Starred review from December 5, 2022
Sterling’s stunning debut offers a glimpse into a climate change–ravaged future in which resources diminish quickly and new frontiers are hard to find. In desolate northern Canada, the enigmatic architect Meyer is building a settlement that promises hope for climate refugees. A group of escorts called the Blooms are flown into the build-site to be a sliver of beauty in the snowy wasteland. Among them is Rose, who hails from the Floating City, a luxurious, man-made metropolis that floats in Boston Harbor. She was secretly sent by a high-profile client to investigate the camp in exchange for an easier life for her Korean immigrant mother, but setbacks, mysteries, and a captivating man called the Barber hinder her progress with her mission. Meanwhile, Grant, who signed on to the project to extricate himself from both his wealthy family’s long shadow and a relationship that left him heartbroken, learns from the Diggers he’s been hired to teach that construction may well be futile. Nearby in a leftover Cold War station, a group of female experts in climate research grow from colleagues to friends to lovers as they unravel the cryptic mysteries of the team of men assigned to the same station before them. Sterling’s future is close enough to the present to be entirely recognizable, underlining this cleverly constructed climate fiction mystery with palpable terror: this world feels like one many readers could see within their lifetimes. This should earn a place on shelves alongside Station Eleven and Annihilation. Agent: Erin Harris, Folio Literary
January 1, 2023
DEBUT Rose is a Korean American sex worker who has agreed to spy on an architect's utopian building project in the far north of Canada in exchange for safe housing for herself and her climate-displaced mother. She arrives at Camp Zero at the same time as Grant, an Ivy League-educated professor out of his depth in this land of extreme cold and brutality. It soon becomes clear to both of them that their time at the camp is not going to provide an easy path to the better life they expected. At Camp Zero, no one is who they appear to be, including the famed architect running the project. Allegiances are quickly formed and broken in this fast-paced eco-thriller filled with twists and turns. Sterling touches on a number of weighty topics--climate change, misogyny, greed, technology--with varying degrees of success. She is most effective when imagining the battle for resources in a world of scarcity, whereas observations on gender can feel heavy-handed at times. VERDICT An enjoyable read for those who like eco-dystopian novels. Give this to fans of Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.--Portia Kapraun
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 1, 2023
A young Korean American woman must forge her own path and protect her mother in an uncertain future. It's 2049, and 25-year-old Rose accepts a dangerous assignment from Damien, her master-of-the-universe boss, who promises that she and her mother will be set with income and housing for life in a precarious, ever warming world if she succeeds. On her mission, she'll continue as a sex worker alongside five other women while keeping an eye on Damien's interests in a new, secretive project. Meanwhile, Grant Grimley just wants to escape the reach of his family's vast wealth, a legacy created from centuries of extraction. He accepts a teaching job that guarantees to get him off the grid. Rose and Grant, both Americans, arrive at a camp in the Canadian wilderness, a frigid frontier of sorts, where a renowned architect seeks to build a refuge from climate catastrophe. Not too far off, a group of women--American soldiers and scientists--is creating a sanctuary of their own to survive an imperiled planet. It's a smart setup. The author has imagined an array of futuristic ideas stemming from our present, including a next-generation smartphone that's implanted as a chip behind people's ears at birth and a Floating City off Boston's shores where the elite live in bliss while the rest of the population deals with worsening hurricanes and wildfires. But this creativity doesn't quite pay off. There's a decades-old oil ban in place, for example, but its geopolitical consequences barely surface. The chip means more connectivity--and surveillance--than ever before, but this doesn't much impact the story. Some characters lack complexity, and their backstories, once revealed, are underwhelming. However, the book has a soul that generates momentum. It's committed to the bonds of family, the ones we are born into and the ones we choose, as a way forward in an increasingly chaotic world. A love letter to what communities of women can accomplish when they work in concert.
COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
March 1, 2023
Sterling's dystopian first novel is set in 2049, when climate change has displaced much of the North American population. While the rich have retreated to a haven known as the Floating City above the Atlantic Ocean, others have looked to the far north, including a young half-Korean, half-white woman who has traveled to the distant reaches of Canada to Camp Zero to serve as one of several comfort women to the men working to build a colony. Rechristened Rose, her secret mission is to get close to the colony's architect and report on his plans. In exchange, the powerful tech guru she's working for has promised her and her mother a residence in the Floating City. Also in the mix is Grant, a young teacher from a wealthy family he wants to escape, and even further north, a group of women known as White Alice, who live as a collective, putting their various expertise to use studying the region. Sterling vividly renders a harrowing near-future world ravaged by climate change while still offering hope through human connection and perseverance.
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