Synopsis:
Kye Verex is trapped.
Due to a fluke of genetics, the decisions of the galaxy’s elite, and a lack of finances, he’s stuck on his polluted and noxious home world indefinitely. And it’s slowly killing him.
Then his more fortunate sister returns one day, bringing the promise of salvation. Kelsey has always hoped to find the means to pull him out of his desperate cycle of survival, but it has taken years. Now, she has a plan, one that will cure his genetic condition and clear him for interstellar travel.
The catch?
He has to sign over his very existence – and a portion of his humanity – to Zylar Inc., the galaxy’s most prominent and notorious corporation, in exchange for the necessary treatment. Is his cure worth the cost?
Review:
What are you willing to trade for a better life? That’s the central question in A.J. Calvin’s fantastic new novel, Wraith and the Revolution. The book presents a complex and highly detailed peek into the future, in which humanity thrives in a galaxy teeming with strange, fascinating life. Unfortunately, humanity barely regards its own living.
“Earth is a cesspit of toxic shit,” the main character Kye says early on, and his life there is sifting through an irradiated wasteland dominated by dangerous creatures. He suffers from a medical condition for which there is no cure, and puts a very low ceiling on his life. His life isn’t all bad, however. He scavenges alongside his close friend Pablo, and their deep, funny bond is the heart of the novel.
Kye and Pablo are warm, hilarious, and utterly human in their breezy yet complicated relationship. Humanity often seems unrecognizable in the book, and literally morphs into something else as Kye accepts an offer to improve his lot in life. He gets a chance to upgrade figuratively and literally, to leave Earth behind and Pablo, too, but the cost is great. All he has to do is let an intergalactic megacorporation enhance his body and as his sister says, ‘become half-machine.’
You find yourself not wanting him to take what is obviously a bad deal, or leave behind Pablo, who is his soul mate in so many ways. The story could potentially benefit from a little more pressure on Kye to make this choice than it applies, especially with his sister’s manifest caginess about this seemingly great offer. But Kye’s journey is one we all face today. What is it to be human when our humanity is rapidly evolving? Are we our circumstances, or are we our potential? What’s human in us, if we’re more machines in body, or simply cogs in one?
The book asks huge questions while also providing lots of action and deep worldbuilding. The Botanaari are among the most fascinating, complex alien races I’ve read in recent science fiction. The book goes from the pits of a dying world to the florid heights of alien ones, traveling through abject poverty to the crux of cosmic power, and tells a thrilling story along the way.
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