An intriguing development as an alien-first-contact epic sprouts new characters.
In Wood’s (Collapse, 2018, etc.) sci-fi novel, a planet of insectoid creatures, already stricken by internal conflict, reacts fearfully to evidence of other intelligent life.
The previous two books in this series were conventional, if well-told, narratives of an Earth reduced to survivalist feudalism by a terrorism-inspired nuclear barrage. The remnants of American society then received a fateful visit from the inquisitive Qu’uda—amphibian extraterrestrials seeking habitable worlds. Here, in Book 3, the perspective shifts sharply to a faraway, exotic alien civilization. It’s a technologically advanced world that’s dominated by insectlike beings, with a matriarchy of divalike queens at the apex of society; the latter have exoskeletons with deadly retractable spines, and they communicate, in part, by scent. Earlier wars between hives tainted the planet’s environment; now, they’ve agreed on an uneasy détente for the greater good of their gene pool and adhere to a religion (“the Way of the Mother”) that bans fusion weapons, among other things. An unwary Qu’uda scout ship intrudes into the situation, triggering cataclysmic misunderstandings that will echo throughout the series’ overarching storyline. Middle chapters in multivolume sci-fi sagas often get little respect, as they’re often perceived as mere bridges to get from one major point to another. But in this third installment of the five-part Clash of the Aliens series, invested readers receive stylistic dividends. For example, Wood telegraphs the resolution by framing the story as a report by historian Kot-Nih, who pieces events together from various testimonies. The alien advises readers that there are no villains, and indeed, Wood’s tale doesn’t portray any of the three cultures as intrinsically evil—although all indulge in dangerous games of power, prestige, and social ostracism; indeed, Homo sapiens may come off as the worst of the lot. This volume isn’t as action-packed as Wood’s earlier books, but it moves things along in a fresh manner, and its total immersion in alien values is compelling in its own right. It may inspire its human readers to just leave those annoying carpenter-ant mounds in the yard alone.
An intriguing development as an alien-first-contact epic sprouts new characters.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-387-60260-5
Page Count: 315
Publisher: Faucett Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
PROFILES
BOOK TO SCREEN
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