On planet Turaset, droughts ravage farmlands, cyclones rip through coastal cities, and with every barrel of oil the combustion industry pumps from the ground, the climate worsens. Alphonse has just refused a council seat because taking it means serving that rapacious industry. He leaves the city to seek solace in the wilderness, and there, a power to live the past awakens within him. Alphonse … walks the steps of his distant ancestors on long-dead Earth, soon growing plagued with memories of its collapse, and he’s left with a troubling certainty: He must infiltrate the combustion industry to secure proof of its treachery, or Turaset will be next to fall.
Alphonse finds an ally in Myrta, a farmgirl who sees air, every molecule in every pulse of breath or blast of exhaust. With her talent, she can evade the patrols on the industry’s grounds. Together, Alphonse and Myrta can prove the industry lies about emissions. They can convince the councils to shut down fossil fuel use permanently.
But people in the industry have grown wise to Myrta’s power—and now she’s marked for death.
About the author:
P. L. Tavormina is a North American middle-aged mammal living during Earth’s Anthropocene. Dr. Tavormina has identified human disease genes at the University of California and catalogued ecological changes in the wake of petroleum disasters at Caltech. Now, she’s writing fiction to make climate science more broadly accessible. Additional short stories from the world of Turaset are freely available at pltavormina.com.
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This climate science fiction novel is a skillfully-crafted, character-driven story full of complex interactions against the backdrop of a unique other world. Rich scientific details are cleverly interwoven into the story in a way that avoids overwhelming the reader while still providing an abundance of information. The climate-change message is well presented and only once or twice felt a bit heavy-handed. This appealing story is well worth reading!
I love a climate/energy story because this is at the center of our current issues on the planet. Let me first say that this author is a scientist and she knows her stuff. That is the firm foundation that this story is built upon. (Check out the appendixes to the book.)
The story takes place on a world that is an analog for earth with all of its love of power and money and all its blindness to the effects of burning fossil fuels.
The special abilities of the characters were fascinating and beautifully written and my favorite part of the book. I especially enjoyed the writing of Alphonse’s altered state journeys into the past from the origins of life to the present.
The writing is generally very good. My only complaint would be that the actual storyline/plot could be stronger.
It’s not a secret. I love climate fiction. Very few books fit squarely in the genre currently, but the list grows. As the climate crisis continues to loom on the horizon, we need authors exploring climate change through creative social, political, and scientific angles to inspire and engage the minds of readers. Public consciousness needs to shift if we’re to craft solutions to the largest problem faced by humanity as a whole.
In Aerovoyant, P. L Tavormina has crafted a brilliantly prescient—and retrospective—narrative, exploring climate change on an earth analog millennia in the future. Humankind has evolved in some ways—with creative genetic modifications—but as a society, it faces many of the same problems faced by our present industrialized world.
It all boils down to money.
And power.
And Tavormina gives a largely character-driven narrative of two individuals forced to face realities about themselves—and the world—that stretch and push their beliefs in powerful ways. Every piece of this story is meticulously crafted to reflect the present, whether its rural exploitation, worker health risk, or public misinformation. Yet when weaved together, Tavormina doesn’t create a carbon copy of our current political crisis. The world created feels real, authentic, and true to its premise.
If you’ve been itching for a SciFi read which explores climate change outside traditional political contexts, this book is for you. It’s heady—it’s scientific—it’s unabashedly true to itself.
On to the scores!
Writing: 8/10. Good writing. Tavormina weaves words and chapters together in a clear and concise way, and you never feel trapped or bogged down by the story’s sentences.
Characters: 8/10. The cast of Aerovoyant is incredibly varied in both motives and beliefs as it is in personalities. Each character feels real.
Setting: 9/10. Not every detail is explicitly stated, but the world of Aerovoyant is deeper than it may appear on the surface. Especially as this series expands into future books, expect a world rich in conflict and creative opportunity.
Plot: 7/10. Enjoyable, though by far the “weakest” aspect of the story. That’s not a bad thing—Aerovoyant is 100% character-driven, and you’ll fall in love with its protagonists. However, I wish more time was spent building up the antagonist forces to truly understand why they do what they do beyond greed. Perhaps that’s a truth of our world, though—people are just greedy.
Overall: 8/10. A solid four-star novel, I would recommend Aerovoyant for anyone looking for a new climate read.
This is just a wonderful and eye-opening story. Are we really destined to make the same mistakes again and again? This first book from new author, P.L. Tavormina, is intelligent, intensely relevant, and so full of interesting characters and situations. Tavormina has built a complex world of science, politics, and greed that pulls on our hearts as we root for the main characters to find a way to save us all… from our very nature.