Agviq: The Whale

by Michael Armstrong

AGVIQ is the totem of the "Real People," the Inupiaq, who endured the Arctic territories for 7,000 years--until the modern world destroyed the ancient ways. But then the modern world itself was destroyed.Among others, a white archeologist named Claudia has survived. The People need her to teach what has been taken; she needs them--to live. And together, they must face the ice and confront the ancestors' greatest challenge . . .

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

275 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1990

Reviews

[Sarahj33 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of months ago, my mom decided that I should read this book and left it in my bedroom. When I picked it up a few days ago, neither of us could remember why I was supposed to read it. But it was at the top of the pile so I read it anyway, and found it fairly interesting.

Probably what struck me the most about this book is that it has extremely good advice for what you should do if you happen to be in the Arctic circle when the nuclear apocalypse comes. It seemed well-researched and entirely realistic. The down-side is that I found myself skimming the more technical parts because I got bored. The introduction indicates that this was a short story before Armstrong turned it into a novel, and he may have added a bit too much in the transition. Various reviewers of the book lauded its sweeping scope and arctic imagery, but I'm afraid I didn't get much of that because I was bogged down in details of native
Alaskan vocabulary and calculations of how much fuel is required to operate various vehicles.

But with that aside, the overall premise of the book is neat, and not one I had really thought about before. The story centers around an Alaskan native tribe who have lost most of their connections to their past by the late 20th century, but when the nuclear apocalypse comes they have no choice but to return to their roots. Although their instinct is to band together as a tribe and shun outsiders, they end up accepting help from a white archaeologist because she knows more about their culture than they do. So this book gets three stars for premise and plot, not necessarily for style. Technical blabbing aside, the attempt at a romance between two of the characters struck me as bizarre. The author was clearly leading up to it for most of the book, but the culmination was anti-climactic (all puns intended) in my opinion. But I would give Armstrong points for writing a female main character from the point of view that she is a person, and not somehow fundamentally different from men and therefore thinks differently. That position made Claudia's battle with traditional native female roles much more interesting. So overall, it's a good addition to the large canon of post-apocalyptic literature, even if it's not an amazing piece of writing.

[Deidre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked this one even better than the Zap, setting was great, idea ambitious and it turned out well, another good post-apocalyptic book, set in the north-lands.