Doomsday Game is the third entry in Gary Gibson’s Apocalypse series. The first two books, Extinction Game (review) and Survival Game (review), were published through Tor UK, while Doomsday Game is the third novel of the series and one that Gibson self-published following the end of his contract with Tor UK. I really enjoyed the first two novels in the multiverse that Gibson has created, and I’ve been eager to see where he would take the story in the concluding volume of this trilogy.
It’s the end of the world…again.
Over the years, the Pathfinders – each the sole survivor of a humanity-destroying apocalypse, but on different alternate Earths – have become a tight-knit team as they search for an alternate they, along with the Authority, might one day call home.
Now, at last, one has been found: an untrammeled alternate Earth on which humanity never evolved.
It can’t come soon enough. The polluted and mostly lifeless alternate on which the Pathfinders have made a comfortable, if temporary home, is no longer as safe as it was.
But just when their work seems over, new threats emerge. One comes from within the Authority itself, but the other is so completely unexpected that the Pathfinders are quickly overwhelmed. The race is on to deal with the final – and greatest – threat this rag-tag band of survivors have yet faced as they journey through alternate Earths rendered lifeless by rogue singularities or littered with ancient and perilous ruins. Faced with their own extinction, can they pull together one last time…as well as save the Authority from itself?
The Pathfinder’s base on an alternate Easter Island is slowly becoming less hospitable, with the cause of that planet’s apocalypse now making its way there. Knowing time is nearly up, the Authority has a fresh new Earth, Nova Terra, available for rehousing its population. But politics on their world mean that they are unwilling to share information with other countries. Katya, a scientist from the Novo-Rossiyskaya Imperiya, and the only expert on the stages and their technology, does not approve of this, and she’s taken matters into her own hands by contacting other governments to supply the stage transfer technology. Amidst this the Authority are still seeking a working Hypersphere, a deadly device that can take the user to any alternate they can imagine, but brings an enemy that tracks its use and destroys all it finds. When an explosion at the Authority’s facility injures Katya and other Authority politicians and puts antimatter production back, those working for their own goals come forward to do what they feel is best regardless of cost. But that’s not the only danger, and an unexpected incursion on Easter Island puts everyone at risk. It’s down to the remaining Pathfinders to not only help the Authority, but to save its world before an apocalypse befalls another civilisation…
Where Extinction Game and Survival Game opened a rich and vast plethora of alternate Earths, each with differing extinction events, Doomsday Game brings the focus sharply back to the Pathfinders and, to an extent, the Authority. With the base on Easter Island under attack, Gibson uses familiar characters and details from previous novels to rack up the tension, letting the reader know that things are going to get messy. There’s the constant question of what will happen, will the Pathfinders and Authority succeed in driving off the imminent threat, and beyond that survive into the future. This is particularly true for the Pathfinders, as they’ve never been treated quite right by the Authority and have the constant worry of what will be done with them.
Interspersed with these events we visit and revisit some alternates, giving a glimpse into the multiverse of previous novels, but never quite dwelling on them. Gibson also drops an interesting detail in while here, and while it begs for further development, it’s something that’s seemingly forgotten for most of the novel. It’s a frustrating aspect for many reasons, yet some answers are given before the final page turns.
Ultimately Doomsday Game doesn’t quite match up to the first two novels in terms of its scope, but doubles down on the characters we know, and lets them carry us through the events. With a multiverse rich with possibilities, this is a little disappointing, especially given how well he incorporated this in Extinction Game and Survival Game. As a fan of these books and characters I did come away with a sense of completion and satisfaction, yet was left wondering just what else might be out there to discover…
Author: Gary Gibson
May 2019, 306 Pages
Ebook, ASIN: B07PYW77SK
Review copy received from the author
© 2020 Mark Chitty | @chitman13
