The year is 2086 and the planet is deteriorating fast. Extreme weather events and unseasonable climate have become the norm. Millions die of famine and drought each year and yet the population continues to grow, reaching well over 10 billion people. After millions of years of evolution, humanity faces collapse.
But all is not lost.
There is another planet, far from our solar system, which may be capable of supporting human life – Arcadia. Dr. Amber Lytton and Dr. Joel Carter, life-long friends and academic colleagues, along with a team of international scientists, are sent to determine if the planet is suitable for colonization.
But their awe and wonder at the similarities between Earth and Arcadia fade quickly as they learn they are not the only complex lifeforms to set foot on this planet. Sharing is not an option.
A scientific survey to determine whether a distant planet is suitable for colonization turns up unexpected results in Borg’s riveting debut. In the 2080s, Earth is rapidly becoming inhospitable for the overcrowded human population. Lifelong friends Amber Lytton, a behavioral ecologist, and Joel Carter, a paleozoologist, are tapped to join the second mission to survey Arcadia, a recently discovered planet with startling similarities to Earth. Borg interweaves scientific exposition with electric action scenes and satisfying plot twists as the team explores the planet and discovers what happened to the first team of scientists sent to Arcadia. Hair-raising encounters with dinosaurlike alien life forms and news from Earth that there’s a spy on the crew will have readers on tenterhooks. Borg crafts convincing characters and social conflict and offers a thoughtful examination of the mental frameworks by which humans shape assumptions when the team is confronted by evidence that they are not the only intelligent life on Arcadia. Exciting action, lively pacing, and a razor-sharp look at human fallibility make for a winning adventure. (Self-published)
