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Lockstep by Karl Schroeder

I’ll keep this one short: It’s very confusing.

Although, I do admire this book for being proof that science fiction is more than a genre that’s always being confused with it’s tropes, but rather a setting that can form to any story type.

Going into this book after reading the synopsis, I was expecting something much more epic in scope. While the Lockstep world did provide a good sense of galactic scale, it may have been a little too ambitious.

As good as it is, there are just too many factors to keep track of: the lockstep/wintering cycles; the fact that some planets are not a part of the lockstep system; and even though some planets are, they follow a different schedule; various planets being referred to as “slow” or “fast” in relation to the standard cycle; and how wintering or not is used as a form of punishment. 😐🤔🤷‍♂️(Confused yet?)😵

The Lockstep system:
Humanity lives 1 month at a time every 30 years, having bots mine for scares resources while they hibernate (aka wintering) so when they wake up, goods are available.

It’s a VERY intriguing concept, but it just got taken a little too far.