An intriguing novel that doubles as a love song to capitalism.
A former soldier exiled to a prison planet takes on a corrupt planetary government in Johnson’s debut novel.
In the year 2442, the ECG—which plans to create a socialist utopia before allowing colonization of other planets—governs Earth. The ECG has, for 300 years, banished to a distant planet criminals and progressives who spoke against the government. Alex Khan, who worked for the ECG and destroyed illegal interplanetary colonies to insure the survival of his technologically progressive family, is exiled to the prison planet after killing the man who murdered his father. Knowing that survival must come before revenge, Khan uses his wits to withstand the primitive conditions he encounters, until he makes contact with the other residents of the planet, which some call Earth 2.0. Though the novel begins like a Jack London tale of man battling nature, it quickly travels into social commentary, emphasizing the inherent benefits of capitalism through Khan’s encounters with feudal lords, a democratic socialist town with stagnating technological development and ultimately Earth’s oppressive socialist regime. Johnson successfully creates a complex secondary world peopled with interesting characters. Johnson is less successful with some of his cultural creations. His “Maneaters”—a group of hunter-gatherers who eat their enemies to gain strength and who live in teepees—sometimes come across as Native American stereotypes; Muslim stereotypes also occur. Still, the plot holds together, and Earth 2.0 intrigues enough that readers may forgive awkward moments in order to go on Khan’s adventures. Since those exploits run the technological gamut—fighting a lionlike creature bare-handed, exploring a new world with dirigibles, stealing a space ship to liberate Earth—sci-fi fans will likely find something that pleases.
An intriguing novel that doubles as a love song to capitalism.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2012
ISBN: 978-1475940190
Page Count: 342
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Mandel’s solid writing and magnetic narrative make for a strong combination in what should be a breakout novel.
Survivors and victims of a pandemic populate this quietly ambitious take on a post-apocalyptic world where some strive to preserve art, culture and kindness.
In her fourth novel, Mandel (The Lola Quartet, 2012, etc.) moves away from the literary thriller form of her previous books but keeps much of the intrigue. The story concerns the before and after of a catastrophic virus called the Georgia Flu that wipes out most of the world’s population. On one side of the timeline are the survivors, mainly a traveling troupe of musicians and actors and a stationary group stuck for years in an airport. On the other is a professional actor, who dies in the opening pages while performing King Lear, his ex-wives and his oldest friend, glimpsed in flashbacks. There’s also the man—a paparazzo-turned-paramedic—who runs to the stage from the audience to try to revive him, a Samaritan role he will play again in later years. Mandel is effectively spare in her depiction of both the tough hand-to-mouth existence of a devastated world and the almost unchallenged life of the celebrity—think of Cormac McCarthy seesawing with Joan Didion. The intrigue arises when the troupe is threatened by a cult and breaks into disparate offshoots struggling toward a common haven. Woven through these little odysseys, and cunningly linking the cushy past and the perilous present, is a figure called the Prophet. Indeed, Mandel spins a satisfying web of coincidence and kismet while providing numerous strong moments, as when one of the last planes lands at the airport and seals its doors in self-imposed quarantine, standing for days on the tarmac as those outside try not to ponder the nightmare within. Another strand of that web is a well-traveled copy of a sci-fi graphic novel drawn by the actor’s first wife, depicting a space station seeking a new home after aliens take over Earth—a different sort of artist also pondering man’s fate and future.
Mandel’s solid writing and magnetic narrative make for a strong combination in what should be a breakout novel.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-35330-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Station Eleven Miniseries to Star Mackenzie Davis
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Visionary speculative stories that will change the way readers see themselves and the world around them: This book delivers...
Exploring humankind's place in the universe and the nature of humanity, many of the stories in this stellar collection focus on how technological advances can impact humanity’s evolutionary journey.
Chiang's (Stories of Your Life and Others, 2002) second collection begins with an instant classic, “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate,” which won Hugo and Nebula awards for Best Novelette in 2008. A time-travel fantasy set largely in ancient Baghdad, the story follows fabric merchant Fuwaad ibn Abbas after he meets an alchemist who has crafted what is essentially a time portal. After hearing life-changing stories about others who have used the portal, he decides to go back in time to try to right a terrible wrong—and realizes, too late, that nothing can erase the past. Other standout selections include “The Lifecycle of Software Objects,” a story about a software tester who, over the course of a decade, struggles to keep a sentient digital entity alive; “The Great Silence,” which brilliantly questions the theory that humankind is the only intelligent race in the universe; and “Dacey’s Patent Automatic Nanny,” which chronicles the consequences of machines raising human children. But arguably the most profound story is "Exhalation" (which won the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Short Story), a heart-rending message and warning from a scientist of a highly advanced, but now extinct, race of mechanical beings from another universe. Although the being theorizes that all life will die when the universes reach “equilibrium,” its parting advice will resonate with everyone: “Contemplate the marvel that is existence, and rejoice that you are able to do so.”
Visionary speculative stories that will change the way readers see themselves and the world around them: This book delivers in a big way.Pub Date: May 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-101-94788-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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