Book Review
Title: Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller
Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Rating: 4 Stars
So Blackfish City was a book I picked up knowing nothing about it other than the cover was awesome and the synopsis sounded cool. The opening to Blackfish City was interesting as climate change has drastically changed the world and one of the few inhabitable places on Earth is a city called Qaanaaq. Qaanaaq is based in the Artic Circle and one of the first characters we are introduced to is Fill, he has recently learned that he has contracted a disease known as the Breaks which is primarily sexually transmitted although it can appear in other ways and these people are being shipped of Qaanaaq but there is currently a six month delay and he finds some comfort in listening to the City Without a Map podcast which is considered by some to be run by radicals. We are also introduced to Ankit who used to be a scaler but now works for Qaanaaq in the housing department. However, we learn that she was taken in at ten and her birth mother is confined to the Cabinet, Qaanaaq’s psych ward. Ankit also has a brother, Kaev who is a beam fighter but it seems that there is something wrong with him whether this is the breaks or another disease isn’t yet known but I am looking forward to where the novel is going to go.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, it is important to note that there is no government in Qaanaaq and that everything is controlled by AI systems but there is still a huge crime network there. Through Fill and Ankit we learn about those living with the breaks and how it affects them both physically and mentally until it eventually leads to death. Fill also gets a call from Thede looking for Ram, Fill’s ex because he also has the breaks which he believes he got from Ram but it is more potent strain that Fill’s. The breaks seems to allow the person affected to witness memories and experiences that aren’t their own possibly coming from the person who infected them or that particular strain. We are also introduced to Soq, a slide messenger who alongside Kaev works for Go, a crime boss in Qaanaaq and there are being assigned more dangerous missions. Kaev is sent to deal with Go’s enemies while Soq is assigned to keep track of the orcamancer. The orcamancer is a mysterious woman who turned up at Qaanaaq with an orca and polar bear. Many believe she has nanobonded to these animals allowing her to communicate with them telepathically but this remains unproven but she is definitely stirring things up in Qaanaaq and many want to know what her purpose for being there is especially since many of her kind were slaughtered for what they were.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, there seems to be a lot of political elements to the story with different factions wanting control of Qaanaaq, one being the shareholders like Fill’s grandfather who founded Qaanaaq and others like Go and her crime syndicate. Fill’s grandfather wants him to have access to certain things considering he doesn’t know if the other shareholders are still alive and he will eventually die although he doesn’t know that his grandson is dying of the breaks. During this time Soq witnesses an attempt of the orcamancer’s life as a mob of people are led against her but she swiftly deals with them fighting herself and then letting the polar bear loose on them. However, Soq notices she seems to be afraid of the bear which they don’t understand since she is supposed to be bonded to it so Soq distracts the bear and here the orcamancer speaks to them, the first time anyone has heard her speak since she arrived at Qaanaaq. Kaev is also carrying out his mission from Go but feels horrible about it since he doesn’t want to do this but he needs to survive. The second man she sends him after he disobeys her injuring the man but not killing him and allowing his face and name to be captured by the public meaning he can’t do anything for her without the risk of being captured. So now he is on the run from Go and the authorities who are surely looking for him but down in Arm Eight, the poorest sector of Qaanaaq he finds a small spot where his symptoms cease to bother him and he takes some comfort in this. However, Ankit does have these small pleasures as the first man Kaev was sent after was someone she needed information from and didn’t get it. Fill’s grandfather also gives her a call on the same day she is supposed to see her mother in the cabinet denying her the funding she asked for meaning she is going to loose her job. To top it all off she is denied access to her mother because of her anxious state and Ankit knows someone is hiding information about what is affecting her mother and she wants to know what it is.