“Extinction Game” – Gary Gibson

There are more sci-fi books published every year than any reader could comfortably read in their lifetime. It is impossible to keep up with them all and I find myself discovering gems like Gary Gibson’s “Extinction Game” long after they were first released. ‘Extinction Game’ was first published in 2014 by Tor, but being only 5 years behind the curve on this occasion is actually pretty good for me.

The story revolves around a disparate group of adventurers called ‘Pathfinders’. Each Pathfinder is the sole survivor of an extinction event on their home planet. Having demonstrated unique survival skills, they are then brought to an island by ‘The Authority” using some hokum science called ‘transfer stages’ that allow people to be moved across alternate realities.

The Authority then sends the Pathfinders on missions to other alternate realities, to find information or technology related to the extinction event that happened there.

The Pathfinders eventually discover the real reason why the Authority is going to so much trouble to gather up those materials from the other realities, and then a rebellion begins.

This is a good and enjoyable book. I found that the pages turned quickly and I wanted to know what would happen next to characters that I had come to care about. Well-written and engaging, I recommend ‘Extinction Game’ to sci-fi fans.