Complex, involving, and well realized, though female characters are stereotypes.
In this SF novel, sabotage, conspiracy, and malevolent aliens threaten a colonization mission.
Some 30 years from now, after global nuclear war, lingering radiation, nano-plague, and climate devastation from rocketing high temperatures, the Earth is in dire peril. Humanity must find a habitable planet, something made possible with recently developed faster-than-light spaceship technology and the discovery of Eden, a planet with forests, lakes, and a breathable atmosphere. Two previous missions have failed. Now the Ulysses is making a final possible attempt with a four-person crew: Capt. Blake Alexander, pilot Zachariah “Zack” Katain, science officer Pierre Bertrand, and Katrina “Kat” Beornwulf, communications. On Earth, Eden Mission Control monitors and supports them, led by Eden Mission Director Keiji Kane. As a telemetry analyst for the project, Micah Sanderson spends his days tracking the ship’s sensor information. He learns—from indications of tampering in the data streams and threatening events aboard ship—that someone has tried to sabotage their efforts. Perhaps this is why previous missions failed. It could be the work of the fundamentalist Alicians, terrorists and zealots who oppose technology, the postwar armistice, and the Eden project. The Chorazin Interpol, a powerful agency that is anti-terrorist but also ruthless toward citizens, investigates their involvement. The Sentinels, a shadowy group of trained assassins, or Cleansers, are yet another concern. One such Cleanser is Gabriel O’Donnell, tasked with carrying out deadly killings, their purpose at first unclear. On Earth, Kane’s assassination triggers dramatic events that endanger Micah; meanwhile, the astronauts manage to land on Eden, but all is not well. Startling discoveries on both planets indicate an ancient, long-hidden plan that could wreck humanity’s chances for survival with or without Eden.
Kirwan, who has also written several thrillers, turns his hand to SF in this first novel of a series of four. He’s adept at conjuring up a dense, convincingly three-dimensional universe packed with historical baggage, technology, politics, competing factions, conspiracies, and multiple agendas that extend beyond the terrestrial. Kirwan’s writing is crisp and vivid, whether describing taut battle scenes, unfamiliar technology, or interpersonal moments, often creating striking metaphors: “She felt an icy shiver abseil down her spine.” Even small details shine; cemeteries, for example, no longer exist, “every last scrap of decent soil used for crops.” Cremated remains are vitrified into a palm-sized “dusky glass teardrop,” a fitting and poignant image. As for the larger picture, the stakes simply couldn’t be higher, with the fate of all humanity in doubt. In many ways, Kirwan’s imagination seems boundless, so it’s unfortunate that his female characters feel like holdovers. The only ones in positions of authority are she-devils like Louise, a Chorazin agent. Others occupy assistant positions to more powerful men; adult women are condescendingly called girls; and the plot seemingly goes out of its way to sexualize female characters.
Complex, involving, and well realized, though female characters are stereotypes.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-79464-342-0
Page Count: 390
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A huge, churning, relentlessly entertaining melodrama buoyed by confidence that human values will prevail.
A rare, rattling space opera—first of a trilogy, or series, from Corey (aka Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck).
Humanity colonized the solar system out as far as Neptune but then exploration stagnated. Straight-arrow Jim Holden is XO of an ice-hauler swinging between the rings of Saturn and the mining stations of the Belt, the scattered ring of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. His ship's captain, responding to a distress beacon, orders Holden and a shuttle crew to investigate what proves to be a derelict. Holden realizes it's some sort of trap, but an immensely powerful, stealthed warship destroys the ice-hauler, leaving Holden and the shuttle crew the sole survivors. This unthinkable act swiftly brings Earth, with its huge swarms of ships, Mars with its less numerous but modern and powerful navy, and the essentially defenseless Belt to the brink of war. Meanwhile, on the asteroid Ceres, cynical, hard-drinking detective Miller—we don't find out he has other names until the last few pages—receives orders to track down and "rescue"—i.e. kidnap—a girl, Julie Mao, who rebelled against her rich Earth family and built an independent life for herself in the Belt. Julie is nowhere to be found but, as the fighting escalates, Miller discovers that Julie's father knew beforehand that hostilities would occur. Now obsessed, Miller continues to investigate even when he loses his job—and the trail leads towards Holden, the derelict, and what might prove to be a horrifying biological experiment. No great depth of character here, but the adherence to known physical laws—no spaceships zooming around like airplanes—makes the action all the more visceral. And where Corey really excels is in conveying the horror and stupidity of interplanetary war, the sheer vast emptiness of space and the amorality of huge corporations.
A huge, churning, relentlessly entertaining melodrama buoyed by confidence that human values will prevail.Pub Date: June 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-316-12908-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Orbit/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
Elegiac and elliptical, this slim novel is a sobering read.
Six astronauts on a space station orbit the planet over the course of a single Earth day.
Two hundred and fifty miles above the Earth, a space station goes round and round. Over the course of 24 hours, the astronauts inside experience sunrise and sunset 16 times. Though they're supposed to keep their schedules in tune with a normal “daily” routine, they exist in a dream-like liminal space, weightless, out of time, captivated and astonished by the “ringing singing lightness” of the globe always in view. “What would it be to lose this?” is the question that spurs Harvey’s nimble swoops and dives into the minds of the six astronauts (as well as a few of the earthbound characters, past and present). There are gentle eddies of plot: The Japanese astronaut, Chie, has just received word that her elderly mother has died; six other astronauts are currently on their way to a moon landing; a “super-typhoon” barrels toward the Philippines; one of the two cosmonauts, Anton, has discovered a lump on his neck. But overall this book is a meditation, zealously lyrical, about the profundity and precarity of our imperiled planet. It’s surely difficult to write a book in which the main character is a giant rock in space—and the book can feel ponderous at times, especially in the middle—but Harvey’s deliberate slowed-down time and repetitions are entirely the point. Like the astronauts, we are forced to meditate on the notion that “not only are we on the sidelines of the universe but that it’s…a universe of sidelines, that there is no centre.” Is this a crisis or an opportunity? Harvey treats this question as both a narrative and an existential dilemma.
Elegiac and elliptical, this slim novel is a sobering read.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780802161543
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Grove
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
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