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Pub date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-63988-922-8
Price: $16.99 trade paperback
Page Count: 424
Genre: Fiction / Speculative / Science Fiction
Audience: Adult
Fast-moving action and jaw-dropping twists mark Coward’s remarkable debut outing. 2012. Kara Cuesta, wife and a mother, is feeling weighed down with the demands of her high-stakes job as a marketing manager while trying to heal her dysfunctional family. In another universe, it’s 2098, and Pandora Garnett, the vice-president of Magic Inc., the leading robot manufacturer in the world, is working on an illegal project: to create artificial intelligence singularity in the form of sentient AIs with self-awareness and learning abilities. What happens when the two women’s universes collide? Coward is an engaging storyteller. His prose is expert, and his worldbuilding is immersive without being confusing. The novel is exciting from the start: during a hike in the desert, Kara encounters the diamondback, meets the stones, and spots a thin, naked woman, clutching something. The protagonists’, especially Kara’s and Pandora’s rich backstories add interest to their characters, and the secondary cast, both from the home universe and the perpendicular universes, is equally compelling. Narrative tension quickly builds with the protagonists struggling to come to terms with their tiring circumstances. The minuities of the home universe are effectively contrasted with the much advanced and yet suffocating social culture of the 2098’s two moon world. Throughout, Coward explores the complicated questions of dreams, expectations, courage, determination, and resilience. A solid, thoroughly engaging tale that leaves a mark.
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