Telonaut

Telonaut- Book 1 of the Televerse Series
Matt Tyson
ISBN: 9781535163972
2016
364 pages

Sero Novak's current age is forty-six years old. However, he was born one hundred seventeen years ago. For the missing sixty-nine years, he was just code - a spider map - on a permaDrive, waiting for a body.

Currently, he is occupying his eleventh human body.

Sero is the lead Telonaut auditor, whose responsibility is to evaluate the space colony of NineDee. As the auditor, he lives on a wet world planet while assessing construction progress and getting to know the residents and their aspirations.. 

Attitudes have changed substantially over the past centuries. Back in the twentieth century, people hoped their children would have better lives. People worked hard so that their kids could have a better life. Everyone competed to have more than their neighbors. This philosophy just didn't work with so many people losing out in a competitively structured society and after the final global financial crisis, the world crumbled.

Life had to change. People came to believe that to be successful; teamwork would be essential for the good of everyone and the Race was born. Now cooperation rules, rather than competition.

Through that cooperation society build wondrous new things, one of which is the idea of being a colonist on an extraterrestrial planet. Creating a new civilization brings hope and dreams alive again. 

New planets bring new challenges. Humans are still flawed even though people do their best for the good of all, at least most of the time. Encountering a new environment and different life forms is exciting.

Through advances in technology, Sero is connected to the rest of humanity through NeuroVision's memory technology for everyone to witness his experiences, so human society lives the adventure with him – or so it seems.

Sero partners with a teenaged girl who calls this colony home. Prid’s relatable character is inquisitive and diligent while assisting Sero with his explorations into colony life, and adds humor in strenuous and dangerous situations – a good contrast to his personal journey of development through loss grief and resilience. 

Being science fiction, lessons about humanity, society, ethics, are evident as well as the consequences of upsetting the natural balance of an environment. Throughout the  adventure, the experience of every action having an equal and opposite reaction plays out, even if it takes a little time. 

Author Matt Tyson has written this dystopian adventure while working with a volunteer program in Africa with his family now residing in South Africa. He earned a bachelor degree in Genetics and a masters degree in Bioinformatics from the University of Liverpool in England and the novel contains a wealth of believable and detailed scientific background on how a future society might stitch together.

Telonaut possesses a winning combination with superb character development, constant uncertainty over when the characters are safe, tumbling adventure and dangerous situations, along with the introduction of new life forms, which forces the reader to wonder about the choices for everyone's survival in a futuristic setting using scientific advancements in a seemingly utopian situation.

With each page, the reader is with Sero observing the new worlds of both NineDee and future Earth. Join the journey of Sero, through his eyes as the lead Telonaut auditor.