Book Review: Partition: Critical Era, Book 1, by Kevin Kane
Synopsis:
Welcome to the new YOUtopia. So the planet is dying, and a megacorp controls everything. At least you don’t have to work another day in your life, not when an Organic AI controls your body every night . Eric Noble is beginning to realise that nothing makes a Day feel more like a waste of space than having all the time in the world. Detective Noble is starting to see the truth that he and the other Nights were created to be programmable slaves living inside someone else. After sharing the same body for eight uneasy years, a chance encounter with an old friend changes everything. Now, Eric’s memory is missing, a woman has been murdered, and if things weren’t bad enough, he’s the prime suspect in his Night’s homicide investigation . Two minds, one body, and a society on the knife’s edge, what they do next will determine the fate of both worlds. Critical Era is the first instalment in Kevin Kane’s sweeping sci-fi mystery series. Prepare to enter a future where the difference between a Brave New World utopia and a 1984 dystopia depends entirely on the time of day.
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The Review
This is an epic story, spanning 600 pages. And it does not let up once. You’re barely settled into your seat and the dystopia hits you between the eyes, and drags you off. This is a complex story, with different points of view all within the same body.
In this world, you can sign up to a Partition, where an AI of sorts takes over your mind and does all the drudge work for you. They exercise, they work, they pay the bills, they get the groceries. They’re the Nights. And you’re the Day, and you can do whatever you like. Simple right?
But it’s never going to be that simple. Some of the Nights are waking up, and they don’t want to die.
In this story we get a POV from Eric, both his Night and his Day version, and Belle, who is somewhat of an anti-hero/anti-villain.
Kane manages to keep the narratives separate, and the voices are distinct. Which is good as there is so much happening in this story that it would be easy to get confused. The cast is wide, the intrigue is deep and complex, and the technology is lush.
The sci-fi elements in this sit comfortably with an action thriller style story, following policemen as they investigate a murder, missing people and a conspiracy. The shadowy tech company loom over everything, hiding their secrets.
The added elements of poverty in the districts, the drug use, and the underground businesses put the dystopia in stark definition. It’s gritty, it’s almost hopeless, and it’s gripping.
Yet there’s some humour, some surprises. There were perhaps one too many pop references for me, but that’s just me. The humour is dark, and nuanced. I had a couple of laugh out loud moments.
The characters are well mapped out and they feel believable. I felt more than a little sympathy for the Nights.
In short, Partition is slick, it’s fast, it’s complex, and it’s very richly painted. This is another science fiction that would do very well on the big, or even the small, screen. This is Book 1 so I look forward to seeing a continuation of the story!
