As part of the OWS CyCon 2019 virtual book fair I was lucky to receive a copy of author Alexis Lantgen’s science fiction collection Sapience. Here are my thoughts on this excellent anthology.
Sapience: A Collection of Science Fiction Short Stories
by Alexis Lantgen
What kind of life will we find in the depths of Europa’s oceans? What kind of life will we allow an AI with human level intelligence? The ten stories in Sapience: A Collection of Science Fiction Short Stories explore these questions and many more.
In the near future, humanity builds a colony on Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter. They tunnel into the ice to explore the dark oceans beneath the moon’s surface, searching for signs of extraterrestrial life. What they find will change them forever, setting humanity on a path to the stars. But the old conflicts and hatreds of Earth are not so easily escaped. Will human colonists on distant planets and moons create a paradise or a horrifying dystopia?
Purchase Link: Amazon.com
Goodreads: Sapience by Alexis Lantgen
Review
Rating: 5 stars
*I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review*
Sapience is a collection of short stories taking place either on Earth or in colonies on other planets. Each story stands alone in its own right, but forms part of the bigger story and themes running through the collection.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Sapience. It is an excellent dark science fiction anthology, exploring many different themes throughout including the morally questionable direction that science and technology may take humanity in the future. I think what I loved most about the stories was that as dark as they were, there was very often hope amongst the darkness and the characters had resolve to prevail no matter what difficulties they faced. Each one was beautifully written and are the kinds of tales that will stay with you. My favourites from the collection were Earth is for Earthers and Swan.
Sapience is a short yet powerful read which I cannot recommend enough.
Shari Sakurai 
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