Steve Holloway's "Pelegia" isn't your typical dystopian thriller. It plunges us into a future where the world's oceans are not just a resource but a refuge. Seasteading – the concept of creating permanent dwellings on the open sea – is no longer a fringe idea but a reality. And within this watery world, Holloway weaves a tale of suspense, intrigue, and surprising tenderness.

The story follows Ben Holden, a former special forces agent turned particle physicist. When his groundbreaking research falls into the wrong hands, he finds himself on the run, seeking asylum in the independent ocean community of Pelegia. But even amidst the vast expanse of the Pacific, danger lurks. Holden soon finds himself caught in a web of conspiracy and violence that threatens not only his own life but the fragile peace of Pelegia itself.

Holloway masterfully paints a picture of this unique setting, bringing the floating city to life with vivid descriptions and a keen eye for detail. The science behind Pelegia feels believable, grounding the more fantastical elements of the plot. But it's the characters that truly anchor the story. Holden, haunted by his past and driven by a fierce desire to protect the innocent, is a compelling protagonist. The supporting cast is equally well-drawn, from the strong-willed leader of Pelegia to the enigmatic scientist who holds the key to Holden's past.

The pacing is relentless, with twists and turns that keep you guessing until the very end. The action sequences are particularly gripping, showcasing Holloway's talent for creating suspenseful and cinematic scenes. But "Pelegia" is more than just a thrilling ride. It explores themes of freedom, responsibility, and the enduring power of hope in a world teetering on the brink of chaos.

Why you should read it:
Unique and immersive setting: Seasteading provides a fresh and fascinating backdrop for the story.
Compelling characters: Holden is a relatable and engaging protagonist, and the supporting characters are equally well-developed.
Action-packed plot: The story moves at a breakneck pace, with plenty of twists and turns to keep you hooked.
Thought-provoking themes: "Pelegia" raises questions about the future of humanity and the choices we make in the face of adversity.

If you enjoy:
Dystopian thrillers
Sci-fi with a focus on technology and science
Stories with strong protagonists and high stakes
Then dive into "Pelegia" today!

I was immersed in the world Holloway created in our not to distant future. The plot was believable and kept you at the edge of your seat until the very end. Looking forward to Halloway's next novel.

This novel is a Science Fiction adventure thriller used as a platform for a wide spread of the author’s ideas. All of these are worthy and interesting, but there’s a lot of them and the narrative occasionally stalls, mid-novel, when characters are used to explain ideas to the reader via speeches to each other when, perhaps, they could have been better explained through the narrative, or saved up for another novel. It’s almost as if the author thinks this book is his last-ever chance to communicate his vision to others. I will be mortified if this is literally true, but I suspect that it’s a misapprehension and in any case the best way to proceed is as if you’ve always got another book ahead of you.

The pace picks up again and a lot happens before the end.

The author’s primary idea is marine-farming and marine ranching, which leads him to describe a society which could not only make those complementary endeavours work, but also thrive as a culture and as part of the future world economy. That in turns leads to the ways in which that society might protect itself and what the threats to it might be. There are a lot of clever technological ideas inherent in all of this. The author also covers religious extremism in a way which sets neither Christianity nor Islam up as wholly bad, in that there’s no wrong way to believe in God: what’s wrong is for extremists to believe in their own power and ambition instead of believing in God. (The author doesn’t say so, but the logical extension of that is that completely atheist political activists might also believe in their own power and ambition more than they do in their ostensible political dogma. Sometimes, you don’t have to say something to get a message across and this novel could have been better if the author has been willing to let his readers discover a few more ideas for themselves.) Changing one’s beliefs, as some of the characters do, is not a betrayal if it’s a falsehood that’s being discarded -and this novel’s Turing test is that the machine intelligences cannot really comprehend the concept of God. (None of them act maliciously, though.)

I recommend this with four stars because, despite all the shortcomings, there’s an awful lot of ideas here and that’s really what Science Fiction is meant to be about. To get five stars, the treasury of ideas probably needs to be presented in a different format to a single-narrative adventure novel. In the mid evening of her career the Science Fiction writer Ursula le Guin wrote a “future anthropology” entitled “Always Coming Home” which presented stories, both from a common narrative and from outside that narrative but in the same world and culture, together with descriptive articles, songs and even recipes. She was able to write something which immersed the reader in her ideas about a future society and culture (which included something very like a future evolution of the internet and Wikipedia, neither of which had happened at the time of writing) rather than having characters in an adventure give set speeches. (Which Greek or Roman readers might even have wanted.) I don’t expect Steve Holloway to do exactly the same thing, but I hope he can find a better way of putting his considerable number of ideas across.