Joe Vasicek, $2.99, ISBN 978-1005368166
Sci-fi, 2021
Joe Vasicek’s The End of Elysium presents an intriguing scenario: would one prefer to live in a false paradise or face reality? On paper, false paradise seems like a great choice, but I personally feel that too much happiness can turn toxic fast, or that without any darker elements to balance out or counter the lighter ones in our lives, the concept of paradise becomes meaningless. That seems to be the message that the author is trying to present here too.
In a planet called Gehenna, a catastrophic event causes a colony of humans to bunker underground. As years and decades pass, these people create a simulation of the perfect life in a perfect world, called Elysium, and they are all plugged into this world in a perpetual dream-like state: always young, always beautiful, always happy.
Only one person has climbed out to see what is above the ground, and this Watchman, an old man at the end of his life, beseeches Ranger, who will soon inherit his post, to keep using their decrepit drone to scout for signs of life. The servers that allow Elysium to run are slowly breaking down and apart, and the Watchman wants Ranger to find a different, hopefully better way for their people to continue living after Elysium is no more.
It takes years, but Ranger eventually spots a human footprint… and the drone dies after, much to his dismay. He asks the leaders to let him go up and explore the world himself, but surprise, these people would rather have everyone live in a false paradise and some of them will go through extreme lengths to make sure that the current status quo remains.
Now, I can’t say that this story is altogether original, but it is a well-written and deftly paced story that delivers a taut, sometimes suspenseful, sometimes anxiety-laden tale without missing a beat.
The only misstep I feel the author has done, and it’s one big enough to make me wince, is to have the overdone shtick of a female character always being snappy, sassy, and sarcastic regardless of whether the situation calls for such stale “I’m auditioning to be in the MCU” act.
Still, this is a solid story that does most things right, and it is a pretty good read as a result.
