Circular Motion is an ambitious sci-fi debut that feels reminiscent of an Adam Roberts novel, with its original premise and cerebral tone.

The story kicks off strongly, introducing a world spinning out of control and grappling with time contraction, supported by excellent world-building and a fresh sci-fi plot
. The writing showcases a rich vocabulary and clever, amusing observations, making it a high-brow, thought-provoking read.

However, the flat characterisation lets it down; I struggled to connect with the characters and would have preferred a more character-driven narrative. Despite this, the inventive sci-fi elements make it worth exploring.

I was intrigued by the premise of this novel, set in the near future when a company has manufactured circular vessels that allow people to travel around the world in a matter of hours. But something about the technology is causing time contraction and climate chaos, and I never really understood how that worked but the ideas were plausible.

The story focuses on people from Keber Creek, Alaska, whose disparate lives end up intersecting in this dystopian future. There is Tanner, a closeted gay man who sends fan mail to a professor in New York from his home town who offers him a job as an assistant when he takes a new role as spokesman for the company that makes the travel pods. Tanner falls for a coworker who has a crush on him.

The story then alternates with the point of view of Winnie, who is told in the third person while Tanner's story is told in the first, with other POVs from various characters in the third person. Around the 66% mark these POVs all clash at a party in a clumsy attempt at chaos and then the story just lost me from there. The POV shifts were confusing and I was never really sure who was telling the story.

It could also be that I'm really not into dystopian fiction right now because we're basically living in dystopian times, and this book got bleaker and bleaker at every turn; I was willing not to hold that against the book for a good story. It was almost grimporn in spots. I can forgive a little bleakness because that's not my thing but it may be someone else's, if the writing can pull it off.

But I think this story was too ambitious and trying to do too much and the execution would have benefited from smaller ideas, fewer perspectives or at least a tighter story concept.

I did like the character development of Winnie and Tanner, and there was some beautiful writing and thoughtful ideas about the collapse of civilization through technology and human hubris, but the story fell flat for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed from the genre and the characters that were created. Alex Foster has a strong writing style and was glad I got to read this. It had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed how well the characters were in this universe.