Cenital, by Emilio Bueso

Zenithal is a novel created by the Spanish Emilio Bueso, an author specialized in speculative fiction y nominated for the Ignotus Award 2014. The title is due to the name of an "ecovillage", a concept introduced by the writer regarding the few territories that have been converted into refuges for the last survivors of humanity. There, the protagonist - whose code name is Destral - observes the entire universe with a powerful telescope and recounts the events of this apocalyptic world.

Published in 2012, the events described in this book would take place just two years later, during 2014. For this reason, some literary analysts such as Sergio Sancor, consider Zenithal as an "essential novel" due to the irresistible engagement generated in the reader through the "experience that gives us the opportunity to reflect on the vicissitudes of this world and in which Emilio Bueso puts the human being as a subject in evidence of a reality that it is closer than we think ”.

About the Author

Emilio Bueso was born in Castellón, Spain, in 1974. His university training was as a computer systems engineer, becoming professor of Operating Systems at the Jaume I University of Castellón. However, he began to meddle on his own in creating horror stories. By 2007 he had already published his first independent novel: Closed night.

Then came the launch of Diastole (2011) and of Zenithal (2012), with which Bueso built a good reputation as a writer of dark stories and earned him the Celsius Novel Prize, among other distinctions. In the following years he published Tonight the sky will burn (2013) Strange Aeons (2014) Now try to sleep (2015) Twilight (2017) and antisolar (2018)

Characteristic features of Zenith

Pioneering work

For sure, Zenithal marked a positive turning point in Emilio Bueso's career, because it made him a pioneer in the original anticipation narratives in the Spanish language. Likewise, this book can be considered one of the first within the genre described as a "scientific-climate novel", a trend that is increasing according to portals such as the BBC or the DW.

Direct criticism of an equivocal system

Although his argument does not focus directly on global warming, en Zenithal Bueso does make an unequivocal reference to human stupidity which means insisting on a totally absurd world economic model, conducive to the appearance of the feasible aftermath of the arrival of peak oil.

Through its protagonist, Destral, the author denounces the deformations of the industrialized society of the XXI century, as well as showing the crudest consequences of the near future, through an argumentative thread that tells the events of the present in parallel with the past of some key inhabitants of the ecovillage.

Simple writing, but direct and blunt

By employing a simple, concise style and loaded with strong images that quickly capture the attention, the author induces constant reflection in the reader on the inevitable condition of the human being as the causative agent of its own destruction. Also inescapable are allusions to deniers of the possible social and economic disasters that hang over the global financial system today.

Zenithal It is a very fluid reading thanks to its short chapters, without detours, to despite the atmosphere charged with tension and barbarism. However, it is a hard novel, difficult to digest in several segments, it constantly confronts the reader and forces him to evaluate his particular reality.

Immerse the reader

En Zenithal all the events narrated have a reason for being. The unknowns must be answered by the reader while immersing himself in a world full of disturbing visions and impressive (very well used by the author without exaggerating this resource).

Plot development

Short, easy-to-read chapters

The alternate chapter structure, short and easy to read, is perfectly complemented by the not-so-fictional story which causes a very strong hook. It is practically chimerical to be indifferent to the questions posed very seriously by the author in this book. Does the threat posed in Zenithal is it invisible or is human idiocy too persistent?

Doubts everywhere

Doubts are constant. First, because the halo of evident feasibility is impossible to ignore mixed with the shocking images of cannibalism and excessive destruction. Second, the reader's conscience is appealed to by demonstrating with supported postulates the unsustainability of the world economy based on fossil fuels, within a context that does not seem very exaggerated.

In third place, the hope of a rebirth of humanity collides with the very nature of the human being. And this is not uncommon, individualism and man's ambition have built the unfailing path to self-destruction. Finally, the writer ironically portrays man's contradiction with respect to the laws of nature, where — theoretically — the strongest survive and manage to pass on their genes to the next generation.

Power in the hands of the worst

However, in history the development of civilization resulted in the presence of weak men (physically). These were able to elaborate a shell of power to dominate others and transform their environment according to their convenience. For this reason, the human being is not able to exist in harmony with its environment ... no, it is a species that carries the curse of turning everything it touches into a sewer due to its insatiable hunger for power.

The outcasts like the saviors

In addition, Emilio Bueso raises in a very philosophical way who are the people capable of building shelters known as ecovillages. It touches, then, the marginalized by society, the misfits, misunderstood, the rare this noble work. But not everything is rosy within these enclosures. If in appearance it is an Eden for the survivors of the apocalypse, in the same way it is a prison. This is not strange, humanity inhabits them.

Extreme detail as a tool for terror

That is, no person is totally free either inside or outside of this paradise. Terror is the common denominator behind every decision. On the other hand, the direct language used by Bueso shocks the reader. The details narrated are brutal, but without using unnecessary or far-fetched phrases.

Each event that occurs has an origin, a relevant reason with an intrinsic logic, there are no loose ends or random events. The narration is very precise from the first to the last letter, therefore, it demands the full attention of the receiver. Definitely, Zenithal It has all the essential elements of a nutritious and exciting reading, which make it a highly recommended novel.