Overwritten, labored phrasing and problematic tropes burden this future-tech novel.
In this sci-fi novel set in the 35th century, a Galactic Interpol Society agent chases down a set of stolen codes that could leave an artificial planet open to invasion.
By the year 3421, humans coexist with the red-eyed novi, a people “originally born from enhanced industrialized pollutants.” The novi have colonized Earth’s Southern Hemisphere; slowly, the world is moving toward integration, but tensions still flare, especially at border cities. A third group of aliens from Planet Amephirous lives in small settlements on Earth and on Atlas, a new, artificial planet inhabited by members of all three cultures. This fragile peace is threatened by a power-seeking cabal whose chief members are an alien military officer and “underworld criminal”; a human politician; Jax, a novi terrorist and criminal; and Trigarous, a rogue human intelligence agent. They’re plotting to steal the codes for a security fail-safe program called RETROSPECT and use them to invade Atlas, jeopardizing all of its inhabitants. The group has power, money, connections, and highly developed skills—but they don’t have Jonah, a “top-priority special agent” for the Galactic Interpol Society. He’s tasked with investigating the conspiracy, preventing disaster, and rescuing a kidnapped ambassador. He’ll get help from Bot-21, a mobile AI unit, as well as an array of high-tech tools and weaponry—and he’ll need every advantage for what’s ahead of him. With his debut novel, DeMinico will appeal to readers who are intrigued by futuristic battles and gadgets. Both Jonah and Trigarous receive intriguing tactical goodies before starting their missions, and they use them to good effect; these elements, along with the novel’s many action sequences, are well-thought-out. However, the storytelling is greatly hampered by the tortured, sometimes-bizarre syntax that permeates the prose, such as “The other dwelled his interest elsewhere” and “her nose ejected its own variance of bodily tears.” Women also receive little representation, and one portrayal—of a “cute oriental woman,” who turns out to be an assassin named “Lady Crimson”—draws on stereotypes.
Overwritten, labored phrasing and problematic tropes burden this future-tech novel.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-982220-19-8
Page Count: 362
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
PROFILES
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