The Downloaded

Hope wins out in this triumph of a postapocalyptic tale from Hugo and Nebula award winner Sawyer (The Oppenheimer Alternative). Capt. Letitia Garvey agreed to be cryogenically frozen for a 500-year space journey to a distant planet in hopes of colonizing a new home. Come the year 2548, Garvey awakens—only to discover that she and her crew of fellow astronauts never left Earth. Even worse, they and a group of convicts who recently awoke from their VR prison are the only survivors of an apocalyptic event. Earth is devastated and yet another calamity is on its way. Can these two disparate groups learn to work together to survive? Sawyer keeps the stakes climbing ever higher as he toggles between the perspectives of his disparate cast. A smattering of droll humor breaks up the gloom and plot twists aplenty keep the pages flying. Sci-fi fans will eat this up. Agent: Matt Kennedy, Startling Inc. (May)