The Beast of Cretacea

July 27, 2015
Equal parts Moby-Dick retelling, environmental cautionary tale, and coming-of-age story, Strasser’s (Fallout) fantastical SF epic blends disparate pieces into a harmonious whole. The saga begins with 17-year-old Ishmael setting off from a ravaged, dying Earth for life aboard a large fishing trawler on the planet Cretacea, hoping to send enough money back home to secure his foster parents’ future. Along with his small, diverse group of nippers, or young crewmen, Ishmael struggles to adjust to a world with water and sunlight, while facing the kinds of trials that shape a person’s future. The journey carries him through encounters with pirates, mysteries about his past, the search for his foster brother, and into the ultimate adventure of them all: attempting to capture the Great Terrafin. Filled with luscious depictions of life at sea that harken back to the golden age of science fiction, Strasser weaves an engrossing tapestry that evokes a sense of wonder and calls to the imagination. An unfortunately sanctimonious and heavy-handed ending is the only blemish on an otherwise pristine horizon. Ages 12–up. Agent: Stephen Barbara, Inkwell Management.

August 1, 2015

Gr 6 Up-Earth is dying, and its people are starving. There are no more crops because there is no more rain. Oceans are a myth of the past. Humanity's only hope for survival is resource mining and colonization of distant planets-planets like Cretacea. Hoping to earn enough wages to pay for his foster family to leave Earth, young Ishmael enlists as a galley worker aboard a Cretacean fishing vessel called the Pequod. The crew of the Pequod works tirelessly to harpoon as many "humps" and terrafins as possible, hoping to bolster their wages at the end of the voyage. To the ship's captain, there is only one creature that matters: the elusive (and some say mythical) beast known as the Great Terrafin. The Captain vows to make a rich man out of any crewmember aboard who can spear it. What follows for Ishmael is a riveting tale that harkens back to the high-seas adventures of old, full of pirate encounters and other harrowing nautical perils. Strasser's pacing is flawless, and his characters well drawn. While Ishmael's true past is unveiled slowly, readers will find themselves drawn to his obvious bravery and loyalty from the very first page. Additionally, Strasser weaves futuristic technology into an old-fashioned maritime expedition seamlessly, resulting in a setting that feels timeless. Readers need not be familiar with Melville's Moby-Dick to enjoy Strasser's take on it, although those who are should be pleased with the faithful homages. VERDICT A must-read maritime adventure story for a new generation.-Liz Overberg, Zionsville Community High School, IN

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2015
Moby-Dick on an alien planet. Having left the arid, chemical-laden, dying Earth for a yearlong assignment, Ishmael awakens from stasis already on the Pequod, a ship in the middle of the ocean on a planet called Cretacea. He's never seen an ocean before-nor rain, nor plants, nor solid food, nor nonhuman animals like the sea creatures this ship is hunting. He needs money to buy his foster parents passage off of Earth, but Capt. Ahab's singular, manic focus on killing the Great Terrafin (think: white whale) prevents the crew from harvesting other sea animals, despite the profit they offer. Strasser crams in a lot: post-apocalyptic Earth, ship life, enthusiastic and bloody sea hunting, time travel, naturally occurring opioids, pirates, stereotypically simple-hearted islanders, inexplicable and pointless dialects, and a blind man who smells information. The rusty, old Pequod is powered by nuclear reactor, and technological gadgets-tablets, magnetic levitation, drones that track sea life-make strange bedfellows for harpoons and people unaware of the concept of reading. Despite the science-fiction premise-including a surprise late reveal-this has a pure adventure core; Ishmael undergoes no emotional growth arc whatsoever, and his characterization comes straight from lost-heir fantasy. An odd combination of genres and tropes for fans of old-fashioned adventure. (author's note, glossary) (Science fiction/adventure. 12 & up)

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September 15, 2015
Grades 8-11 You don't need to have read Moby-Dick to enjoy Strasser's sci-fi retelling. Ishmael leaves a ravaged Earth for a mission on a feeder planet, where the natural resources needed to keep extinction at bay are gathered and shipped back. He wakes from stasis aboard a fishing trawler, the Pequod, on the pristine planet Cretacea, where he plans to earn enough to pay his foster parents' passage off of Earth. Mad Captain Ahab's obsessive mission to kill the mythical Great Terrafin (i.e., white whale) complicates that goal, as does Ishmael's discovery of the real reason the terrafin are harvested for Earth. Despite the futuristic premise, the bulk of the novel is an old-fashioned maritime adventure, filled with details of the sea life: close quarters, harpoon hunts, pirate attacks, storms, and shipwrecks. Strasser (Fallout, 2013) adds dystopian corporations, time travel, a secret legacy, and more, though some elements are included too late to do more than crowd the story. Recommend to readers of pure adventure (with no romance!) on the high seas.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)