The Passion of Ivan Rodriguez
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
". . . a heady mix of big ideas from across multiple disciplines wrapped up in a fast-paced, thoughtful, and character-rich story." — Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of The Oppenheimer Alternative
After decades of stability, climate stresses, never far from the surface, are bringing droughts, crop failures, and massive storms. The world's end—avoided once, centuries before—seems likely to succeed the second time.
Scientist Sarah Nahanni has a possible solution, but the math is daunting and the number of mathematicians willing or even able to solve the equations is very small. With the ancient satellites failing and the roads filled with hostile armies, the path to recovery seems lost.
Far to the south, Ivan Rodriguez, an unlikely genius, is on the run from the death squads of his feudal overlords, his head full of fears for his family and mathematical dreams of a better future. He holds the key to Sarah Nahanni's problem and would help—if only he knew she existed and he could reach her in time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Trenholm (Stealing Home) balances heart-pummeling action with enough self-discovery to fill a Paulo Coelho novel in this heroic tale set in postapocalyptic North America. In 2366, mathematical genius Ivan Rodriguez is on the run after a failed coup against the feudal leader of Nova California. His wife is dead, and his two children have been drafted into a Nova labor brigade. Devastated, he travels across an arid wasteland for Denver, a free city-state, where he hopes to "earn enough to buy his children back." Meanwhile, in Yellowknife, Sarah Nahanni, a physicist and member of the democratic Tli'cho Nation, struggles to unravel the mystery of her father's death and reunite with her brother, Henry, who has become romantically involved with war profiteer Rhianna Jones, captain of the rogue airship Oberon. Eventually all three cross paths with Ivan, whose brilliant mind might be the key to saving the dying planet. Trenholm carefully tests his characters' moral backbone, creating distinct arcs and plenty of development all around, though some waypoints of love, loss, and reunion pass too quickly. The complex plot, while at times hard to follow, beautifully frames the central question: "If the world is doomed, what can a man do to live a good life?" This is speculative fiction with soul.
