Cold People
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3.5 • 72 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
* “A zany, wildly gripping, dark futuristic fantasy.” —Vogue, Most Anticipated Books of the Year * “Fascinating…a propulsive ride…through a well-built world.” —The Christian Science Monitor *
From the brilliant, bestselling author of Child 44 and creator of the FX series Class of ’09 comes a “cinematic” (The Washington Post), “captivating…[and] “brilliantly conceived postapocalyptic story” (Booklist, starred review) about an Antarctic colony of global apocalypse survivors seeking to reinvent civilization under the most extreme conditions imaginable.
The world has fallen. Without warning, a mysterious and omnipotent force has claimed the planet for their own. There are no negotiations, no demands, no reasons given for their actions. All they have is a message: humanity has thirty days to reach the one place on Earth where they will be allowed to exist…Antarctica.
Cold People follows the perilous journeys of a handful of those who endure the frantic exodus to the most extreme environment on the planet. But their goal is not merely to survive the present. Because as they cling to life on the ice, the remnants of their past swept away, they must also confront the urgent challenge: can they change and evolve rapidly enough to ensure humanity’s future? Can they build a new society in the sub-zero cold?
Original and imaginative, as profoundly intimate as it is grand in scope, Cold People is a “spellbinding…speculative masterpiece” (Library Journal, starred review) that’s “chilling in so many ways” (Los Angeles Times).
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In Tom Rob Smith’s imaginative sci-fi thriller, extraterrestrials drive humanity to the edge of extinction. Cold People starts with aliens descending to dominate Earth and giving its current occupants a choice: flee to Antarctica or die. Next, Smith zooms us over to Lisbon, where we meet young lovers Liza, an American med school student, and Atto, the son of a Portuguese fisherman. The tale then picks up 20 years later, as scientists work to create a new race that’s better adapted to survive Antarctica’s harsh conditions. Smith blew us away combining these disparate storylines into an exciting, propulsive whole. His obvious empathy for his characters manages to make a big survival epic feel intimate and personal, and he also seeds the story with some smart subtext about climate change and class war. Cold People is a riveting tale of humankind proving itself under pressure.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
What lines, if any, shouldn't be crossed to save humanity from extinction? That question is at the heart of this stunning postapocalyptic thriller from bestseller Smith (Child 44). Twenty years after an alien invasion has decimated Earth's human population, those who remain have been struggling to survive in Antarctica, the only region not deemed off-limits by the invaders. While some focus on insuring that people have food and shelter, others have broader objectives; genetic engineers manipulate animal DNA, attempting to create versions of humans better capable of surviving in the intense cold. Some, like Echo, a teenager, appear basically human, despite their modifications, which in her case include scales instead of skin that change color to either retain or expel heat. But there are also monstrous creations, which may either point the way to a future for humanity or pose an existential threat. Echo and her family, along with those governing the remnants of humanity, face tough ethical choices as they try to ascertain the implications of what the genetic engineering has achieved for humanity's future. The central story line, a clever homage to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, unfolds in a way to ensure readers become attached to Echo and her family. Smith, the author of brilliant historical and psychological suspense novels, shows his range is even broader in this triumph of imagination and empathy.
Customer Reviews
I don’t know what to say
I’ve been a fan of all of Tom Rob Smith’s work, but this one misses the mark.
Utter Disappointment
A depressing tale with an underlying Woke agenda. Leaves many unanswered questions. I regret the time (and money) wasted on this tome.