Review: Broken Sky by John Harvey

Pushing the boundaries of YA science fiction, Broken Sky by John Harvey is the spectacular first installment of the Cirrus Chronicles saga.

A young mechanical genius who prefers the company of machines far more than people, Jack Scatter is a classic sci-fi protagonist – an outsider youth with untapped but impressive skills pulled into an epic adventure that will decide the fate of two worlds. One of those worlds is Cirrus, a massive Earth-like space station positioned on the opposite side of the Sun, where Jack lives, and the other is humanity’s home world itself, which is prophesied to end in a matter of weeks.

When Jack’s Earth-bound friend Ethan becomes a pal on Cirrus, their reunion is cut short by an urgent message from Ethan’s mother warning them to hide and avoid detection. Little do they know that a homicidal plot to bring Earth to its knees is already in motion, and they might be the only ones who can stop a calamity. The planetoid-owning villain, Pieter Reynard, is not only experimenting with dangerous portal technology to transport weapons and explosives across the cosmos, but is also using his prophetic and telekinetic powers to pull off the apocalyptic scheme.

Family secrets, hidden powers, and intergenerational grudges dramatically unfold 190 million miles from Earth, as this unlikely band of disconnected heroes takes on the embodied greed of the ruling class. Caught up in a conspiracy much larger than themselves, Jack, Ethan, and the rebellious Sarah must outmaneuver the merciless Corpsec forces trying to silence them, protect their families, and reveal the sinister truth of what life would be in a post-Earth solar system.

Tapping into contemporary fears of escaping from a dying planet, rather than trying to fix it, this novel is a thrilling piece of fiction, as well as a dire warning. The author highlights people’s evolving cleverness in the face of increased surveillance, directly echoing the present day, while the novel embodies the belief that every system can be corrupted – or beaten. Sci-fi readers will be familiar with the conceits of this imagined future, but the story never feels tired or recycled, especially due to the inclusion of supernatural abilities of certain characters, such as the Travelers’ ability to “remember” their future.

The subtle details of this future Earth and the Cirrus space station make the narrative remarkably immersive; the book’s technology is still decades or generations ahead of the real world, but the plot is grounded in the theoretical science of ring worlds, Dyson spheres, 3D printing, artificial gravity, and quantum physics. The blend of various sci-fi and sociological themes is compelling throughout, but the real major emotional power of the book comes from sincerely believable characters with authentic flaws facing increasingly difficult odds.

There are certain scenes that drag, and some expositional sequences could be cut without compromising the world-building, but these sluggish scenes are few and far between. On a technical level, some light proofreading could catch minor spelling errors or misused words, but the prose is generally well-edited, and the story moves at a good pace overall.

An original mix of apocalyptic, visionary, and hard science fiction, Broken Sky is a strikingly good YA novel with myriad plotlines that weave into an unpredictable sci-fi thriller.