A Stranger in the Citadel by Tobias S. Buckell

Published by Tachyon Publications on October 17, 2023

A Stranger in the Citadel is set on a human world of the far future, one that still recalls legendary names like Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Some more recent legends have become gods: Washtun (the god of honesty and transparency, in whose honor cherry trees are planted); Elv (who is honored by music festivals and blue suede shoes). Much knowledge of the past has been lost, largely due to the destruction visited by the archangels.

The story begins within the walled city of Ninetha. The Lord Musketeer protects and rules the city with the help of his musketeers, although he is clearly protecting the interests of the affluent. His ancestors likely built the wall so that the blessings of the Cornucopia — a machine attributed to divinity that manufactures medicine and food and most other things people might want, apart from weapons— are kept from the peasants, who eat a bland daily diet called vittle.

The musketeers are purportedly the children of the Lord Musketeer, but they are raised and trained by a warrior named Kira who is also a religious zealot. The religion’s most sacred principle is that books are evil, that writing is sinful, that “thou shalt not suffer a librarian to live.” People believe their ancestors made a contract with the gods — renounce books and you will not go hungry.

A librarian named Ishmael makes his way from New Alexandria to Ninetha, carrying his library on his back, hoping to gain and spread knowledge. He is captured and is about to be killed when Lilith, the youngest muskatress, intervenes. Her desire for mercy is sacrilegious to Kira but Lilith knows a secret that even Kira doesn’t know — her father has a book.

Lilith’s knowledge eventually sparks a religious revolution that brings down her ruling family. Much of the novel consists of Lilith in flight, following Ishmael to the top of the world, pursued by Kira and later by a slow but relentless archangel. Lilith finds that other communities resent Ninetha for keeping the benefits of its Cornucopia for the upper class. One community has adopted a power-sharing structure that causes Lilith to question the privilege with which she was raised.

The story of the archangels is a bit muddy, as is the novel’s ending. Perhaps the archangels are robot travelers from space who have their own religion to spread. The archangel’s explanation of a human death ritual is a bit puzzling.

Lilith is the kind of young protagonist whose mind is open to discovery, perhaps making her appealing to fans of YA fiction. The ignorant book banners who make parts of America deplorable might have inspired the novel, but the lessons Kira learns about books were made in more compelling terms by Bradbury, to whom the librarian alludes. Despite its worthy but not quite successful attempt to be something more, A Stranger in the Citadel works well as an adventure story in which a religion of banned books happens to form a background.

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Hurricane Fever by Tobias S. Buckell

Published by Tor Books on July 1, 2014

Hurricane Fever starts with two improbably named characters -- Zee and Roo -- and engulfs them in a familiar plot that is nevertheless fun. Zachariah "Zee" Barlow steals a virus from a biotech lab and then injects himself with it. This seems like a bad idea since the virus kills him as he is on the phone to CDC. The virus is intended as a targeted weapon, a commonplace theme in technothrillers, but Zee's decision to infect himself with it isn't entirely believable. In any event, that plot thread fades into the background as the first two-thirds of the novel unfolds.

The novel follows Prudence "Roo" Jones, who should be outrunning bad weather on his catamaran with his nephew Delroy. Instead he drops everything to respond to a message he receives from the now-dead Zee. Roo and Zee were members of the Caribbean Intelligence Group back in the day. Roo picks up a flash drive that Zee mailed him and wonders what the weather data on the drive has to do with Zee's death. The reason for Zee's death also concerns Zee's mysterious sister -- mysterious because Zee never mentioned her to Roo.

Much of Hurricane Fever features the kind of chase-and-attempt-to-kill scenes that are customary in thrillers, along with some better scenes illustrating the dangers of hurricanes if you happen to live on a boat. The near-future plot plays with some high-tech gadgetry that would make 007's Q envious. Nearing the midway point, a turning point in the novel gives more depth to Roo than I expected to find. The plot, on the other hand, has little depth, as the reason the bad guy wants the virus turns out to be standard and unimaginative thriller fare.

The purpose of the virus becomes clear with about a third of the novel remaining. The pages that follow are filled with shootouts, chases, explosions, silly stunts, and predictable mayhem -- good fun that would probably look great on a movie screen, but nothing special on the screen of my imagination -- while the role played by the mysterious female eventually gives the novel an extra spark.

Hurricane Fever is a good beach read that mostly takes place on windy Caribbean beaches that are ever-threatened by hurricanes. While I wouldn't put this high on my list of recommended thrillers, it works well as fast-moving escapist fiction.

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