Aerovoyant (The Industrial Age, #1) in GR Won't Let Us Delete This Group But It Ended July 1, 2022.

Nov 12, 2020 Willow Thomson rated it it was amazing

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 beautif ...more

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Sep 14, 2022 Ann Birdgenaw rated it really liked it

Aerovoyant (The Industrial Age Bk 1) is a speculative fiction or more specifically clifi, climate crisis fiction. Set on planet Turaset in a future where Earthlings have fled after Earth became uninhabitable. Although descendants of Earth, the people here are mutants due to long-term radiation poisoning. Some have different color skin and others have strange abilities; Like Myrta who can see poisonous gas emissions in the air. Which comes in handy when she joins up with Alphonse, who comes from ...more

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Oct 03, 2022 Ed Morawski rated it liked it

The author's notes state that some people may think this is slow paced. Well count me among those. I kept reading and reading and waiting for something pertaining to the story to happen - all the way to Chapter 11. One thing that really bugged me was the author's insistence on making up words for things that already exist. Case in point: auts for autos. Why? What's wrong with autos or homestead, too many syllables? Every time I read the word aut I gritted my teeth and it took me right out of the The author's notes state that some people may think this is slow paced. Well count me among those. I kept reading and reading and waiting for something pertaining to the story to happen - all the way to Chapter 11. One thing that really bugged me was the author's insistence on making up words for things that already exist. Case in point: auts for autos. Why? What's wrong with autos or homestead, too many syllables? Every time I read the word aut I gritted my teeth and it took me right out of the story. And speaking of words - the term thrown around throughout is 'combustion'. That means anything that burns. Combustion takes place in your fireplace and even your stove. So calling an entire industry 'Combustion', is nonsensical. The proper term is internal combustion but I suppose that's too many syllables.

While this is otherwise a beautifully written book, endless narrative of hiking and making cheese are really not my cup of tea. Not to mention the extremely frustrating inability of the two main characters to express their feeling or what's wrong with them for a hundred pages.

Then there's the 'world building'. Nothing about this world makes any sense. The story takes place on a completely fictional planet with two suns, colonized by earthlings. Somehow the technology level has reverted to the 1900's. The colonists have electricity and motor vehicles but they still use horse and buggies in rural areas. They have no cell phones or aircraft yet can regenerate human tissue???? So, humans have forgot about some technology but not others? The people from Earth didn't bring computers with them, but they brought horses? They had to have at least one computer - to navigate the ship that brought them since no human can do that. So a thousand years has passed - wouldn't they be even more advanced? Think how far we have come from 1922 to 2022.

And to me it really never delivered on the climate fiction premise except fossil fuels are bad. The entire plot seems contrived to somehow prove some point about fossil fuels. My question would be: on a planet with two suns why wouldn't they use solar power? Did humans forget how to make solar cells? If I was going to start a new civilization from scratch I certainly would go with the current technology of my homeland like solar power. Electric vehicles, cell phones, aircraft, etc., etc. would be the norm.

I suspect the reason none of this appears is because it didn't fit the narrative the author was going for. It reminds me of a few books I've read recently that had to be set in the time period of the 1970's because if cell phones existed the characters could just call for help and there wouldn't be a plot. Something doesn't fit so just ignore it and it'll go away? Not for me. I'm an engineer, I expect some semblance of real science in my science fiction - or just make it outright fantasy and don't pretend there's any science.

And finally, and I hate to be harsh, but really - the title is about people that can 'see' gases - so what possible use is that actually? There are dozens of instruments that can detect gases, just because someone can see them accomplishes nothing. ...more

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Jun 03, 2022 Laura Koerber rated it it was amazing

I was a little hesitant in my approach to this book because I thought an agenda-driven book by a scientist might not be good literature. But it is.
The author knows how to write a novel. The word choice is elegant and smooth--good craftsmanship in every sentence. The characters are interesting, complex people. The plot parallels of our planet's climate change problem but does so within the context of a fully realized imaginary world.
I guess a genre of climate change dystopias or sci fi novel ...more

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Sep 20, 2022 Joseph Carrabis rated it it was ok

There is an amazing story buried in this novel. Truly amazing. Consider all the work going into the maps, the culture, the world, ... amazing, and in many ways highly reminiscent of James Blish's "The Seedling Stars."

My greatest challenge with it was with the storycrafting, not the story itself. The storycrafting is adequate but weak. My onboard editor activated in paragraph 2 and didn't let up throughout the novel, which made reading slow and effortful.
Note that the opening line - "Why did they ...more

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Jul 29, 2022 Rik Ty rated it it was amazing

Light spoilers

I LOVE the title of this book, and I love the cover of this book. The book itself is terrific as well. It is well written (at times beautifully written), The cast is small, but the characters are amply explored. The aims of the book are noble, and the depths of the author’s commitment to the subject matter are evident throughout every detail of the text.

