A startling sci-fi examination of humanity’s capacity for cruelty in a remarkable dystopian setting.
Survivors of a ravaged future Earth must contend with murderous pirates and ruthless politics in Fields’ sci-fi debut.
Aron was on vacation when a devastating storm rendered Earth mostly uninhabitable. Now, 12 years later, the majority of people remaining have taken refuge in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. A reconnaissance ship from Mars arrives, and its crew says that they can transport a limited number of the survivors to the off-world colony. But the earthlings must decide who gets to go, and a committee formed for that purpose, the Council of Thirteen, makes devious choices. Fields’ post-apocalyptic novel, set well into the 22nd century, reveals a grim but lucid glimpse of the future, and genre fans will appreciate its descriptions of ultramodern technology such as data mats (computers that can be folded and stuffed into a pocket) and helojumpers (“flying, glass-bottomed boats”). But the author’s greatest achievement is his convincing portrayal of a futuristic world. Aron’s first-person narration doesn’t lay out Earth’s history but merely acknowledges events in passing, such as the gas crisis of 2021, and his metaphors are apposite, as when he describes being hit emotionally “with the impact of a helojumper slamming into the ocean.” Fields adds scenes and situations of increasing intensity as people inexplicably resign from the Council of Thirteen and the president, Ahmed, replaces them with his supporters; pirate raids become deadlier and more frequent; and an upsurge in sudden weather shifts brings snow mixed with rain during the day and blistering heat at night. The protagonist’s cynicism and apathy can sometimes border on nihilism, as when he questions whether life is any better on Mars, suggests that humankind’s extinction is imminent and impatiently awaits his own death. But such drastic attitudes make it all the more rewarding when he later becomes the protector of a friend’s 10-year-old son, William, and is determined to see that the boy prospers on the Mars colony.
A startling sci-fi examination of humanity’s capacity for cruelty in a remarkable dystopian setting.Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2013
ISBN: 9780615896274
Page Count: 282
Publisher: Tuscan Fields Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2013
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 celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please.
After 1,000 years of peace, whispers that “the Nameless One will return” ignite the spark that sets the world order aflame.
No, the Nameless One is not a new nickname for Voldemort. Here, evil takes the shape of fire-breathing dragons—beasts that feed off chaos and imbalance—set on destroying humankind. The leader of these creatures, the Nameless One, has been trapped in the Abyss for ages after having been severely wounded by the sword Ascalon wielded by Galian Berethnet. These events brought about the current order: Virtudom, the kingdom set up by Berethnet, is a pious society that considers all dragons evil. In the East, dragons are worshiped as gods—but not the fire-breathing type. These dragons channel the power of water and are said to be born of stars. They forge a connection with humans by taking riders. In the South, an entirely different way of thinking exists. There, a society of female mages called the Priory worships the Mother. They don’t believe that the Berethnet line, continued by generations of queens, is the sacred key to keeping the Nameless One at bay. This means he could return—and soon. “Do you not see? It is a cycle.” The one thing uniting all corners of the world is fear. Representatives of each belief system—Queen Sabran the Ninth of Virtudom, hopeful dragon rider Tané of the East, and Ead Duryan, mage of the Priory from the South—are linked by the common goal of keeping the Nameless One trapped at any cost. This world of female warriors and leaders feels natural, and while there is a “chosen one” aspect to the tale, it’s far from the main point. Shannon’s depth of imagination and worldbuilding are impressive, as this 800-pager is filled not only with legend, but also with satisfying twists that turn legend on its head. Shannon isn’t new to this game of complex storytelling. Her Bone Season novels (The Song Rising, 2017, etc.) navigate a multilayered society of clairvoyants. Here, Shannon chooses a more traditional view of magic, where light fights against dark, earth against sky, and fire against water. Through these classic pairings, an entirely fresh and addicting tale is born. Shannon may favor detailed explication over keeping a steady pace, but the epic converging of plotlines at the end is enough to forgive.
A celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63557-029-8
Page Count: 848
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
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