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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
In Graceson R. Jones’s Perspicacity, bounty hunter Art pilots Perspicacity, a rare ship run by Percy, an illegal sentient artificial intelligence hidden inside its systems. A paid job on Statun, a ruined planet poisoned by caltum storms, sends Art after stolen Coalition data and pulls him toward Xander, a man linked to vanished travelers across the star system. When Art finds signs that the missing people have been taken for caltum work, his mission changes from contract work to a rescue mission. Xander’s interest in Percy makes the danger personal, while the death of Art’s father, Jorge, begins to look connected to secrets buried before Statun fell. Hunted by the Coalition and cut off from his old crew, Art must decide who to trust before Xander reaches Percy.
Graceson R. Jones’s Perspicacity is brilliant space opera, and the tech and world-building are exceptional. Jones blends what was and what is in the story through the inclusion of things like relics from before the Coalition, and then transparent trackers whose hidden circuitry blocks Art's AI. Jones shows how rank reaches daily life and how the system controls. The author delivers the Penitentiary, a prison inside a rock dome, where people are number-branded, caged, and watched by guards above ore carts. I really like Art because he clings to his conscience even in moments of fear, at one point refusing to shoot Coalition guards. After all, they're just workers following orders. Where the author shines is in the visuals, from Statun’s abandoned rocket silo, where black storm clouds form over desert sand, to the old New Beginning rocket leaning through broken concrete. Well written and immersive, readers who enjoy science fiction with a clear underdog will adore this book. Very highly recommended.
