Genre: Coming of Age
Published: April 23, 2024
Pages: 432
Outer Banks meets Bone Gap in New York Times bestselling author Samuel Miller’s propulsive and genre-bending YA mystery, following a group of teenagers who discover a dead body while playing an app-based adventure game that sends players to “random” locations, unlocking a much deeper mystery about their small town.
In Calico Springs, Willie’s life has been defined by two powerful forces: God and the river. The “miracle boy” died for five minutes as a young child, and ever since, Willie is certain he survived for a reason, but that purpose didn’t become clear until he found the Game.
The Game is called Manifest Atlas, and the concept is simple: enter an intention and the Game provides a target—a blinking blue dot on the map. Willie’s second time playing Manifest Atlas, his intention takes him to an ominous target: three empty graves. Willie is sure the Game is telling him he’s going to die.
Willie’s older brother, Bones, doesn’t believe him, but their friends are intrigued. Sarai, a girl from across the river, sets the next intention: something bloody. The group follows the Game’s coordinates and they discover something even more unsettling than the graves: a dead body. Sarai’s stepfather’s body. The Game is suddenly personal.
Willie is dedicated to proving the Game works while Sarai is set on finding out what happened to her stepdad. Bones just wants to enjoy his last summer before real life begins. As the group digs deeper into Manifest Atlas, stranger and wilder things begin to appear, unlocking a much deeper mystery running like an undercurrent through the small town.
I received a digitally generated version of this audiobook through Netgalley. It was not the voice-narrated version. This is my honest review.
When I started listening to this book, I was expecting science fiction based on the title and the cover. I was quickly disabused of that notion. Instead of taking me into outer space, it took me into small town America, and I'm quite familiar with small town America attitudes towards anyone who is other. In this story, this manifests in the behavior towards everyone who lives in the town across the river from Calico Springs, a town that is almost exclusively Black. I'm sure you can see where this is going.
In a way, this book felt like it was telling two stories. The story of Manifest Atlas, and the story of Calico Springs. And it wasn't until near the very end of the book that I really started to see how the two stories connected, and I would not have gotten there on my own. I did not see how the game was influenced by the events in the town until it was spelled out for me, and vice versa. But also, that connection left me feeling a little disappointed.
Aside from also living that small town life as a kid, I couldn't really relate to the characters in this book, but that's really just because we didn't have anything in common. I could see how their life experiences shaped them from the glimpses into the past that we were treated to, and I feel like I understood them, but I still couldn't really relate.
Overall I give Dark Parts of the Universe 3.9757 out of 5 stars because even though it wasn't the story I was expecting when I started, it was intriguing and kept me listening. - Katie
Samuel Miller is a novelist and screenwriter, made in South Dakota, based in Los Angeles. His most recent novel, Redemption Prep, was a New York Times and Indie bestseller and is in development for television with MGM. His debut, A Lite Too Bright, released to critical acclaim and has been translated into four languages and published in eight countries. Sam wrote his first novel in a fifteen-passenger van while touring with his alt-rock band, Paradise Fears. In addition to writing novels he coaches Little League Baseball, walks his dog, and works to dismantle capitalist systems of power. You can find him at samuelmillerbooks.com.
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