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Aetna Adrift #1-2
Aetna Adrift: The Complete Story
What do you do when every aspect of life is regulated by a soul-sucking bureaucracy and constant surveillance is the norm?
You run. You find the out-of-the-way places no one watches. You make sure no one depends upon you, and you beat the system. That's what Jack did, and it worked...until now.
It starts to go wrong when Jack breaks his rule and takes Anna home more than once. Then, Administrator Timothy Randall arrives and turns Jack's backwater moon upside down. On a mission from the central government which no one understands, Randall and his staff do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. When the killing starts, Jack finds himself blackmailed, tortured, and enslaved to a ruthless political faction. Now he must figure out who to trust, how to escape, and decide between Anna and his freedom.
Aetna Adrift is a full length high octane thriller in Erik Wecks' PAX Imperium universe.
You run. You find the out-of-the-way places no one watches. You make sure no one depends upon you, and you beat the system. That's what Jack did, and it worked...until now.
It starts to go wrong when Jack breaks his rule and takes Anna home more than once. Then, Administrator Timothy Randall arrives and turns Jack's backwater moon upside down. On a mission from the central government which no one understands, Randall and his staff do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. When the killing starts, Jack finds himself blackmailed, tortured, and enslaved to a ruthless political faction. Now he must figure out who to trust, how to escape, and decide between Anna and his freedom.
Aetna Adrift is a full length high octane thriller in Erik Wecks' PAX Imperium universe.
291 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 4, 2013
28 people are currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
Erik Wecks
23 books44 followersI am a full time writer and blogger living in Vancouver, Washington. I am an author of both non-fiction and fiction, as well as a contributor to the GeekDad blog on Wired.com. I write on a wide range of topics. When not waxing poetic on various aspects of fiscal responsibility, I tend toward the geeky.
When not poised over the keyboard, I love to spend time with my family. I am married to an angel, Jaylene, who has taught me more than anyone else about true mercy and compassion. We are the parents of three wonderful girls. As a group we like swimming at the local pool, gardening, reading aloud, playing piano, and beating each other soundly at whatever table top game is handy.
I love to hear from my readers. You can contact me at erikwecks@gmail.com, follow me on twitter @erikwecks or read more about my work at www.erikwecks.com. If you are interested in finding out when my next book will be published you can sign up for my monthly newsletter there. The link is in the upper right corner.
When not poised over the keyboard, I love to spend time with my family. I am married to an angel, Jaylene, who has taught me more than anyone else about true mercy and compassion. We are the parents of three wonderful girls. As a group we like swimming at the local pool, gardening, reading aloud, playing piano, and beating each other soundly at whatever table top game is handy.
I love to hear from my readers. You can contact me at erikwecks@gmail.com, follow me on twitter @erikwecks or read more about my work at www.erikwecks.com. If you are interested in finding out when my next book will be published you can sign up for my monthly newsletter there. The link is in the upper right corner.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 4, 2014
Aetna Adrift stands out for me for the patient world-building the author employs to slowly reveal the enormous infrastructure supporting this small moon on the edge of a corporate society, a society that has grown so big it has attained galactic proportions. I suspect the author enjoyed exaggerating some of the worst qualities of corporate life.
Initially immersed in Jack Halloway’s interesting career choices, I gradually realised he was more interested in pursuing his side ventures than advancement in the Unity. He’s a cocky character, emotionally immature, and despite a rogue likeable side to him, he didn't initially endear himself to me. Then Jack’s world turns upside down.
I loved the way the side characters’ back stories developed as Jack gets ensnared in unfolding events beyond his control. Sometimes I could feel Jack’s jaw drop as he grasps how little he knew about his own domain. He thought he was the big man on Aetna and he is so lucky that he possessed something his new allies needed. The deeper I got into the book, the more I understood that this is an epic backdrop in the making. There are plenty of surprises, characters muddling through as best they can, and personal discovery. The love interest is well developed although I wanted to smack Jack for acknowledging his feelings and yet still finding it hard to break old habits. He made some very un-heroic choices along the way, but eventually his more endearing qualities won me over. Yes, definitely a roguish charm.
