Morte

Starred review from October 13, 2014
With sly references to Orwell’s Animal Farm, debut novelist Repino puts a nicely modern postapocalyptic overlay on the fable of animals taking over the world. Enraged by the anthropocentrism of humans, ant queen Hymenoptera develops a race of super ants while simultaneously releasing a pheromone causing all animals to become humanlike. Former house cat Sebastian, now over six feet tall and capable of handling firearms, adopts the name Mort(e) and becomes a ruthless soldier for the revolution. Steering clear of allegorical artifices, Repino effectively harnesses animal emotions within the anthropomorphic context, using Mort(e)’s quest to rescue a canine playmate from his former life to introduce the all-too-human messiah complex that will doom Hymenoptera’s vision of a posthuman world. This is an affecting, intriguing shift from the traditional “power corrupts” destruction of utopia, allowing an empathetic melancholy to rise along with Mort(e)’s disillusionment as supposedly free animals begin to commit suicide. Even horrific Hymenoptera, ferociously single-minded in the face of endless unpredictability, reveals an aching loneliness in her absolutism. This ambitious debut falters a bit at first, but quickly becomes an engrossing morality tale with unexpected depths.

November 15, 2014
A war novel/religious allegory about cats, dogs and giant ants driven by a hive mind. Yes, really. So, let's imagine W. Bruce Cameron's silly and maudlin A Dog's Purpose recast as a violent and frightening post-apocalyptic global battle for the souls of Earth's survivors, layered with a messiah prophecy that makes The Matrix look simplistic by comparison. If that's a bit much, maybe just think Animal Farm re-imagined by Orson Scott Card. Either way, you end up with this devilishly entertaining debut about anthropomorphized animals caught in a conflict between an invading army of insects and the planet's few remaining humans. The novel begins from the point of view of Sebastian, an aloof but observant house cat whose only true companion is a dog named Sheba. Through animal eyes, he describes Earth's descent into chaos as giant ants-that's Hymenoptera unus to you-break through the planet's crust to wreak havoc on human civilization. At the heart of their plan is the decision to release a virus that gives all animals self-awareness, a bipedal structure and better-than-human intelligence. After the change, Sebastian recreates himself as the cat-warrior Mort(e), the hero of a breakaway army called The Red Sphinx. "Don't you all know who this is?" says his superior to a new crop of recruits. "This is Mort(e). The hero of the Battle of the Alleghenies. The Mastermind of the Chesapeake Bridge Bombing. The crazy bastard who assassinated General Fitzpatrick in broad daylight. This choker was killing humans before some of you were born." After a while the story gets kind of messy with a memetic virus called "EMSAH," the aforementioned prophecy and the preordained battle to end all wars, but it's still awfully good sci-fi that imagines a world where humans are no longer at the top of the food chain. A wild riff on interspecies warfare sure to make pet owners think twice the next time their tabby cats dart by.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2014

This intriguing debut starts out as a simple pet's-eye view tale; Sebastian is a neutered and declawed housecat who befriends a dog named Sheba. Into their world comes an army of giant ants, led by an omniscient queen intent on destroying humanity. Using tailored chemicals, the ant queen has caused animals to grow hands and to become larger, self-aware, and bipedal. As a result, most pets, including Sebastian, rise up and kill their masters, though the cat loses his friend Sheba in the resulting turmoil. Sebastian takes the ambiguous name Mort(e) and joins the war against humans. In an interesting twist on George Orwell's Animal Farm, Mort(e) becomes disillusioned with the revolution but is drawn back in because he learns that the ant queen doesn't have the animals' best interests at heart. Yearning to be reunited with Sheba, Mort(e) finally gets his wish as he becomes pivotal in the final battle between ants and humans. VERDICT Animal Farm set in a postapocalyptic world based on interspecies rivalry rather than communism, with a little religion on the side, this imaginative story can be taken as a somewhat satirical examination of the role of the individual in society. Highly recommended.--Henry Bankhead, Los Gatos Lib., CA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.