renatus

RENATUS by Ryan Link is a novella that blew me away. Despite being only 138 pages, it was polished, perfectly balanced, told a complete and engaging story and painted a vivid portrait of its dystopian world.Set in the early 22nd Century, the U.S.A. has imploded and now is made up of several independent territories. RENATUS takes place in the North American Union (N.A.U.), a land of disparity where the top 10% have it good while the rest are likely addicted to TRAX and spend their nights avoiding the murderous 'Curfew Crews'. Our protagonist Aldon Prandtel is a child of both worlds, once a renowned scientist, now an addict existing from hit to hit.The world itself is amazingly realised, and while you only see the city of St. Louis, you really do get a fantastic overview of the city and, as a consequence, N.A.U. society as a whole. Renatus' world of high-tech, disparity, and social control made me think of Minority Report and Elysium, with perhaps a dash of Ender's Game.Aldon is a great character, and as with every other aspect of RENATUS, Link manages to get so much out of his characters despite the page count. From the very beginning, Aldon is a character who you can root for and empathise with. He's carrying more than his share of demons and is continually fighting them from the first page to last, and so makes for an extraordinarily human character.I enjoyed his happiness at being 'accepted' back into his old academic world and the slow realisation that he wasn't there as an equal, but as a lesser, a feral animal turned pet, useful only as long as he obeyed. The tension slowly builds until you hit the 60% mark and realise invisible bars have been being built around him the whole time.All of the other characters bring their own weight to the narrative and don't waste their time on the page. A special shout out to Walther Westcott, who is very reminiscent of a certain Peter Weyland—genius, horrible, deliciously nasty.Link's writing is smooth and full of detail, with the perfect balance between explanation and action.It has all the style of a Hollywood sci-fi movie but replete with thought-provoking social commentary.

Not many have heard of Ryan Link now, but we'll be hearing a lot more about him soon.Renatus is an inventive and fast-paced story which has that most sought-after trait in sci-fi: a genuinely new idea. The story fits together cohesively, and Link keeps the pace up throughout with good dialogue and strong prose. I read this in a single sitting and didn't put it down.

Interesting ideas ... Not sure I followed .... All the plot in the story will have to read again sometime

Renatus is one of those imaginative dystopian novellas that has you hooked from the start and leave you wanting more. In Ryan Link’s bleak vision of the world a hundred years from now, a scientist lives on the dangerous city streets, addicted to a strange drug, until he is ‘rescued’ for a secret mission of national importance.I enjoyed every minute of it, from the convincing technical details you would expect from an author with Ryan Link’s background, to the well observed characters. I even felt some sympathy for the men guarding our hero’s door, as each has a hint of back story that makes them real.By the time I was half way through I was already speculating about who should be cast in a movie version. There is plenty of scope for ideas in this book to be developed in the future, so I look forward to seeing a sequel. If you are want something fast-paced and thought provoking, I recommend Renatus.