I have to highlight the quality of the science-fiction in this book. There are some wonderfully well thought out details covering fishing, submarines, moving cities, coping with the hostile environment, an orbiting space station (although I sometimes got lost as to whether I was on the station up above, or on the moving city areas down below), escape pods, space ships, communications gear, medical nanites, information technology.
Overall, an excellent and amusing read that makes a great introduction to the Pax Imperium novels.
Initially immersed in Jack Halloway’s interesting career choices, I gradually realised he was more interested in pursuing his side ventures than advancement in the Unity. He’s a cocky character, emotionally immature, and despite a rogue likeable side to him, he didn't initially endear himself to me. Then Jack’s world turns upside down.
I loved the way the side characters’ back stories developed as Jack gets ensnared in unfolding events beyond his control. Sometimes I could feel Jack’s jaw drop as he grasps how little he knew about his own domain. He thought he was the big man on Aetna and he is so lucky that he possessed something his new allies needed. The deeper I got into the book, the more I understood that this is an epic backdrop in the making. There are plenty of surprises, characters muddling through as best they can, and personal discovery. The love interest is well developed although I wanted to smack Jack for acknowledging his feelings and yet still finding it hard to break old habits. He made some very un-heroic choices along the way, but eventually his more endearing qualities won me over. Yes, definitely a roguish charm.
I have to highlight the quality of the science-fiction in this book. There are some wonderfully well thought out details covering fishing, submarines, moving cities, coping with the hostile environment, an orbiting space station (although I sometimes got lost as to whether I was on the station up above, or on the moving city areas down below), escape pods, space ships, communications gear, medical nanites, information technology.
Overall, an excellent and amusing read that makes a great introduction to the Pax Imperium novels.
November 15, 2013
This is a stand alone kind of prequel novel for an upcoming series of books set in a universe known as “Pax Imperium”. It is a universe where government and megacorporations are one and the same (this corporate government is called The Unity and it is based primarily on the US government). This novel though is set purely on one planet in this universe – the titular Aetna.
Our protagonist is a black market trader named Jack. He is at once an affable character and ultimately rather familiar in a Han Solo sort of a way. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, I guess in the world that the writer has created and the characters he populates it with, we come to have certain expectations.
This is easily one of the best written and edited examples of independent published books I have been approached to read. The editing is flawless and the author has a clear idea of how fiction should flow. Some of the reviews I read on Good Reads criticised that it took a while to get going – and it does – but the space is used effectively to build a sense of place, the setting and the characters. This is a rich world to fully absorb yourself into.
And this world and this universe is colourful and richly illustrated. I love its decadence – like Imperial Rome it seems dysfunctional yet able to survive despite its apparent propensity for self-destruction, always looming -perhaps being sustained purely because of such widely available decadence. You know it will collapse spectacularly in on itself eventually because it is in such a fragile state. I also love its modernist theme, how it reflects our world now: a world where people no longer have real relationships but everything is lived in a virtual world and plays out purely in our heads – a world where we are ruled by businesses.
Because the world has so many layers and I was enjoying the ride so much I kept forgetting about the plot and what the story was even about – it almost feels like an afterthought and I am still to decide whether it is a good or bad think that the plot feels more like a support act in this way. I have enjoyed many books written in this style: Paulo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl is pretty much like this to.
So what is it about? Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl and breaks the law. Law makers don’t like it and blackmail boy into doing what they want amidst all the political turmoil. Law makers inject boy with some nanites to try to control him and make him do what they want. You know… that old chestnut! Seriously though, I’ve said too much already and you really should read this.
You know, some of this indieview content is so good I might start nominating yearly awards!
See more book reviews at my blog
Our protagonist is a black market trader named Jack. He is at once an affable character and ultimately rather familiar in a Han Solo sort of a way. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, I guess in the world that the writer has created and the characters he populates it with, we come to have certain expectations.
