A sci-fi saga that asks a lot of its readers, but the payoff is a highly nuanced sci-fi experience.
Debut author Kerr offers an epic sci-fi novel that chronicles the history of a distant planet over some six millennia.
Lieoptay-Noot was an “Elder-Teacher” who had insights that “no other seer from any other time could match.” His writings, known as the “Three Augured Climacterics,” steer the grand tale that follows. In the First Climacteric, readers meets Bisel and Padran Penriebës, twins attending Sjaarkrom Institute’s Academy, where they tend to excel when they’re placed in proximity to each other. Although Bis and Pad seem to be the best of the best, questions linger concerning their capabilities, which seem to decline when they’re separated. Add into the equation Bis’ troubled dreams and Padran’s doubts about their lot in life (“I refuse to believe we are just unconscious or unwilling participants in some story, some play,” he says), and the brightness of their future seems uncertain. The Second Climacteric begins with a figure named Iyrës embarking on a journey away from home. His stated goal is to reach the Daumkwaa region in Sabaysjoa, and it’s almost immediately a difficult trek. As he admits to another character, he’ll soon need the help of a gifted healer if he’s to ever reach his destination. In the Third Climacteric, Thesik Zlaifë is on her way home as she ponders some heavy questions, such as “Why are my days and nights an ever-expanding galaxy of questions within a universe of unresponsive emptiness?” Where will such questioning lead her? The book interweaves the three Climacterics with the story of Lieoptay-Noot himself, creating a work that’s extensive and complex; indeed, any plot summary merely reveals the tip of a dense iceberg. Taken as a whole, the book even makes epics such as Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965) seem like light beach reads, and to understand all of the many components and emotions at play, readers will need patience. This can be difficult at times due to the prolific amount of characters and motivations as well as the author’s penchant for extraneous details—particularly during culinary descriptions, as when one character engages in “chewing interspersed with musing sounds and gasps of satisfaction.” Still, even when the book makes sure to point out that some “trevik juice” is freshly squeezed, it maintains a unique voice throughout. The characters make frequent use of interior monologues, and these, in turn, offer readers some lengthy but informative insights: “I have no strength for anything more, my chest constricting as a feeling of overwhelming responsibility and rising inadequacy churn through me,” says Zlaifë at one point. The numerous players do take time to develop, but the author still manages to imbue each of them with realistic thoughts and existential fears as the story progresses. And although these many thoughts and fears—and food descriptions—fill a great many pages in this lengthy book, readers will find the end result to be nothing short of epic.
A sci-fi saga that asks a lot of its readers, but the payoff is a highly nuanced sci-fi experience.Pub Date: July 23, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5412-5484-8
Page Count: 818
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK TO SCREEN
Too much puzzle-solving, not enough suspense.
Video-game players embrace the quest of a lifetime in a virtual world; screenwriter Cline’s first novel is old wine in new bottles.
The real world, in 2045, is the usual dystopian horror story. So who can blame Wade, our narrator, if he spends most of his time in a virtual world? The 18-year-old, orphaned at 11, has no friends in his vertical trailer park in Oklahoma City, while the OASIS has captivating bells and whistles, and it’s free. Its creator, the legendary billionaire James Halliday, left a curious will. He had devised an elaborate online game, a hunt for a hidden Easter egg. The finder would inherit his estate. Old-fashioned riddles lead to three keys and three gates. Wade, or rather his avatar Parzival, is the first gunter (egg-hunter) to win the Copper Key, first of three. Halliday was obsessed with the pop culture of the 1980s, primarily the arcade games, so the novel is as much retro as futurist. Parzival’s great strength is that he has absorbed all Halliday’s obsessions; he knows by heart three essential movies, crossing the line from geek to freak. His most formidable competitors are the Sixers, contract gunters working for the evil conglomerate IOI, whose goal is to acquire the OASIS. Cline’s narrative is straightforward but loaded with exposition. It takes a while to reach a scene that crackles with excitement: the meeting between Parzival (now world famous as the lead contender) and Sorrento, the head of IOI. The latter tries to recruit Parzival; when he fails, he issues and executes a death threat. Wade’s trailer is demolished, his relatives killed; luckily Wade was not at home. Too bad this is the dramatic high point. Parzival threads his way between more ’80s games and movies to gain the other keys; it’s clever but not exciting. Even a romance with another avatar and the ultimate “epic throwdown” fail to stir the blood.
Too much puzzle-solving, not enough suspense.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-307-88743-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
