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Echoes of Tomorrow #2
Hubris Rising
Nineteen years after humanity’s last hope took root on DaVinci, Phoebe Makinde lives in the shadow of her mother’s legend. Genetically engineered to survive the alien Bloom, Phoebe should embody the colony’s future. Instead, she’s plagued by migraines, seizures, and a gnawing sense she’ll never measure up.
While her peers choose careers and partners, Phoebe drifts between jobs, befriending the Hyperionites, outcast descendants of a failed colony who have spliced alien DNA into their blood. To the rest of humanity, they’re abominations. To Phoebe, they’re the only ones who understand what it means to be different.
Everything changes when she meets Atlas, a boy from the anti-science Naturalist domes. He should be her enemy. His people condemn genetic modification as heresy. Yet Atlas carries a rare mutation that lets him survive outside the domes without alteration, a “Divine Blueprint” his leaders claim proves their purity. Drawn together by forbidden attraction, Phoebe and Atlas uncover a truth both their peoples have buried in lies.
But the past won’t stay buried. Survivors of DaVinci’s first, failed settlement emerge from hiding, and bring with them a brain-ravaging plague that pushes colonists into madness and violence. As fear spreads and factions turn on each other, Phoebe discovers her mother may be secretly working with the very zealots who want her kind erased.
With time running out and her own body betraying her, Phoebe must decide where her loyalty with the mother who created her, the boy who should be her enemy, or a fractured humanity racing toward extinction.
For fans of Neal Stephenson, Blake Crouch, and Gattaca, Hubris Rising is a sweeping tale of forbidden love, genetic destiny, and the battle to define what it means to be human.
While her peers choose careers and partners, Phoebe drifts between jobs, befriending the Hyperionites, outcast descendants of a failed colony who have spliced alien DNA into their blood. To the rest of humanity, they’re abominations. To Phoebe, they’re the only ones who understand what it means to be different.
Everything changes when she meets Atlas, a boy from the anti-science Naturalist domes. He should be her enemy. His people condemn genetic modification as heresy. Yet Atlas carries a rare mutation that lets him survive outside the domes without alteration, a “Divine Blueprint” his leaders claim proves their purity. Drawn together by forbidden attraction, Phoebe and Atlas uncover a truth both their peoples have buried in lies.
But the past won’t stay buried. Survivors of DaVinci’s first, failed settlement emerge from hiding, and bring with them a brain-ravaging plague that pushes colonists into madness and violence. As fear spreads and factions turn on each other, Phoebe discovers her mother may be secretly working with the very zealots who want her kind erased.
With time running out and her own body betraying her, Phoebe must decide where her loyalty with the mother who created her, the boy who should be her enemy, or a fractured humanity racing toward extinction.
For fans of Neal Stephenson, Blake Crouch, and Gattaca, Hubris Rising is a sweeping tale of forbidden love, genetic destiny, and the battle to define what it means to be human.
452 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 10, 2025
About the author
Alexander Titus
5 books6 followersTitus is a scientist, strategist, and storyteller working at the edge of technology, where humanity itself is the experiment. Through his novels, he explores how science reshapes not only our tools, but our values, choices, and future as a species. His career spans biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and global innovation, giving his fiction both authenticity and urgency. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, Maggie, where he writes, builds, and ventures into the wild.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 14, 2025
I received an ARC for this book!
A sequel that I enjoyed even more than the original. It addressed a lot of the aspects of the first book that I was most interested in and also left enough open for a potential book 3. I wish there had been more world-building, but what was offered was really illustrative, and the character development was center-stage.
A sequel that I enjoyed even more than the original. It addressed a lot of the aspects of the first book that I was most interested in and also left enough open for a potential book 3. I wish there had been more world-building, but what was offered was really illustrative, and the character development was center-stage.
February 22, 2026
Oh, the irony of the title of this book. I'm not sure the hubris of the characters outweighed the hubris of the authors in rapid releasing book 2 without bothering to check basic continuity with book one. This would almost work better as a standalone, but I don't think the world building holds up if you haven't read book 1. Of course, it doesn't hold up in this book either, since there are so many inconsistencies I almost gave up.
Probably the most egregious is the way the timeline was slaughtered.
