Superlative characters enliven this richly detailed historical adventure.
Modern-day siblings travel back through time to war-torn, Nazi-occupied Poland in Elle’s debut SF novel.
Twenty-two-year-old Blanca Hernandez and her younger brother, Mateo, tour the Texas college Mateo will soon be attending. An apparent earthquake suddenly hits, followed by an explosion. When the smoke clears, Blanca, Mateo, and other bystanders find themselves in another place altogether—1943 Poland, to be precise. Scientists at the college had been working on a project creating “time jumps” that went awry, and now the siblings are collateral damage, caught in the midst of an ongoing war. They’re soon dodging Nazis, vicious wildlife, and explosives dropped from above. They manage to connect with stranded, English-speaking German pilot Otto Zimmler, who can help them navigate the unfamiliar landscape. All Blanca and Mateo want is to make it to the coast, where a boat can take them to safety. While they’re under the threat of both German and Russian soldiers, they struggle to keep their fascinating origin a secret. The author wisely keeps the time-travel details simple and doesn’t unnecessarily complicate the story of heroes under fire. The remarkable cast drives the narrative: Eye-opening flashbacks highlight Blanca’s tumultuous past as a combat medic in Afghanistan and humanize Otto as the reader witnesses a loathsome ideology enshroud his youth (“…a soldier proudly brandished a red flag with a twisted black symbol in the middle. Otto was too young to know what it was, but it impressed him as much as anything had impressed him in his life”). Nazism is the indisputable villain here, but this is also a story of survival, and Elle fills her swiftly-paced tale with harrowing scenes that, sadly, not every character walks away from. Fortunately, lighter moments occasionally alleviate the grim tone; it’s amusing to see the travelers frequently refer to Mateo’s just-purchased college history book to get background on the era. The final act is a surprising, gleefully frenzied ride to the end.
Superlative characters enliven this richly detailed historical adventure.Pub Date: May 9, 2023
ISBN: 9781956452457
Page Count: 334
Publisher: Arts Ink Ltd DBACentral Park South
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2023
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
Buckle up—fans of page-turning SF may find themselves binge-reading this novel in one butt-numbing marathon session.
Like a truck with no brakes speeding down a steep mountain road, Islington’s latest is an adrenaline-fueled SF thrill ride that follows a biomechanically enhanced assassin as he tries to understand his mysterious origins.
The chaotic opening scene gives readers a clear indication of what they’re in for: Contract killer Azure, attempting to complete a mission, is involved in a life-or-death battle with a multieyed biomachine called an Argos. “The thing’s bipedal but has six gorilla-like arms that end in half-metre-long claws,” he complains. After Azure barely dispatches the monster and kills his target, his AI assistant, Atti, informs him of his next job: protecting an elderly—and incredibly rich—woman living in a sprawling underground bunker in the middle of nowhere. “Old Woman,” as Azure calls her, isn’t forthcoming with personal details; all Azure can suss out is that she may be the target of a powerful organized crime syndicate—the same organization that employs him! Is Azure’s ultimate goal to save her or kill her? Although the worldbuilding could’ve been more comprehensive, Islington’s editing choices are brilliant—he strips away the insignificant narrative content to create a streamlined, action-packed adventure with seemingly one goal: to keep the reader furiously turning pages. The various mysteries—Azure’s murky beginnings, the tragic death of his best friend years earlier, Old Woman’s true identity, etc.—maintain the momentum and intensity. The takeaway here is the narrative potential of the characters as well as the plethora of subjects that could be explored more deeply, like immortality for the rich, cloning, and the potential to create bioengineered nightmares for “security.” Islington leaves the conclusion tantalizingly ambiguous. This novel could be the jumping-off point for a memorable series.
Buckle up—fans of page-turning SF may find themselves binge-reading this novel in one butt-numbing marathon session.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9781668239247
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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