease to understanding how it worked. I enjoyed learning more about the world Lott built, the new tech like the Crystalas was what make me love the sci-fi genre, it also had very clear rules and it not being an infinite resource of power with clear weaknesses was a good example of Lott interweaving fantasy like magic into Immortal Aberration.

The only real thing that I found left me wanting a bit more of was the supporting characters. While I know that they aren’t the focus, I still want to have some kind connection with them, even if it’s just because the protagonist cares about them. While I did get some of that with a few, others I felt were underwhelming and ultimately when they were used during certain plot elements, I didn’t feel the gravity of them like I would have had I been more invested.

While some side character work didn’t resonate as much with me, what stood out is how Lott took that mentor bond between Bastion and Ludaan—which felt almost parental—and leveraged it to recreate that same feeling between Ludaan and Suchine. I think this is a testament to Lott’s skill as an author, he manages this in just a few sentences by having Ludaan look at Suchine and begin to mentally compare how similar the moment he was rescued by Bastion to when he rescued Suchine.

Be sure to pick this up when it releases, and be sure to check out Calum Lott on socials, his websites, and his other books! I’ll be reading more of his work soon and can’t wait to see what he’s done with his other novella Arkoma and his full length novel A Dirge For Cascius.

Connect With Calum Lott

• Buy Calum’s Books
• X
• Instagram
• Website