A claustrophobic, deep-sea terror tale that will leave readers glad to be safely on dry land.
Grant (Feedback, 2017, etc.) expands on her novella Rolling in the Deep (2015), about a reality TV show that goes searching for mermaids in the Mariana Trench and finds much more than it bargained for.
In 2015, Imagine Entertainment, known for its schlocky horror films (its founder, James Golden, was dubbed Monster Midas by his fans and the King of Schlock by his critics), sent the ship Atargatis, stocked with scientists and actors, to film Lovely Ladies of the Sea: The True Story of the Mariana Mermaids. The ship was found empty, and footage from the voyage revealed humanoid creatures viciously slaughtering the crew. One of the victims was Anne Stewart, and seven years later, when her younger sister, Tory, a graduate student studying acoustic marine biology, gets fired from her job, she’s free to accept an offer from Imagine to go out on the Melusine; the company hopes to find the truth about the mermaids while clearing its own name. Tory, of course, wants to avenge Anne’s death. Along for the ride is Tory’s research partner, Luis Martines; Dr. Jillian Toth, a marine biologist anxious to prove her theories about mermaids; deaf identical twins Holly and Heather Wilson, one of them an organic chemist and the other the owner of a deep-water submersible who's determined to find the bottom of Challenger Deep; and a pair of comically amorous big game hunters who want to be the first ones to take down (and consume) a mermaid. What they find is beyond both their wildest dreams and their darkest nightmares. Readers will recognize echoes of Jurassic Park and the like, which isn’t a bad thing, and Grant works in smart observations on climate change and exploitation of sea mammals without sounding preachy. The book is overlong, and the parenthetical asides can be distracting, but no matter, because Grant’s heady brew of visceral horror, fascinating science, and, of course, the hubris of mankind in the face of the awesome unknown is irresistible.
A claustrophobic, deep-sea terror tale that will leave readers glad to be safely on dry land.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-37940
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Orbit
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
First of a three-book series covering the world of remote tomorrows, the effectiveness of this first volume is curtailed by its attempt to cover more than a century in time with its many generations of characters. Psychohistorian Seldon senses the coming crash of the galactic empire, prepares a chosen corps of his best students to colonize a remote planet where war cannot impede his work. The story of this colony's survival and eventual command of the broken empire sustains the narrative which is- this time-better science than fiction.
Pub Date: Aug. 30, 1951
ISBN: 0553382578
Page Count: -
Publisher: Gnome Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1951
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
An overlong but imaginative entry in the revived Foundation series, with a talky opening, an intriguing middle, and an illogical fade-out. Councilman Golan Trevize, having opted for the formation of a galaxy-wide, totally empathic super-organism, Galaxia, is now having second thoughts—and his doubts focus on a possible threat from the long-lost planet Earth. So, supplied with clues by historian Janes Pelorat, and protected by the powerful Gaian woman, Bliss, Trevize begins his search. (The debate pro and con Galaxia continues, meanwhile, in tiresome detail.) In the novel's best section, they touch down on various planets, including the old Spacer world Solaria, where the hermaphroditic Solarians live in solipsistic splendor, totally isolated from each other on their vast robot-run estates, casually controlling energy by means of their enlarged brains. Finally, on Earth's Moon, Trevize encounters robot Daneel Olivaw, now 20,000 years old; Daneel, with his highly advanced brain and psychic powers, has secretly been guiding the development of Galaxia all along. And, in a total non sequitur, Trevize realizes that what he really fears—why Galaxia must be formed—is the threat of invasion by extra-galactic aliens. Dreadfully long-winded—would that the characters sometimes reply with a simple "yes" or "no"—and many longtime fans will prefer Daneel as a plain old robot-detective rather than a galactic super-brain. Yet, much here qualifies as vintage Asimov—Solaria has long been one of his finest creations—despite that disappointing, artificial finale.
Pub Date: Oct. 3, 1986
ISBN: 0553900943
Page Count: -
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1986
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