Book info

• Title Containment
• Author Christian Cantrell
• Year 2010
• Genre Science Fiction

A brilliant young scientist and one of the first humans born on Venus, Arik works tirelessly to perfect the science of artificial photosynthesis, a project crucial to the future of his home, V1. The colony was built on the harsh Venusian surface by the Founders, the first humans to establish a permanent extraterrestrial settlement. Arik’s research becomes critical when he awakens from an unexplained, near-fatal accident and learns that his wife is three months pregnant. Unless Arik’s research uncovers a groundbreaking discovery, V1’s oxygen supply will not be able to support the increase in population that his baby represents. As Arik works against time, he begins to untangle the threads of his accident, which seem inextricably linked to what lies outside the protective walls of V1—a world where the caustic atmosphere and extreme heat make all forms of known life impossible. For its entire existence, Arik's generation has been expected to help solve the problems of colonization. But as Arik digs deeper and deeper, he discovers alarming truths about the planet that the Founders have kept hidden. With growing urgency and increasing peril, Arik finds himself on a journey that will push him to the limits of his intelligence and take him beyond the unimaginable.

Thoughts

I picked this up from the Kindle store when it was either free, or rather cheap (under a pound). I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but when I finally got around to reading the blurb and seeing what it was all about, I was keen to read on.

This is the story of the first off-Earth colony, based on Venus, and how it got to where it is and how it is going to survive going forward. There are twists and turns along the way, some of the obvious and some of them not so much.

The story gets off to a bit of a slow start, although personally I did enjoy reading all the history of the colony and exactly how things work there. I’m not sure it would be gripping reading for everyone, but I could be wrong. In the end, this type of story is right up my street - a little bit science fiction, but quite a lot about how human behaviour affects the situations that these people find themselves in.

It’s good stuff, and I’m keen for there to be a sequel of some kind; if only because the ending was one of those rather ambiguous ones.

Rating: 4 / 5