A deeply intelligent tale about intelligence itself, and the hurdles science must clear to see the light of day.
An archeologist working in Kazakhstan is presented with a discovery that could prove revolutionary, but taking it public proves unexpectedly fraught in Linden’s novel.
In the hope of landing a full professorship in the anthropology department at Rushmere University, Dr. Claire Knowland accepts a research position on a dig in Kazakhstan investigating the domestication of ancient horses. Her “true passion” is the study of animal intelligence, but as a 32-year-old adjunct, she is willing, however begrudgingly, to make concessions to secure professional advancement. An unexpected discovery piques her interest: Rob Rebolet, the chief of security for the Transteppe mining company, reports that one of his geologists, Russian Sergei Anachev, has found something peculiar—a grouping of “enormous bones” far too large to belong to horses that seem purposefully arrayed in a place where elephants never roamed. The bones predate the rise of any human ancestor, provocatively challenging the accepted scientific interpretations of the evolutionary emergence of intelligence on Earth, a gripping possibility lucidly explained by the author: “If the bones were not arrayed by some ancient human ancestor, could they represent the rise of intelligence in some other mammalian line, which became extinct many millions of years ago? Given the long sweep of life on earth, if evolution could produce intelligence once, could it have produced it more than once?” Such an explosive discovery will almost certainly be commandeered by the profoundly corrupt Kazakh government, and the examination of the bones is waylaid by the violent outbreak of civil war. Sergei is also menaced by Andrei Bezanov, a cruel Russian oligarch with a longstanding grudge against him who aims to take over Transteppe, thereby gaining control of the region’s valuable phosphorite reserves.
The novel deftly combines a dramatically powerful story with a thrilling scientific possibility, one made impressively accessible by the author. The story ranges from an assassin’s attempt on Claire and Sergei’s lives to searching discussions of the nature of intelligence and its mysterious appearance in the world, which is made even more inscrutable by the fact that human beings seem to have a monopoly on its possession (though Sergei’s findings undermine that assumption). As Dr. Keerbrock, another scientist, puts it to Claire: “Why only us? If rapid environmental change is a driver of intelligence, why don’t we find a bunch of other smart animals?” Some of the literary elements of the novel are questionable—Sergei’s history of acrimony with Bezanov feels convoluted and contrived, and Bezanov is something of a cartoonish villain, brimming with outsized evil plans and fantasies of revenge. Additionally, the eventfulness of the tale sometimes takes a turn for the formulaic; some of the violence depicted seems culled from popular cinema, and is more canned than exhilarating. Nonetheless, Claire is a memorable hero, as smart as she is empathetic, and Sergei is a profoundly complex character, one with an extraordinary grasp of science and a prudent sense of human nature. This is an immersive tale that is both intellectually enlivening and genuinely entertaining.
A deeply intelligent tale about intelligence itself, and the hurdles science must clear to see the light of day.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 9781948122375
Page Count: 336
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.
Three women deal very differently with vampirism in Schwab’s era-spanning follow-up to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020).
In 16th-century Spain, Maria seduces a wealthy viscount in an attempt to seize whatever control she can over her own life. It turns out that being a wife—even a wealthy one—is just another cage, but then a mysterious widow offers Maria a surprising escape route. In the 19th century, Charlotte is sent from her home in the English countryside to live with an aunt in London when she’s found trying to kiss her best friend. She’s despondent at the idea of marrying a man, but another mysterious widow—who has a secret connection to Maria’s widow from centuries earlier—appears and teaches Charlotte that she can be free to love whomever she chooses, if she’s brave enough. In 2019, Alice’s memories of growing up in Scotland with her mercurial older sister, Catty, pull her mind away from her first days at Harvard University. And though she doesn’t meet any mysterious widows, Alice wakes up alone after a one-night stand unable to tolerate sunlight, sporting two new fangs, and desperate to drink blood. Horrified at her transformation, she searches Boston for her hookup, who was the last person she remembers seeing before she woke up as a vampire. Schwab delicately intertwines the three storylines, which are compelling individually even before the reader knows how they will connect. Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are queer women searching for love, recognition, and wholeness, growing fangs and defying mortality in a world that would deny them their very existence. Alice’s flashbacks to Catty are particularly moving, and subtly play off themes of grief and loneliness laid out in the historical timelines.
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781250320520
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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