A delight for lovers of UFOs and unique fiction.
An eclectic science-fiction romp through pop culture and fringe theory.
Tiffy and Cheryl Bandera, twin sisters, begin their career advertising buy-one-get-one cheeseburgers. Their magnetic appeal is palpable, but before making their recording debut, they decide to go solo–in a manner of speaking. The sisters split time as Tiffy, one of the most famous entertainers in the history of pop-culture. In response to the Milli Vanilli scandal, and lest they be discovered, a clever recasting decision is made–Cheryl becomes a martial artist and appears with Tiffy under the pretense of being her security double. This new relationship between the sisters begins to affect their PR, and fans grow to see Tiffy as an aloof, ungrateful megastar. Thus, the novel picks up the action with the sisters’ creation of a win-a-date contest. They gently rig it to weed out the sociopaths, and the unassuming Brian Gullen wins the contest. Cheryl manages the vetting process and, incredibly, Brian’s abductee experiences, psychic abilities and split-personality don’t sound any serious warning bells. Cheryl is more than receptive, even intrigued. He’s a nice guy, and it’s telegraphed early that he will probably wind up with at least one of the sisters. Brian’s tales of the planet Quartzon and the adventure they have on its forest moon make for some authentically cool science-fiction, but the early narrative too easily shifts from the story proper to Brian’s correspondences, to a character’s dreams, to a slew of confusing conversations. The prose is clear and the tone witty, but the organization and particulars are often muddied by stock lamentations about scientists and skeptics’ dismissal of UFOs. However, Agar has an uncanny ability to create eccentric characters whose concerns are nonetheless down-to-earth. Even the Mongeese, a once proud warrior race from another galaxy, are sympathetic in human terms. There are more than a few howlers, blessedly intentional, like when Cheryl makes a less than romantic bargain with Brian (eventually known as Bryan) for DNA exchange. This genuine wit keeps the reader engaged throughout the novel’s complex intergalactic machinations.
A delight for lovers of UFOs and unique fiction.Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4392-5752-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
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
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
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