Thank you to the authors for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review, which has not impacted my review whatsoever, and I have provided that review here. All opinions are my own.
“It is a thing never spoken of, except in tales…”
Le Tasi i Fafo.
Monumental, pioneering, avant-garde, ‘Discovery’ by JAJ Minton takes the best of sub-genres such as urban and/or dystopian/post-apocalyptic science fiction, historical fiction, thriller, cosmic horror, grimdark fantasy and smashes them up into a delectably eccentric, theatrical, atmospheric Smörgåsbord of bohemian delight that pushes the boundaries of conventional fiction in all the right ways, and defies being defined, other than to say, it’s a spectacular book.
The novel is set in an alternate historical timeline for Earth, in the 1990s.
The narrative begins by focusing on the enduring mystery of a U.S submarine, sunk by the Japanese during wartime, named Polaris. Polaris went to the depths of the South Pacific decades prior to the start of the book, and since its sinking, experts have been unable to locate the wreckage.
Will anyone be smart, determined, and daring enough to finally locate Polaris?
Of course! All you need is a ‘hero’. In this case, the ‘hero’ is racist, cantankerous, bombastic, irascible TV celebrity Mani di Martini.
Now like all intrepid adventurers, Mani knows better than those who have tried before him, and failed. The host of the American game show ‘Boo-Yah’, dubbed ‘America’s Clown Prince’, finds the right academic researchers to lead him to where Polaris must be.
Before you know it, Mani’s expedition in his chartered ship Rosie, re-named for his deceased mother, is out looking for the submarine wreck, thought to be about two kilometers deep off the coast of Tonga.
It could be deeper though, more like ten kilometers deep, but those are just details that can’t get in the way of Mani’s unstoppable march to making the discovery of the last few decades (maybe the century) in finding Polaris.
Hey, but Mani, quick questions here:
1)Is there a possibility the local Tongans could know precisely where the wreckage is, yet, for some reason, not chosen to to share the location with anyone?
2)Did anybody (including you Mani) ask them anyway?
3)Did you stop to contemplate that maybe looking for Polaris is more hazardous than you think?
“On the far side of the island, a primitive limestone trilithon looms. The ancient islanders, the elder seafarers. placed the 40-ton stones precisely. It is a celestial map, a runaway to the sea. Through it, the elders still speak. The old warning myths they have woven are strong here, electric. The island tells…Run away. Danger. “
4)And can a mysterious cross-dressing Tongan assist you in any way?
Mani seems to reply: Whatever it takes to make me rich and famous, as long as I get all the credit and glory.
You see because Mani has gone into serious debt to some very powerful, somewhat impatient, and definitely nasty people who financed his mission.
So he’s not giving up for anything. He’s got a make a big splash, or he might end up a big splash at the bottom of the ocean himself, with weights tied around his ankles.
So the show must go on, go big or go home, and armed with a not-so loyal crew, and the advanced Yuna II camera system, nothing could go wrong for Mani!
Right?
“We had crossed into the land of the dead.”
But then vessels disappear. No survivors. But oh, maybe there is. The governments of many nations involved clam up about it. A government cover-up? After all, the investigation includes boats involved in the rescue mission, sanctioned by said governments.
Hey, just asking, out of curiosity: what’s with the strange, disruptive, overwhelmingly powerful, low frequency, high amplitude, electromagnetic wave emanating from the dive site of one of the missing vessels involved in this…mystery?
“But I saw this coming. I witnessed the millions of miles of undersea fibre optics cable connecting distant land masses. I heard dial-up internet screeching its newborn cries. Further still, portable video cameras now allow them to see beyond the scope of their own eyes. What is down there can now be extracted from the depths – the titanium camera array can be winched back to the surface, the tapes collected, its images distributed to all who possess a VCR and the ape-like ability to extend a phalange and press ‘play’. Eventually humans will see what is down here.”
One of the people affected by the race to find out what happened near Tonga is an old friend and employee of the biggest newspaper titan in the world. This friend/employee, Griff Tran, is a hard-bitten, experienced lead journalist who has survived war and turmoil, and always managed to get the story.
But now Griff may be part of the collateral damage in the wake of the mystery surrounding Mani/Polaris, because his cushy vacation (courtesy of said newspaper titan) is interrupted when he learns trouble is afoot in the South Pacific, and races off to get a big scoop.
For Griff’s friend, said wealthy media magnate, things don’t sit right. People involved in what’s going on near Tonga are declared dead. No bodies produced by the governments involved.
But Griff’s friend, Howard, the paper mogul, has tapes in his possession that might help prove what happened. Evidence that things are not right, that it was all lies from the governments about how the victims died, what caused their deaths.
How did Griff, sent on a plush dream vacation by Howard as a reward for Griff’s long years of friendship and service excellence, who then decided to chase a burgeoning new story, end up…how he did?
A low ranking researcher in Howard’s newspaper empire, Nessa, is brought in because she is not politically motivated, and more objective (unlike her boss, and those surrounding him) to examine Howard’s evidence and discern what REALLY happened to Griff Tran.
“They have no intention of allowing the world to see what happened to us.”
Was it all an expedition that descended into madness? A hoax in terms of what is found?
