An entertaining, amusing, and relatable SF tale with diverse characters.
In this SF novel, a lonely interplanetary trash collector survives a crisis in outer space and finds unusual new friends.
Feckless 30-something Kenyan Enoch Owusu, an interstellar trash collector, has just received several sudden, heavy blows in his personal life—his parents died; his girlfriend deserted him; and his best friend and partner left for a different job in quick succession. The year is 2742, and after centuries of wars and disasters, humans have colonized Mars, the moon, and Europa, all of which are governed by a military-style regime called SysNav. The Church of All Faiths, a new religion, believes that Earth received an alien signal centuries ago and expects the extraterrestrials to return and benefit humankind. Feeling out of shape, sad, alone, and powerless, Enoch is picking up space debris with a basic artificial intelligence system as his only companion when he detects a distress signal of unknown origin. His good-hearted decision to go check it out begins a series of surprising adventures that fulfill the promise of the subtitle. Watt’s narrative tone is delightfully snarky, especially in the 68 footnotes that explain various details of future history and daily life in a spaceship. Pithy, humorous descriptions vividly bring the setting and characters to life. The narrative is original and full of apt observations, including “Enoch tried to walk as sarcastically as he could...just to show them he wasn’t scared,” and “Finding a bunch of black ships in a black background of space was like one of those puzzles where you had to find the stripy shirt guy in the environment full of stripy things.” Enoch’s personal journey from pathetic basket case to brave, open-minded, and confident man is satisfying and relatable. The other characters are also intriguing and well drawn. The scientific explanations of “slip drive,” a method of fast space travel, seem plausible enough not to get in the way of the story. The ending leaves many questions unanswered, making readers hope for a sequel. Overall, this novel is a fun read that successfully combines a humane sensibility, a classic adventure story, and humor.
An entertaining, amusing, and relatable SF tale with diverse characters.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 328
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: June 11, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An adept contribution to the realm of apocalypse fiction.
A comet called UD3 threatens to wipe out the human race, and a ragtag team of scientists from all over the world rushes to find a way to knock it off course in Holroyde’s debut.
Dr. Ben Schwartz of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is woken in the middle of the night by a call from a famous astrophysicist. Ben is told that the U.N. has a car waiting for him outside and that he must fly to French Guiana. He isn’t told why, only that he must pack a bag and leave, now. His girlfriend, Amy, refuses to be left behind, and when the two of them get off the plane, they learn that a “dark comet” has been discovered coming around the sun and is heading straight toward Earth. Ben joins a group of scientists, including China’s brilliant Dr. Zhen Liu, who are working to cobble together something to throw the comet off its course before it can smack into Earth and cause an extinction event. As news of the comet gets out and people panic, society begins to break down, as seen through chapters focusing on a ship sailing through the Arctic Ocean and a woman struggling to survive in a decaying New York City, among others. As time goes on it becomes clear that even if the scientists manage to find a solution, humanity might destroy itself anyway. Fans of similar apocalypse stories will recognize all the beats Holroyde hits here—unlikely romance, friendships forged in trauma, etc.—but what this book lacks in originality it makes up for in proficient execution. The many character relationships would feel more organic with a bit more breathing room, but the prose is measured and clear, and the plot arcs nicely from the scientific issues to more personal stakes.
An adept contribution to the realm of apocalypse fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5387-1761-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
An engrossing and fast-paced read that doesn’t hit the mark it aims for.
The relationship between a young debtor and the trillionaire who owns him serves as a parable for the ills of capitalism.
Debut novelist Szpara imagines an only slightly more dystopian United States than the one that exists today, in which the wealth gap has grown so large that the country is more or less split into trillionaires and debtors. Debtors inherit their family's debt, increasing it exponentially over time. To pay it off, many sign up to become slaves for a predetermined amount of time, with the “choice” to inject a drug called Dociline that turns them into a kind of blissful zombie who has no memory, pain, or agency for the duration of their term. The drug is supposed to wear off within two weeks, but when Elisha Wilder’s mother returned from her debt-paying term, it never did, leaving her docile indefinitely. To resolve the rest of his family’s debt, Elisha becomes a Docile to none other than Alex Bishop, the CEO of the company that manufactures Dociline. He invokes his right to refuse the drug, one of the only Dociles ever to do so. Alex enacts a horrifying period of brainwashing in order to modify Elisha’s behavior to mimic that of an “on-med.” The resulting relationship between them is disturbing. As Alex wakes up to his complicity in a broken system—“I am Dr. Frankenstein and I’ve fallen in love with my own monster”—he becomes more sympathetic, for better or worse. As Elisha suffers not only brainwashing, rape, and abuse, but the recovery that must come after, his love for—fixation with, dependence on—Alex poses interesting questions about consent: “Being my own person hurts too much….Why should an opportunity hurt so much?” However, despite excellent pacing and a gripping narrative, Szpara fails to address the history of slavery in America—a history that is race-based and continues to shape the nation. This is a story with fully realized queer characters that is unafraid to ask complicated questions; as a parable, it functions well. But without addressing this important aspect of the nation and economic structures within which it takes place, it cannot succeed in its takedown of oppressive systems.
An engrossing and fast-paced read that doesn’t hit the mark it aims for.Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21615-1
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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