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
Weird and haunting and excellent.
The much-anticipated second novel from the author of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (2004).
The narrator of this novel answers to the name “Piranesi” even though he suspects that it's not his name. This name was chosen for him by the Other, the only living person Piranesi has encountered during his extensive explorations of the House. Readers who recognize Piranesi as the name of an Italian artist known for his etchings of Roman ruins and imaginary prisons might recognize this as a cruel joke that the Other enjoys at the expense of the novel’s protagonist. It is that, but the name is also a helpful clue for readers trying to situate themselves in the world Clarke has created. The character known as Piranesi lives within a Classical structure of endless, inescapable halls occasionally inundated by the sea. These halls are inhabited by statues that seem to be allegories—a woman carrying a beehive; a dog-fox teaching two squirrels and two satyrs; two children laughing, one of them carrying a flute—but the meaning of these images is opaque. Piranesi is happy to let the statues simply be. With her second novel, Clarke invokes tropes that have fueled a century of surrealist and fantasy fiction as well as movies, television series, and even video games. At the foundation of this story is an idea at least as old as Chaucer: Our world was once filled with magic, but the magic has drained away. Clarke imagines where all that magic goes when it leaves our world and what it would be like to be trapped in that place. Piranesi is a naif, and there’s much that readers understand before he does. But readers who accompany him as he learns to understand himself will see magic returning to our world.
Weird and haunting and excellent.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-63557-563-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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