A review of Futurescape: Terraforming Earth - Phase 1

Futurescape: Terraforming Earth - Phase 1: The Plagues Era, to give its full title, is book one in an epic cyberpunk saga by science-fiction writer Dean C. Moore.

Rake Cunningham is a detective in the not-too-distant future who has cybernetically-upgraded himself, primarily to improve his investigatory skills. Rake signs up for his latest upgrade only to stumble across a corporate conspiracy to cull the population and create a Utopia for the elite. Facing impossible odds, Rake enlists the help of Doc Holiday, a lady with expertise in human augmentation, who is possibly the only person equipped to take on these evil, transhuman CEOs who have technology more advanced than they bargained for.

Moore has created a futuristic world dripping with authenticity, so much so, one has to ask the question of whether the author has first hand experience of the subject matter. Is he a time-traveller? A foreseer? Futurologist? Who knows?

The technological advancements are described in technical detail and their applications are bizarre yet believable. One of Moore's key skills is in identifying the previously unidentified paths that mankind's unrelenting progress is leading us down. As such, little within this story is predictable and much is thought-provoking.

Scenes play out in a dialogue-heavy manner - exploring how the augmentations bring out the best and worst in humanity - and they often end in scenes of violence: gory, wonderfully imaginative and over all too quickly. The approach would translate perfectly to the big screen, but is not always so effective at creating a movie in the mind. That's not to say there is not some fantastic description, there is, but for my money not quite enough in a genre where world-building is a key element.

The word choices and writing quality are immaculate, but the pacing is too often too fast or too slow. Moore's approach is to create maximum shock value by hitting the reader with a brutal scene when they least expect it. However, in practice, this sometimes means re-reading a sentence to confirm what just happened. No build up, minimal description, just one masterfully-crafted sentence which shows all we need to know, but fails to let the reader savour the moment.

Reading a Moore novel is like eaves-dropping on a conversation between philosophers and futurologists with a wicked sense of humour. You will be educated, you will be shocked, you will be given food for thought and you will laugh, and occasionally you will be reminded you are following a story. Stalwarts of hard sci-fi will be more than used to this approach, some will even point out this is precisely what they are looking for, although they may be surprised to find an author that ditches the image-heavy approach of William Gibson or Hugh Howey.

When all the ingredients come together, Futurescape can be a mesmerising experience, and with better structure and pacing it could have been a classic. As it stands, it is a very strong entry into the genre and one that I highly recommend.


Rating: 4.5 stars


Book link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B016IT2S2Y