Engines of Oblivion

December 21, 2020
The clever, intricately constructed second space opera in Osborne’s Memory War series successfully builds on 2020’s Architects of Memory, returning to a far future wherein the human populated sectors of the galaxy are controlled by corporations, and humanity is threatened by the presence of the Vai, an advanced alien race. Despite the devastation the Vai have wrought, they have gained a faction of human supporters who claim that the aliens’ cooperative society would be a worthy model for humanity to emulate. Against this backdrop, Natalie Chan must confront the consequences of a major lie she told her employers, the Aurora corporation. In the previous volume, Chan’s friend Ashlan Jackson, an indentured miner, was transformed into “the most desired weapon in the world” to combat the Vai, and Chan falsely reported that Jackson had died in an accident instead of bringing her in to Aurora’s higher ups. But when Aurora’s corporate board detects Jackson’s heartbeat, they order Chan to retrieve her from the planet Tribulation. Newcomers will need some patience untangling the backstory, but once oriented, the gripping retrieval mission will win them over. Series fans and lovers of James S.A. Corey’s Expanse novels will be thrilled.

Starred review from January 1, 2021

Natalie Chan has finally achieved her greatest desire: corporate citizenship. It came at the cost of her crew, her friends, and almost her own life during the battle on Tribulation. Now with memory damage after that battle, she still works for Aurora and soon discovers she cannot leave her past behind. Her brain contains secrets that would give Aurora the power to turn the tide in the war against the Vai, and they will do anything to have it. Natalie must team up with an untrustworthy partner and discover a way to protect the truth from the ones who will exploit it for their own benefit. Natalie is a wonderfully gray character and this novel gives her an emotionally rich and deep growth arc. Calls back to characters in the last book tie together some of the looser ends, and the ending twist is unique and satisfying. VERDICT Osborne's follow-up to Architects of Memory is a solid story of corporate control versus personhood, alien encounters, and doing what is right as opposed to what is easy.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

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