Shaw (AAA Pest Control, 2013, etc.) sets a thoughtful coming-of-age tale on a faraway planet, where terraforming has transformed a small continent into an Earth-like habitat but left vast stretches of wilderness and ocean teeming with life forms.
Fallon is a foundling with two remarkable talents: his ability to draw and perfect recall, even if he only experiences an event for a split second. The second skill enhances his already formidable drawing talent, turning it into an almost priceless resource. Fallon’s planet, known as Neworld, is ruled by the mysterious—and increasingly tyrannical—Council. Opposing the Council are the Solarists, members of a renegade group whose publications argue a truth very different from the social and spiritual truths approved and viciously enforced by the Council. Missy Howard, Fallon’s only friend and confidante, upends his world when she secretly enlists Missus Grier—the head of the nascent resistance—to recruit Fallon and his remarkable talents. These events set Fallon on a journey beyond the borders of the world he knows, into the wilds of the planet, where strange new life forms—and hopefully the truth about Neworld’s past—are waiting to be discovered. The mystery of Neworld’s origins and the wonderfully imaginative alien flora and fauna bring this book to life. “A translucent organism,” for instance, “floated through the mist. It looked like a fancy gelatin mold of unique design, with a multitude of fine tentacles dangling and writhing beneath.” The action progresses steadily, although a number of the characters suffer from stock-character syndrome. That shallowness also crops up in the love triangle among Fallon, Addie—Missus Grier’s granddaughter—and her friend Lenore. Fortunately, Shaw eventually freshens up the love triangle trope with a surprise twist.
An adventurous tale set in a unique, alien world populated by fascinating creatures, though some of the characters aren’t quite as vivacious.Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2013
ISBN: 978-1490515632
Page Count: 312
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | SCIENCE FICTION | GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION
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An almost-but-not-quite-great slavery novel.
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The celebrated author of Between the World and Me (2015) and We Were Eight Years in Power (2017) merges magic, adventure, and antebellum intrigue in his first novel.
In pre–Civil War Virginia, people who are white, whatever their degree of refinement, are considered “the Quality” while those who are black, whatever their degree of dignity, are regarded as “the Tasked.” Whether such euphemisms for slavery actually existed in the 19th century, they are evocatively deployed in this account of the Underground Railroad and one of its conductors: Hiram Walker, one of the Tasked who’s barely out of his teens when he’s recruited to help guide escapees from bondage in the South to freedom in the North. “Conduction” has more than one meaning for Hiram. It's also the name for a mysterious force that transports certain gifted individuals from one place to another by way of a blue light that lifts and carries them along or across bodies of water. Hiram knows he has this gift after it saves him from drowning in a carriage mishap that kills his master’s oafish son (who’s Hiram’s biological brother). Whatever the source of this power, it galvanizes Hiram to leave behind not only his chains, but also the two Tasked people he loves most: Thena, a truculent older woman who practically raised him as a surrogate mother, and Sophia, a vivacious young friend from childhood whose attempt to accompany Hiram on his escape is thwarted practically at the start when they’re caught and jailed by slave catchers. Hiram directly confronts the most pernicious abuses of slavery before he is once again conducted away from danger and into sanctuary with the Underground, whose members convey him to the freer, if funkier environs of Philadelphia, where he continues to test his power and prepare to return to Virginia to emancipate the women he left behind—and to confront the mysteries of his past. Coates’ imaginative spin on the Underground Railroad’s history is as audacious as Colson Whitehead’s, if less intensely realized. Coates’ narrative flourishes and magic-powered protagonist are reminiscent of his work on Marvel’s Black Panther superhero comic book, but even his most melodramatic effects are deepened by historical facts and contemporary urgency.
An almost-but-not-quite-great slavery novel.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-399-59059-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: One World/Random House
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Categories: HISTORICAL FICTION | FANTASY | GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | HISTORICAL FANTASY
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Over 50 years after an extraterrestrial microbe wiped out a small Arizona town, something very strange has appeared in the Amazon jungle in Wilson’s follow-up to Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain.
The microparticle's introduction to Earth in 1967 was the disastrous result of an American weapons research program. Before it could be contained, Andromeda killed all but two people in tiny Piedmont, Arizona; during testing after the disaster, AS-1 evolved and escaped into the atmosphere. Project Eternal Vigilance was quickly set up to scan for any possible new outbreaks of Andromeda. Now, an anomaly with “signature peaks” closely resembling the original Andromeda Strain has been spotted in the heart of the Amazon, and a Wildfire Alert is issued. A diverse team is assembled: Nidhi Vedala, an MIT nanotechnology expert born in a Mumbai slum; Harold Odhiambo, a Kenyan xenogeologist; Peng Wu, a Chinese doctor and taikonaut; Sophie Kline, a paraplegic astronaut and nanorobotics expert based on the International Space Station; and, a last-minute addition, roboticist James Stone, son of Dr. Jeremy Stone from The Andromeda Strain. They must journey into the deepest part of the jungle to study and hopefully contain the dire threat that the anomaly seemingly poses to humanity. But the jungle has its own dangers, and it’s not long before distrust and suspicion grip the team. They’ll need to come together to take on what waits for them inside a mysterious structure that may not be of this world. Setting the story over the course of five days, Wilson (Robopocalypse, 2011, etc.) combines the best elements of hard SF novels and techno-thrillers, using recovered video, audio, and interview transcripts to shape the narrative, with his own robotics expertise adding flavor and heft. Despite a bit of acronym overload, this is an atmospheric and often terrifying roller-coaster ride with (literally) sky-high stakes that pays plenty of homage to The Andromeda Strain while also echoing the spirit and mood of Crichton’s other works, such as Jurassic Park and Congo. Add more than a few twists and exciting set pieces (especially in the finale) to the mix, and you’ve got a winner.
A thrilling and satisfying sequel to the 1969 classic.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-247327-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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