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Book Review - The Ganymedan

Sci-fi Noir at its finest!




The Ganymedan by R. T. Ester, Published by Solaris/Rebellion books


Thanks to Solaris and Netgalley for the advance reader copy of this intense experience!


It’s hard to know where to start. This book is a gripping sci-fi thriller with a shadow of tragic darkness. It inhabits a future solar system so vivid and lived in, that felt so plausible. It battles with questions of morality, and what does it mean to be alive and sentient for machines or toandroids, and humans. It is the desperate flight of a wanted man aiming to stop heinous crimes from continuing to be perpetrated in secret. And yet a lace of humor trims the narrative pleasantly. The reader is instantly immersed into a future with its own culture and jargon and you learn to adapt to it quickly if you are familiar with science fiction. Pieces of the strange puzzle snap into place as the desperation grows and the tension mounts.

While could not necessarily relate to the main character, V-dot, I did feel the injustice and the horror of what he experienced. The relationships built between V-Dot and the other main character, the sentient ship TR, is fascinating to watch unfurl slowly. Their inner lives and past experiences which shape V-Dot and TR's trajectories are dolled out just enough to keep me guessing as to the true nature of things. 

This was a fascinating story, and I was hooked. It doesn't necessarily have a happily ever after but it has an important and maybe hopeful ending. It's a tragedy in an almost eastern epic fashion.

8 out 10 galaxies 


Please buy The Ganymedan from your local independant bookshop!

Or order online from Bookshop.org.

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