We’ve made it to the semifinals of the fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4). Team Tar Vol On advanced two semifinalists, which were joined in our half of the bracket by semifinalists from Space Girls and Red Stars. In this round, the three teams are reading each other’s selections and combining scores to identify the top half of our allocation to advance to the finals. At this stage, every book we read has gotten a glowing review from at least one other team. As always, tastes are idiosyncratic, so there will be times where we disagree with other teams, but we’ve done our best to explain our thoughts; we hope that they will help other readers find books that will appeal to them.
Today, we’ll be looking at a sprawling post-apocalyptic novel, Proliferation by Erik A. Otto.
Azrah’s Review and Rating
All in all the ideas behind the worldbuilding and the overarching themes to do with humanity, civility and power were promising but unfortunately not being able to get invested in the characters meant I wasn’t able to fully get behind the story.
Azrah has rated Proliferation 4/10. For more, check out her full review.
Champ’s Review and Rating
Proliferation had my attention before I even cracked the first page. Any book that kicks off with a future post-apocalyptic map has already sold me something I want. And once inside? Pirates. Katana swords. Lost cities. Dueling factions. I was ready for this sci-fi roadtrip against time.
Caught between two factions are two outsiders and our main characters: Lexie, a reluctant pirate-turned-operative and Dryden, a disillusioned anthropologist. They serve as our eyes and ears, guiding us through both ideology and terrain.
The worldbuilding hits fast. There’s not much hand-holding. Names, locations, and past events drop in quickly and without much exposition. Personally, I love that approach. It feels real, like you’ve been dropped into a world already in motion. If I were actually living in this world, no one would stop to explain the history of every cult, faction, or political nuance. You figure it out from context, implication, and what’s left unsaid.
That said, not every reader will be on board with that. Some may find the pacing or the rapid-fire terminology disorienting. There are definitely moments where you sense there’s a lot happening or has happened off-page, it may leave some people feeling detached or wanting more. But here’s the thing: I don’t mind that. And I want to make this clear; I’m not saying Proliferation is some standalone, genre-defining epic like Dune or The Lord of the Rings. That’s not the claim.
But just like Dune casually drops a reference to the “Butlerian Jihad” without explanation, or The Fellowship of the Ring throws Gandalf at you without telling you he’s basically an angel in disguise, or Star Wars: A New Hope introduces Vader with zero backstory – Proliferation gives you factions, motives, and half-buried histories that might be fully revealed in a different book in the series. Or maybe not. That’s part of the gamble, and for some of us, part of the appeal.
For me, it all comes down to this: Does it fit the logic of the story world? If an author introduced a saxophone-playing unicorn halfway through the book and it fit the rules of the world, the tone, the themes… I’d accept it. Embrace it, even. As long as it doesn’t break the story’s internal logic, I’m in.
Proliferation feels like a screenplay in some ways lean and focused on momentum. The narrative drives forward through dialogue, action, and movement. There’s not a lot of deep internal reflection or emotional excavation. You’re not necessarily going to fall in love with Lexie or Dryden, but you’ll understand what they want, and you’ll care about where they end up.
Champ has rated Proliferation 6.5/10.
Dave’s Review and Rating
Dave did not finish Proliferation and will not be providing a rating.
Erin’s Review and Rating
Proliferation is written in two halves, but I struggled first half. The second half is much better, despite my discomfort with the character whose self-harm was not only “required” by a supernatural condition, but supported by the other characters (an authorial decision that made me uncomfortable).
The worldbuilding throughout both halves is excellent, and you get the sense of a rich world with many factions, differing locations, and history.
The trouble with the first half is that there are two viewpoint characters, and both have next-to-no-agency in anything that happens to them, for hundreds of pages. It made the first half quite a slog to read. In the second half, both of these characters start to attempt to take control of their destiny.
Erin has rated Proliferation 6/10. For more, check out her full review.
Jay’s Review and Rating
On the whole, Proliferation is technically proficient, delivers a satisfying narrative arc, and explores some interesting themes. But it also doesn’t offer the reader much up front to aid immersion in the story, and the way the plot builds to a climax and then skips the falling action in order to set up another build can make it difficult to sustain reading momentum. The result is a story that makes sense and does a few things pretty well but that doesn’t fully capitalize on its potential.
Jay has rated Proliferation 6/10. For more, check out his full review.
Josh’s Review and Rating
While the story has ideas, it can’t seemingly commit to actually exploring them in any interesting or coherent way. A major part of the book’s first act revelations are for example that the ICSM cities all were programmed to help humanity, but the scope of that programming allowed them to do tremendous harm to those very same humans…such as by influencing their minds to make them more compliant with what the cities feel is necessary for everyone’s survival. It’s a big deal in the plot! And it has no impact whatsoever, as none of the major characters are affected by it and the cities seem to be pretty easily controllable by those major characters. The debates between the factions and what not and the conflict between these factions? I barely understand the factions to get them and they all basically go nowhere.
Josh has rated Proliferation 4.5/10. For more, check out his full review.
Official Scores
| Azrah | 4 |
| Champ | 6.5 |
| Dave | NA |
| Erin | 6 |
| Jay | 6 |
| Josh | 4.5 |
| Team | 5.4 |