How does this all lead to economic collapse, failing nations, world chaos, possible anarchy, and a new world order rising, with greedy capitalists and ambitious scientists seeking to take advantage of the calamity?
“The connection between us- those gossamer strings that hold us to our histories and our futures-with our ancestors tugging us this way and that, guiding us to justice and peace the best they can-are the sum of all the light available to us. If we ignore that, we are lost.”
And what role could Artificial Intelligence (AI) play, in being the saviour of the world?
Yet the world may need more than a new form of life, hatched in a computer lab, to save it.
It may also need a group of disparate, seemingly unconnected characters: the introverted and traumatized grandson of a wealthy South American businessman; the talented but prickly and mistrustful African daughter of a priest; a mysterious, tough-as-nails nun who may not really be a nun; a brilliant scientist haunted by his past who’s a lousy husband and father; an eclectic orphan prodigy who loves to stir things up; and a foul-mouthed, philosophizing, former Nazi whose tough love comes out in the form of absolute zingers in the book:
“So, you deserve a prize for that? You deserve all secrets told to you now that you are on board with obvious things? No! You must work harder!”
And…
“Let us collect informations of Nurse Lily Rattay for pants-shitters’s detox…”
‘Discovery’ does what I absolutely adore in a novel in terms of characterization: through the characters, it takes the best and the worst of who and what we are and shows how all our flaws are also our strengths, and how that fact affects those around us. And there is perhaps no better way to depict our best and worst, as when we are under the stress of a potential world-ending crisis, facing the utter horror of that which we cannot know, understand, or predict.
These characters are deliciously messy, dysfunctional. Their prejudices, fears, neuroses, and flaws laid bare for the reader, and thus, they are so perfectly, realistically human.
They are so well-crafted by the authors. These are people who are highly competent – even at the genius level – in their specialized fields, and often seemingly hopeless in other ways, but ultimately it is their complicated, authentic relationships with one another, and their ability to find courage, especially when faced with ethical dilemmas, that show their true quality. They persevere in the most daunting of possible world-ending circumstances. They shine like precious gems. This is virtuoso characterization on display here by JAJ Minton.
In terms of themes to get you pondering, they are legion in ‘Discovery’. Examples: cultural appropriation and identity, racism/prejudice, PTSD and trauma, religion and religious fanaticism, rampant greed and capitalism, persecution, propaganda and spin-doctoring, the devolving of society during crises, and so much more.
There are so many compelling themes in this novel, but some of the main ones I personally latched onto were very timely, I think, for the 21st century, and surrounded AI.
With AI, as creations, and thus in some manner, being sentient, is it not wrong that they be ‘enslaved’ by man? Are they servants, or more like pets? In us creating a form of ‘intelligent life’, are we as humans like gods? Or, just playing God?
“We are creating and preserving when others are destroying.”
Who owns AI? The ‘creators’ (i.e. engineers, scientists, IT personnel)? The corporation who employs them? The government? All of us? Or no one? Is there such a thing a digital slavery? This novel will give the reader food for thought aplenty.
The writing is gorgeous. Filled with bawdy, off-the-wall humour, bordering on pure camp at times, contrasted by deep introspection, beautiful character moments, lush descriptions, terrifying portents, engaging dialogue, but always tightly written and never purple while being sinfully evocative…well, I’ll just provide examples of some of my favourite passages, letting the writing speak for itself:
“Beyond the cane fields, the overgrown paths never widened more that could accommodate a medieval farm cart. The underbrush beneath tree canopy filled with luscious ferns and dangerous snakes. Forbidding tropical flowers flourished beyond reach — masses of orange, gold, violet, scarlet burst from velvety green bushes and voluminous dwarf trees. A riot of birdsong and howler monkey cries announced flamboyant mating rituals while constrictors and orb weavers went about their death work in utter silence. The odor out there could suffocate — its sweet, strong and earth waves could knock you over. It was all alien, sinister, and seductive.”
And…
“Despite the slippery decay and odor of the dank bogs all around, their cottage oozed life. Moss and lichen sprouted from the roof on the downside wind. One goat and a dozen chickens foraged on scattered seeds and grasses. A scrawny pony grazed. Beyond a lone stone wall, in a scant spot of sun heating unfavorable soil, their meagre garden miraculously sprouted potatoes, cabbage, carrots, and the occasional summer tomato.”
Like the rest of the book, the style in which it is told is unconventional: interspersed amidst five separate acts, are excerpts from the diaries of the aforementioned brilliant scientist haunted by his past who’s a lousy husband and father. The authors have a theatrical background, and this is reflected not only in the dramatic, cinematic nature of the narrative, but also how the book itself is constructed. It really worked for me, and I loved it! This novel was so unique, mind-bending, crazy yet always lucid, nostalgic (particularly for me, being set in the 1990s, when I came into adulthood) yet fresh and new, I was captivated with every page.
Those who follow my reviews know me well enough to be aware, it’s never too early for me to start talking about ‘book of the year’ contenders, even as early as February. This debut by JAJ Minton is wonderful, and I predict it’s DEFINITELY going to figure in that year-end top books conversation, and not just for me, but for many of those who read it.
Highly recommended, and most certainly 5 out of 5 stars!