PG's Books

This is a quite interesting debutant work. It describes a rather dystopian future where humanity managed to destroy its planet of birth. Not that this is a new idea in sci-fi literature of course. The book follows a number of interesting characters including the android ADIM mentioned in the book blurb. The latter is kind of scary in its power combined with its naivety and devotion to its “creator”. How long until it decides the creator is no longer necessary?

The book is quite well written, at least for a debutant work. The characters are intriguing and the plot is quite good at making you want to know what happens next. It is difficult to find a real hero to like though in the sense that it is difficult to tell who is a good guy or not. Cassius Vale is of course the central figure but it he really the good guy? Sage Volus actually seems to be the most likable of the characters.

I do however find the book lacking a bit in its world building. Not that the world it builds is uninteresting. Far from it. The world of this dystopian future is quite intriguing. However the author provides little background and little information about the world. The reader is just thrown into this world without much ado and although a few pieces of information is thrown around you never really get much explanations. I would really have liked to know more of the history that brought us to this future. How was earth devastated? What is Gravitum really and what is it really used for? All we get to know is that the element is vital, it is poisonous and you can apparently make bombs from it. As more tech-focused sci-fi reader I would liked to have some more time spent on this.

The book is very much about the characters, the intrigue and the political machinations some of which borders on religious fanaticism. There are no grand fleets of spaceships slugging it out although there are a few occurrences of “New Earth Cruisers” towards the end. Since I am more geared towards the latter in my sci-fi reading it of course makes this book miss the “my cup of tea” mark a wee bit but it makes up for it with some good writing, interesting characters and a plot that makes you want to read more to know what is going to happen next.

On the whole an interesting book and a very good debutant work. I think I might just pick up the next book if one comes out.