Rubicon by J.S. Dewes (Tor Books, March 28, 2023). Cover art by Shutterstock

J.S. Dewes’ two-book debut series The Divide was published in 2021 to plenty of breathless acclaim. In her mid-year wrap-up of The Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of the Year, Sadie Gennis at Vulture called opening book The Last Watch “one of the most stunning sci-fi series debuts of recent years… [a] nail-biting space epic,” and Booklist proclaimed it “a bravura debut that blends great action with compelling characters.”

Her new novel Rubicon arrived this week, and it sounds right up my alley. A military SF novel that blends A.I. with a twisty plot and a far future setting, Rubicon has been called “A fresh and forward-looking story about the costs of “forever” wars… Witty and readable, it features an endearing cast of characters and fast-paced action” by Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly says it’s “A standalone outing that is simultaneously thoughtful and pulse-pounding… Fans of smart military sci-fi will be riveted.“

[Click the images to cross the Rubicon.]

The Divide Series: The Last Watch and The Exiled Fleet
(Tor Books, April 2021 and August 2021). Cover art by Shutterstock

Here’s an excerpt from that Library Journal review by Lydia Fletcher.

Dewes’s latest (after The Exiled Fleet) showcases humanity at war with intelligent machines. Sergeant Adriene Valero is caught in an endless cycle of battle, death, and resurrection. The compounding trauma has left her wanting an end to it all. Upon transferring to a new unit, she is given a virtual-intelligence assistant, but things become complicated when her VI achieves its own sentience, and Adriene finds herself unwittingly drawn into a web of intrigue that will test her and her team to their limits. This is a classic military science fiction novel that manages to build a fresh and forward-looking story about the costs of “forever” wars and the existential anxiety of artificial intelligence.

Read the whole thing here.

We covered J.S Dewes Divide series back in October 2021.

Rubicon was published by Tor Books on March 28, 2023. It is 465 pages, priced at $19.99 in trade paperback and $12.99 in digital formats. The cover is by Shutterstock. Read the first half of Chapter One (about 8 pages) here.

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