Harare Review of Books

340 pages.

Expected publication date: Sept 19, 2023 (Blackstone Publishing)

SF/military, hard.

I’m still a big fan of Gunpowder Moon, Pedreira’s novel from 2018, so I was very keen to read more of his worldbuilding. The Never Wars, though, is more space opera and military SF—still a subgenre I’ll read every time.

With a plot that’s reminiscent of Haldeman’s The Forever War (and that appears to be kind of hinted at in the title), The Never Wars takes a bunch of disgraced soldiers, and a disgraced AI, and puts them on a ship that uses a black hole to travel forward in time to fight in future battles—and meaning they’ll never again see the Earth they knew. This plot device allows Pedreira to explore the psychological effects on the soldiers of a never-ending and meaningless war, and also to write a commentary on the links between capital and war, with a rebellion thrown into the mix.

It’s really nice to have a strong and well-written female character who is true to the country she’s from!! (that is, Botswana); and, of course, a sentient ship!!. (I have feels for sentient ships.) Pedreira also writes in lots of physics, which makes this a hard sci-fi read (of which I’m also a fan).

Given the above, you’ll know if this is your thing; it definitely was mine. If you like interesting characters and far-future hard sci-fi—like Lostetter, and Peter F. Hamilton—then you’ll enjoy this. If you’re new to the genre: this may still be interesting if you might like thinking about space, physics, and the toll of war from a soldier’s perspective.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and to NetGalley for the ARC.