An offbeat meditation on relationships, replete with quirky characters and a poignant romance at the center of the action.
Tales of love, loss, and regret unfold around a futuristic dinosaur park in this novel.
In 2116, the effects of climate change have drastically altered the planet and advances in technology have led to the development of a remarkable—and extremely popular—theme park. Cretaceous World, located in Dewberry, Oregon, connects visitors with the distant past through genetically engineered dinosaurs living in full-scale reconstructions of their habitats. The sprawling park’s director, Ted Beebe, a microbiologist, and his wife, Becky, a professor of botany, have dedicated their lives to Cretaceous World. At 68, he is satisfied with his marriage and career; however, he finds that he now laments that he and Becky never had children. His blissful life is shattered when she is diagnosed with a virus that causes dementia and later killed by a drunk driver. Bereft, he tries to move on with his life and finds himself attracted to paleontologist Lana Gable. Love is also on the minds of park employees and residents of Dewberry. Sheriff Bob Holmes is concerned that his deputy, Jimmy Watson, is taking his girlfriend for granted. Mystery author Althea Morgan comes to Dewberry seeking information about a murder victim, a Russian tourist, and the relationship that may have led to her death. Ted’s association with Lana leads to new beginnings, but his enduring love for Becky tempers his happiness. The latest from Robertson (The Bricolage of Kotegaeshi, 2007, etc.) uses the wonders of the dinosaur park as a backdrop to explore the idiosyncrasies of love, grief, and newfound connections. The descriptions of Cretaceous World and its formidable inhabitants are vivid and realistic and Robertson displays a wry sense of humor and a panoply of intriguing characters. Most of the action takes place in the theme park and Robertson draws several thought-provoking parallels between the dinosaurs and their human caretakers, especially in the area of reproduction. The genetic tinkering has rendered the reptiles sterile. As Ted explains: “We can’t handle a population increase in our dinosaurs. When one of them dies, we just make a new one.” Ted and Becky remained childless by choice, preferring to focus instead on their careers and the development of the park. Ted was initially content with their decision; however, after 35 years of marriage, he finds himself wishing he had become a father. The tension between childlessness, by choice or design, and the desire for a family is a central theme connecting several primary and secondary characters in the tale. Robertson’s playful and keen sense of humor is another highlight, particularly the teasing banter between Lana and Ted and a popular local restaurant whimsically named Hominid’s Delight. But the book is relatively short and some promising subplots are limited to a few episodes. Althea’s investigation into the Russian tourist’s death yields a tantalizing murder mystery, but it is dropped as quickly as it is introduced.
An offbeat meditation on relationships, replete with quirky characters and a poignant romance at the center of the action.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68114-333-0
Page Count: 130
Publisher: Anaphora Literary Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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