Centricity (Centricity Cycle: Book One) by Nathaniel Henderson; Involved, Immersive, and Expansive First Volume of Epic Science Fiction Series

 

Centricity (Centricity Cycle: Book One) by Nathaniel Henderson; Involved, Immersive, and Expansive First Volume of Epic Science Fiction Series

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Nathaniel Henderson's Centricity is a very complicated Science Fiction novel. It's expansive, involved, is filled with technological and scientific jargon, and has various characters and plots. It's the type of book that forces you to pay attention, sometimes read and reread various chapters to understand character motives and actions. However, that's what makes it a great novel. Because of this complexity, it is a book in which the Reader not so much reads but dives into and submerges themselves into. Thus creating an almost immersive experience.

There are various things going on so Centricity is something of a chore to summarize, but I shall try my best to recount the various plots and subplots. The setting is a place called Naion in the distant future. (Historical information reveals that this is future Earth and that Naion itself might be a newly formed North America, but nothing is officially confirmed. Their timeline is even set in 278, past a time called the Foundation.)

A courier called Ekram is caught in the middle of the kidnapping of Yiju Gainen, an ambassador's daughter when both he and the girl are killed in a struggle between corporate representatives. The media has portrayed Ekram as a ruthless psychopath, but there are hints that there is a bigger conspiracy and authorities are content with laying the blame solely on Ekram.(The first chapter reveals that he was a naive patsy in over his head and didn't even know that the "package" that he was hired to transport was a young girl before he saw her for the first time.) 

This case among others are being investigated by the Civil Protection and Compliance Agency (CAPCA), particularly Interagency Coordination Manager, Adasha Denali. Adasha is not only investigating what went wrong with the kidnapping, but also the circumstances surrounding the death of her mentor and possible lover, Gabriel Bachsare. Her investigation into Gabriel's tracks reveals that he may be hiding a felonious past.

Fellow CAPCA agent, Tenu Rown, is the sole survivor of an attack that left his regiment dead or in the case of his lover, Maria Salvatore, captured and tortured by Scott Voros, a sinister mercenary for a giant corporate entity, Alkanost Security.

 Meanwhile, reengineer and drug addict, Kannik "Nik '' Amlin learns that his surrogate father, Daal Ormonde, is dead and he is brutally interrogated for Daal's death. While trying to earn some money, take drugs, and learn who killed Daal, Nik finds himself the target of sinister figures who track him through cyberspace. These various investigations reveal the existence of an important piece of hardware called the Acorn, which is very valuable and very dangerous. Like I said, it's a complex book.

Centricity is the type of Science Fiction novel that great care went into world building including Naion's history, economics, government, social standings, technology, and culture. Naion is a world of a strict hierarchy with the 1 percenters living on top in high rises and the rest living down below. Corporate control divided parts of the world so many of the government workers are in charge in name only with CEO's making the final say.  Unemployment, poverty, and violence are regular events so many of the impoverished numb themselves with drugs and more violence, doing any illegal activity for pay and these corporate reps will pay. While CAPCA is considered law enforcement, the "white suits" are generally mistrusted and resort to sometimes brutal means to obtain information.

What is paramount in Naion's society is that everyone has cyber implants, called nimphs, connected to their brains. Information can be downloaded and appear right in front of the user. One user can have a public conversation with one person and a private separate one with another as Adasha shows in one passage. (Though there are implications that these conversations are not as private as initially believed.) If a character wants to get away, they can experience a total augmented reality with all five senses as Nik does in a vibrant almost hallucinatory chapter. This augmented reality can become an addiction and the book does not skimp on the comparison. Naoin's technology is like social media/VR times 1,000.

It's clear that Henderson was inspired by the cyberpunk works of Phillip K. Dick and William Gibson, particularly Blade Runner and Neuromancer. Henderson took those works and gave them a 21st century outlook making futuristic comparisons to this current life of income inequality, corporate control, and the over abundance and saturation of technology. The difference between Henderson and his forebears is that people like Dick and Gibson had to imagine that world to come. Henderson only has to read the news and tweak it a little to fit his futuristic setting.

Besides Henderson's impressive world building, he also gives memorable characters to inhabit Naion. His two best characters are Adasha and Nik. They reveal the huge gulf between characters on opposite ends of the socioeconomic divide. Indeed, their particular stories don't even really converge until late in the book when they are at the same location and even then, they don't see each other or share a word of dialogue between them.  

Adasha represents the people on top. She is wealthy with an important title in which she worked hard to obtain. Her family is well connected and includes a sister who is a rising politician. When she gives orders and asks questions, she gets answers. 

Adasha sometimes questions the strict regulations that CAPCA has over them and tries to investigate within the perimeters. However, sometimes she has to bend and break the rules when she learns about the various cover ups. Her discoveries cause her to question the people around her and to travel incognito to find out what she needs without interference. Adasha is a highly intelligent, rational, strong woman  who fights with brain and muscles. She will research a problem and fight anyone who gets in her way. 

If Adasha represents the upper class, Nik represents the lower. He scrambles to do technological work for pay and can't afford to turn anyone down. These jobs often get him involved in some dangerous, painful, and potentially fatal situations such as looking for the missing friend of the woman that he loves. He is just one of the many cogs drifting along in clubs and augmented reality to soothe their hunger, homelessness, and aimless lives. The only family that he has are a mentally ill mother and some men, including Daal, who were friends of his late father's. He is alone in the world and senses that if he disappeared, no one would care. Nik loses himself in drugs and simulations because his real life is so meaningless and terrible.

While Adasha has her name and prominence to speak for her, Nik has only his technological skills. He searches multiple networks, bypassing and hacking his way through firewalls and fail-safes, to find the right nugget of information. Unfortunately, these searches take a great toll on his health and safety. In one chapter, he is overwhelmed by the information that almost causes his nimph to burn out. In another chapter, he downloads something directly into his nimph and his demeanor afterwards suggests that he will be overcome by mental illness from his inability to handle what he learned.

In their different ways and experiences, Nik and Adasha reveal a troubled society that is on the verge of tyranny and collapse and requires some to challenge and rebel against it. Maybe Nik and Adasha are those rebels.

Centricity leaves some questions unanswered and some plot points unresolved leaving those outcomes for future volumes in the series. It may be hard to top Book #1. Centricity is a total immersive complex experience that results in the best Science Fiction novel of the year so far.