A smart, if sometimes-dry, exploration of space and humanity’s future that should appeal to history buffs and fans of hard...
Holgate pieces together an alternate-world future history, where humanity colonizes Mars, almost accidentally, and discovers evidence of an ancient, advanced civilization that once flourished there—and may offer knowledge that could save both Earth and Mars from a terrible fate.
This future-history of humanity opens with a preface written by Mons Iridium, a Martian descended from early human explorers of the planet. Mons illustrates “Early Mars History” with vignettes—some from official documents, some extrapolated into narratives—covering several decades of events. George Wilson and Mark Yoshiru, a pair of engineers, are the characters most often used to illustrate events in this portion. Mons signs off after this first section, leaving the rest of the history to be penned by unknown hands. The next segment, “Discovery History,” features Julia, a Martian geologist, and tracks the discovery and aftermath of an ancient, nonhuman Martian civilization. However, the advanced technology this discovery leads to isn’t enough to solve all of humanity’s problems. The third section, “The Exodus,” delves into humanity’s increasingly untenable position and its solution—forced exodus to other, hopefully habitable, planets. The final section, “The New World,” charts the interstellar transit and eventual landing and colonization of a new home world, Potheo. From there, a strange fate befalls both Earth and Mars. Altogether, this span of several centuries of future-history is a well thought out, fascinating exercise in imagining what future might lie before us. Holgate pays careful attention to the sociological and scientific aspects of living on another planet. Unfortunately, the vast span of time and the relatively scant attention paid to individual characters ensures that it reads more like dry history than an engrossing story. Characterization is often reported as fact—“Prissy was pretty quick at understanding things”—but the prose is nevertheless clean and crisp, and the chain of events, while not fully developed, is diverting.
A smart, if sometimes-dry, exploration of space and humanity’s future that should appeal to history buffs and fans of hard sci-fi.Pub Date: July 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1495910692
Page Count: 262
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
