The future in THE SEQUENCE, Lucien Telford’s debut novel, is one wherein genetic augmentation is possible — as well as illegal in what is now called the United Governments of the America, where Kit McKee and Dallas Ward are both originally from. Kit, a renowned genetic editor, now operates out of NegSense Lab in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. While she has plenty of work from clients, her secret pet project is the Zeus augment, one she knows can change the world and could thus, accordingly, make her a target. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, police detectives Woo and Fong are investigating murders of augmented victims. Their leads suggest NegSense is involved. But when they finally find a means of contacting Kit, they find she’s disappeared. As these mysteries unfold, the characters are drawn closer together by criminal forces acting just out of sight, leading to a brutal and shocking climax between all of them.

THE SEQUENCE is incredibly exciting, and Telford writes it compellingly and well. It’s almost cinematic in scope, with its taut dialogue, creative turns of phrase, and vivid scene descriptions that engulf the reader and draw them easily into this unsettled, unsettling new world. The characters are skillfully and empathetically conjured, with their unique backstories and diverse perspectives. Literally diverse: there are people from all over the world in THE SEQUENCE, but each one of them feels refreshingly honest and true-to-life, from their languages to their subtle interactions. Dallas and Kit are particularly intriguing. They feel like two sides of the same coin: Kit’s work is the product of her quick, brilliant mind and its copious ideas; Dallas’s, the result of his desire to just keep going, and to keep the the past from catching up with him. Both are constantly moving in their respective ways, and while this makes them somewhat archetypal, they’re also deeply human. They have their places in this changed world and yet parts of them still cling to the past, and what used to be, a quality that is so reflective of the story’s overall themes. It’s this project that also leads her to ultimately encountering Dallas, a pilot whose job is transporting contraband.

While THE SEQUENCE has a few technical issues — minor typos and syntactical slips — and a slightly rushed ending, none of this distracts from the story enough to blot out how fascinating and impressive it is. Telford uses the narrative to bring up interesting questions about the many ways humans seek (and fail) to play God without pontificating on the subject. Drugs and augments can alter a person’s system, but they can’t erase the inherent fallibility of being human. THE SEQUENCE explores this idea by showing how profoundly capable humans can be, while admitting how challenging, if not impossible, it is to transcend one’s humanity, for better or for worse.

THE SEQUENCE is a potent, powerful, and thought-provoking adventure through a bleak yet fascinating future that features several vivid characters and prompts compelling questions about what it means to be human.

~Jennifer Weatherly for IndieReader