SELENE'S SHADOW

A futuristic, alternate-history SF novel about a space-conquering Sino-Roman Empire.

In 2820, in the far away space colony of Breakspear Alpha, farm-raised, robotics enthusiast Sorrento accidentally raises a powerful, secret weapon from a 500-year slumber. The novel toggles to 2300s, and the Sino-Roman Empire faces its most dangerous enemy yet when the first aliens they encounter in their space voyages deploy weapons of mass destruction, bringing the powerful Empire to its knees. But a couple of scientists working on the experimental project Gemini have a possible means for salvation: the twins Shade and Themis, genetically modified humans capable of blending their minds with Artificial Intelligence and integrating into ships. Should they succeed in their mission, the Empire will survive, despite the high loss of human lives in the Galaxy War, but the leader of the Empire demands that once the war is over, Shade and Themis must be terminated to avoid a future where the human species is changed forever. As the timelines converge, a new threat to the last surviving colonies of the Empire emerges and Sorrento, alongside recently awakened Shade and his companion AI, Selene, must engage with the Empire’s past to discover long-held secrets. Gilbert’s smart SF adventure is the first in a series that imagines an alternate future stemming from a Roman Empire that never collapsed, thanks to a timely alliance with another superpower, China. The result is an appealing choice—a space-traveling Empire that merges ancient Roman and Chinese beliefs (“As the Sino-Roman Empires had merged, so had the Tables and the Lotus”) and relies on quantum physics and AI. The worldbuilding is immersive, and Shade, Selene, and Sorrento gain more agency as the story progresses. Large sections of exposition hold back the action, however, and typos often distract. Still, the story’s developing take on power, quantum physics, and human identity is well done.

An involving start to an uneven but intriguing new SF series.