Meru

Book 1: The Alloy Era

by S.B. Divya

Genres: Genetic Engineering; Hard Science Fiction

Synopsis

One woman and her pilot are about to change the future of the species in an epic space opera about aspiration, compassion, and redemption by Hugo and Nebula Award finalist S. B. Divya.

For five centuries, human life has been restricted to Earth, while posthuman descendants called alloys freely explore the galaxy. But when the Earthlike planet of Meru is discovered, two unlikely companions venture forth to test the habitability of this unoccupied new world and the future of human-alloy relations.

For Jayanthi, the adopted human child of alloy parents, it’s an opportunity to rectify the ancient reputation of her species as avaricious and destructive, and to give humanity a new place in the universe. For Vaha, Jayanthi’s alloy pilot, it’s a daunting yet irresistible adventure to find success as an individual.

As the journey challenges their resolve in unexpected ways, the two form a bond that only deepens with their time alone on Meru. But how can Jayanthi succeed at freeing humanity from its past when she and Vaha have been set up to fail?

Against all odds, hope is human, too.

 

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Release date: February 1, 2023

Publisher: 47North

Print pages: 443

Sample

Empathy convincingly overcomes anxiety in this thoughtful, inventive, and impressively understated space opera from Divya (Machinehood). Having devastated the environments of both Earth and Mars centuries before the start of the book, humanity has confined itself to Earth so as not to wreck any more planets and has accepted guardianship by the alloys, humankind’s post-human, space-faring descendants. Now, Jayanthi, a human raised by alloys, wants to believe that humanity has outgrown its toxic “Aspiration and Avarice Disorder” and is fit to travel the universe again. To prove this, she sets out for the newly discovered planet Meru… Divya filters the immensity of outer space through the lens of close personal relationships, crafting compassionate and responsible characters (whatever their physical forms may be) that will surely win over readers. The result is subtle, strange, and immensely satisfying.