An odd but thematically profound and engrossing cli-fi tale.
This fusion of eco-thriller, New Age–powered speculative fiction, brutal social commentary, and comedic SF à la Douglas Adams offers sagacious solutions to the present-day climate crisis.
Loosely based on the Starseed lore from the works of Margaret Doner, Horowitz’s debut novel begins in the near future with Earth on the brink of a mass extinction event. Not only are climate disasters ravaging the planet (flooding, heat waves, forest fires), but infectious diseases like West Nile, Lyme disease, and even the black plague are on the rise. And because of the increasing prevalence of industrial pollutants in the air and water, humankind is indeed “getting dumber by the minute.” The planet’s only hope for salvation comes in the form of the Arcturians, benevolent aliens who want to rid Earth of an infestation of malevolent invaders (known as Reptilians) who want to enslave the planet, just like they have countless other star systems. The Arcturians are further motivated because many of their spiritual brothers and sisters (known as Starseeds) have been secretly living on Earth and are in peril as well. In an effort to gather the myriad Reptilian villains together in one place and eradicate them, the Arcturian brain trust comes up with a plan with a group of elite scientists and military brass. They’re going to hold a party that is bigger than Woodstock, a bash that is like “Disney World on acid.” They even have a Rolling Stones cover band: “A Mick Jagger lookalike played Sympathy for the Devil. He was ninety-two years old and rocking the stage with his tongue hanging out of his mouth—except it wasn’t on purpose. He was, of course, performing with a Keith Richards clone, who looked no different than Richards had in any decade.”
While humor is arguably one of the biggest challenges to do well as a writer, Horowitz largely holds his own, particularly with Mel Brooks–ian comedy involving explosive farts, anal probes, and military missions like “Operation Pickle Tickle.” But some of the humor does miss the mark, and the satirical tone often contradicts the solemnity of the subject matter. That said, the impact of the Arcturians’ message—as well as their common-sense solutions—is more than enough to fuel this series opener. Part 4, in particular, is revelatory—filled with countless ideas to ignite and inspire change, from a full transition to electric cars to renewable wind-water-solar energy to a worldwide tree-planting campaign. The author, a renowned expert on Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, spells out the chilling consequences if humankind fails in stopping this planetary ecocide: “Without coordinated action and cooperation among countries, those few who survived would do so without any significant quality of life. We’d all fall like dominos.” The sheer uniqueness of this storyline—which includes references to Area 51, Atlantis, Star Trek, vampires, zombies, angels, astrological birth charts, alien absinthe, and seven-breasted women—is a strength as well as a weakness. Finding the target audience for this highly unusual story could be difficult. A strange little gem of a tale or an allegorical how-to guide on how to save the planet? Only time will tell.
An odd but thematically profound and engrossing cli-fi tale.Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-63758-169-8
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Permuted Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 7, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ambitious and satisfying conclusion to a monumental saga.
Brown completes his science-fiction trilogy with another intricately plotted and densely populated tome, this one continuing the focus on a rebellion against the imperious Golds.
This last volume is incomprehensible without reference to the first two. Briefly, Darrow of Lykos, aka Reaper, has been “carved” from his status as a Red (the lowest class) into a Gold. This allows him to infiltrate the Gold political infrastructure…but a game’s afoot, and at the beginning of the third volume, Darrow finds himself isolated and imprisoned for his insurgent activities. He longs both for rescue and for revenge, and eventually he gets both. Brown is an expert at creating violent set pieces whose cartoonish aspects (“ ‘Waste ’em,’ Sevro says with a sneer” ) are undermined by the graphic intensity of the savagery, with razors being a favored instrument of combat. Brown creates an alternative universe that is multilayered and seething with characters who exist in a shadow world between history and myth, much as in Frank Herbert’s Dune. This world is vaguely Teutonic/Scandinavian (with characters such as Magnus, Ragnar, and the Valkyrie) and vaguely Roman (Octavia, Romulus, Cassius) but ultimately wholly eclectic. At the center are Darrow, his lover, Mustang, and the political and military action of the Uprising. Loyalties are conflicted, confusing, and malleable. Along the way we see Darrow become more heroic and daring and Mustang, more charismatic and unswerving, both agents of good in a battle against forces of corruption and domination. Among Darrow’s insights as he works his way to a position of ascendancy is that “as we pretend to be brave, we become so.”
An ambitious and satisfying conclusion to a monumental saga.Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-345-53984-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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