What is the aim of the book? Well, this is just my take on it, but it seems part primer, and part wish fulfillment on how to steer Light spoilers

I LOVE the title of this book, and I love the cover of this book. The book itself is terrific as well. It is well written (at times beautifully written), The cast is small, but the characters are amply explored. The aims of the book are noble, and the depths of the author’s commitment to the subject matter are evident throughout every detail of the text.

What is the aim of the book? Well, this is just my take on it, but it seems part primer, and part wish fulfillment on how to steer a culture to harmony during the dawn of an industrial/gasoline age.

The author, P.L. Tavormina, presents a small world a millennium after being terra-formed by Earth-people (running from their ruined planet). Even with this basic premise, Tavormina has thrown in some interesting wrinkles – the planet has two suns, and during times when those two suns are in conjunction, the planet is bombarded with radiation the settlers were not prepared for. DNA manipulation is a skill the Earth-people had at the time, and they borrow the radiation protection methods of several indigenous species – resulting in humans with wildly new colorations, and even shifting colorations. The results of DNA manipulation play a strong part throughout the book. Several plot points hang on the dangers one character faces because of her augmented DNA, and characters with augmented DNA are launching pads for the book’s most interesting writing.

Myrta, a young woman coming of age, is an Aerovoyant, a person who can see and identify the chemical make up of the air, including chemicals that are added to it – by breath, by fire, by combustion engines, even by diseased breath. I have to give a special shout out to the author – the scenes when Myrta finally connects with her power, and can see the air in ways that we average humans can’t, are magnificently realized. Just on their own, they are worth the price of admission.

DNA manipulation also offers another strong point of difference for this novel. One of the main characters runs from the corruption of city life – of political life, and seeks to commune with the teachings of his grandfather. Every chapter that features this character (Alphonse) begins with a mind-trip into the origins and evolution of life on Earth – from the formation of bacteria, to the death of the dinosaurs – to the first ape to ever pick up a club. These mind-trips are great fun to read. I have to laugh at myself. I accepted them for the whole book, and never attributed them to any DNA manipulation in Alphonse’s body. I guess I attributed them to creative writing or something – but that’s on me – they really are great fun to read.

The book is complete. It does not end on a cliff hanger. But it does feel like the opening salvo of a bigger work. It seems like we are going to save this little planet from destroying itself, despite greed and corruption, and it seems the special DNA traits of the main characters are going to make visualizing and experiencing the damage being done to the planet more personal and interesting for the reader.

That’s a very ambitious mission for a book series.

The book also features a great appendix – which tells the story of the early days of the planet’s terra-forming, talks about the political systems of the planet, offers a list of 22 special traits created by DNA manipulation (not a complete list), and also offers a glossary of major terms used in the book – including “Okeafolk”, an intelligent species that lives in the bottom of the planet’s oceans, who are only mentioned in passing within this opening book – so who knows how wild this series will get in the future.

Every aspect of this book points to Tavormina rolling up her sleeves and attacking the problems of political corruption, industrial pollution, (and culturally accepted pollution – after all, who’s driving all our bazillions of cars?). And Tavormina is doing it from the ground up, from the nitty gritty of chemical bonding, to heights of fantasy, using characters who can experience the problems with their senses, and relate the information to others (here’s what hidden pollution looks like if you could see it – here’s what it sounds like – etc.). Tavormina has points to make, and she’s set herself up to make them using all the entertainment tools fiction has to offer.

It seems like a gigantic task for an author to give herself, but looking at this book, one suspects that she’s already done it, that the books merely have to be written, but that the arguments, and the fates of these characters have already been envisioned. That’s stunning. That’s amazing. This book is crisp. It isn’t amateurish. The invention of this world seems well thought out and very useful.

Very impressive. Extraordinary. Bravo P. L. Tavormina!
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Sep 27, 2022 S.D. rated it really liked it

This story takes place on Turaset, a world populated by the descendants of earth. Like earth there are developed industrial cities and un-mechanized rural areas. And like earth, the cities want to dominate and decide what's best for their less populated counterparts. The tale unfolds with two independent storylines that intersect towards the end of the book. Alphonso comes from wealth and an influential family. His mother has plans for his future but these plans go against everything his grandfa ...more

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Aug 28, 2020 Lynn Helton rated it really liked it

Shelves: speculative-fiction

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!

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Dec 01, 2023 Scott Peters rated it really liked it

An environmental tale on a distant planet

In this futuristic story, the narrative unfolds against the backdrop of environmental issues threatening a distant planet. Earth was destroyed, but this new civilization hasn't taken those lessons to heart.

Two distinct story threads gradually converge, adding suspense to the plot. The author intertwines the characters' journeys as they navigate differing viewpoints and challenges. Alphonse and Myrta come from different backgrounds and feel the pressure o ...more

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Jan 08, 2020 Janet LoSole marked it as to-read

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Mar 25, 2022 Samantha marked it as to-read

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May 09, 2022 Cam Lang rated it did not like it

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