When You Had Power (Nothing is Promised 1): Free Science Fiction, Hopepunk

Susan Kaye Quinn

Nov 2020 · Nothing is Promised Book 1 · Twisted Space LLC

4.4

40 reviews

Ebook

215

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About this ebook

For better, for worse. In sickness and in health.

It’s a legal vow of care for families in 2050, a world beset by waves of climate-driven plagues.

Power engineer Lucía Ramirez long ago lost her family to one—she’d give anything to take that vow. The Power Islands give humanity a fighting chance, but tending kelp farms and solar lilies is a lonely job. The housing AI found her a family match, saying she should fit right in with the Senegalese retraining expert who’s a force of nature, the ex-Pandemic Corps cook with his own cozy channel, and even the writer who insists everything is stories, all the way down. This family of literal and metaphorical refugees could be the shelter she’s seeking from her own personal storm.

She needs this one to work.

Then an unscheduled power outage and a missing turtle-bot crack open a mystery. Something isn’t right on Power Island One, but every step she takes to solve it, someone else gets there first—and they’re determined to make her unsee what she’s seen. Lucía is an engineer, not a detective, but fixing this problem might cost her the one thing she truly needs: a home.

When You Had Power is the first of four tightly-connected hopepunk novels in a near-future climate-fiction series. It’s about our future, how society will shift and flex like a solar lily in the storms of our own making, and how breaks in the social fabric have to be expected, tended to, and healed. Because we’re in this together, now more than ever before.

If you enjoyed the optimistic climate solutions in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry for the Future or the cozy cooperative future in Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot series, you will enjoy Nothing is Promised.

Keywords: hopepunk, climate fiction, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican, Latino, Hispanic, solarpunk, climate change, climate crisis, solar energy, green energy, clean energy, global warming, pandemic, plague, underwater adventure, kelp farming, fusion engineering, wind energy, literary science fiction, mystery, suspense, hard science fiction, dystopian, heroine's journey

Ratings and reviews

4.4

40 reviews

Lola R

November 24, 2020

This was a great start to this new series. I liked discovering this futuristic world and how things changed and how things are the same to our current one. Lucía was a great main character, I liked her vulnerability, her openness and her determination to find out who was behind the strange things she find. There are a bunch of side characters and I liked how the author gave them all their own personality. I just wish we would’ve seen more of them as the majority of the side characters are only there are the start and end of the book. There is a hint of romance here as well and while it progresses quickly I liked them together and it felt like they bonded quickly and deeply too, so it feels fitting. I liked the world building, seeing all the new technologies and how they handle the climate change and power issues. There is something very positive and hopeful about it all, even with the bad things that are going on, overall it presents a positive version of a possible future where humanity works together for the greater good. This was a amazing start to this new series and I look forward to the next book!

3 people found this review helpful

Elizabeth Robb

November 24, 2020

Interesting! The world has reached an environmental crisis and power need is greater than power production. Giant power generating islands that harvest power from the ocean are the worlds answer. Power engineer Lucia has lost her family to a plague and is looking for a new one when she discovers something nefarious is going on at the power island where she grew up. We meet a wide array of interesting characters as Lucia tries to figure out what is going on. This is the first of four books and sets the stage nicely for what should be a very enjoyable series.

2 people found this review helpful

Cathy Knott

August 1, 2023

Thus book feels real to us here in South Africa. we already have loadshedding, rolling blackouts and corruption! there are people siphoning off our grid to keep other countries lit. hospitals are without regular power.. wow. Ard you from here!??;)

About the author

Susan Kaye Quinn is a rocket scientist turned speculative fiction author who now uses her PhD to invent cool stuff in books. Currently writing hopepunk, but her works include SciFi, YA, gritty future-noir, steampunk romance, and that one middle grade fantasy. Her bestselling novels and short stories have been optioned for Virtual Reality, translated into German and French, and featured in several anthologies.

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