The great geoengineering projects have failed. The world is still warming, sea levels are still rising, and the Antarctic Peninsula is home to Earth's newest nation, with life quickened by ecopoets spreading across valleys and fjords exposed by the retreat of the ice. Austral Morales Ferrado, a child of the last generation of ecopoets, is a husky: an edited person adapted to the unforgiving climate of the far south, feared and despised by most of its population. She's been a convict, a corrections officer in a labour camp, and consort to a criminal, and now, out of desperation, she has committed the kidnapping of the century. But before she can collect the ransom and make a new life elsewhere, she must find a place of safety amongst the peninsula's forests and icy plateaus, and evade a criminal gang that has its own plans for the teenage girl she's taken hostage. Blending the story of Austral's flight with the fractured history of her family and its role in the colonisation of Antarctica, Austral is a vivid portrayal of a treacherous new world created by climate change, and shaped by the betrayals and mistakes of the past. 'Paul McAuley's balanced grasp of science and literature, always a rare attribute in the writer of prose fiction, is combined with the equally rare ability to look at today's problems and know which are really problems, and what can be done about them.' William Gibson Read more
O**N
Good science, bad fiction
Austral is an okay book. The author has some good, cohesive ideas about a nascent, post-climate change Antartica-as-a-country. The setting is well done and the author's words bring to life a rocky, snowy landscape, a mix between the rocky shores of Newfoundland and snowy plains.However, the author falls absolutely flat when it comes to characters. The characters are very thin. They have no real personality. The kidnapped teenager is a kidnapped teenager. The crime lord is a crime lord. The authors does not appear to have learned about "show don't tell".The story itself is okay, but only because the author realizes by itself it would be pretty dry, so inserts numerous chapters where he just cuts in other stories. Supposedly these are narrated by the main protagonist, but really, they are just completely separate stories injected to add more color to the story. Admitedly, it works: but if the main story was actually interesting, this technique would not have been necessary.So overall: a pretty mediocre novel, but you may enjoy it if you are craving frozen craggy landscapes.
L**A
Good science fiction without going to space
I bought this book because I had a read short story by the author based on the opening of Antarctica to human settlement because of climate change. The idea is intriguing and so is his story. Finally, science fiction without a space opera, but with heavy emphasis on how various people try to develop a habitat where once only ice and snow existed.The author doesn't dwell on what happened to the rest of the world, only what is necessary, but creates a vivid believable picture of the social and political situation Way Down Under.The main character is a husky, a young woman whose genes were modified to help her live in a still cold climate. However, it also makes her an outcast to regular human beings. In a split second, she kidnaps a politician's daughter to save her from being taken by a gangster. The husky and the girl are then pursued across the most habitable part of the newly greening continent trying to find a safe way to give the girl back to her father without being arrested. The reader is treated to what Antarctic would be like 100+ years from now and the kind of people who would likely to have populated it, for good and for ill. A fascinating read. Would certainly read sequel.
T**O
Moving and poetic
I have read everything Paul McAuley has written. I love his quiet, melancholic style. This story is no different, with a feeling of wind-swept melancholy following the narrator's account as she flees with her captive through a vastly changed Antarctic peninsula in a not so remote future that is one of the more likely outcomes of global warming and human short-sightedness. I only just found out that Paul McAuley's wife passed away a year ago and I think see some of that grief in this novel. I wishI could offer him my condolences personally but this will have to do. God speed.
Q**A
Compelling eco-fiction: courage and survival in a changing Antarctica.
Paul McAuley "Austral" is set in Antarctica in the near future.Skillfully crafted story: eco-fiction, sci fi and literary fiction.This is a story of a particular young woman, Austral Morales Ferrado, and it is also the story of her family, of ecopoets, and their role in creating new biomes or ecosystems to adapt to changing conditions in the Antarctic as sea levels rise, and the glaciers retreat.Austral lives in a time when the Antarctic is becoming more industrialized. The original ecopoets find themselves pushed into the background. Petroleum industries, mining, fishing, and urbanization dominate. Austral is determined to live as other humans, and not be treated like a monster, a second class citizen. She is a 'husky': a human "edited" or genetically adapted to survive in the Antarctica's frigid and harsh environment.Throughout the novel, McAuley describes in vivid prose, Antarctica's wilderness, the geographical, and ecological changes, and he keeps this tightly connected to Austral's own struggles and determination to survive.
C**R
This is a fascinating look at a future where Antarctica ...
This is a fascinating look at a future where Antarctica is thawing. Transnational corporations want to exploit the fresh land; ecopoets want to create a new Eden. Criminals seek to control everything and politicians to serve themselves. In their midst the heroine, one of a genetically-modified generation created by the ecopoets, kidnaps her cousin, daughter of a preening politician, in a bid for freedom. A shrewd look at the future, through the lens of ever-flawed humanity.
F**B
Gorgeous story of love and autonomy
Genius storyteller McAuley spins a fine yarn. This is my favorite of his many novels. I love the intersection of gene editing and anarchy. Imagining a world drastically changed by global warming but still crumpling under the dire weight of capitalism, the magnificent mutant Austral finds her way. Bittersweet and hopeful. Highly recommended.
A**T
Don't get involved with characters.
Writing quality good but very weird construction. Repetitive until near end then characters become interesting, but book suddenly ends without resolution.Probably intended as a series but not well planned. I won't buy any more even if it is a series.
P**E
A wonderful story of a post-warmed planet set in Antarctica
Antarctica warmed up is no more pleasant than you would imagine. And yet, somehow, it is beautiful . Even with a hardscrabble existence and some quite unpleasant characters. An astonishing and poignant book. I loved it - high on the list of books that stick in your mind
