Lambda

Lambda by David Musgrave
7/12/22; 372 pages
Europa Editions

Lambda by David Musgrave is a recommended experimental science fiction novel.

The Lambdas have arrive on the coast by sea. They are aliens but genetically human and now humans coexist with them. They tend to live in flooded basements. New police officer Cara Gray is familiar with the Lambdas from her childhood, and now her job is to keep them under surveillance after a school bombing that a lambda rights group claims responsibility. She is now community liaison officer to the lambda. Now she must decide whether to submit to the patterns of technology, violence and obsession, or to take action of her own.

This is a complicated novel with an inventive structure that includes a one sided conversation with a Lambda as well as Cara's . Within Cara's narrative the novel also addresses the refugee crises and the future of technology. This is an inventive, interesting novel, but it was also a struggle to keep focused on the narrative. Many of the plot elements are left unresolved. It is also humorous at times. This will be thoroughly enjoyed by some science fiction readers but not all of them. This is undoubtedly an odd novel that works in a weird way.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the publisher/author via NetGalley.