This is easily one of the best written and edited examples of independent published books I have been approached to read. The editing is flawless and the author has a clear idea of how fiction should flow. Some of the reviews I read on Good Reads criticised that it took a while to get going – and it does – but the space is used effectively to build a sense of place, the setting and the characters. This is a rich world to fully absorb yourself into.
And this world and this universe is colourful and richly illustrated. I love its decadence – like Imperial Rome it seems dysfunctional yet able to survive despite its apparent propensity for self-destruction, always looming -perhaps being sustained purely because of such widely available decadence. You know it will collapse spectacularly in on itself eventually because it is in such a fragile state. I also love its modernist theme, how it reflects our world now: a world where people no longer have real relationships but everything is lived in a virtual world and plays out purely in our heads – a world where we are ruled by businesses.
Because the world has so many layers and I was enjoying the ride so much I kept forgetting about the plot and what the story was even about – it almost feels like an afterthought and I am still to decide whether it is a good or bad think that the plot feels more like a support act in this way. I have enjoyed many books written in this style: Paulo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl is pretty much like this to.
So what is it about? Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl and breaks the law. Law makers don’t like it and blackmail boy into doing what they want amidst all the political turmoil. Law makers inject boy with some nanites to try to control him and make him do what they want. You know… that old chestnut! Seriously though, I’ve said too much already and you really should read this.
You know, some of this indieview content is so good I might start nominating yearly awards!
See more book reviews at my blog
July 21, 2013
Once this story gets moving, it does.. not.. stop. And the characters! You can really tell that the author knows every tiny detail about them. While the story focuses on the protagonist, Jack Halloway, the thoughts and emotions of all of the characters really come across clear as bell. They behave like actual human beings, not super heroes. But don't think they just sit around talking to each other the whole story. It's loaded with intrigue, escape, rescue, redemption and a little bit of sexiness too!
NOTE: I originally read this story in two parts, but I'd recommend you pick up the complete book.
NOTE: I originally read this story in two parts, but I'd recommend you pick up the complete book.
June 5, 2014
So this is an era of utmost advancement. Here you can get cured for severe diseases, fractures, blood lose, memory loss and what not by injecting a few chemical compounds. You can get heinous crimes committed and confessed by a mere 5ml vyle of liquid. Hydrogen bombs are a life threat. The whole universe is captured and earth barely exists in memories of the oldies. But the bodies still need real sex for pleasure and real food for existence.
Looks like a new Asimov is on the move with fresh pint of ideas! Kudos!!
Looks like a new Asimov is on the move with fresh pint of ideas! Kudos!!
August 29, 2013
Now that the conclusion is here, I can give this 5 stars, my first ever 5 stars for a goodreads review. This book had a good story, a great universe and phenomenal characters. I love the way nothing seems too canned. The conclusion fulfilled the promise of part one. A great read for scifi fans.
March 2, 2017
This was a very interesting story -- a little slow-going at the beginning, but after a while I realized that all of the seeming slowness was in order to set a stage for us, then start upending our expectations (along with the protagonist's). I enjoyed the gradual reveal of the world (universe) surrounding the characters, and how Jack had to break out of all his old comfortable patterns to really deal with the changes that were happening around him. Toward the end, the action was fast and furious, and it was exciting to see how the characters extricated themselves from their predicament. Definitely left me curious about what is going to happen next to the societies involved in the story -- seems like we're perched right on the edge of a very big war.
May 6, 2014
When you sell your book on Amazon, there is a feature on your book page called “Customers Who Viewed this Item Also Viewed.” I like to browse this list to see what other authors are up to. A few weeks ago, one title caught my eye, Aetna Adrift (A Pax Imperium Novel) by Erik Wecks.
So, using my magic Kindle, I bought it. If you enjoy space opera/adventure, you’ll like Aetna Adrift. As advertised, it’s a “high octane thriller” for sure, but it’s more than that.
Meet Jack Randall, smuggler, playboy, master of the low profile, king of just gettin’ by. Jack is the station master on Unity Standard Orbiter 1358, the guy in charge of all the shipments in and out of Aetna, a backwater moon used as a refueling station for freighters transiting the system. He does his job, runs a little black market action on the side, and trolls the local bar for women in his ample spare time.
