Bee Speaker by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I would like to thank Head of Zeus for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Head of Zeus

Published – Out Now

Price – £20 hardback £6.02 ebook

The end of the world has been and gone.

There was no one great natural disaster, no all-consuming world war, no catastrophic pandemic. Only scores of storms, droughts, and selfish regional conflicts. Humanity was not granted a heroic end. Instead, it bled to death from a thousand cuts.

But where Earth fell apart, Mars pulled together. Engineered men and beasts, aided by Bees - an outlawed distributed intelligence - survived through co-operation, because there was simply no alternative.

Fast forward to today. A signal - 'For the sake of what once was. We beg you. Help.' - reaches Mars.

How could they refuse? A consortium of Martian work crews gather the resources for a mission: a triumphal return to the blue-green world of their ancestors. And now here they are - three hundred million kilometres from home.

And it has all already gone horribly wrong.

NB While you could read this novel standalone and also I think this is a great jumping in point it is part of the Dogs of War series that contains the excellent Dogs of War and Bear Head by Adrian Tchaikovsky

There are two types of world ending stories. There are those that imagine the ultimate cataclysm be it immense natural disaster or human (sometimes Vogon) foible that wipes every one of us out – showy and reminding us that everything has an end. But another just asks us can you imagine all of this stopping – the net, the cities, electricity on demand, health care and what happens then? Strip us of our daily routines and conventions what do we become – usually leather wearing and violent but it also asks us questions of how do people react under extreme pressure. Do we give in to our more selfish sides or can we find a way past? Indeed rather than the mysterious future are we actually asking ourselves these questions to highlight the problems we face today? In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s cracking science fiction novel Bee Speaker we have a story that plays with the familiar structure of these latter tales but has some fascinating spins on the ideas and question what actually makes humanity work?

To recap in the future Earth governments and corporations had begun to experiment with modifications of animals and humans. Dogs were just one species to uplift giving them enhanced strength, intelligence and even speech to create ever more loyal foot soldiers. Humans were modified to live and work on Mars in a low oxygen and gravity world. Increasingly though the two worlds grew ever more distant from one another. Mars by a mixture of nature and design became a far ore co-operative place. Earth grew inwards and then increasingly silent as disasters fell on top of disasters. The cities were emptied and small settlements banded together (or warred) using the dying remnants of technology to survive. Then Mars finally heard earth cry for help and a small team are sent…things very quickly go wrong.

Rather than one continuous series the Dogs of War series I think is best thought of a series that explores a world of uplifted animal bioforms and chooses a articular story or theme to focus around. I think Bee Speaker could work very well as a jumping in point and then you could delve into the past to find out a bit more of this world’s history. They’re very good books but this is both a fantastic read but also explains the history without too many big spoilers on the previous world. At one point our non-human characters remark on a certain ape franchise history and while this series explores things very differently, I think this set of tales offers that kind of flexibility now as to the type of stories it can tell and the order you visit them in..

In many ways this novel plays with the standard concepts of post apocalyptic science fiction but nothing is quite delivered as we usually expect. Technically Mars is invading Earth but the Martians are genetically modified versions of humans and bioforms. Yes, there are warrior groups but Tchaikovsky has given them a 21st century makeover as to how they originated and even their cosiety isn’t quite as simple as other versions have created. There is even a monastery keen on preserving the knowledge of the past and they too keep a huge secret. Long-term SF readers will find many nods t the past but its all being replayed differently and with all these elements coming into conflict with one another to ask us as readers a question. Are we doomed?

Aiding this are the characters we will meet along the way. Our Martians are a very interesting mix Ada a human is unfortunately quickly poleaxed as her modifications to gravity and atmosphere do not work. We meet Wells a biform loosely based around a dog who certainly doesn’t look like one you’d want to rub their tummy if you value your fingers but is also a skilled comms engineer and finds Earth’s biosphere of smells and noises overwhelming her ability to think. Finally, there is a the mysterious Irae very much chaotic, does what they want and keeps us guessing as to her nature in many ways. These well-meaning people have come to earth to help and found the planet unwelcoming on many levels and I really liked how Tchaikovsky explores how lifeforms even closely related may find a earth atmosphere soon very off putting. But by making them the central cast we also get to see behind their physiology and initial chaotic interactions they’re trying to help they just perhaps are a little too optimistic that people would want to be helped. Their very super optimistic and charismatic leader Tecumo is the kind of guy who can get people together to do things but very quickly we find four people changing a a world is a bit much. It’s a good counterpoint to so many rugged individual SF tales that imagine that just with the right attitude you can change the world.

On Earth the humans are too compelling. Our Martians soon meet a young monk named Cricket who is soon out of his debt with aliens and warlords but has a battle between his instruct for survival and morality to work through which soon becomes a recurring theme in the story. Our warlord is named Leon and wears a crown and has a throne but look more closely and underneath the standard warrior mode is a more thoughtful person and that in particular comes across the key character of Serval his wife who is very keen that this group don’t fall into standard barbarism and we find a rich culture of the women in the group working together which is not something we often see in these type of stories. There are also geocentric older women to keep an eye on a witch and a chatty villager. Everyone has secrets and all interestingly fall back into the wider themes of the book.

With all these groups tension rise and warlords, strange monasteries, aliens and a mysterious bioform factory are not going to be safe places for a misunderstanding and there are those a plenty. Things go wrong as everyone is suspicious of one another and when everyone has guns that gets messy and dreadful. Action when it happens is facts and brutal and the feeling of a war on the horizon gets ever closer. What you don’t quite expect is the form that eventually takes and then that big question arrives. How do humans survive - is it night or just possibly enlightened self interest as an old alien ambassador once said? Look more closely at our groups and we have forced of power, industry, knowledge, science and more circling around each other and none on their own is enough to shape a world. So often post apocalyptic fiction focuses on how one group destroys all others. Here the interesting question is how could they possibly work?

A story that explores the power of co-operation and the dangers of when that isn’t offered or taken up is really interesting and throw in strange characters, a sense of humour and a really propelling narrative style that for me is just as much a character as the main cast and this is a story I just kept finding more to enjoy. Several surprises, a sense of compassion and also wonder at the power of science what more is there to ask for? There are even hints we could revisit this world again and perhaps even more interesting stories await. It is very strongly recommended!