McWilliams’ debut is, for the most part, a beautiful intersection of science and magic in which a mysterious girl and a team of scientists seek to create artificial intelligence.
Scientific wunderkind Tyler Cipriani, son of the famous Aiden Cipriani, doesn’t like being manipulated by his father; he had enough of that as a child when he was a test subject for his father’s studies. He dislikes it so much that in spite of his considerable talents, he avoids working much on his own. As his mother later explains, “[T]he problem is…you want to be a rebel, but you have nothing to rebel against.” So when his dad approaches him about helping Quantum Bay Labs win the Xprize for artificial intelligence, Tyler isn’t remotely interested—until he meets the lab’s latest hire, Danny Searle. Intelligent, funny and mysterious, the beautiful bookkeeper immediately captures Tyler’s attention with her magical—both literally and figuratively—worldview. Allowing his father to manipulate him once more, Tyler signs on to help the team with Prometheus, their artificial intelligence project. Though largely an idea-driven novel, McWilliams’ work features some magnificent characters that are equal parts hyperintelligent and approachable. Scientific questions of consciousness, free will and reality are addressed in clever ways, as when Aiden—traveling down a rabbit hole of a dinner discussion that is so pleasant and thought-provoking readers might wish these were real people they could spend time with—reminds his guests that, “just because a fish discovers he lives in a fish tank, doesn’t mean he no longer has to swim.” What Danny brings to the table is a different perspective: “Why can’t you just admit that science is the study of a magical world that just happens to be consistent and logical?” But it’s not just at the intersection of science and magic that McWilliams’ talent shines; it’s how he’s able to align those worldviews to build on each other as Danny—and, much to Tyler’s discomfort, her ex-boyfriend, David, a professional magician who shows up later—contributes to the programming project by inspiring new ideas in the scientists. Danny retains her mystery until, just before the project’s deadline, a car crash puts her in a coma and her secrets are revealed. The first two-thirds of the novel are supremely excellent, but the final third goes up in smoke. The tone changes, the charm disappears, and the poorly explored ending comes from too far afield to be anything but disappointing despite McWilliams’ last-ditch efforts to resurrect the otherwise outstanding story.
A beautiful start to a tale of love, science and magic; it’s a shame the magic doesn’t last.
Pub Date: May 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1499583724
Page Count: 268
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 9, 2014
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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