Wildly inventive SF with a busy, sometimes-flummoxing plot.
On a future, much-altered Earth, the archived intellect of crusty scientific genius is resurrected to confront various threats.
Raham’s comical SF sequel may confuse newcomers by thrusting together ensemble casts/creatures from his two previous books, A Singular Prophecy(2011) and A Once-Dead Genius in the Kennel of Master Mortice Ambergrand(2018). This installment’s cast includes human paleontologist Ryan Thompson and his lover, Skeets; they are more or less immortal because they fused with powerful “Grovians,” vaguely equine quadruped aliens (secretly inhabiting Earth since the Cretaceous) who spawn and hibernate in structures resembling trees. Returning players are: the digitized mind of grouchy scientist Rudy Goldstein and his guardian AI computer, Mnemosyne, aka “Nessie.” Both are lone remnants of technological human civilization following an apocalyptic asteroid strike. This odd couple had brokered peace between human survivors and the insectlike Jadderbadians, another bizarre alien race colonizing a beleaguered Earth. Now in a fresh caper, both sets of protagonists (plus substantial entourages) become aware of each other in the process of confronting threats. Ito Prime, a clone Grovian with no affection for any other race, is dangerously at large, possessing different bodies while seeking world domination. And the sentient aura/spirit/energy field of Earth, called Gaia, has grown irritated with all these antics and activates a Yellowstone supervolcano to cull the globe’s troublesome residents. Meanwhile, cyborg superhumans on Mars, led by an Australian-accented bloke called Pi, reveal ambitious projects of their own. It’s not unlike a late-career Robert Heinlein or Doris Lessing saga, with reappearing characters and themes, like widespread arrogance among the various species, though Raham’s attitude is quite tongue in cheek. The writer delights in strange ET zoology and reproduction habits, adding his own drawings of fanciful and factual flora and fauna. Unsurprisingly, a tribute to Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxyarrives in the mix. Rudy and Nessie outshine the fairly flat Ryan Thompson and his associates, but this eccentric, Stapledonian SF should sate the regulars.
Wildly inventive SF with a busy, sometimes-flummoxing plot. (glossary, author bio)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73269-854-3
Page Count: 244
Publisher: Penstemon Publications
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An ambitious but plodding space odyssey.
Having survived a disastrous deep space mission in 2038, three asteroid miners plan a return to their abandoned ship to save two colleagues who were left behind.
Though bankrolled through a crooked money laundering scheme, their original project promised to put in place a program to reduce the CO2 levels on Earth, ease global warming, and pave the way for the future. The rescue mission, itself unsanctioned, doesn't have a much better chance of succeeding. All manner of technical mishaps, unplanned-for dangers, and cutthroat competition for the precious resources from the asteroid await the three miners. One of them has cancer. The international community opposes the mission, with China, Russia, and the United States sending questionable "observers" to the new space station that gets built north of the moon for the expedition. And then there is Space Titan Jack Macy, a rogue billionaire threatening to grab the riches. (As one character says, "It's a free universe.") Suarez's basic story is a good one, with tense moments, cool robot surrogates, and virtual reality visions. But too much of the novel consists of long, sometimes bloated stretches of technical description, discussions of newfangled financing for "off-world" projects, and at least one unneeded backstory. So little actually happens that fixing the station's faulty plumbing becomes a significant plot point. For those who want to know everything about "silicon photovoltaics" and "orthostatic intolerance," Suarez's latest SF saga will be right up their alley. But for those itching for less talk and more action, the book's many pages of setup become wearing.
An ambitious but plodding space odyssey.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-18363-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
Suspenseful and snarky with surprising emotional depths.
This debut novel, the first of a projected trilogy, blends science fiction, fantasy, gothic chiller, and classic house-party mystery.
Gideon Nav, a foundling of mysterious antecedents, was not so much adopted as indentured by the Ninth House, a nearly extinct noble necromantic house. Trained to fight, she wants nothing more than to leave the place where everyone despises her and join the Cohort, the imperial military. But after her most recent escape attempt fails, she finally gets the opportunity to depart the planet. The heir and secret ruler of the Ninth House, the ruthless and prodigiously talented bone adept Harrowhark Nonagesimus, chooses Gideon to serve her as cavalier primary, a sworn bodyguard and aide de camp, when the undying Emperor summons Harrow to compete for a position as a Lyctor, an elite, near-immortal adviser. The decaying Canaan House on the planet of the absent Emperor holds dark secrets and deadly puzzles as well as a cheerfully enigmatic priest who provides only scant details about the nature of the competition...and at least one person dedicated to brutally slaughtering the competitors. Unsure of how to mix with the necromancers and cavaliers from the other Houses, Gideon must decide whom among them she can trust—and her doubts include her own necromancer, Harrow, whom she’s loathed since childhood. This intriguing genre stew works surprisingly well. The limited locations and narrow focus mean that the author doesn’t really have to explain how people not directly attached to a necromantic House or the military actually conduct daily life in the Empire; hopefully future installments will open up the author’s creative universe a bit more. The most interesting aspect of the novel turns out to be the prickly but intimate relationship between Gideon and Harrow, bound together by what appears at first to be simple hatred. But the challenges of Canaan House expose other layers, beginning with a peculiar but compelling mutual loyalty and continuing on to other, more complex feelings, ties, and shared fraught experiences.
Suspenseful and snarky with surprising emotional depths.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31319-5
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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