extinction | Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Extinction
Author: Douglas Preston
Publisher: Forge books
Publication date: April 23, 2024
Length: 370 pages
Genre: Science fiction / thriller
Source: Library
Rating:

Erebus Resort, occupying a magnificent, hundred-thousand–acre valley deep in the Colorado Rockies, offers guests the experience of viewing woolly mammoths, Irish Elk, and giant ground sloths in their native habitat, brought back from extinction through the magic of genetic manipulation. When a billionaire’s son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered in the Erebus back country by what is assumed to be a gang of eco-terrorists, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash partners with county sheriff James Colcord to track down the perpetrators. As killings mount and the valley is evacuated, Cash and Colcord must confront an ancient, intelligent, and malevolent presence at Erebus, bent not on resurrection but on extinction.

A secret luxury resort where the ultra-rich can walk among “de-extincted” creatures from the Pleistocene era. What could possibly go wrong?

This is no Jurassic Park, as the Erebus head of security informs newly arrived visitors to the resort. But that doesn’t mean that the expected series of disasters don’t result from the ill-advised combination of advanced science and hubris.

As Extinction opens, a newlywed couple is enjoying a camping trip through the backcountry of the Erebus Resort. Their elation at seeing woolly mammoths roaming free is cut short by a brutal attack. When the couple are determined to have been either kidnapped or murdered, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation sends in Frankie Cash, newly appointed agent in charge, accompanied by local sheriff James Colcord.

As Cash and Colcord investigate the grisly crime scene, inexplicable evidence begins to pile up. Their investigation widens to include the Erebus security team, its billionaire CEO, and the high-tech labs hidden in converted mines in the mountains. The resort and labs are supposed to be impenetrable, completely safe, and completely controlled — but as more attacks follow, it’s clear that something deadly and relentless has also taken up residence at the resort, and it’s coming for them all.

Extinction is a taut, tension-filled thriller that starts off with high action and never lets up. The science is definitely something like Jurassic Park dialed up to eleven. Sure, Erebus has only “de-extincted” herbivorous creatures with genes linked to aggression carefully edited out, but something bent on bloody, vicious murder is out there. As we know from countless sci-fi movies and books, when humans figure out how to do something, they’re going to do it… even if it’s clear to most rational people that the outcome will be terrible.

Crime thrillers are not usually my jam, but I enjoyed this one a lot — I started it at the beginning of a flight, and by the time we landed, I’d read about 90%. Unputdownable, to say the least! The author’s decision to have local law enforcement investigating an unimaginable scientific disaster is a masterful choice. The main characters feel relatable — they’re ordinary people thrust into an insane situation, applying investigative techniques and approaches to a crime scene that contains layers upon layers of secrets, lies, and threats. Ultimately, Cash and Colcord find themselves fighting for their lives in a nightmarish hellscape… and the adrenaline-fueled, breathless sense of danger and terror just never lets up.

Sure, I question some of the science, and a few elements regarding timelines, how events unfolded, and motivations left me scratching my head. But I can put these small quibbles aside. Overall, Extinction is a terrific, engrossing read, and I could not look away once I started.

Be warned, though: There’s quite a bit of blood and violence throughout the book, and parts are downright terrifying. This book will leave you on edge, frightened, and possibly prone to nightmares!

Extinction is not a book I’d likely have picked up on my own. I was intrigued after reading a review by a favorite author, Dana Stabenow, and knew I needed to know more! I’m so glad I gave it a try. What a crazy ride!

Title: The Tusks of Extinction
Author: Ray Nayler
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication date: January 16, 2024
Length: 192 pages
Genre: Science fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

When you bring back a long-extinct species, there’s more to success than the DNA.

Moscow has resurrected the mammoth, but someone must teach them how to be mammoths, or they are doomed to die out, again.

The late Dr. Damira Khismatullina, the world’s foremost expert in elephant behavior, is called in to help. While she was murdered a year ago, her digitized consciousness is uploaded into the brain of a mammoth.

Can she help the magnificent creatures fend off poachers long enough for their species to take hold?

And will she ever discover the real reason they were brought back?

A tense eco-thriller from a new master of the genre.

The synopsis kind of says it all, yet doesn’t do justice to the weirdness and wonder of The Tusks of Extinction.

The main plot points are as described: A scientist who devoted herself to studying elephants, and lost her life in the doomed fight against poachers, is returned one hundred years after her murder to a new life thanks to the digital brain mapping made before her death.

Damira’s driving passion was to save the elephants — a passion that failed. Elephants are now extinct in the wild, with only a few specimens still living on in captivity. But a team of scientists has reconstructed mammoths through the wonders of genetic technology, and new herds wander the Siberian steppes. The problem, though, is that the mammoths were gestated and raised by captive elephants. They have no social structures with species memory, and lack the skills needed to survive and thrive in the wild.

Damira’s conciousness, transferred into the brain of a mammoth matriarch, has the ability to change all that. She understands elephant dynamics better than anyone, living or dead. With Damira leading the herd, the mammoths finally have a chance to reclaim their place in the world, and perhaps reclaim space for other resurrected species as well. But poachers are still as ruthless as ever, and the black market value of mammoth tusks can make people unimaginably wealthy. It may not be enough for Damira to simply teach the mammoths the ways of elephants — she may also have to teach them to fight back.

Giants may walk the earth again, but for how long? The problem you are trying to solve — how to bring animals back from extinction — it’s the wrong problem. Extinction has only one cause, and that cause is older, even, than the wheel. That cause is human greed.

As I said, this is a weird concept and a weird story, and yet, I really loved it. We learn about Damira through flashbacks and scenes of her present life, and the author presents mammoth thought processes in a fascinating way. At the same time, we follow poachers and hunters with varying motivations, learn about what their purposes are, and follow them to their fates.

Power was the ability to destroy without needing to. To do it not out of necessity, but as an act of pure excess. To do something to someone else simply because you could. And this was perhaps the greatest power of all: to kill something that no one else could kill.

To have a miracle resurrected — and then destroy it.

The writing is beautiful, with harsh truths about humanity’s future and the future of life on the planet. Through Damira, we’re shown reflections on the role of our pasts and how they shape our present. Damira’s thoughts flow across time, weaving together the disparate threads of her life to see the patterns that brought her to her new existence:

Whoever can remember is real. A being that remembers is alive, and authentic. I am here. That is enough.

The Tusks of Extinction is sad and awe-inspiring and thought-provoking. It’s definitely unlike anything else I’ve read. I’m looking forward to reading this author’s debut novel. The Mountain in the Sea, with my book group later this year.