Provocative and imaginative SF about space-going humans constrained by language and technology.
In Coles’ SF novel, humankind has divided into two factions, dangerously separated from each other by incompatible languages and cosmologies, each claiming to be exclusively “human.”
The author plunges readers into a deliberately puzzling and cryptic environment known as the “universe,” an enclosed, apparently subterranean, mechanized structure. Its human inhabitants, when not ensconced in a limitless virtual reality called the “digiscape,” carry on daily duties within a culture that emphasizes cycles of test-tube births, maturation, and regular refittings of “skin,” actually high-tech, close-fitting exoskeletons that effectively render their wearers cyborgs. There’s a counterpart to this “underworld”—the seldom-visited “overworld,” where raw materials are funneled to the cyborgs by a largely nontechnological tribe of surface-dwelling, agrarian “Natchers,” humans so far removed from their brethren as to now be regarded as undesired aliens. Kanan, a young underworld resident, turns out to be one of the occasional aberrant nonconformists—he flees a painful skin-upgrading ceremony and ends up in the overworld, a captive of the tribalistic Natchers, who have grown to mistrust and resent the armor-plated folk from below and conduct periodic raids for dwindling supplies. Flashback chapters inform readers that this bizarre social construct began centuries ago as a hopeful, pioneering deep-space expedition from Earth to colonize a distant planet. Over generations it evolved into something terribly different. The author’s gradual revelation of the true nature of the “universe” is masterful, accented by themes of subjective perception, self-deception, and language; words in the underworld and overworld have gradually grown apart in meanings and intent, reinforcing prejudices that subvert and divide both sides (each of which stubbornly claims to be truly “human”). The author has written about LGBTQ+ topics in nonfiction, and it’s noteworthy that personal pronouns have become irrelevant and sexless in the confines of the “universe,” though this may not necessarily reflect a gender-fluid mindset. As one character observes, “Everyone is blind in their own way. And in their blindness, they see what those with different eyes are blinded to.”
Provocative and imaginative SF about space-going humans constrained by language and technology.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781939953209
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Walking Carnival
Review Posted Online: Dec. 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Fast-moving fun and a highly creative plot.
Bloody murder spoils folks’ fun while megafauna return from extinction.
What a glorious way to spend a honeymoon: Mark and Olivia Gunnerson go backpacking through the vast Erebus Resort in the mountains of Colorado, where scientists have “de-extincted” species like the woolly mammoth and other Pleistocene megafauna. Just watch the peaceful beasts at their watering holes. Behold the giant armadillos, and the indricothere that make mammoths look like dwarfs. The scientists have removed genes for aggression in these re-creations, so humans will be safe unless they’re accidentally stepped on. And yet, someone doesn’t want the newlyweds camping there, made evident by their disappearance without a trace, save only a copious amount of blood outside their tent. Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent in Charge Frankie Cash takes the case. What happened to Mark and Olivia, and why? The park has no predators, so humans must be responsible. But where are the bodies? A doctor suggests that due to the amount of blood found, the victims may have—gasp!—been decapitated. The matter gathers national attention, and things only get worse as more people die. The late groom’s aggrieved billionaire father demands immediate answers, and of course he interferes with the investigation: “You’ll see me now, you son of a bitch, and tell me what the fuck you’re doing to find my son!” And speaking of F-bombs, surely it is possible to write a thriller with fewer—maybe use one or two to establish a character and then move on to more creative language? Anyway, the investigators are doing a lot. The action seldom lets up, and readers will feel the mounting tension and excitement. The setting itself is a scientific wonder, and it must tie into the murders somehow. Meanwhile, Hollywood is filming an action movie in the park, and the pièce de résistance will be the spectacular explosion of a train. But wouldn’t you know, Preston has other plans. Imagine Jurassic Park with the timeline brought forward to the Pleistocene, and you have the Erebus Resort. Science, imagination, storytelling, and action are all here.
Fast-moving fun and a highly creative plot.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780765317704
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Forge
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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