Book Review: Cryo

Reviewed by Lindsay Crandall

A chilling glimpse of a seemingly serene society with very dark secrets

Blake Fisher’s Cryo is an impressive start to what looks like could be an enthralling science fiction series.

This novelis split into three distinct parts. Part One introduces us to Louis King, a professor at the University of Nebraska by day and struggling writer by night. It’s the year 2024. 

Louis is living comfortably with the love of his life, Violet. But on his way home from the first day of a new semester, Louis gets into a car accident. The side effects eventually reveal an aggressive, cancerous tumor, to which there is no cure available, only comfortable end-of-life care. Louis allows himself to be cryogenically frozen and preserved at Violet’s request

“I could handle dying. Everyone dies. But the knowledge that I would be leaving her alone in the world was almost too much for one person to bear.”

A little over 200 years later, Louis is unfrozen and the country as he knows it is gone. His past life is irrelevant, his loved ones lost, and the world has no place for a professor. 

The Emperor rules with an iron-first. Upper class Arcadians are provided every luxury while middle and lower classes are enslaved into different factions that provide for the city. As he adapts to his new life, his new job as a Scout for Arcadia, Louis must decide between turning a blind eye to the Emperor’s cruelty or helping his friends with their quest to build something better.

I genuinely enjoyed Cryo the whole way through. The author throws in plenty of twists and turns that keep us going, and the worldbuilding surrounding Arcadia turns out to be quite captivating. We rightly read from the perspective of Louis and get excellent insight into his character and motivation. The supporting characters help flesh out the world as well.  Rose, a Scout alongside Louis, has a quiet demeanor and absolutely brutal strength. I loved her. At times the tone and plot can feel familiar, but some can be chalked down to useful tropes of the genre.

Cryo provides a not-entirely-unbelievable glimpse into the future of a country torn apart by war. I’d be hard-pressed to find many readers who aren’t seeking out the series’ next installment.

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