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THE RULE OF CLAW by John Brindley

THE RULE OF CLAW

by John Brindley

Pub Date: March 1st, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-58013-608-2
Publisher: Carolrhoda

Fifteen-year-old Ash and her tribe of teens have lived in the relative safety of the ASP beach camp for eight years; each was dropped off by an adult who then vanished. Dense jungles full of deadly menace line the landward wire fence. Moments after Ash appears to lose control of ASP to power-hungry and terminally stupid Jon, she’s kidnapped and thrown into a power struggle between warring clans of sentient raptors. On escape, she learns from super-evolved rodents living under the Raptor city that genetic experimentation has caused evolution to accelerate. To save her friends, Ash must orchestrate a battle between human-genome–worshipping zealots and the evil king of the Raptors. Brindley’s first American publication dips its toe in the science of recombinant DNA and evolution before diving headlong into science fantasy. The linguistic quirks of Ash and her “Agles” quickly become more annoying than intriguing, and the imaginatively conceived world and passable adventure sink beneath repetitious dialogue and unnecessary descriptions of the self-evident. This and the sequel, The City of Screams, out shortly, will fit best in large, well-used adventure collections. (Science fiction. 10-14)