A tale with an offbeat premise hampered by stilted prose and rushed pacing.
In Makmi’s debut series starter, a strange pandemic surges across the globe and an astrobiologist is caught between two warring alien forces in a race for galactic supremacy.
In the aftermath of first contact, a small tribe of peaceful extraterrestrials settles on Earth, sharing their advanced knowledge for the benefit of humanity. However, shortly after their arrival, a strange disease begins to spread among the human population, transforming its victims into violent zombies. Astrobiology grad student Phillippa Maxwell throws herself into finding the source of the virus in an effort to cure patient zero: her brother, Danny. In the midst of her research, aliens known as the Pods invade Earth, led by the sadistic Ork. An interstellar grudge match plays out between the Pods and the benevolent aliens (now called Terrans), with humanity caught in the crossfire. As Phillippa desperately tries to save her brother, she becomes a bargaining chip in a much larger quest to find the “treasures of the universe,” which could ensure total universal domination. The premise of Makmi’s novel is impressive, mixing alien invasions with a zombie apocalypse. However, its execution leaves much to be desired. Its exploration of its concepts lacks depth or nuance and feels like a rushed synopsis of a longer, more interesting work. It often provides passive, unengaging exposition: “When they came back, developments seemed to have spun a week. From the news to social changes, everything appeared to be happening rapidly. A flurry of events were taking place.” Dialogue, when it appears, is clunky and stilted (“You’re out here talking tough to deflate uncourageous spirits, none of which are present among us”), and the narration is frequently awkward (“Perhaps it’d inspire and overturn the much sedated humans to do something inspiring”). Malaprops and unconventional word choices (“He…coughed ringlets of substances”) read as though the text was translated from another language without consideration for clarity. Ultimately, the action feels neither exciting nor meaningful, and the plot conveniently resolves via a deus ex machina in its final pages.
A tale with an offbeat premise hampered by stilted prose and rushed pacing.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73-673045-4
Page Count: 110
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Occasionally brilliant but ultimately unsatisfying.
The author of The Heavens (2019) imagines a world inhabited solely by women.
At 7:14 p.m. Pacific time on Aug. 26, every human being with a Y chromosome disappeared. Jane Pearson wakes the next morning to discover that her husband and young son are gone. Later, she will learn that all the men, all the boys, all the transgender women…they’re all gone. This is not a new concept. Philip Wylie’s The Disappearance (1951) opens with these lines: “The female of the species vanished on the afternoon of the second Tuesday of February at four minutes and fifty-two seconds past four o’clock, Eastern Standard Time.” In Brian K. Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man series of graphic novels—the first installment published in 2002—a virus kills every man on Earth except for one. A deadly illness that strikes only men also plays a role in Christina Sweeney-Baird’s debut novel, The End of Men, published just last year. What makes Newman’s take on this SF trope different is that this novel doesn’t seem to want to be science fiction. After setting the dystopian narrative in motion, the author pulls back to offer a detailed account of Jane’s life up to this point. After joining a dance troupe as a teen, she falls under the control of a man who abuses her by compelling her to abuse other, younger kids. She escapes jail by testifying against her abuser. This is a horrifying story compellingly told, but it feels like it belongs in a different book. We also get the full history of Evangelyne Moreau, Jane’s one-time friend. A philosopher-turned-politician, an ex-convict, and a former cult member, Evangelyne is a fascinating character, but Newman spends more time sharing Evangelyne’s history than exploring the strange universe she has created. By the last page, the connection between the realistic and speculative parts of the novel is clear, but the speculative elements feel woefully underdeveloped—which is too bad, because they’re inventive and chilling. Also worth noting: There will be readers who object to the gender essentialism upon which this novel relies and the way Newman handles the fate of people who aren’t cisgender when the “men” disappear.
Occasionally brilliant but ultimately unsatisfying.Pub Date: June 14, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8021-5966-3
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Grove
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
An ambitious but plodding space odyssey.
Having survived a disastrous deep space mission in 2038, three asteroid miners plan a return to their abandoned ship to save two colleagues who were left behind.
Though bankrolled through a crooked money laundering scheme, their original project promised to put in place a program to reduce the CO2 levels on Earth, ease global warming, and pave the way for the future. The rescue mission, itself unsanctioned, doesn't have a much better chance of succeeding. All manner of technical mishaps, unplanned-for dangers, and cutthroat competition for the precious resources from the asteroid await the three miners. One of them has cancer. The international community opposes the mission, with China, Russia, and the United States sending questionable "observers" to the new space station that gets built north of the moon for the expedition. And then there is Space Titan Jack Macy, a rogue billionaire threatening to grab the riches. (As one character says, "It's a free universe.") Suarez's basic story is a good one, with tense moments, cool robot surrogates, and virtual reality visions. But too much of the novel consists of long, sometimes bloated stretches of technical description, discussions of newfangled financing for "off-world" projects, and at least one unneeded backstory. So little actually happens that fixing the station's faulty plumbing becomes a significant plot point. For those who want to know everything about "silicon photovoltaics" and "orthostatic intolerance," Suarez's latest SF saga will be right up their alley. But for those itching for less talk and more action, the book's many pages of setup become wearing.
An ambitious but plodding space odyssey.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-18363-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
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