A delightfully unorthodox tale of gods and immortality that might have benefited from a stronger edit.
A small band of Americans fight for control over Automatons created by gods in this SF fantasy novel collection credited to two of its characters: B.L.A. and G.B. Gabbler.
While out walking in the city, library assistant Odys Odelyn has a run-in with an umbrella-carrying stranger who strikes up a conversation, gives him a coin, and then fatally shoots himself. The coin then transforms into a humanoid Automaton named Maud who designates Odys as her new soul-sharing Master. In due time, a group of fellow Masters and their Automatons show up; the stranger’s deadly act—apparently the only way he could sever his bond with Maud—has them all worried that “something bad” is on the horizon, and it involves Odys and his twin sister Odissa’s family, as well as a missing Automaton that, as far as anyone knows, has no Master. Their search for answers will most definitely involve tracking down the “vacant” Automaton, and maybe even conferring with gods that created Automatons. The anonymous author stylizes the narrative as two people’s work: narrator B.L.A. and an equally mysterious, footnote-scribbling editor, Gabbler. Their intermittent, snarky back-and-forth banter provides humor in this self-referential novel, as Gabbler thinks B.L.A. is bizarre and possibly insane. In the main story, Odys and other Masters, including Dorian—who’s sightless and uses his Automaton, Fletcher, to see for him—try to figure out if, and from whom, they might face a threat. The narrative offers unexpected relationships, quirky characters (including a Master who’s decidedly older than his 10-year-old appearance), and shocking deaths. Considering the book’s epic length, however, very little action unfolds as discussions carry on for pages, revealing little pertinent information. (Indeed, some of Gabbler’s more critical footnotes—such as “not enough plot”—ring true.) Even though this novel collects two previous volumes, its ending hints at yet another sequel.
A delightfully unorthodox tale of gods and immortality that might have benefited from a stronger edit.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2024
ISBN: 9798985544947
Page Count: 638
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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