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quiraang's review against another edition
Conflicted views on this book. The majority was great; other parts, not so much. Equal feelings of enjoyment and irritation. So 3.5.
kate_in_a_book's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.75
doc_j_lock's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
markyon's review against another edition
4.0
Cli-fi. We had a discussion on it at SFFWorld a while back, and the impression was that, with global changes occurring, it was going to become an increasingly relevant and important topic in science fiction. If not in real life.
And here is the proof. Paul’s latest book is a travelogue of gangsters, pursuit and revenge across a landscape of climate change.
If you are a regular genre reader, you may know this already. However, it is relevant here, that often with a science fiction novel it is not just the characters that are important. Equally important, or perhaps even more important, the unusual setting is what elevates a tale to the science-fictional, that allows us to imagine things weirder, stranger and grander than our normal lifestyle. Think Dune. Think Trantor. Think Mesklin.
In Austral, though the characters are what moves the plot forward, it is the landscape they travel through that is the most memorable. This is an Antarctic different from the place we recognise from our nature programmes. Yes, there are vast stretches of icy wastes, but nothing like we see today. Instead there are trees, energy farms, decaying mines and cities. It is a world of rising sea levels, flooded urban landscapes and decrepit transnational projects.
It must also be said that often in science fiction it is these vistas that hold our attention, moreso than the characters that live there. Of the characters we are given here, what must be seen as an honest narrative, albeit from an unreliable narrator. Austral Morales Ferrado is an outsider from an ethnic minority, a genetically altered human nicknamed a husky, remodelled to cope with the extreme cold and climate of the South Pole. She is a criminal from an exiled group of eco-poets, an environmental group once laughed at by the politicians. Left to terraform the wilderness, they have a resistance network of surrogate underground subterfuge, rather like those seen in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars series.
When ‘Stral’s job as a correction officer (think prison guard in an extremely dangerous prison) overlaps with her relationship with Keever Bishop, a really bad inmate, it is clear that that’s not a good thing. Despite this, ‘Stral goes into the relationship knowing fully that she shouldn’t, yet does so anyway. It’s not long before Keever wants something else, and this leads to ‘Stral escaping with young Kamilah Toomy, her cousin, whilst Keever and his henchmen chases them across the Antarctic landscape. ‘Stral is looking for refuge and a way to return Kamilah to her influential father, Deputy Alberto Toomy, whilst Keever wants Kamilah back as a hostage, for leverage.
Whilst ‘Stral runs with Kamilah across the Antarctic, we find out more about ‘Stral’s past, her family and how she got to this point. It’s deliberately focussed on its small scale, with a plot that is decidedly revengeful. What it shows us is that those human emotions of love, hatred, and betrayal, of loyalty and legacy are still important.
It’s also a place for metaphysical soul-searching as well. There is an examination of personal identity as ‘Stral tries to reconcile her past with her current life and on her physical journey Kamilah realises that the world is not as straight-forward as her teenage life has shown her to be.
There is a twist at the end, though really by then the tale’s purpose is done.
For me, the main effect of reading Austral is the creation of a feeling of melancholy, a sense of passing, of change – and not always for the good. It is engrossing and yet a little depressing, the old ideas of a bright future seemingly long gone. Gone are our shiny spaceships, instead we welcome JG Ballard’s world of physical and human decay.
For a story that seems small in scale and nature, its cumulative effect is large. Austral is a surprisingly affecting story of our possible future.
And here is the proof. Paul’s latest book is a travelogue of gangsters, pursuit and revenge across a landscape of climate change.
If you are a regular genre reader, you may know this already. However, it is relevant here, that often with a science fiction novel it is not just the characters that are important. Equally important, or perhaps even more important, the unusual setting is what elevates a tale to the science-fictional, that allows us to imagine things weirder, stranger and grander than our normal lifestyle. Think Dune. Think Trantor. Think Mesklin.
In Austral, though the characters are what moves the plot forward, it is the landscape they travel through that is the most memorable. This is an Antarctic different from the place we recognise from our nature programmes. Yes, there are vast stretches of icy wastes, but nothing like we see today. Instead there are trees, energy farms, decaying mines and cities. It is a world of rising sea levels, flooded urban landscapes and decrepit transnational projects.
It must also be said that often in science fiction it is these vistas that hold our attention, moreso than the characters that live there. Of the characters we are given here, what must be seen as an honest narrative, albeit from an unreliable narrator. Austral Morales Ferrado is an outsider from an ethnic minority, a genetically altered human nicknamed a husky, remodelled to cope with the extreme cold and climate of the South Pole. She is a criminal from an exiled group of eco-poets, an environmental group once laughed at by the politicians. Left to terraform the wilderness, they have a resistance network of surrogate underground subterfuge, rather like those seen in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars series.
When ‘Stral’s job as a correction officer (think prison guard in an extremely dangerous prison) overlaps with her relationship with Keever Bishop, a really bad inmate, it is clear that that’s not a good thing. Despite this, ‘Stral goes into the relationship knowing fully that she shouldn’t, yet does so anyway. It’s not long before Keever wants something else, and this leads to ‘Stral escaping with young Kamilah Toomy, her cousin, whilst Keever and his henchmen chases them across the Antarctic landscape. ‘Stral is looking for refuge and a way to return Kamilah to her influential father, Deputy Alberto Toomy, whilst Keever wants Kamilah back as a hostage, for leverage.
Whilst ‘Stral runs with Kamilah across the Antarctic, we find out more about ‘Stral’s past, her family and how she got to this point. It’s deliberately focussed on its small scale, with a plot that is decidedly revengeful. What it shows us is that those human emotions of love, hatred, and betrayal, of loyalty and legacy are still important.
It’s also a place for metaphysical soul-searching as well. There is an examination of personal identity as ‘Stral tries to reconcile her past with her current life and on her physical journey Kamilah realises that the world is not as straight-forward as her teenage life has shown her to be.
There is a twist at the end, though really by then the tale’s purpose is done.
For me, the main effect of reading Austral is the creation of a feeling of melancholy, a sense of passing, of change – and not always for the good. It is engrossing and yet a little depressing, the old ideas of a bright future seemingly long gone. Gone are our shiny spaceships, instead we welcome JG Ballard’s world of physical and human decay.
For a story that seems small in scale and nature, its cumulative effect is large. Austral is a surprisingly affecting story of our possible future.
ardolan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Semi-post-apocalyptic, politically-driven.
g_lyon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
alex_paget's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.5
whatkayliereads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
fivemack's review against another edition
3.0
This is an Antarctic picaresque noir; the nearest things to heroes are the illegal ecologists trying to make a newly-defrosted Antarctica into a wilderness rather than a plantation, our heroine is a thief and a kidnapper and at times a Mafia enforcer, the whole thing has a pervasive aura of snow and lichen.