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Review: Penumbra by Dan Ackerman

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Penumbra is a clever novel and not what I was expecting based on the previous books by Dan Ackerman that I've read, which admittedly is not their full back catalogue, although I'm working on it. The world Ackerman narrates is so complex, so different yet familiar. For this reason, there is no need for blatant world-building up front, and I'm delighted Ackerman doesn't insult the reader by going down that route. We know how capitalism works, how inherited privilege persists unchallenged. So we're thrown into the thick of reality on Eden - a space station carrying potentially all that's left of humankind - ruled by Arden, a young, entitled, drug-dependent autarch, all of which are understandable given he inherited the responsibility and Eden is unsustainable. What I've said so far doesn't reveal much more than is given in the blurb. Of course, there's all the technology that goes with the setting of a self-sufficient space station, most of which is