Jack has just turned down a promotion (again) so he can stay in place running the Audit division (and the black market) on the orbiter. His trouble starts—as trouble usually does—with a woman. When he takes Anna home more than once, Jack starts to have strange emotions… feelings! Meanwhile, as Jack is going through his sexual/emotional awakening with Anna, new management moves into town. I’ve heard of hostile takeovers, but Unity Administrator Timothy Randall takes “hostile” to a whole new level.
And, just like that, Jack is suddenly the one being played. He could run, but there are those pesky feelings about Anna to deal with…
Wecks does a couple of things really well in Aetna. For starters, he has done some fabulous world, er, universe-building, laying the groundwork for a lifetime of novels on both sides of the conflict. Especially appreciated were the neato, sci-fi details, like fishing with submarines on a planet covered with ice, life aboard a Unity orbiter and futuristic medical technology.
The world of Pax Imperium is a world of dystopian gray, literally and morally. Every character is a little bit dirty, and most of them are downright twisted, even our hero, Jack. When the bad guys capture the lovely Anna, you wonder—really wonder—if Jack will man up and go after her. And lest you think Jack and Anna will live happily ever after, think again, that’s not how life works in the Pax.
Well-plotted, great characters, fast action and some spectacular sci-fi details. I’ll be back for more of the Pax!
So, using my magic Kindle, I bought it. If you enjoy space opera/adventure, you’ll like Aetna Adrift. As advertised, it’s a “high octane thriller” for sure, but it’s more than that.
Meet Jack Randall, smuggler, playboy, master of the low profile, king of just gettin’ by. Jack is the station master on Unity Standard Orbiter 1358, the guy in charge of all the shipments in and out of Aetna, a backwater moon used as a refueling station for freighters transiting the system. He does his job, runs a little black market action on the side, and trolls the local bar for women in his ample spare time.
Jack has just turned down a promotion (again) so he can stay in place running the Audit division (and the black market) on the orbiter. His trouble starts—as trouble usually does—with a woman. When he takes Anna home more than once, Jack starts to have strange emotions… feelings! Meanwhile, as Jack is going through his sexual/emotional awakening with Anna, new management moves into town. I’ve heard of hostile takeovers, but Unity Administrator Timothy Randall takes “hostile” to a whole new level.
And, just like that, Jack is suddenly the one being played. He could run, but there are those pesky feelings about Anna to deal with…
Wecks does a couple of things really well in Aetna. For starters, he has done some fabulous world, er, universe-building, laying the groundwork for a lifetime of novels on both sides of the conflict. Especially appreciated were the neato, sci-fi details, like fishing with submarines on a planet covered with ice, life aboard a Unity orbiter and futuristic medical technology.
The world of Pax Imperium is a world of dystopian gray, literally and morally. Every character is a little bit dirty, and most of them are downright twisted, even our hero, Jack. When the bad guys capture the lovely Anna, you wonder—really wonder—if Jack will man up and go after her. And lest you think Jack and Anna will live happily ever after, think again, that’s not how life works in the Pax.
Well-plotted, great characters, fast action and some spectacular sci-fi details. I’ll be back for more of the Pax!
September 18, 2016
Enjoyed the characters.
September 26, 2014
When you pick up Erik Wecks's heavy-action and suspense-filled space-based thriller, you are immediately drawn into a story that promises high drama and galactic impact. The Pax Imperium world continues beyond Aetna Adrift, yet its greater themes of empire and political intrigue are well-ensconced and lightly meted out in this closer adventure of one man, black-market entrepenuer and not-so-upstanding businessman Jack Halloway. Just a guy trying to get by on the harsh fringe planet of Aetna, Jack is sucked into a corporate scheme that goes all the way to the top. He can either play along or be ruined. When the Unity takes things too far and threatens Anna, the one woman whom Jack's solo-operator heart can't seem to shake, the gig is up, and Jack must choose to either gamble away the last tatters of his shredded soul or, for once, stand for something greater than himself.