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, things get even more interesting as we are introduced to the perspective of Masaaraq or the orcamancer. She explains about how her people and their gifts were an accident of testing and how they were made the scapegoats and hunted to near extinction because of it. Over time they numbers dwindled until they numbered only 40 and many of these were just children. She speaks of Ora, a friend I believe who had two children, one day while Masaaraq was out hunting down some information something happened. When she returned everyone was gone but no bodies were found so she assumed that some of them escaped and fled. Her orca Atkonartok could see and sense the people hunting them so Masaaraq decides to hunt them down. This eventually led her to Qaanaaq where she realises that the polar bear belonging to Ora’s son sensed the boy. This boy turns out to be Kaev and I immediately thought of Ankit and her mother in the Cabinet. With Kaev being the older of the two and already bonded to the bear this might explain his odd behaviour as part of their separation which didn’t happen to Ankit because she hadn’t bonded yet or was too young to do so when they fled and her mother in the Cabinet might be Ora. Through Ankit we learn of something called Quet-38-36.0 which might be a cure for the breaks but it is definitely related to it in some way but they can’t replicate it because of some software preventing it. It is through this that Ankit learns that Fill’s grandfather had her mother imprisoned in the Cabinet and under the highest security and she wants to know why. Fill also gets mixed up in this when he finds Soq at his grandfather’s empty apartment which they were sent to by Go to watch it as these empties seem important to the shareholder. We are also beginning to realises that the breaks epidemic isn’t being helped because the shareholders are deliberately creating an environment for it to spread like a huge experiment almost.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, we are beginning to see the threads coming together but I don’t know what it means for our characters or Qaanaaq yet. We learn that Soq is Kaev and Go’s child and she hid Soq from Kaev and herself for a long time in order to protect them both from her enemies. However, when those enemies were defeated she had built a wall around herself that prevented her from seeking them out but they have found each other anyway and have become a family. Masaaraq also finds Ankit and explains to her that Kaev is her brother and that they are both her and Ora’s children. She wants Ankit to be bonded soon because her polar bear died before they could be bonded but it is unknown territory as they were never bonded this late in life. This scares Ankit but she gives Masaaraq the information she needs to find her since she wants to set her mother free from the Cabinet but we know that Ora’s eagle was killed and this might have affected her. There are also things going on with Soq and they slept with Fill and caught the breaks from him but Fill is taken out of the equation as Barron has used Fill to get to his grandfather and then proceeds to kill Fill in front of his grandfather as revenge for what he did in New York. With Fill dead, Martin Podlove believes that Go is responsible for his grandson’s death and begins targeting her and killing many people which has sparked a war between them in the confines of Qaanaaq and I can’t wait to see what is going to happen in the end.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Ankit goes to Go in order to offer help in taking down Martin Podlove but is attached by Dao, Go’s henchman because she refuses to tell him and if rescued by Masaaraq. After this Ankit feels she is now ready to be bonded and chooses the monkey she has been feeding to be bonded to because she feels that they are fearless and wants to be like them. It is also Ankit that comes up with the plan for breaking Ora out of the Cabinet but it is very risky. The plan is to turn off the heat to the Cabinet which would force the AI’s to evacuate the patients and they plan to take Ora here and Masaaraq is going to help by taking out the security drones with her orca. Ankit is also transferring her politician there for safety so she will be on the inside to help when the assault begins. From the chapters taken from City Without a Map I think that it might be run by Ora from inside the Cabinet and it is used for collecting the nanobonded like Kaev, Ankit and Soq. Soq is also given nanites by Masaaraq and told that they will be given a bonded Other when the time is right for them but Soq breaks are getting worse even with the nanites help. While the plan is underway, Soq gain access to Fill’s memories and the knowledge about the lethal programme his grandfather told him about earlier in the novel and gets access to it. This could help them greatly but they have conditions before handing it over to Go.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, we only have 60 or so pages left and I excited to see how Miller is going to close off the novel. Seeing everything come together in the end was interesting but given the amount of build-up I was expecting something a little more concrete from the ending but it was still a great polar fantasy. Honestly if you liked His Dark Materials then Blackfish City might be the novel for you. Overall, for me personally, it was interesting and unique read with a fascinating setting and wonderful characters who I came to care for but the plot was lacking. If you like character driven novel then I’d recommend picking up this one.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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