Wakers by Orson Scott Card

Awesome concept. Awesome story. Decent characters. This is a winner new series from Orson Scott Card. We are embarking on a sci-fi journey dealing with parallel existence. 

The main character, Lazarus, has the ability to live the perfect life. Every choice is exactly the right one. Any bad choices in front of him can be avoided with a simple sidestep. So when he wakes up in a tube with no memories of getting there, he is instantly suspicious. The world has apparently suffered some apocalyptic tragedy, but he has no memory of any doomsday panic. Then he finds one tube with another living being, a girl. Are they Adam and Eve?

The story progresses beautifully with the two teenagers attempting to survive in Greensboro, North Carolina. They have Harris Teeter to raid and a pack of feral dogs for company. And each other. The dynamic between the last two surviving people on Earth is incredibly realistic. While one has instalove, the other isn't sure how to love. They learn and grow with one another. They form an actual bond that is more than the pretty fluff filling most of today's stories.

Once they seem to be fairing quite well, another human enters the field and warns them of impending capture for being illegals squatting in the Old Place. Lazarus and Ivy are thrown for a talespin as they learn their entire existence has been some kind of theoretical (and observed) training ground.

The science is heavy in this fiction as the two begin an epic search for the perfect new home for humanity. Discussion of astrophysics, biology, quantum entanglement, and parallel existence are just a few concepts broadly looked at. But we'll have to wait for the next book to see if they have succeeded.

My only qualm with the story is with the sidestepping. Lazarus makes some very soul searching narrative. What are the ethics of his ability to sidestep to only the good outcomes in life? What about the Lazarus that gets left in all the bad scenarios? He presents these questions, but then never answers them. I would have appreciated at least an attempt. Instead, the narrative seemed like it was missing a little piece of itself by letting the reader fill in their own answer.