R.T. Coleman

Vagabonder has an interesting world-building setting: a future in which much of our civilized world has been lost to rising oceans; a virus that neurologically altered many humans to create what most consider a new species (known as NiCIes or Dua) generally more equanimous and community-oriented but treated by most as damaged and less than human; multiple authoritarian cronyist governments that support a single massive corporation in oppressing and exploiting Dua; and the myth of a lost Dua tribe some think might be key to ending their oppression.

The story doesn't delve much into scientific explanations, as most of the main characters (and the primary main character) aren't scientists; the POV navigates through life and challenges in this possible future rather than explaining it, but the setting does feel like a reasonably consistent whole.

Much of the description and story is told relatively simply without a lot of scenic musing, carrying the story forward effectively and (IMO) for a fun read. Most of the characters feel reasonably well developed and three-dimensional with their own distinct backgrounds, contexts, and motivations, except perhaps for the main character who often seems relatively bland despite being the main lens through which we experience the story. One could argue that latter is due to the evenness of the MC's Dua mind or his particular background, although nothing in the story specifically calls that out.

Nothing I see in the book description calls out this being first of a series, but the story cuts off a bit abruptly just as events are significantly ramping up, so I presume sequels must be coming. I did enjoy the story that threads through the broad-stroke rendering of this semi-dystopic future, and am curious enough to maybe pick up the second in the series when it shows up.… (altro)

Two centuries in the future, most of Earth has been devastated by climate-related disasters, while humanity has suffered from a plague, Ruga Morto, that killed 80% of the population and mutated those who survived infection into beings called either “NiCIes” or “Dua.” Now, a Dua revolutionary named Caen tries to get to the moon to find the Vagabonders, the original lunar colony of Dua who were believed to have been wiped out when they rebelled against their treatment by OnyxCorp, a megacorporation that control pretty much everything. Meanwhile, Dr. Ligeia Obumbwe, a biogeneticist who’s been researching Ruga Morto and the changes it caused in the Dua in hopes of finding a vaccine and a cure, is all but forced by OnyxCorp to head their lunar research lab in exchange for the company protecting her brother, who has become a Dua after getting the disease. The pair meet by chance, and she agrees to help sneak him onto the space elevator that will let him get to the moon.

The book has potential, but is held back by a number of flaws. The ideas themselves aren’t anything new, but this is hardly a significant issue; more than a few well-regarded works in the genre are new takes on older ideas, and I’m not aware of anything with this particular combination of ideas. The writing itself also felt very pedestrian; while the same could be said of quite a number of genre classics, those tend to be at least sixty years old. As a whole, the world-building seems poorly thought out, with decisions made to get things the way the author wants regardless of whether they make sense; for a significant example, climate change-induced flooding has apparently rendered North America (but not Mexico), Europe, Asia, and Australia completely uninhabitable, while Mexico, South America, Africa, and New Zealand are, while not unaffected, still inhabited, despite the fact that floods that could inundate the former group would have also flooded most or all of the second group. The plot itself relies a bit too much on coincidence for my taste, but this is unlikely to be the case for everyone. Finally, and the main reason for my low rating, this is only half of a book; the main characters don’t even meet until about eighty percent of the way through, and the book simply stops without anything at all resolved and at least two important plot threads Dr. Obumbwe getting an unknown severe illness and a terrorist attack on the space elevator introduced after the main characters have met.

As a relatively minor issue, I found the design of the first page of every chapter poorly thought out. Instead of black text on white paper, these pages have white text over a picture of the moon and stars. While the moon was above all the text and nothing was actually illegible, the stars did occasionally interfere with the text.… (altro)