The downloaded

In the future, large segments of the population are put into cryogenic sleep, with their memories downloaded into a database. Hundreds of years later, people are starting to be automatically revived, only to discover that civilization has collapsed, the only survivors being those who had been frozen. As various people awaken--soldiers, astronauts, doctors, prisoners--they attempt to establish order while searching for the cause of the collapse. Sawyer (The Oppenheimer Alternative, 2020) tells the story from multiple first-person perspectives, allowing for an intimate interior narrative while expanding the story beyond any one character's point of view. Each character's narration centers on one aspect of world building--one narrator can focus on the problems faced by reviving cryonically frozen people, while another deals with the mystery of an apocalyptic event--eventually cohering into an overarching story. Sawyer is a refreshingly concise storyteller, moving things along at a brisk but unhurried pace, painting a complete picture without getting bogged down by superfluous details. He delivers a relatively short novel that proves more satisfying than many novels two or three times its length.

Hope wins out in this triumph of a postapocalyptic tale from Hugo and Nebula award winner Sawyer (The Oppenheimer Alternative). Capt. Letitia Garvey agreed to be cryogenically frozen for a 500-year space journey to a distant planet in hopes of colonizing a new home. Come the year 2548, Garvey awakens--only to discover that she and her crew of fellow astronauts never left Earth. Even worse, they and a group of convicts who recently awoke from their VR prison are the only survivors of an apocalyptic event. Earth is devastated and yet another calamity is on its way. Can these two disparate groups learn to work together to survive? Sawyer keeps the stakes climbing ever higher as he toggles between the perspectives of his disparate cast. A smattering of droll humor breaks up the gloom and plot twists aplenty keep the pages flying. Sci-fi fans will eat this up. Agent: Matt Kennedy, Startling Inc. (May)