Ghost Species

The environmental thriller longlisted for the BSFA Best Novel Award

De: James Bradley

Narrado por: Rupert Degas

Set against the backdrop of rapidly approaching climate catastrophe, scientists Kate Larkin and Jay Gunesekera are recruited by tech billionaire and mogul Davis Hucken to the forests of Tasmania, Australia. His foundation's mission is not only halting the effects of climate change, but to re-engineer and reverse the damage through the ambitious process of reviving species lost to the earth over time through natural and unnatural means. Including a clandestine ambition to resurrect the Neanderthals. When Eve, the first child, is born and grows up in a world crumbling around her, questions arise that she and Kate must face. Is she human or not, real or unnatural, and is she the ghost species or are we?

As more and more of us are waking up to the truth about our climate and our need to reverse the damage we have caused, James Bradley's novel is incredibly timely, poignant and reflective on what it means to be human on a personal and a global scale.

©2020 James Bradley (P)2020 Penguin Random House Australia

Great Book

I usually don’t like sci-fi or speculative fiction but this was incredible. Such an incredible meditation on what it means to be human and our relationship to the planet we live on

Kind of falls apart at the end

The novel is interesting, to be sure. Character devolpment is alright, I guess. The ideas are more interesting than the book itself. Lot of repeated phrases and verbage from the author. And the main characters' voice, by the narrator, is unconvincing, a little humorous, making it kind of hard to take seriously. And near the end it kind of feels forced and there are just a lot of loose ends. Worth the read if you're really into current science fiction, otherwise I'd say it's a pass.