One of the many qualities that makes Aetna Adrift so appealing to wide audiences is the handy way in which Erik has folded together tasters of a few genres. While the novel's canvas is predominantly sci-fi, and well developed sci-fi at that, readers are also treated to a scosh of noir and a splash of spy thriller, along with a splatter of action-adventure and military sci-fi to appeal to the hard-core-est among us. In short, Erik knows how to entertain!
For those who like their dames diabolical, their damsels dreamy, their heroes broken, and their villains viscious, this nonstop Matterhorn of action will have you turning pages until dawn.
One of the many qualities that makes Aetna Adrift so appealing to wide audiences is the handy way in which Erik has folded together tasters of a few genres. While the novel's canvas is predominantly sci-fi, and well developed sci-fi at that, readers are also treated to a scosh of noir and a splash of spy thriller, along with a splatter of action-adventure and military sci-fi to appeal to the hard-core-est among us. In short, Erik knows how to entertain!
For those who like their dames diabolical, their damsels dreamy, their heroes broken, and their villains viscious, this nonstop Matterhorn of action will have you turning pages until dawn.
June 20, 2014
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Welcome to Jack's world. He is the manager of a space station that orbits a backwater moon named Aetna in the space territory of Mother Unity. At least that is his day job. Mother Unity may be an all powerful, citizen controlling totalitarian society, but that is okay with Jack. He is isolated and he can run his black market and he can maintain his playboy ways because the all looking eye of Mother Unity rarely looks his way.
That is until two things happen. He falls in love and Mother Unity, in the form of Timothy Randle, decides that his little frozen moon is now important. What follows is action upon action as Jack most save himself and his love.
This is a good Sci-fi. In a future time with many technologies that seem quite possible and work very well in this story. I liked the characters and the pacing of the book went from zero to sixty to beyond. Mr. Wecks prose is good and I felt the book was well edited and we all know we can't say that very many Kindle books these days.
The best thing that this book conveys is the fact that no matter the time setting. No matter the technologies available. No matter where you live, like an ice moon, humans will be humans. And even in the worst of times, man can prevail.
Welcome to Jack's world. He is the manager of a space station that orbits a backwater moon named Aetna in the space territory of Mother Unity. At least that is his day job. Mother Unity may be an all powerful, citizen controlling totalitarian society, but that is okay with Jack. He is isolated and he can run his black market and he can maintain his playboy ways because the all looking eye of Mother Unity rarely looks his way.
That is until two things happen. He falls in love and Mother Unity, in the form of Timothy Randle, decides that his little frozen moon is now important. What follows is action upon action as Jack most save himself and his love.
This is a good Sci-fi. In a future time with many technologies that seem quite possible and work very well in this story. I liked the characters and the pacing of the book went from zero to sixty to beyond. Mr. Wecks prose is good and I felt the book was well edited and we all know we can't say that very many Kindle books these days.
The best thing that this book conveys is the fact that no matter the time setting. No matter the technologies available. No matter where you live, like an ice moon, humans will be humans. And even in the worst of times, man can prevail.
March 21, 2015
My amazon review:
This is a really wonderful story that manages to accomplish many different things at once. Without slowing down the plot or interrupting the narrative, Wecks builds a interesting universe with a robust history, scratches the geek itch with imaginative technical and artistic inventions that are stand-alone cool and advance the development, and demonstrates a firm commitment to building his story around great characters.
He mentions in the afterward that he wrote this story as a way of getting to know how his bad guys operate for use in the Pax novels. For some authors, that might make the resulting characters weak and less than totally thought out. But while Aetna Adrift does develop things for future use, make no mistake about it - it is a story about a person, Jack. Jack's journey from careless playboy to a grown-up (mostly) with authentic relationships is just as engaging as the world building, action packed plot that takes place around it.
Um, the quality of the action scenes and the suspense building in the later half of the book should not go without mention. Don't pass the midway point (where the original first novel ended) too late in the evening, unless you are prepared to lose some sleep. T'swat happened to me last night, but it's totally worth it.
