In McCloskey’s (Slave of Chu Kutall, 2005, etc.) latest sci-fi novel, a sexy corporate spy, a rising executive and an intergalactic law enforcer intertwine in a conspiracy that rocks the deep-space outposts of tomorrow.
This wiry, high-tech military sci-fi novel set in an intrigue-ridden future kicks off a trilogy in which Earth is divided between its Eastern and Western Hemispheres. When ambitious executive Chris is accepted into the faraway sanctum of Vineaux Genomix, he finds that everyone must don identity-concealing (and perception altering?) full-body armor. Aldriena, a seductive Japanese-Brazilian corporate spy, infiltrates VG as part of her employer’s Project Insidious, initiated to seize the competitor’s secrets. United Nations Space Force operative Bren wields military might in bringing rogue mega-corporations to heel. The UNSF goes on alert when Bren’s task force of mighty warrior-robots meets ferocious, unexpected resistance in a raid on a mega-corporate space station. There’s an alphabet soup of acronyms and techno-jargon, and the plot’s MacGuffin is one of the oldest tropes in science fiction. But limber storytelling and description make the novel a grand yarn. Readers will be drawn to the particularly compelling portrayal of the ASSAILs, the UNSF’s synthetic fighters, whose artificial intellects are so advanced that, once online long enough, they tend to decide humans are unworthy masters. To complete the mission, the ASSAILs must be powered down and reformatted within hours, lest an extinction-level robot uprising erupt—potentially more dangerous than the original enemy. Small inside jokes referencing Heinlein and Lovecraft don’t detract from the action. A sudden ending baits and hooks readers for the next books in the author’s Synchroncity series, which will cover the same narrative territory from different viewpoints, like bits of Stephen Donaldson’s Gap series.
Weapons-laden action, corporate nastiness, incipient robot rebellion and deep-space mystery mesh nimbly in a great ride for sci-fi fans that seldom lets up.Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2010
ISBN: 978-1440192524
Page Count: 324
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
79
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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. 10, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Magic, dragons, and prophecy are welcome threads in a fantasy that extols the power of motherhood, friendship, and self-love to change the world.
This prequel to Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree (2019) has a similar scope to that 800-page fantasy, but dragon lore is less important here than the stories of people and events that become catalysts for The Priory's tale. Each chapter is grounded by a cardinal direction, lest you lose your bearings, with the four corners of the world home to central characters whom readers will get to know intimately. In the West lives Glorian, heir to the queendom of Inys. Her rule is based on the sacred Berethnet bloodline, whose power originates from the knight Galian Berethnet's banishing of the Nameless One, a giant fire-breathing wyrm birthed from the world’s core. In the East, Dumai lives on a mountain peak and trains as a godsinger, someone who harbors a human connection to the dragons the East worship as gods. In the South, Tunuva is a warrior of the Priory, a sisterhood that worships the Mother who is seen as the true banisher of the Nameless One. Their beliefs are so different and their societies so distanced that they don't know of the others' existence. And yet, when the balance of nature starts to waver, bringing whispers of new fire-breathing threats like the Nameless One, these women find themselves united by a common cause to save their people and seek truth about the higher powers at war with one another. This story is epic in scope, but its density is the sort that pulls you in. The biggest pull comes from the humanity displayed by the central characters, whose hearts ache for their children and their futures in a world fraught with turmoil. The fire-breathers bring more than destruction in their wake; they also bring a plaguelike sickness that will elicit sharp parallels to the Covid-19 pandemic. The very real struggles these characters face, whether they ride dragons or bear the suffocating rules of monarchy, make this a consuming read. While some fantasy tropes feel like they've only been added to the story's surface, the pages keep turning because of the heart-wrenching reasons that characters are driven to action. The heroes shine in their uniqueness, with diverse family dynamics interwoven throughout and representation ranging from queer lords and warriors to genderfluid alchemists. This prequel stands on its own, but a word of warning to people who have read The Priory: You'll want to reread it in order to benefit from the deeper knowledge of what came before.
Prepare yourself for the long haul. This is expansive, emotionally complex, and bound to suck you in.Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-63557-792-1
Page Count: 880
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
Categories: FANTASY | EPIC FANTASY | GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | GENERAL FANTASY
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