After the Fall by Edward Ashton

Edward Ashton is probably still best known for his 2022 novel Mickey 7 (which became the not quite as successful film Mickey 17) but he has delivered a number of varied stand alones since then. Mal Goes to War was a techno-war story with an artificial intelligence as its protagonist who learns to become human and The Fourth Consort was an odd Star Trek-like novel of first contact with a hapless but clever main character who is married off to an alien queen. Which brings us to his latest novel: After the Fall which is set on Earth, sometime in the future, after it has been conquered by an alien species known as ‘the greys’ and in which humans are essentially pets.

After the Fall is set on Earth, over one hundred years in the future. The “Fall” referred to in the title is the collapse of humanity and the story is that the greys came to Earth at the tail-end of this (it is never clear if the greys played a part, but the assumption is that if humanity was at full power it could have repelled the invasion). The greys are huge, thick skinned aliens who prefer the cold areas of Earth and live in quite a small area of the planet. They have bred humans to be their servants and in doing so have bred the fight out of them. Those remaining humans bred by the greys are much smaller and weaker than old style humans.

John is the human servant of a grey known as Martok Barden nee Black Hand. He was raised in a human creche and Martok adopted John when all hope seemed lost (12-year-olds who are not adopted are killed). Generally, greys treat humans as disposable pets but Martok seems to truly care for John and treats him as family. The pair barely scrape by in grey society and things only seem to get worse when Martok takes on a loan to rehabilitate a desolate country estate as some sort of grey holiday resort. Part of the collateral for this loan is John himself. The story centres on how John contrives to help Martok but also just survive particularly after he encounters a group of “wild” humans, descendants of those who avoided he greys, who have plans of their own.

John is a typical Ashton protagonist, similar to the main characters in the books listed above. John is not completely hopeless but he is no action hero and is riddled with doubt. But he is also quick witted, intuitive and has a deep survival instinct that informs his actions. John is loyal to Martok partly because that is the way humans have been bred but partly because Martok actually treats him quite well.

Ashton engages in some interesting world building in After the Fall in a way which allows him to explore deeper issues. Including: what does make us human? And how would we fare if we were treated in the same way is we currently treat our pets? But he also has his tongue in his cheek and peppers the narrative with some wry, cutting observations. This is definitely one for fans of Ashton’s style but also has some solid and thought provoking science fiction ideas behind it.

After the Fall by Edward Ashton

7.5

7.5/10