How It Unfolds
The Far Reaches series, Book 1
James S. A. Corey
Amazon Original Stories
Fiction, Sci-Fi
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: The biggest problem with interstellar colonization has always been how to cross the vast distances of space to reach habitable worlds, but the discovery of "slow light" solved that issue in a unique way. With it, information could be transmitted far more economically than a large ship could travel, information that could "unfold" at the other end, basically faxing colonists and a starter habitat to the stars. Further, the same core information, including copies of the same two hundred crewmembers selected as foundation colonists, could be replicated on various target worlds... plus the originals would never have to leave Earth.
Roy Cort, one of the chosen, looks forward to the journey in more ways than the mission supervisors know. His ex-wife is one of the other colonists, the woman he had slowly reconnected with after their relationship and marriage fell apart years ago. Perhaps, in one of the innumerable unfoldings on innumerable worlds, he will have a second chance at the future he let slip through his grasp... but can even the vast distances of time and space across the stars be far enough to escape from a broken past?
REVIEW: Part of a new collection of Kindle novellas (despite being called a "series", the tales, by different authors, seem to be standalones), How It Unfolds takes an interesting idea and explores its implications, not just for humanity's future but for the humans who take the trip. Roy's optimism already seems a touch desperate and fragile before he is replicated for slow light transmission, and can't help colliding with reality at some point, no matter what world he wakes on. But it's not just a story of one man pining for the one who got away, where the woman is an object to pursue or a prize to regain; she's her own person, as is he, and though their fates are inextricably entwined by their history and their mission, that doesn't necessarily mean their hearts must be, as well. They aren't the only ones on the mission, for one thing, and other people always have their own secrets and fates. The lives of the Roys, on Earth and beyond, contribute to a larger picture of humanity's attempt at galactic immortality through colonization, a high-risk venture that may or may not pay off. The whole manages to evoke some of the old-school sense of wonder without the old-school flatness of characters.
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