This is a really wonderful story that manages to accomplish many different things at once. Without slowing down the plot or interrupting the narrative, Wecks builds a interesting universe with a robust history, scratches the geek itch with imaginative technical and artistic inventions that are stand-alone cool and advance the development, and demonstrates a firm commitment to building his story around great characters.
He mentions in the afterward that he wrote this story as a way of getting to know how his bad guys operate for use in the Pax novels. For some authors, that might make the resulting characters weak and less than totally thought out. But while Aetna Adrift does develop things for future use, make no mistake about it - it is a story about a person, Jack. Jack's journey from careless playboy to a grown-up (mostly) with authentic relationships is just as engaging as the world building, action packed plot that takes place around it.
Um, the quality of the action scenes and the suspense building in the later half of the book should not go without mention. Don't pass the midway point (where the original first novel ended) too late in the evening, unless you are prepared to lose some sleep. T'swat happened to me last night, but it's totally worth it.
March 17, 2014
There was an interesting premise behind this book but it felt like things never really got fully developed. The characters were rather flat, the plot rather thin, and the descriptions of the setting not particularly vivid. A lot of potential which wasn't met. The ending also felt rushed and not very complete. I understand from the author's note that these characters will appear in another series but I felt like they should have had a more satisfying conclusion to this part of their story here, regardless of any future appearances they might make.
October 27, 2014
I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. I like sci fi, but this was most definitely guy sci fi. In spite of that, I became caught up in the story and fascinated by the characters.
About 2/3 through the book the cadence of the writing seemed to change as though the sentence structure had fizzled a bit. At that point it became more unappealing, but I was so caught up in the story by then that I continued.
Really, I'd rate it about 4.5 stars -- liked it a lot, didn't actually love it due to the choppy writing towards the end.
About 2/3 through the book the cadence of the writing seemed to change as though the sentence structure had fizzled a bit. At that point it became more unappealing, but I was so caught up in the story by then that I continued.
Really, I'd rate it about 4.5 stars -- liked it a lot, didn't actually love it due to the choppy writing towards the end.
September 9, 2016
I'm waffling between 2 and 3 stars. I'm giving it 3 because I enjoyed the story and some unique elements to the story. My biggest beef lies in some of the character development and, unforgivably, some very poor editing regarding one character that the other apparently decided to change their gender during editing and wound up with usage that flipped back and forth between male and female, often within the same paragraph, sometimes even the same sentence.
March 28, 2014
Sci-fi Suspense
Sci-fi Suspense
I thoroughly enjoyed "Aetna Adrift," and found it to be well edited in whole. The story is well plotted, and I look forward to reading the second book of the series.
Sci-fi Suspense
I thoroughly enjoyed "Aetna Adrift," and found it to be well edited in whole. The story is well plotted, and I look forward to reading the second book of the series.
December 29, 2014
So help me God I tried.
I received a copy of this novel through a giveaway on BookLikes.
It pains me to say this, but I couldn't finish reading this.
Fifteen percent into the novel in kindle edition, it still did not have my attention grabbed.
I received a copy of this novel through a giveaway on BookLikes.
It pains me to say this, but I couldn't finish reading this.
Fifteen percent into the novel in kindle edition, it still did not have my attention grabbed.
March 31, 2014
Enjoyed.
January 20, 2015
Fun Read
The book has quite a few unusual ideas none of which seem implausible. It kept my attention pretty much from beginning to end.
The book has quite a few unusual ideas none of which seem implausible. It kept my attention pretty much from beginning to end.
May 30, 2015
An interesting take on everyday life of the future, while under control of a massive corrupt corporation.
May 1, 2017
Disclosure: I received this book for free from the author for purposes of review.
When I received Aetna Adrift from the author, Erik Wecks, at OryCon last year, I saw that the book was a prequel to another series of books that he’d put out – his Pax Imperium series. Before I accepted the book, I asked if he considered the book to be a decent jumping point to this series. He said it was. I was a little unsure, but I accepted the book anyway. The good news is that the book is. It starts on a rough foot, but once it really gets going, it makes for an enjoyable read.
