GRONE

Enhanced virtual reality technology threatens to destroy the real world in Cumby’s series-launching SF debut.

Fifteen-year-old Fiona Martinez, who uses a wheelchair, and her twin brother, Francis, are consummate and avid video gamers. But they’re ill-prepared for a bizarre mission they receive while immersed in the popular online role-playing game Longstar. Someone from the company that created Longstar calls and begs the pair to save the enigmatic Analise, who’s “something new”: neither an avatar (like the twins’ in-game characters) nor an AI–controlled bot. In a concurrent plot, in the simulated universe of havencosm, 19-year-old Kwon Se-Jong is smitten with Nkiru Anaya and happily joins her on a church-sanctioned pilgrimage from Earth to other planets, including Grone. Powering both this VR world and Longstar are the QARMA engines—the same supercomputers that the U.S. military employs for “ultrarealistic wargame simulations.” A threat looms, as the intermingling of these worlds, coupled with a virus infecting the game servers, may somehow be responsible for a recent uptick of sunspots and earthquakes in the real world. Cumby’s spirited, impressive worldbuilding packs this first installment with incident, from Longstar’s frenzied gameplay to the interplanetary journey in havencosm. This keeps the novel moving at a steady clip despite its more than 600-page length; even passages of exposition, such as an explanation of the QARMA engines, come with spry dialogue and intriguing narrative details. The stellar cast of characters includes a likable game designer and an uncompromising former dark-web hacker. The author doesn’t take long to link the dual plotlines, but there’s still plenty of mystery as well as a few shocks along the way. This book’s ending offers a surprising amount of closure, though copious virtual worlds remain for sequels to explore.

A kinetic and sharply written space opera.