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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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Pub date July 1, 2020

ISBN 978-1734953800

Price $16.99 (USD) Paperback, $5.99 Kindle edition

Author interview

Missaiel’s swiftly paced, meticulously observed debut combines environmental commentary with gripping storytelling. Set in present and a futuristic Greco-Roman world, the plot explores the alternative history of our world in a scenario where the fall of Rome had not happened in 476 AD. The extremely successful fossil fuel lobbyist Saul Brutus finds himself into an alternate world with a different history than our own while attending an exhibition. Trying to make sense of his new world, Saul comes to realize the humanity’s role in the destruction of ecosystem. Missaiel skillfully interweaves historical facts into SF narrative without losing the momentum. His prose is crisp, the pacing swift, and his descriptions of the futuristic world with its technological wonders have an almost magical quality. While the time travel and quantum physics make for the bulk of novel’s plot, Missaiel keeps his focus on the timely issues of the ecological damage caused by fossil fuels, ethical questions about raising synthetic crops and laboratory grown animal organs, and humanity’s gradual destruction of ecological balance.

Containing both a rich story and an affecting depiction of ecological damage, Missaiel ’s novel is infused with eye-opening insights. This is an entertaining futuristic fiction that conveys an urgent social message.

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