The blurb states this book occurs 19 years after the colonists landed on DaVinci.
Phoebe is 17 years old in this book, and she was about 18 months old at the end of book one. She was also the eldest child in the colony. Leila's son was born at the end of book 1, and some of the other children were just getting pregnant. Making Phoebe at least 3 years older than every other child.
Which means Atlas could only be 14.
Which is gross.
Also, for a colony that was so desperate to repopulate before the fertile windows closed, it was excessively surprising that Renata only had young twins, and was only jusy (nearly 20 years later), pregnant with another child. Ayesha only had one baby. Leila, who was so desperate to be a mother in book 1, that it bordered on obsession, has become the colony doctor, and her child is mentioned a total of zero times. I'm assuming she didn't have any other children.
Ayesha is described as holding control over her group for "decades" when the schism occurred at the end of book 1 (about 15.5. years ago).
Someone comments that Phoebe wasn't alive to see the schism occur, when she was actually the cause of it. She was an 18 month old baby, who Ayesha's group attempted to kidnap, was saved by the Hyperionites, and then there was a battle before the schism occurred.
Also, in book one, the colony (and mankind) was almost wiped out by "the Bloom," they had run out of immunosuppressants, and were making their own anti fungals, but, all of a sudden, not only does the colony have the materials to build a bubble town, they also have a never ending supply of immunosuppressants.
Lucas barely comes into the story, and his secret lab, established in the epilogue of book 1, only makes a reappearance in the epilogue of book 2, with no indication of what it was for.
Oh, Phoebe falls pregnant, and less than a day later, Lucas is not only able to sense that she's pregnant, but also save the embryo.
Phoebe and Atlas meet, and, I think (it was hard to keep track), they were in love almost immediately, and planning to get married in about a week or two.
The whole situation with the prions wasn't really resolved, but I'm sure it will be hand waved away in book 3.
I'm sorry. I hate to rag on another author's book, but I felt so disrespected by this book, which I paid money for. If the author doesn't care enough about their world and their characters to check the most basic facts against their own timeline, I feel like people need to be warned before they spend their money.
The sad thing is, this was a premise I could have really enjoyed, and I didn't even mind the characters (although it would have been good if they had had space to breathe). Also, when the characters are making stupid decisions for no reason, it leaves me wanting to pull my hair out.
Fair warning: this book did not end happily, so don't go in expecting sunshine and roses.
Probably the most egregious is the way the timeline was slaughtered.
The blurb states this book occurs 19 years after the colonists landed on DaVinci.
Phoebe is 17 years old in this book, and she was about 18 months old at the end of book one. She was also the eldest child in the colony. Leila's son was born at the end of book 1, and some of the other children were just getting pregnant. Making Phoebe at least 3 years older than every other child.
Which means Atlas could only be 14.
Which is gross.
Also, for a colony that was so desperate to repopulate before the fertile windows closed, it was excessively surprising that Renata only had young twins, and was only jusy (nearly 20 years later), pregnant with another child. Ayesha only had one baby. Leila, who was so desperate to be a mother in book 1, that it bordered on obsession, has become the colony doctor, and her child is mentioned a total of zero times. I'm assuming she didn't have any other children.
Ayesha is described as holding control over her group for "decades" when the schism occurred at the end of book 1 (about 15.5. years ago).
Someone comments that Phoebe wasn't alive to see the schism occur, when she was actually the cause of it. She was an 18 month old baby, who Ayesha's group attempted to kidnap, was saved by the Hyperionites, and then there was a battle before the schism occurred.
Also, in book one, the colony (and mankind) was almost wiped out by "the Bloom," they had run out of immunosuppressants, and were making their own anti fungals, but, all of a sudden, not only does the colony have the materials to build a bubble town, they also have a never ending supply of immunosuppressants.
Lucas barely comes into the story, and his secret lab, established in the epilogue of book 1, only makes a reappearance in the epilogue of book 2, with no indication of what it was for.
Oh, Phoebe falls pregnant, and less than a day later, Lucas is not only able to sense that she's pregnant, but also save the embryo.
Phoebe and Atlas meet, and, I think (it was hard to keep track), they were in love almost immediately, and planning to get married in about a week or two.
The whole situation with the prions wasn't really resolved, but I'm sure it will be hand waved away in book 3.
