ICEAPELAGO 2091

As the regional sheriff of his district in a flooded, half-ruined Ireland of the future, a climate change survivor becomes a hero, wanted killer, and key figure in the struggles to control the island chain.

In this cli-fi sequel, public policy and fiction author Brennan offers a continuation of the world he created in his previous novel, Iceapelago (2020): a Northern Hemisphere altered by drastic climate change in the latter part of the 21st century. The “Eriador event,” an apocalyptic icefall tsunami originating in a collapsing Greenland, effectively shut off the Gulf Stream, ushering in fierce winters that lasted half a year. Three decades later, only Canada seems to have withstood the worst of the calamity. The country has the advantage of hosting stranded Irish scientist/inventor Sean Pitcher, who foresaw what was coming. The Eastern United States is devastated (“Those with guns are in charge”); continental Europe is mostly drowned; and survivors struggle on bits of England and Wales jutting out of the sea. Ireland has become an island chain—the titular “iceapelago”—that still functions, but cooperation and planning among scattered communities, such as Cork, Howth, and Sligo, are essential, sustaining 13,250 people through the cold. Unfortunately, administration is lacking. A nameless central “Commander” in Dublin is more concerned about threats to his power from the regional governments led by “Sixes” and their law enforcer “Sheriffs” than guaranteeing food stocks and maintaining crucial flying delivery drones as winter approaches. At Malahide Castle Island, loner Rory, who lost his family in the Eriador event, is impressive enough with guns to land the Sheriff job after his predecessor gets caught stealing supplies. When a devastating storm strikes and Rory kills the Commander’s daughter-in-law, Jane Madden, a bureaucrat who tried to deny his people sanctuary, the new Malahide Sheriff becomes a wanted fugitive, protected by some as a hero, scorned by others as a murderous outlaw. Meanwhile, outside invaders plot against the iceapelago and its tempting resources. At this crucial juncture, the long-absent Pitcher fatefully reappears.

While the kitsch-culture legacy of plentiful 1970s disaster movies and their attendant books still tends to set readers’ teeth on edge, Brennan’s cli-fi prophecy transcends the Irwin Allen aesthetic. The story offers impressive worldbuilding and fairly persuasive ideas of what is required to persevere in dire straits like these—especially when massive casualties leave remnants in high office who are clearly not society’s best and brightest. Even Rory is a problematic protagonist, a hard fellow closer in spirit to vintage Clint Eastwood than to Liam Neeson in his impulses toward unthinking violence and retribution. But in the most audacious gambit, the author shifts the point of view away from the human element altogether, telling the story in part via tribes of Arctic foxes, newly arrived and opportunistic in the face of humans’ decline. Working in peaceful accord with another species (puffin birds) throughout the winter, the four-footed predators seem to harbor more noble qualities of foresight, pragmatism, and even spirituality than do the fragments of Homo sapiens. That said, the fox subplot payoff is rather weak here unless Brennan has future installments on ice.

Despite a curious animal detour, this superior cli-fi tale often feels like tomorrow’s headlines.