A heroic geneticist stands against a tyrannical corporation in Sapien’s (Drosophila, 2007) cyberpunk novel.
In the future, a machine that distinguishes between truths and lies stands as the primary mechanism for social control. Most children arrive as a genetic cocktail of their parents’ choices, a process known as biosplicing. When Peter, a talented genetic engineer, lashes out against his biospliced boss, the truth machine reveals that he has committed a “hate crime.” To atone, Peter must undergo electro-surgery on his brain and prove to the truth machine that he no longer disdains the biospliced—or he’ll face exile to the Outcast Zone. But, after accidentally assaulting his beautiful neighbor Madeleine, Peter discovers a curious fact: He has mysteriously developed the ability to deceive the truth machine. This realization sends Peter down a rabbit hole of intrigue and deception, as he investigates the secret revolution against the Consortium, an all-powerful corporation that has assumed control of the government. Peter is also a book collector (books are little more than curiosities of a long-forgotten age), and his incomplete text of a revolutionary tract called The Red Book spurs him on his quest to find a use for his newfound power. After he somehow convinces Madeleine to fall in love with him after the assault, he searches for freedom for his family and an escape from the Consortium’s power. Sapien is at his best when building a unique but familiar world, a mix of Minority Report, The Matrix and Brave New World. Many standby cyberpunk elements fill out the novel—for instance, a neurological analogue to the Internet is the primary method of entertainment and sometimes work—but Sapien’s innovative truth machine provides a philosophical and ethical twist. However, the characters are mostly one-dimensional, especially Madeleine with her easy switch from anger and fear to love. It’s clear that Sapien enjoys battling the big ideas, which critical passages from The Red Book help illuminate, but the story itself, both in its pacing and the completeness of its characters, could benefit from more attention.
A smart, solid skeleton of a story that lacks muscle.Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-1463440886
Page Count: 224
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Oct. 29, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | SCIENCE FICTION | GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION
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A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
59
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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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Hits the marks for spooky thrills and mysterious chills.
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A former thief who specialized in stealing magical documents is forced back into her old habits in Black's adult debut.
Charlie Hall used to work as a thief, stealing for and from magicians—or rather, “gloamists.” In this world, gloamists are people with magical shadows that are alive, gaining strength from the gloamists' own blood. A gloamist can learn to manipulate the magic of their shadow, doing everything from changing how it looks to using it to steal, possess a person, or even murder. Gloamists hire nonmagical people like Charlie to steal precious and rare magical documents written by their kind throughout history and detailing their research and experiments in shadow magic. Gloamists can use onyx to keep each other from sending shadows to steal these treasures, but onyx won't stop regular humans from old-fashioned breaking and entering. After Charlie’s talent for crime gets her into too much trouble, she swears off her old career and tries to settle down with her sensible boyfriend, Vince—but when she finds a dead man in an alley and notices that even his shadow has been ripped to pieces, she can’t help trying to figure out who he was and why he met such a gruesome end. Before she knows it, Charlie is forced back into a life of lies and danger, using her skills as a thief to find a book that could unleash the full and terrifying power of the shadow world. Black is a veteran fantasy writer, which shows in the opening pages as she neatly and easily guides the reader through the engrossing world of gloamists, magical shadows, and Charlie’s brand of criminality. There's a lot of flipping back and forth between the past and the present, and though both timelines are well plotted and suspenseful, the story leans a touch too hard on the flashbacks. Still, the mystery elements are well executed, as is Charlie’s characterization, and the big twist at the end packs a satisfying punch.
Hits the marks for spooky thrills and mysterious chills.Pub Date: May 3, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-81219-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
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