The Recorder

McCrumb’s stirring debut and Children of the Consortium trilogy launch features an unusual, nameless heroine, who was gifted to a totalitarian far-future government in utero to become one of its “recorders,” mentally implanted, drone-controlled thought police who, deprived of all human emotion, observe, report, and assess the activities of all other citizens. Her first assignment after completing training is a space station rescue mission that goes horribly wrong: most of the station’s occupants are already dead, and the drone that controls the heroine is destroyed by a giant cockroach, leaving her vulnerable to forbidden emotions. She begins to feel for the civilian members of the rescue crew, who gradually befriend her despite her off-putting chilliness, among them a young man who comes to care for her deeply. She also uncovers a mystery involving murder and sabotage, which her developing human morality forces her to solve, even at the risk of her own destruction. McCrumb achieves a fascinating coming-of-age story in a convincing far-future technical milieu containing credible characters with consistent and powerful motivations. Readers looking for hard science fiction with heart should snap this up. (Nov.)