ALT
by Aleksandar Nedeljkovic
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Pub Date Apr 22 2022 | Archive Date Mar 15 2023
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Description
ALT offers a glimpse into a perilous near-future version of our world—one we feared would come for us but desperately tried to ignore.
Civilization has entered a nearly irrevocable downward spiral following a history of misguided priorities and the corrosive effects of unchecked greed, political polarization, our reckless dependence on fossil fuels, and a flagrant disregard for the importance of maintaining a harmonic balance with nature.
Our last hopes lie in Sundance—a radical new technology aimed at harnessing solar energy through artificial photosynthesis—but time is running out. Sundance's original design was destroyed under suspicious circumstances along with its inventor, Augustus Smith. An intrepid band of scientists attempting to resurrect the project have called upon Augustus’s son, Theo Smith, a brilliant computer scientist, to help—but dark forces threaten to stand in the way.
At its core, ALT is a warning about what awaits us if we fail to rein in our worst impulses and examine the unintended consequences of technological development, and ignore the signs of a planet in crisis. It's also a plea for change—so we can hand down a better version of the world to future generations.
Advance Praise
“An engrossing dystopian tale… Nedeljkovic excels at worldbuilding, creating a future that’s harrowing and plausible. A lengthy coda trails the climax, offering resolution for most of the cast and a sublime ending."
Kirkus Reviews
"ALT is a big novel… Aleksandar Nedeljkovic doesn't baby down the tech talk and writes in a style reminiscent of Tom Clancy, with a grip on the technology that does not require much suspension of disbelief and a “bells and missiles” approach to action. At its core, ALT is a science fiction thriller, and a distinctively good one at that."
Readers’ Favorite
"A powerful saga that is hard to put down, spinning a realistic story of opportunity, anguish, and the fallout between individual sacrifice and social preservation.”
D. Donovan, Midwest Book Review
“With his debut novel ALT, Nedeljkovic has achieved a riveting, suspenseful science fiction tale full of twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing until the epic conclusion.”
Feathered Qill
“We need fiction that conveys alternative and utopian ideas like this one, as it can inspire individuals and communities – and ultimately help shed some light in the face of crises such as climate change.”
earth.org
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9781639882656 |
| PRICE | $7.99 (USD) |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Peter B, Reviewer
ALT is a climate crisis future adventure novel, Young Adult adjacent (one of its lead characters is a teen), which does some decent world-building but appears to leap from set-up to wrap up with barely any middle. In many ways this is admirable, there really isn't much fat on this thing. But having been trained to expect picaresque adventures and complications along the way, it felt a little calorie-free to me.
Perhaps this is because of the time it takes over its set-up. It is mainly show not tell, as we join a future world where energy is running out, and renewables are not keeping up. There are enclaves of 1%-ers who have power, but everyone else gets by with rolling brown-out and the older generation moans that computers and the internet were on all the time when they were younger. Policing has been outsourced to private security firms, creating a different kind of corruption. At the heart of the story is Theo Smith's family - he is a data and computer expert tasked with trying to retroactively discover his father's energy breakthrough technology which die with him (yup - big oil up to their old tricks). He and his wife are kidnapped to work for a private firm, the son gets away. And so we follow the desperate attempts of the son to stay out of the clutches of the baddie, and watch a firm trying to coerce someone to work for them via torture.
Much of this doesn't really work objectively, the kidnap scheme is about a wholly different kind of technology, and the subplot about a global e-sport version of what is basically Civilization is clunky. The problem structurally comes in with the introduction of the operative who will rescue the whole Smith family, not only is he given a strange wannabe nuclear family subplot but he is far too competent. Both rescues basically happen without a hiccup, leading to an anticlimactic wrap-up. Yet at the same time, the book is propulsively written and is peppered with good world-building and attractive characters. I rarely want a book to be longer, but in this case, it felt like it could have done with a bit more sandwich filling. A decent if too quick read.
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