A bleak, engrossing tale about diversity and acceptance in a tyrannical future world.
In this dystopian novella, people who don’t fit so-called gender norms are forced to undergo brutal conditioning treatments.
It’s not easy for Black, nonbinary Ash Smith and white, gay trans male Aubrey Tennyson to find employment. The two, who meet at a job fair in an oppressive Midwest confederation in what was once America, diverge from the heterosexual, gender binary society. A recruiter steers the new friends to Hightower, a center that promises to connect them with potential employers. Hightower helps overlooked “people work within the system to find themselves a livelihood and security.” But Ash and Aubrey quickly learn that something is horribly wrong there when they and a small group of others like them wind up trapped in Hightower. The center splits them into male and female groups for “correction”—Aubrey, for example, endures “femininity training.” These sessions entail shocks from a cattle prod or medical device while strapped to a chair. As these vicious acts only escalate in savagery, Ash, Aubrey, and their fellow captives, with some unexpected help, look for a way to escape the tightly locked Hightower and its array of armed guards. The cast of Cooper and Wunn’s novella is superbly diverse. Along with the two leads, there’s pansexual Julia and self-proclaimed “old lesbian” Helen as well as men who don’t abide by the “masculine archetypes” (for example, they aren’t outdoorsy). This timely, relevant plot aptly depicts the harmful effects of a society’s restrictions, as conforming can mean people sadly transforming themselves, from their dress and general demeanors to who they choose to be with. This all unfolds in an increasingly violent and bloody narrative, precipitating scenes that may churn stomachs. At the same time, there aren’t many surprises, especially as readers will anticipate the titular massacre and know who will likely survive it. The final act nevertheless provides a closer look at the dystopian world Ash and Aubrey live in, although this absorbing story stays smartly focused on the harrowing experiences inside Hightower.
A bleak, engrossing tale about diversity and acceptance in a tyrannical future world.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 30, 2024
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
Let’s hope for more from the next book set in this world.
Sasha Cadell has survived against all odds, holding onto her loved ones and strangers as they take their last breaths—and that’s why she’s known as Death’s Angel.
For six years Sasha has lived in Haven, the underground society built to withstand nuclear war. Since the war, since her family’s deaths, since discovering she doesn’t get sick like everyone else does, Sasha’s life has been full of death and overfull with grief. While working in the Ward, Haven’s limited hospital, she stays with patients as they die. When Tristian Hayes, a unit commander of the Force, ends up as her patient, hanging on for his life, she pleads for him to stay alive. He does—upending her bleak ritual as Death’s Angel. Hoping to forget everything she’s seen and to numb the pain, Sasha leaves the Ward in favor of a role with a pickax, expanding Haven’s tunnels. Tristian, fiercely determined and stunningly stubborn, recruits Sasha to the Force for a vital mission aboveground. The story picks up steam with Sasha’s intense training to become the medic for Tristian’s tightknit unit. Together, they bear the weight of their unit’s survival and all that’s left of humankind. While in training, Sasha struggles to discern friends and enemies, but nothing is as challenging as facing her own demons. In this prequel to her debut novel, Conform (2025), Sullivan tries to accomplish a lot with both the worldbuilding and plot machinations, resulting in a convoluted story and flattened characters. The plot doesn’t have a satisfying payoff, but the romantic tension between Sasha and Tristian will keep readers engaged.
Let’s hope for more from the next book set in this world.Pub Date: March 24, 2026
ISBN: 9798217091027
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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