In Moribund Earth: Survivors of Zeeta 21 by Lars Koch, Earth is destroyed during the seventy-seventh world war. Radiation is high, and surviving is hard due to the limited available resources. Despite the tensions, the new countries come together to fund a project. The Zeeta 21 project would create a city to be launched into space to save the human species. In a conference to discuss the progress of the project, Sunny interrupts Lechowsky’s presentation. He claims the mission will fail if his recommendations are not followed. After some negotiations, he makes a deal with Lechowsky and Scorpia. What does their deal mean for this mission, which is supposed to last fifty years, and why is Lechowsky insisting on bringing people like Horrigan, who is a known war criminal?

Moribund Earth: Survivors of Zeeta 21 by Lars Koch is a must-read. The writing is crisp, engaging, and filled with well-crafted dialogue that brings the story and the well-developed characters to life. I loved the steady pacing and the suspense, which made me intrigued and eager to discover the next twist in the plot. This thought-provoking work also got me thinking about how the field of AI is likely to affect society. It also got me thinking about the dangers posed by allowing only a small group of people to control everything. The reader will appreciate the easy-to-understand language used, which makes the work accessible to all kinds of readers. This was an amazing read, and I look forward to reading something else by Lars Koch.

Zeeta 21 was humanity’s final chance. Pointless battles for dwindling resources had transformed Earth into a desolate wasteland on the brink of extinction. The goal was to offer humanity a fresh start—a chance to right past wrongs and live in harmony. After much reluctance, the nations of the world agreed, with the Arand Corporation leading the initiative, to give twenty thousand individuals a second chance aboard a self-governing spaceship for fifty years. However, no one anticipated that the Arand Corporation would so ruthlessly alter the rules. What remains of this once-bright beacon of hope is a brutal struggle for survival among the power-hungry leaders, the fallen, the oppressed survivors fighting against tyranny, and a sinister third faction. They all want to control the ship but cannot without Sunny Bridges, one of the last engineers, and his team. Time is running out for all of them in Lars Koch’s Moribund Earth.

Moribund Earth is the start of a captivating dystopian series by Lars Koch. The world-building presents a chillingly plausible vision of a future where survival takes precedence. The portrayal of global wastelands and advanced political landscapes strikes an unnerving chord, offering a glimpse into a potential future many would prefer to avoid. Character development is impressively thorough, with detailed origin stories for critical figures that avid science fiction readers will enjoy exploring as they unravel the reasons behind the dire circumstances of this failing vessel. The dialogue plays a crucial role in this unique tale, flowing seamlessly from scientific discussions to the fundamental resource struggles among the ship’s inhabitants. The cleverly embedded clues reveal the intricacies unfolding behind the scenes. The author has created something exceptional with this work, and I cannot wait to read more.