Zeroboxer

Zeroboxer is a 2015 speculative young adult fiction novel by first-time Canadian-American novelist Fonda Lee. It concerns a young man named Carr “the Raptor” Luka, who strives to become a champion contender in the weightless, zero-gravity combat sport known as zeroboxing.

The book begins in the somewhat far-off future, after Earth has colonized a number of other planets and moons, including Mars. Earth is a shadow of its former glory and is much less prosperous than many of the newer colonies in the solar system. Carr Luka, nicknamed the Raptor, is incredibly gifted at the zero-gravity space sport known as zeroboxing, which is akin to mixed martial arts. His corner man is named DK, and his coach is his uncle, Polly. For Carr and many young men like him, zeroboxing is way to escape a life of poverty on Earth.

In describing the complexities of zeroboxing, Lee writes: “To inflict any bare-handed damage to a person in zero gravity, you had to establish a brace or a point of leverage—preferably a vulnerable part of your opponent’s body—to keep them from floating away while you hurt them. Or you had to treat space itself as a weapon, using the infinite angles of movement to strike and rebound, faster and harder than the other guy.”



It’s perhaps ironic, then, that Carr doesn’t consider zeroboxing to be complex at all. As he describes the sport, “two guys go into a Cube. They fight. One of them beats the other. How much simpler can it be? People don’t have to make it more than it is.”

Carr’s zeroboxing skills take him to Mars, where his talents arouse the attention of the Zero Gravity Fighting Association. He is assigned an agent, a beautiful Martian woman named Risha who becomes a love interest for Carr (though in this regard she is a rather thinly drawn character). Risha is a marketing genius and is able to craft Carr’s image as a hero of the working class back on Earth.

For Carr, life on Mars brings huge culture shock. Unlike Risha, the rest of Carr’s team are salt of the earth (literally) Earthings. They include Uncle Polly, Carr’s coach and a stereotypical angry elderly boxing mentor clearly modeled on Burgess Meredith’s character from Rocky. There’s also DK, Carr’s “corner man,” who is wiry, muscled, and a former zeroboxer himself who fought under the name Danilo Kabitain. Finally, there’s Enzo, a young boy from Earth who’s obsessed with watching Carr’s zeroboxing matches on television. He wants to grow up to be just like Carr.



Unlike many of his zeroboxing peers, Carr is proud of having “unmodified” genes. His talent is all natural, or so he believes. This turns out to be a lie, and the Zero Gravity Fighting Association is closely involved in covering up the modified genetic histories of Carr and other boxers.

As such, Carr’s story covers many issues that are relevant to twenty-first-century audiences, though they are framed from a futuristic perspective. These issues include racism (between Earthlings, or “Terrans,” and Martians), performance-enhancing drugs in sports (for which the genetic modifications are a stand-in), as well as income inequality and the illusion presented by the world of sports celebrity, which promises young kids that athletics are the best way to lift themselves out of poverty.

From a psychological standpoint, the book also paints a convincing picture of what it’s like to be a star athlete. In one of his most memorable lines, Carr says, “Victory was a better high than a hundred bliss bombs. Perfect and real, lasting for days, even weeks, before being polished and stored in its own special nook of his soul, each win unique and everlasting, wanting nothing except more neighbors.”



Zeroboxer received very positive reviews for its fresh combination of sports drama and speculative fiction that says a lot about our modern world. As Kirkus Reviews writes, “The book focuses on ethical issues such as the genetic modifications humans undertook to begin living on Mars and promotes social awareness, focusing on Carr’s humble beginnings and his still-impoverished young friend, Enzo. It all adds up to a superior sci-fi outing that doesn’t need mad scientists to provide suspense.”