The book is set at a somewhat unspecified point in the future. Humanity has traveled to the stars and has splintered into a series of various governments. One of these is the Unity Corporation – a totalitarian corporate state, with internal politics that can best be described as literally cut-throat.
Out in the ass end of the Unity is the planet Aetna, an ice planet (similar somewhat to Europa) that is home to a hydrogen mining operation. On that planet is Jack Halloway, who is doing his damndest to stay under the radar, out of the way, and in the process retain a degree of personal independence. In this case he does it by running a small smuggling operation bringing luxury goods into the colony. However, when a Unity executive by the name of Timothy Randall shows up on Aetna with his entourage, and ropes Jack into his plans on pain of death, things start going very bad, very fast, and it takes all of Jack’s craftiness and a lot of luck to get through this alive.
So, Jack Halloway is our viewpoint character, and our lens through which we view society in the Unity. The problem is that life in the Unity is pretty rough and dystopian, some elements of which Jack recognizes as bad, but others he accepts as normal, but I, the reader, see as negative, since I’m an outsider. This is especially the case for women in Unity society, and it clearly comes across that way in the book. However, for most of the book Jack doesn’t notice it, because it’s either not a problem for him, or he’s in a position to benefit from it – and by the time that changes in the book, there’s enough other stuff going on that other matters are pressing concerns, until the very end of the book.
Getting into the positives, Wecks creates an interesting cyberpunk-adjacent world here, a setting that gets into some of the elements of cyberpunk, but with the addition of interstellar travel. Where this gets interesting in particular is that most works of Cyberpunk don’t get much into what life in a corporate state is really like. Wecks gets into that. It’s all the worst parts of real world corporate politics, with a side of Robocop’s corporate politics as well.
Aetna Adrift did get me more interested in checking out some of the rest of the original Pax Imperium series, to see how well those books present the larger universe.
When I received Aetna Adrift from the author, Erik Wecks, at OryCon last year, I saw that the book was a prequel to another series of books that he’d put out – his Pax Imperium series. Before I accepted the book, I asked if he considered the book to be a decent jumping point to this series. He said it was. I was a little unsure, but I accepted the book anyway. The good news is that the book is. It starts on a rough foot, but once it really gets going, it makes for an enjoyable read.
The book is set at a somewhat unspecified point in the future. Humanity has traveled to the stars and has splintered into a series of various governments. One of these is the Unity Corporation – a totalitarian corporate state, with internal politics that can best be described as literally cut-throat.
Out in the ass end of the Unity is the planet Aetna, an ice planet (similar somewhat to Europa) that is home to a hydrogen mining operation. On that planet is Jack Halloway, who is doing his damndest to stay under the radar, out of the way, and in the process retain a degree of personal independence. In this case he does it by running a small smuggling operation bringing luxury goods into the colony. However, when a Unity executive by the name of Timothy Randall shows up on Aetna with his entourage, and ropes Jack into his plans on pain of death, things start going very bad, very fast, and it takes all of Jack’s craftiness and a lot of luck to get through this alive.
So, Jack Halloway is our viewpoint character, and our lens through which we view society in the Unity. The problem is that life in the Unity is pretty rough and dystopian, some elements of which Jack recognizes as bad, but others he accepts as normal, but I, the reader, see as negative, since I’m an outsider. This is especially the case for women in Unity society, and it clearly comes across that way in the book. However, for most of the book Jack doesn’t notice it, because it’s either not a problem for him, or he’s in a position to benefit from it – and by the time that changes in the book, there’s enough other stuff going on that other matters are pressing concerns, until the very end of the book.
Getting into the positives, Wecks creates an interesting cyberpunk-adjacent world here, a setting that gets into some of the elements of cyberpunk, but with the addition of interstellar travel. Where this gets interesting in particular is that most works of Cyberpunk don’t get much into what life in a corporate state is really like. Wecks gets into that. It’s all the worst parts of real world corporate politics, with a side of Robocop’s corporate politics as well.
Aetna Adrift did get me more interested in checking out some of the rest of the original Pax Imperium series, to see how well those books present the larger universe.
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