Sleepover

Sleepover by Alastair Reynolds

Amazing story. Highly memorable. Well-crafted. Dark & disturbing.

Hard SF - so hard you want to be careful not to cut yourself.

Hard as diamond. Hard as a future that terrifies you.

But then, you already knew it was crafted by Alastair Reynolds.

They called it Sleepover. Marcus Gaunt had believed he would be awakened after humanity had perfected treatments to vastly extend our human lifespan. Perhaps even indefinitely. He had a rude awakening.

It turned out that "corpsicles" (see Rammer - 1971 by Larry Niven) in this future were actually highly expendable. They were being awakened to help with mundane drudgery, to help keep things going on the oil rigs, to keep humanity going. If Gaunt could make the grade, he would be restored. Otherwise, they wouldn't bother.

Very highly recommended.

My rating system starts with a rating of one star for a story/novel that I ranked "C -". Ratings move up 1/2 star with each step, up to 5 stars (equivalent to a ranking of A+). I reserve 1/2 star for works rated D and lower.