Review by Booklist Review
Swan's ambitious debut spans two centuries, following one family over generations as Earth undergoes massive, catastrophic climate change. As he wanders the plains of Kansas in the late-nineteenth century, rugged hunter Samson has no way of knowing that in two centuries, one of his descendants will be the first girl born on Mars. Christened Moon by her doomed mother and raised by two otherworldly beings she knows as the Uncles, this girl will discover her family history and ponder whether she will take on the burden of carrying forward the family line and her very species. In between, the Samson descendants watch the world change as rising waters submerge much of the U.S. In the twenty-first century, diminutive Paul, who loses both his legs in a car accident, takes his daughter, Kay, to New Orleans, where he builds a floating city in the hopes of finding a way for the human race to survive in this flooded world, until a traveler urges him to look towards the stars for humanity's future. Grand in scope and jumping around in time, Swan's first novel offers a unique multigenerational saga against the backdrop of our changing planet.
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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Swan's ambitious but flawed debut follows a family through many generations from the plains of Kansas to the sands of Mars. In 1873, Samson, an Irish immigrant, hunts buffalo on the prairie. In 1975, his descendant, a mute, 11-year-old girl named Bea, gives birth to a son named Paul, who becomes an engineer. In 2018, Paul devises a plan to rebuild New Orleans after it's submerged in a worldwide cataclysm. In 2027, in the Floating City Paul helped design, Paul and his poet daughter, Kay, entertain David, who dreams of mankind finding a new home on Mars. In 2073, a nomadic Martian named Moon contacts survivors on Earth and considers becoming a mother, and a section set in 2046 delves into the lineage that connects Moon to Paul's family. Swan has limited success with the sci-fi elements; the futuristic backgrounds fail to persuade, the technology involved in the characters' journey from Earth to Mars is glossed over, and the choppy, nonchronological narrative muddies the water. On the other hand, Moon and the other characters are created with true depth of feeling, and the consideration of motherhood as its meaning changes over time lands as just short of epic. There's a lot to admire, but it bites off a bit too much. (May)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Pushcart-nominated debuter Swan's story swirls from a buffalo hunter on a Kansas plain in 1873, to a mute teenage girl crossing the same plain in 1975, to an engineer who constructs a floating city above the submerged streets of New Orleans in 2024, to a girl named Moon on Mars in 2073, who looks down on what's now called the blue planet--once Earth, completely covered by water. Does she want to help repopulate Mars with humans? Comparisons to Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven.
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