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THE CALLISTA ALIGNMENT

An outstanding SF series debut that explores what it means to be human.

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In Gay’s SF series debut, a woman stolen from Earth to serve as an alien pet discovers a world-changing destiny.

On the eight-mooned planet Antaris, headquarters of the interstellar Commonwealth, humans are regarded by its eight-foot-tall denizens as mere animals, serving as menial workers and pets. An economic downturn means times are hard; clans of feral humans—“the Unowned”—roam the capital city’s Derelict Zone. Antarian “anthrozoologist” Henik Varkesen, who has observed a feral clan—led not, as would be expected of animals, by its strongest male, but by Alka, its most communicative female—believes humans are a fully cognitive, advanced species, but his view is highly controversial. Yan Feyrsten, a lonely professor, buys the Earth woman as a pet, naming her Kali. When the recommended harsh training methods don’t work with her, he asks his old friend Henrik for help. Kali soon proves she is highly intelligent, quickly learning the basics of their language, including writing, although much of it isn’t audible to humans. Her curious, independent, and determined personality captivates the two, but as the first Earth-born “natural” human on Antaris in several centuries, and a threat to the status quo, she may be in grave danger. The political situation is unstable, with a hotly contested election just days away. When you add in a disgraced police chief turned bounty hunter, manipulative journalists, a rare lunar eclipse coinciding with a major cultural holiday, and Kali’s uncanny resemblance to a figure in a mural whom the ferals view as their goddess, the stakes could hardly be higher. Gay skillfully builds an alien society whose politics may be a bit too similar to ours—but that conceit serves well as a platform for exploring the fundamental question of what makes a person, the ways in which viewing others as lesser beings distorts perceptions, and the forces that spur or oppose sweeping cultural change. The storyline is intricate but never confusing; the prose and dialogue sparkle (“Sela stared back, his eyes blank, as if his imagination was a muscle he rarely flexed”). The characters are well-drawn, distinct individuals, especially Kali, who, though seen mainly through the aliens’ eyes, emerges as thoughtful, perceptive, resilient, and brave.

An outstanding SF series debut that explores what it means to be human.

Pub Date: July 24, 2024

ISBN: 9781838217723

Page Count: 421

Publisher: Rook Abbey Press

Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024

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DEVOLUTION

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

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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

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DARK MATTER

Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.

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A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.

Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.

Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.

Pub Date: July 26, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016

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