Book Review: The Marsco Dissident by James A. Zarzana
It’s a Marsco world.
Much has changed by the last years of the 21st Century. The rot started to set in with the Abandonment Policy (euphemized as “Divestiture”) where countries with prosperous sections and not-so-prosperous bits split off the not-prosperous sectors as “another country now, not our responsibility” and shoved any citizens they didn’t want to keep for whatever reason into the new Unincorporated Zones. (It’s implied that even the United States did this on an unofficial basis.) The new rich countries became the Continental Powers, while the castoffs became PRIMS.
Meanwhile, an IT startup ambitiously named “Marsco” grew into a cross between Microsoft, the Union and Pacific, and United Fruit Company. Yes, it did eventually get to Mars, and its innovative finger disc cybernetic implants became the new status symbol. As part of its philanthropic aims, it became the primary benefactor of PRIMS, providing food rations, some medical care, etc.
A Luddite movement also grew, primarily among the PRIMS who found themselves shut out of the modern world, starving and ridden with cure-resistant diseases. It also found favor among some in the CP, and even associates of Marsco itself.
Eventually, the Continental Powers decided that Marsco was too powerful, and tried to nationalize it. This was a huge mistake as the megacorporation had designed all their computers, had its own armed forces and the advantage of operating from space. They even got PRIM armies on their side. If that wasn’t enough, the more violent strains of the Luddites took advantage of the chaos to destroy or infect any high technology they could reach.
Now, Marsco rules what’s left of Earth’s population, just as a temporary measure until the locals can get back on their feet. Except that it’s been a generation, and Marsco control doesn’t seem to be going away, and the Unincorporated Areas aren’t getting any better. Certain people are beginning to realize that Marsco isn’t the solution anymore, it’s the problem….
This book is the first in a series planned for four volumes, the “Marsco Saga.” It’s serious about the “saga” part; months or years often pass between segments of the story and I suspect by the end we’ll be reading about the grandchildren of the current characters. It’s been a while since I’ve read a science fiction book that fits more into the “future history” subgenre than action.
The dissident of the title is Dr. Walter Miller, formerly one of Marsco’s most brilliant engineers, but now on an extended sabbatical on his independent farm/research facility in what used to be the Sacramento Valley. The first few chapters concern a visit to him by his daughter, Professor Tessa Miller, who teaches at a Marsco academy. Her journey across Sac City to his grange has some interesting world-building, but then there’s no sign of a plot for a while.
Abruptly, we switch to a shuttle in the asteroid belt, and an entirely different set of characters for several chapters. Not all of the crew or passengers manage to survive the sudden emergence of plot.
And then, it’s months later in a different part of the asteroid belt, and an Independent colony views the arrival of a mysterious Marsco deep-space craft with justifiable suspicion. This part introduces another of our protagonists, Lieutenant Anthony “Zot” Grizzoti is one of the crew of the Gagarin, and Tessa’s ex. He’s a specialist in hibernation technology, and knows things he can’t reveal.
Some time later, we’re in the SoAm Continental Zone, as Father Stephen Cavanaugh goes to the camp of the Nexus, the most violent of the Luddite factions, in order to retrieve two boys they’d lured away from his school for PRIMS. A former student of his, Pete Rivers, is one of the Marsco Security personnel that escorts the priest to the area, but from there Cavanaugh must proceed on his own. This is the tensest part of the book and could stand on its own as a novella.
With most of the characters now introduced, the story moves forward.
The best part of the book is the world-building. Mr. Zarzana has done a lot of research, and worked out the details of the Marsco world. The book comes with a glossary (there are some mild spoilers in this section) due to all the specialized terminology and future slang. While some of the steps to reach this setting are dubious, it all hangs together well enough once it’s there.
However, a lot of the information is delivered in professorial lectures (Dr. Zarzana himself is a professor of English), which can get tedious. A little fun is had with the delivery by having a precocious child do some of the lectures to show off to adults. But too often, it comes across as “As you know, Bob….”
Many of the more interesting characters are in the book too little and some of them won’t be returning later. I found the Tessa/Zot romance bits tepid and was irritated every time it came up.
The primary active villain, Colonel Hawkins, is planning to avenge the Continental Powers’ defeat and is working with others who want to change the balance of power, and haven’t realized just how obsessed he is.
Marsco has a lot of classism (Marsco associates on top, Sids (people who trade with Marsco) in the middle, and PRIMS on the bottom and treated as barely human), but little racism–one of the associates suddenly breaking out racist slurs shocks his colleagues and is taken as an indicator of his actual age. Casual racism is more common among the Earth-bound.
There’s a lot of talk about rape, (including a possibly fake story about mind control rape) and a couple of attempted rapes onscreen . Prostitution is rife in the non-Marsco areas. There’s bursts of violence, some of it dire.
This book is self-published, and the latter half starts having spellchecker typos (“site” for “sight” several times) which suggests that with books this size, the proofreader should take the job in smaller chunks.
Overall…it’s a decent beginning, but not really satisfying on its own. A lot will depend on the next part expanding on the themes and subplots satisfactorily. Consider this if you like detailed world-building.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from the author for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was involved or requested.