I'm sorry. I hate to rag on another author's book, but I felt so disrespected by this book, which I paid money for. If the author doesn't care enough about their world and their characters to check the most basic facts against their own timeline, I feel like people need to be warned before they spend their money.
The sad thing is, this was a premise I could have really enjoyed, and I didn't even mind the characters (although it would have been good if they had had space to breathe). Also, when the characters are making stupid decisions for no reason, it leaves me wanting to pull my hair out.
Fair warning: this book did not end happily, so don't go in expecting sunshine and roses.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 4, 2025
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest evaluation of its merits.
Much of this book I enjoyed. There was definite tension throughout and you didn't know the fate of the protagonist until the end. You had two warring factions with a pair of star-crossed lovers trapped in the middle (the self-referential nature of this relationship was perhaps a bit much, but that may be just me). And the ending left me wanting more.
My problems with the book is that I haven't read the first volume in the series and I was not a fan of the decisions the author made because I didn't have the proper context. I am never going to be a fan of the faith versus science trope where faith is always wrong and science is always right (and even when it's wrong it's right). I am not saying my perception of this story
line would have changed had I read the first volume, but having it explained more thoroughly would have helped.
My second problem is that the fate of the secondary characters, about whom I was drawn to, are in service to that of the protagonist so much so that, considering her fate, I was disappointed. Again, the author sets up sequel book quite obviously with the end (and if there is no third book coming the first two seem to be a wasted effort), but, while I was intrigued by Phoebe, I was as interested, or perhaps more interested, in these other characters.
Then again, my concerns would be akin to watching "The Empire Strikes Back" and saying, "I don't really care about this whiny fella named Luke Skywalker. Why can't they give me more Han Solo? He's the obvious star here." I suppose my admonition would be to read all the books of the series in order to get the full effect.
Much of this book I enjoyed. There was definite tension throughout and you didn't know the fate of the protagonist until the end. You had two warring factions with a pair of star-crossed lovers trapped in the middle (the self-referential nature of this relationship was perhaps a bit much, but that may be just me). And the ending left me wanting more.
My problems with the book is that I haven't read the first volume in the series and I was not a fan of the decisions the author made because I didn't have the proper context. I am never going to be a fan of the faith versus science trope where faith is always wrong and science is always right (and even when it's wrong it's right). I am not saying my perception of this story
line would have changed had I read the first volume, but having it explained more thoroughly would have helped.
My second problem is that the fate of the secondary characters, about whom I was drawn to, are in service to that of the protagonist so much so that, considering her fate, I was disappointed. Again, the author sets up sequel book quite obviously with the end (and if there is no third book coming the first two seem to be a wasted effort), but, while I was intrigued by Phoebe, I was as interested, or perhaps more interested, in these other characters.
Then again, my concerns would be akin to watching "The Empire Strikes Back" and saying, "I don't really care about this whiny fella named Luke Skywalker. Why can't they give me more Han Solo? He's the obvious star here." I suppose my admonition would be to read all the books of the series in order to get the full effect.
October 26, 2025
The second book in the series is just as engaging as the first. The continuing development of the colonies and the new relationships developed keep the reader vested in the characters. A brilliant combination of real science, science fiction, and real world problems, make for an enticing tale. The ending of Hubris Rising surprised me, but left me wanting to know what the future holds for the DaVinci colonies. NI'm excited for the next installment!
September 24, 2025
So far in the book I'm really enjoying it. The writing is great, the exposition is delivered perfectly and without information dump on the world and it's history. The characters are good the dialogue between them is great. The plot, motivations and arcs are really done well. It's a very engaging and entertaining read.
November 9, 2025
When you read this story you are forced to play the devils advocate. You are taken along for the journey of science over naturalism. Which is the right way for a future; any future.
I found myself on both sides; maybe even riding the fence with a bit of each being acceptable.
Hated the ending; no hea here.
I found myself on both sides; maybe even riding the fence with a bit of each being acceptable.
Hated the ending; no hea here.
October 10, 2025
I’m LOVING this book! Most of the way done, definitely will finish today. The problems faced by the settler colony are futuristic while rooted in current day issues. I’m looking forward to seeing how the drama plays out!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews