Often more a metaphorical than tangible story, but unquestionably a literary journey worth taking.
In this dystopian novel, scientists struggle to find the source of a worldwide virus causing sexually stimulated men to assault women.
Women aboard the luxury cruise ship Luxus Maximus find themselves the targets of an unlikely threat—the male passengers. The men, with conspicuously engorged members, accost the ladies in an apparent trance. The women duck out in a suite and get help from the Australian Federal Police, boarding via helicopter. Doctors, however, can find nothing wrong with the affected men, who later express no interest in females, sexual or otherwise. A quarantine to subvert a potential outbreak is evidently ineffective: men are soon trying to force themselves onto women on a global scale. Scientists, including geneticist Dr. Roger Klein, can’t immediately pinpoint the cause but determine that the mere sight of the opposite sex triggers the men’s response. Agencies, meanwhile, opt for temporary solutions. Separating the genders, for one, fails when armed male soldiers, intended to keep men away from safe zones, cross into the women’s areas and attack. Burqas quiet things down, but Christians suggesting that a cross be emblazoned on the Islamic garment ignites heated religious debates and eventual terrorist strikes. Klein discovers a mutating virus and a message—converted to audio and visual components—in genetic material. If the message can be translated, scientists may uncover the virus’s origin and possibly a cure. Despite a seemingly playful title, the novel takes itself seriously, more in tune with dark satire. There’s copious fallout from the virus, for example, like the chance of economic crisis because women primarily staying inside diminishes the workforce. Abanteriba (Poetic Retribution from Mars, 2006) provides back stories for notable characters such as Klein and Dr. Harald Brand, director-general of the World Health Organization. Regardless, a focus on the plot doesn’t afford them much personality. The latter half slows down considerably, with Klein and company searching for someone to translate the message. This portion is too long and tedious, repeatedly stressing that the world is on the “precipice” of or “teetering” on disaster (or doom, etc.). But the moral remains loud and clear, leading to a clever reexamination of the title and the imposing final thought.
Often more a metaphorical than tangible story, but unquestionably a literary journey worth taking.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4828-6431-1
Page Count: 454
Publisher: PartridgeSingapore
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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
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