In her debut, Grey Wolf delivers a highly detailed, densely populated sci-fi adventure.
In this first volume of her meticulously plotted Beneath the Surface saga, Grey Wolf describes a brutal future society in which humans’ ingenuity and survival instincts lead to devastating consequences. The expanding sun threatens to destroy the Earth in the 38th century, so humans set off in arklike spaceships for planets with ancient Greek and Norse names (Freya, Titan, and so on). Such a mass exodus should provide an opportunity for nations to reimagine and improve their societies—but instead they engage in bloody wars, racism and enduring animosity as they grab for resources. Grey Wolf moves from a broad description of this fictional universe to focus on the story of Erren Archer, a boy born on a spaceship bound for the planet Midgard, and his older brother Sean, both of whom have telepathic powers. When the boys are separated, they must use their survival skills and unique powers to reunite. Grey Wolf’s worldbuilding is so complete that she includes an extensive index of calendars (such as “Freya’s Tertiary Sub-Year” and “Days of the Week: A Brief History”), geographical and technological maps, an appendix of abbreviations and explanations of spiritual systems; the book even provides intermittent original poetry that strives for literary gravity. The writing style tends to tell more often than show, but readers more interested in plot and setting will likely forgive occasional stiff dialogue and sketchily drawn characters. At more than 600 pages, readers may find this initial installment hard going at times, but Grey Wolf’s universe is simply too wide-ranging for anything less.
A hyperdetailed addition to the sci-fi genre.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1480200456
Page Count: 622
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | SCIENCE FICTION | GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION
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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. 10, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
The chronological conclusion to both the four-book Fall of Shannara miniseries and the entire Shannara oeuvre established in 1977.
What began as a standard sword-and-sorcery universe has morphed into one where magic and technology coexist, where heroes zoom around in airships powered by something akin to dilithium crystals yet still fight with swords and blast each other with magic. Here, the Four Lands face destruction by the warlike Skaar, invaders driven from their home by climate change. Four groups with dominant female leads operate largely independently and often without reference to the plot's main thrust. Tarsha Kaynin, schooled in wishsong magic by the druid Drisker Arc, faces a showdown battle with the evil witch Clizia Porse. The witch has hurled Drisker into a demon-infested realm from which there's no escape, where he discovers Grianne Ohmsford, an old acquaintance, a long-term prisoner. Young Belladrin Rish, a clandestine Skaar agent working to subvert the Four Lands’ defenses, begins to doubt her mission. And Skaar princess Ajin D'Amphere, now collaborating with warrior Dar Leah and friends, heads toward Skaarland with, just possibly, a technological solution to the climate problem. Familiar Brooks strengths—courage, perseverance, loyalty, and so forth—are prominent, yet it's hard to ignore the underlying exhaustion. Things happen randomly, so the narrative strands never quite cohere into a single satisfying package; events readers might have anticipated from the previous volumes fail to materialize. Brooks' style is easy and undemanding. His characters often resemble fantasy archetypes yet possess just enough individuality to avoid skepticism; plots seldom stray far from boilerplate. His greatest appeal has been to youth, and recent attempts to inject mature themes such as sexual violence have not been a success. As he has pretty much throughout the entire Shannara cosmos, Brooks takes his departure with the contention that science and magic are flip sides of the same coin. They're not. Science works for anybody. Magic works only if you have the gift.
Like a weary yet exultant marathon runner: wraps itself in a flag, totters across the finish line, and crumples in a heap.Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-399-17854-2
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Categories: EPIC FANTASY | FANTASY | GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
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