Compelling, cerebral SF.
Centuries after Earth has become divided into two opposing cultures of super-intellects, a crisis forces the incompatible sides into diplomatic relations.
Vaughan, in his SF debut, envisions a mid-21st-century paradigm shift for humanity after the introduction of two somewhat similar yet radically divergent neurological treatments. “Full-Merge” allows literal mind-melds with similarly enhanced people, mental unions that bestow elevated cognition, sympathy, precognition, and psychokinesis, among other wonders. It’s an idyllic and altruistic state. The “PowerTurn” process also elevates the intellect to demigod levels, minus emotion and moral principles. Its recipients become super-predators, driven by ruthless ambition and competitiveness. The Rollo family, early adopters of Full-Merge, foresaw the clash of both extremes, and the visionary Sophie Rollo engineered a solution from still poorly understood physics called the Ultimate Wall. This impenetrable barrier divides the planet in half—one side is inhabited by PowerTurn followers in their dangerous Kingdom (“the Kingdom had been at war with itself throughout its history, with either ethnic or political differences sparking regional conflicts and uprisings”). Thus, both sides have abided for 250 years. But by 2307, the barrier is decaying; descendants of the still-prominent Rollos, anticipating havoc when the long-frustrated and furious PowerTurn sociopaths are unleashed, open diplomatic relations, recruiting as envoys two Kingdom elites—the darkly suspicious father-daughter combo of Seth and Atara Masson, who make munitions and conspire even against each other. Much mutual scorn and loathing must be overcome, but another challenge awaits: the Silence, a shadowy third group with its own fearful technology that schemes to dominate the planet. The author, who has a psychology background and a counseling business, weaves the principle known as PLD (power, love, discipline) into the narrative as the basis of the good guys’ cosmology, but the novel reads less like a manifesto or a fable promoting an agenda than as philosophical SF with a large-scale view of human nature, pondering how polarized interests might find cooperation and fellowship. A plethora of characters, a few somewhat confusing shifts from third- to first-person narration, and sequel-inviting twists at the end make for an occasionally challenging—but provocative—narrative.
Compelling, cerebral SF.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 6, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
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. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A fine novel for those who like to immerse themselves in alternative worlds.
Set in the future and reminiscent of The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones, this novel dramatizes a story of vengeance, warfare and the quest for power.
In the beginning, Darrow, the narrator, works in the mines on Mars, a life of drudgery and subservience. He’s a member of the Reds, an “inferior” class, though he’s happily married to Eo, an incipient rebel who wants to overthrow the existing social order, especially the Golds, who treat the lower-ranking orders cruelly. When Eo leads him to a mildly rebellious act, she’s caught and executed, and Darrow decides to exact vengeance on the perpetrators of this outrage. He’s recruited by a rebel cell and “becomes” a Gold by having painful surgery—he has golden wings grafted on his back—and taking an exam to launch himself into the academy that educates the ruling elite. Although he successfully infiltrates the Golds, he finds the social order is a cruel and confusing mash-up of deception and intrigue. Eventually, he leads one of the “houses” in war games that are all too real and becomes a guerrilla warrior leading a ragtag band of rebelliously minded men and women. Although it takes a while, the reader eventually gets used to the specialized vocabulary of this world, where warriors shoot “pulseFists” and are protected by “recoilArmor.” As with many similar worlds, the warrior culture depicted here has a primitive, even classical, feel to it, especially since the warriors sport names such as Augustus, Cassius, Apollo and Mercury.
A fine novel for those who like to immerse themselves in alternative worlds.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-345-53978-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
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