A short, bloody, and energetic military sci-fi dispatch.
In Gleason’s (Molters, 2015, etc.) new sci-fi novel, a military vanguard, tasked with preparing the Earth-like world of Tuhrelevim for colonization, finds lethal and relentless opposition in the form of vicious packs of predators.
The planet Tuhrelevim is the only extraterrestrial location ever discovered by mankind to be habitable for humans. A convoy of colonization ships, full of wealthy elites, are already on their way to settle there as a haven from an apparently tapped-out Earth. But a group of military troops has preceded them to investigate why previous expeditions, including those of automated probes, have disappeared. Straightaway, the soldiers find the culprits: the planet’s alpha-predator land species, a vaguely lionlike creature that the troops call a “ravager.” The beasts determinedly and relentlessly attack in force, killing any interloper onto which they can lock their jaws and claws. Meanwhile, Nev, an army captain with mixed feelings about the whole colonization project, discovers a high-level coverup that shows that the situation is even worse than they imagine. Although Earth people possess awesome destructive technology, the absolutely fearless ravagers have a high level of intelligence and an organized battle strategy. Gleason has film studies and movie projects on his resume, and his lean, hyperkinetic novel strongly recalls celluloid sci-fi monster-fests in the militaristic vein of Starship Troopers (the 1997 Hollywood version far more than Robert A. Heinlein’s original 1959 book) and director James Cameron’s 1986 film Aliens. The novel’s terse characterizations and back story are barely more than is necessary to propel the fight scenes forward; there isn’t even time for a Star Trek–like debate about whether the Homo sapiens are better or worse than the ravagers. As in one of Cameron’s other sci-fi epics, Avatar (2009), it’s clearly the humans who are the unsympathetic alien invaders.
A short, bloody, and energetic military sci-fi dispatch.Pub Date: March 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5239-7240-1
Page Count: 134
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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