Yes, there are mild spoilers in this review. No more than you’d get in a movie trailer, but yes, there are some spoilers.
Buku is an independently published book that is indistinguishable from any traditionally published offering. The writing in the novel is excellent. It has good story structure, plenty of enjoyable characters, and dialogue that is effortless to read. The book itself is even beautiful. It has a wonderful cover, and its formatting is noticeably gorgeous. All together, Buku is a fast, entertaining read, and it deserves great success.
I’ve been enthusiastic about this project for a while now. I used to catch small samples of it in the 100 word – “best bits” contests in the Sci-Fi Roundtable facebook group (a great group, go ahead and join). I was intrigued because the small samples seemed to suggest that Buku was a monster story – and on its periphery it is.
I eventually bought the book, and it went on the back of a long queue – until one day, while in the middle of reading another book, I snuck a peek at Buku’s introductory chapter. The peek was enough to learn that the “monster” element of the book is brilliantly conceived. All on its own, it’s brilliant. Let me walk you through the idea in baby talk -- a scientist gets the idea of gene splicing hippopotamus dna with whale dna. Why? Because whale blubber is a fuel source, and giant, fast-maturing hippos loaded with whale blubber would be a RENEWABLE fuel source. Soon everybody and their cousin have these BUKU creatures on their property – looking to use the creatures to earn extra income. The invention of the buku (Yikes – the “invention” of living creatures) changes the whole world economy – until the creatures break the leash and over-run the planet. They eat and trample everything they encounter (including people), with nothing given the time to re-grow. This is an utterly brilliant and fresh excuse for a breed of monster. Though, I have to admit, while hippos are very dangerous animals in the real world, they don’t have the pre-established, sexy-monster-mental-slots that say, sharks or rhinos might have. It takes seeing them rampage in a book to discover how formidable an opponent they would make. Luckily, Anderson is up to the task. And while almost all of the carnage and destruction I’ve just described happens off screen at the beginning of the book, it does lead to the book’s SECOND brilliant idea. The rampaging of these creatures drives humanity to the mountains. The creatures don’t climb unless they have to (and there are several vertical surfaces they can’t climb at all). This buys humanity some time – however, the creatures keep finding their way to higher ground, and the book introduces the idea of a territorial time bomb. The people keep getting pushed higher and higher, and there is a point, coming soon, where there will truthfully be nowhere left to run – a brilliant way to add constant tension to the story.
I’ll get to my choice for the 3rd brilliant ingredient in a minute (the brilliant components I’m mentioning are just my opinion – you may leave the book with a hundred different elements to describe as brilliant) but before I mention the 3rd element – just for fun, I’ll give an interesting reaction I had while reading the first third of the book. The book starts with a group of tribal foragers on the run from a cluster of Buku. A very effective scene. The troop gets back home, and in no time, we have learned a few things: the main character’s name is Iris, her place in her home tribe is uneasy, because both the warlord in charge, and his son, desire her. Both are also abusive to her (though each claims to be holding back). During the foraging run that opens the book, Iris meets a group of strangers. The strangers are all strong, adept, and decent – almost too good to be true. It’s clear Iris could go off and travel with them. The only thing keeping her connected to her home tribe is the amount of people dependent on her – for her wisdom as a healer, and her fellowship as a comrade. She loves her people, and they love her. This is where I started to see the book as maybe a fairy-tale parable – the same way the film “Gravity” works as a fairy tale parable. I thought we’d found a woman -- who is in an abusive relationship -- who is worried about the people who rely on her -- and who is suddenly faced with a small chance at a better life if she can muster the courage to take it – but a small chance that would require she face the rages of an unfair, unpredictable, and hostile world (the ever-present Buku). This sums up a LOT of life problems – do I leave the devil I know for the chance of something better? With a hostile world ready to tear the vulnerable to pieces? Well, anyway, the book quickly develops further, becomes more complex, and more specifically itself, and I found all the ideas I had of fairy tale parables melting away.
So, if not a parable, what does the writer do with the heart of the book? Iris, the main character, is walking a LOT of tightropes. She’s keeping the warlord at bay. She’s keeping the son of the warlord at bay. She is dealing with a dreamy Conan type guy who keeps helping her teams survive Buku encounters, and who clearly likes her, but who she can’t pursue, because it would mean leaving her tribe, and that would leave many people stranded to suffer the wrath of the angry warlord. In dealing with the strangers, she has seen glimpses of a way all people could survive the Buku. Rather than just escape the warlord and win herself a better life, she wants to learn more about the idea she glimpsed, and win a better life for everyone by starting to turn the tide on the monsters.
Speaking of the monsters, Cat Rambo has a story in the Clarkesworld archives that reveals an interesting fact about genetics (the title mentions “tortoise shell cats”). The story points out that you could make a direct clone of your tortoise shell cat, and still NOT get an exact replica of your pet. Things like the stripe shapes could be very different animal to animal, because the genes can follow the same instructions, but “express” them differently. This idea led me to have a field day indulging in thinking of different ways giant slabs of whale blubber could “express” on mammoth sized hippos – what shapes would you get? What clusters of shapes? What skin diseases and conditions would each shape be prone to? What birds would live on the backs of these animals? How much variety could a film company come up with? I mention film because this is a very cinematic book. There are at least two THRILLING chase scenes where the writer wrings great tension out of fleet prose. AND NOW I’ll get to my 3rd choice for brilliant element. Talk about cinematic. SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER! The warlord’s camp is located near a gargantuan slab of stone that overlooks a drop in the mountain’s face. The slab has a grade to it – it slants toward the drop. The warlord keeps it greased with Buku oil, and conducts his tribal meetings right next to it. Those not in his favor get placed on the slab, where travel starts out slowly, only moves in one direction, and only gets faster. I haven’t done the idea any kind of justice – but talk about cinematic. If this idea were ever included in just a movie TRAILER, it would become an instant cultural icon. Seriously. Hat’s off! Brilliant!
I have focused on the “guy” stuff in the book – the monsters and the violence – BUT this is not a “guy’s” book (go ahead, throw tomatoes at me for being archaic). Its real focus is on Iris and the decisions she is called on to make, and her resourcefulness in bringing about an outcome that at least SOMEONE has a chance of surviving – though, most-likely, not her. Here is another place where I’d like to give the writer credit. We are so invested with Iris over the course of the book, that it is easy to suspect that she will survive and realize a positive outcome. But the writer is shrewd. There are enough variables in play by the end of the book, that as the story builds to a final confrontation, the reader can only guess at which way things will shake out. We’ve met a wide range of people – some quirky, some horrendous, some jaded, some innocent, all suggested beautifully, but we don’t know who will make it to the end of the book. I’m not paying enough attention to all the work that went into presenting these characters. I call on any writer steeped in character development to give this book a read and write a review that gives the writer, and the people she created in this story, their due. Any takers?
So, if you just want to enjoy one more good book before the summer is over – or if you want to extend the feeling of summer after the calendar changes. Pick up Buku. It will carry you right along.
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From the Publisher
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Terrific Thriller
Took this book with me on vacation. I could not put it down! I love a good thriller and this book did not disappoint. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Loved this book and can’t wait for the sequel. I hope to see this book made into a movie or Netflix series. Well done Jennifer Anderson.
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- Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2018
- Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2018
- Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2021
Top reviews from other countries
- peter reedReviewed in Australia on December 12, 2021
If dystopian thrillers are becoming ‘mundane’….
- MelanieMurzaReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 29, 2022
A somewhat frustrating page turner!
