Survival Game is the second novel in Gary Gibson’s Apocalypse trilogy, following on from events in the first book, Extinction Game (review). I really enjoyed Extinction Game back in 2014 when it was released, and recently re-read it in preparation for both Survival Game and the finale, Doomsday Game. I did read Survival Game on its release in 2016, but never wrote a review, and seeing as I was reading it again now I thought it was about time I put my thoughts on it into words, especially given how much I enjoyed my time in this multiverse once again.
The artefact destroyed an ancient civilization. But will they be next?
Katya is a scientist, working on a classified project for the Russian Empire. She’s also desperate. Her bosses want to exploit her knowledge and send her on an incredible, dangerous mission. And if she refuses, her father’s life will be forfeit.
Katya must retrieve an artefact that will grant new life to the dying Russian tsar. She’s therefore being sent deep undercover on an alternate version of Earth, to an American-controlled island. Here Borodin, the tsar’s spymaster, will be watching her.
On the island Katya and Jerry, an American adventurer, form an uneasy alliance. They discover the artefact will call down terror from the depths of space, yet Katya’s superiors refuse to listen. But Katya and Jerry’s worlds face extinction, so the artefact must be destroyed – at any cost. Two civilizations depend upon it.
As a little primer for those not familiar with these books, the setting is one with infinite parallel worlds, all accessed by use of ‘stages’, technological artefacts left behind by an advanced race of explorers who travelled through many of them. Extinction Game introduced us to the Authority, a government who found an abandoned stage on their home world, and learnt to use it to travel to other stages left behind on other alternate Earths. What they discover on these Earths is simply: each is the subject of its own apocalypse. With one alternate holding a safe refuge on Easter Island, the Authority sets up shop and recruits Pathfinders – the last humans from their own alternates and survivors of whatever apocalypse affected their home – in order to travel to and search the alternates they can access, all in the hope of finding a safe home.
Suffice to say that there is much more to discover about this setting, and Extinction Game does the job admirably. The question, then, is simple: what does Survival Game bring to the table?
Katya is a scientist in the Novo-Rossiyskaya Imperiya, a Russian empire spanning multiple alternates, and trying to evade the authorities after having escaped imprisonment with others, including her father, on a desolate alternate. Forced to work on the science of the Syllogikos – the mythical stage-builders – and specifically a broken artefact called the Hypersphere, she is on the run. But capture is just around the corner, and she is returned to enslavement on a project the dying Tsar deems more important than anything, one that promises an intact Hypersphere as a prize. With her captors in possession of knowledge of the Authority, and their seeming ignorance over what they have found and the existence of the Imperiya, Katya is inserted into their alternate as part of a team that may give her access to that treasured prize, one that can transfer the possessor to any alternate of their choosing simply by thinking of it. But the truth of the Hypersphere is more deadly than anyone can imagine…
With two civilisations of humanity taking centre stage in Survival Game, one with much more advanced knowledge of the science behind the stages, Gibson sets the scene for a very interesting story. Katya is the protagonist of our tale, coming from the more advanced Russian Imperiya, and the story is told through her eyes. We learn quickly that she doesn’t agree with what she must do, or the goal of the Tsar, but is backed into a corner from which she cannot escape. We also see just how much knowledge she has of the Syllogikos compared to those in the Authority, yet there is much Gibson presents that is new to her. However, we also meet old friends from the Pathfinders, and specifically Jerry, the main protagonist from Extinction Game. The relationship that develops between him and Katya is fascinating, and the way it evolves as the story progresses is part of what make Survival Game so good.
All of this is an interesting way to move the story forward, given what we learnt during Extinction Game and where it finished. Introducing another civilisation that travels to alternates, especially one that has a much better understanding of the Syllogikos and their stages, adds a new dynamic. As a reader, learning more about this setting from page one is enormously satisfying, and yet there continue to be so many questions stemming from aspects of the story, all because the central idea is so fascinating.
The ending of Survival Game leaves plenty of scope for another story, and one that will finally be told in Doomsday Game. I, for one, am extremely excited to see what Gibson has in store, and how he brings together elements from both books to date. This series is science fiction at its best: wonderful settings, bucket loads of imaginations, and excellent characters. Highly recommended.
Publisher: Tor UK
Author: https://www.garygibson.net
August 2016, 352 Pages
Hardcover, ISBN: 9780230772779
Review copy received from the publisher
© 2019 Mark Chitty | @chitman13
