by Jack Campbell
Titan, 2024. 383 pages. Science fiction
Book #1 in the "Doomed Earth" series
Earth, 2180. Genetically engineered with partly alien DNA, Lieutenant Selene Genji is different from ordinary humans. And they hate her for it. Still, she’s spent her life trying to overcome society’s prejudice by serving in the Unified Fleet while Earth’s international order collapses into war. Genji is stationed on a ship in orbit when humanity’s factional extremism on the planet reaches a boiling point, and she witnesses the utter annihilation of Earth. When the massive forces unleashed by Earth’s death warp space and time to hurl her forty years into the past, Genji is given a chance to try to change the future and save Earth—starting with the alien first contact only she knows will soon occur. But altering history could put her very existence in danger.
Campbell has written a fast-paced story with likeable characters. The social commentary was veiled a bit thinly at times, but it didn't detract from the plot. To say it ends on a cliffhanger is an understatement: rather, it ends in the middle of the story, which is difficult because the sequel has not been released at the time of reading.