Time's agent

An angst-ridden archaeologist tries to save her marriage in this sprawling cli-fi adventure from Peynado (Rock Eaters). Raquel Petra is an agent with the Global Institute for the Scientific and Humanistic Study of Pocket Worlds, or PWs. These alternate universes are often just a few kilometers wide, only accessible via hidden "doorpoints," and offer scientists a chance to study flora and fauna that have been wiped out on Earth. PWs have also attracted the attention of developers who see their potential as sites for affordable housing, cash crops, and even landfills. When Petra accidentally falls through a portal, she finds herself 40 years in the future. Her wife, biologist Marlena, is missing; their daughter, Atalanta, is dead; and corporations now control the PWs and hire agents to do their unethical bidding. Petra's search for Marlena takes her through PWs both strange and familiar--including the one where she and Marlena camped out on their first job together, which was once an ocean paradise but is now a near-airless trash heap. Peynado loosely sets the story in the Dominican Republic and makes ample use of Taino history for her worldbuilding. Despite those details, readers will have a tough time charting Petra's internal state and the shifting stakes of her mission as she darts between worlds. Though action-packed and well-imagined, this quest lacks a clear sense of purpose. (Aug.)

DEBUT Raquel Petra thinks she has it all. She's young, idealistic, and financially secure; she has a happy marriage, a beautiful daughter, a found family in her coworkers, and a job that is doing good in the world. But that perfect life is shattered when Raquel makes one tiny mistake that takes 40 years to even begin to fix. Raquel spends these years in a fast-time pocket world, while the real world spins out of control. Alone and grieving the loss of everyone and everything she knew, she puts together a desperate plan, not to fix things but to escape her present nightmare into a brave new world of her very own. There are huge, fascinating ideas laced throughout this story of shattering grief. Steeped in Peynado's Dominican culture, the novel's setting and its seemingly sudden destruction point to the evils of colonialism while demonstrating that this has all happened before and will again. Meanwhile, Raquel's archeological research into her country's destroyed history proves that hope and solutions can be found in unexpected times and places. VERDICT Fans of Carmen Maria Machado will find in this debut novelist a new author to follow every bit as voraciously.--Marlene Harris