Author: Jon Richter
Publisher: TCK Publishing
Released: May 1^st, 2020
Received: Review Request

I received a copy of Auxiliary: London 2039 in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Jon Richter is back, this time with Auxiliary: London 2039, a cyberpunk tale like no other. Portraying a world where everything real is meaningless, this tale explores the darker parts of human potential.

The year is 2039, and machines do all the heavy lifting these days. More than just the heavy lifting, really, as humanity is content to stay indoors and spend time playing in simulated realities. All while the largest corporations in the world move to grab more power for themselves.

Enter The Imagination Machine, aka TIM. TIM is what makes the world go ’round, almost literally. Without it, humanity would cease to exist. Or at least be forced to go back to doing things for themselves.

Only, there’s a problem. Of course there is. TIM may not be the altruistic and trustworthy intelligence that humanity would like to believe it is. A fact that becomes blatantly clear to Dremmler, after comes across a new case worth investigating.

“All these interactions that infused modern human lives; behind them, a single entity, a massive, sprawling intelligence.”

Auxiliary: London 2039 is without a doubt one of the most unique science fiction novels I’ve read this year. I truly do mean that. This is a complex tale, one that wove multiple elements together to create such an expansive world – and plot.

I know the description hinted at several common science fiction tropes and elements. However, I think it’s really important to note that Jon Richter managed to infuse these parts with lots of surprises, resulting in something that feels familiar – but reads as totally incomparable.

What really surprised me about this read is the main character, Dremmler. He’s a classic, old school detective in a world full of technology and engineering. He stands out like a sore thumb, only in a good way.

He added such a strong sense of charm to this novel. It made it impossible to predict what was going to happen next, or what new element was going to be brought into the mix next. Because of that, it’s really no surprise to report that I accidentally stayed up way to late reading Auxiliary: London 2039 (no regrets!).