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Emily Eternal

by M.G. Wheaton
Grand Central. Apr. 2019. 304p. ISBN 9781538730393. $27; ebk. ISBN 9781538730416. SF
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Five billion years earlier than scientists have postulated, our sun is beginning to die. With only six short months before the sun becomes a red giant capable of devouring the entire solar system, the human race seems slated for extinction. However, Emily, an artificially developed intelligence, may have the answer to preserving at least part of the race: downloading the thoughts, personalities, and memories of billions of people into her microprocessors and ejecting herself into space. She must race against time with the aid of college student Jason and small-town sheriff Mayra, while evading capture by scientists and another supercomputer, Emily-2, who believe the best course of action is to glean 1,500 of the brightest of humankind and send them on a one-way trip out of the solar system.
VERDICT Wheaton's fast-paced, engrossing novel that explores the possibility of being able to exist away from our home planet, whether as humans or something new and evolutionarily distinctive.
Reviewed by Jane Henriksen Baird, formerly at Anchorage P.L., AK , Apr 01, 2019
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