This is amongst the last of the 2023 Booker Prize longlisted books that I have to finish, and while it is very well written, I did not love it. It is what I would call dystopic science fiction, which is not a category I love.
Dr Leigh Hasenboch is the center of this story--she trained as a marine microbiologist in Rotterdam to escape the memory of her late father, Geert, and his torrential volatility. If there is violence in her past, there is hope in her future: Leigh is now working on an expedition ship off the Caribbean coast of South America, exploring a vent that has appeared in the Earth’s crust below the sea, which appears, impossibly, to be three times deeper than the Mariana Trench.
The depth readings, which the crew assume to be somehow corrupted, throw into doubt anything they might find – such as new life – down there.
Meanwhile, others are looking outward: scientists make a breakthrough in propulsion technology, dramatically accelerating space exploration. Now a crewed mission could reach the Oort Cloud at the fringes of the solar system in 10 months; even interstellar travel is possible, using multigenerational crews.
The long, slow process to get from the deepest part of the planet to the farthest reaches of space is described in this long, slow-moving book, which comes to a somewhat anti-climactic ending. The story is so well told you will barely notice that part, and it has a unique way of messaging about the future that is worth thinking about.
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