"A diverse cast of narrators provides glimpses of a near-future Earth devastated by climate change, nuclear disaster, and disease."-AudioFile Magazine
"Onyebuchi sets fire to the boundary between fiction and reality, and brings a crumbling city and an all too plausible future to vibrant life. Riveting, disturbing, and rendered in masterful detail."—Leigh Bardugo
In his adult novel debut, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and NAACP Image Award finalist and ALA Alex and New England Book Award winner Tochi Onyebuchi delivers a sweeping science fiction epic in the vein of Samuel R. Delany and Station Eleven
In the 2050s, Earth has begun to empty. Those with the means and the privilege have departed the great cities of the United States for the more comfortable confines of space colonies. Those left behind salvage what they can from the collapsing infrastructure. As they eke out an existence, their neighborhoods are being cannibalized. Brick by brick, their houses are sent to the colonies, what was once a home now a quaint reminder for the colonists of the world that they wrecked.
A primal biblical epic flung into the future, Goliath weaves together disparate narratives—a space-dweller looking at New Haven, Connecticut as a chance to reconnect with his spiraling lover; a group of laborers attempting to renew the promises of Earth's crumbling cities; a journalist attempting to capture the violence of the streets; a marshal trying to solve a kidnapping—into a richly urgent mosaic about race, class, gentrification, and who is allowed to be the hero of any history.
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor.com.
"A diverse cast of narrators provides glimpses of a near-future Earth devastated by climate change, nuclear disaster, and disease."-AudioFile Magazine
"Onyebuchi sets fire to the boundary between fiction and reality, and brings a crumbling city and an all too plausible future to vibrant life. Riveting, disturbing, and rendered in masterful detail."—Leigh Bardugo
In his adult novel debut, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and NAACP Image Award finalist and ALA Alex and New England Book Award winner Tochi Onyebuchi delivers a sweeping science fiction epic in the vein of Samuel R. Delany and Station Eleven
In the 2050s, Earth has begun to empty. Those with the means and the privilege have departed the great cities of the United States for the more comfortable confines of space colonies. Those left behind salvage what they can from the collapsing infrastructure. As they eke out an existence, their neighborhoods are being cannibalized. Brick by brick, their houses are sent to the colonies, what was once a home now a quaint reminder for the colonists of the world that they wrecked.
A primal biblical epic flung into the future, Goliath weaves together disparate narratives—a space-dweller looking at New Haven, Connecticut as a chance to reconnect with his spiraling lover; a group of laborers attempting to renew the promises of Earth's crumbling cities; a journalist attempting to capture the violence of the streets; a marshal trying to solve a kidnapping—into a richly urgent mosaic about race, class, gentrification, and who is allowed to be the hero of any history.
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor.com.
Reviews-
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November 8, 2021
A desolated Earth is the vivid backdrop for this harrowing, visionary sci-fi novel from Onyebuchi (Riot Baby). A highly politicized viral pandemic has divided America, and conservatives who resent regulations leave the planet to establish the first space colony. Radiation and pollution due to climate change soon cause wealthy, privileged parties to follow to the Colonies in a drastic, extraterrestrial form of white flight, leaving the disadvantaged abandoned on the hazardous Earth with little help. Decades later, Jonathan and David, a white couple from the Colonies, move to New Haven with romantic ideas of starting a new life on Earth. The perspectives of Black New Haven laborers Linc and Bishop form a sharp contrast, and they know better than to idealize their circumstances. These are just a few of the large cast Onyebuchi cycles through in a collection of narrative vignettes that allows readers glimpses of a land plagued by the persistent nightmares of racism, gentrification, radiation poisoning, and escalating street violence. Onyebuchi’s biblically inspired cautionary tale offers a hauntingly beautiful portrait of the decaying planet, though the mosaic structure and blurring timelines can sometimes take readers out of the narrative as they work to piece events together. Still, the emotions are raw and real, and Onyebuchi doesn’t shy away from the more heart-wrenching moments. It’s urgent, gorgeous work. -
A diverse cast of narrators provides glimpses of a near-future Earth devastated by climate change, nuclear disaster, and disease. In this ruined world, the wealthy and privileged have fled to the stars, leaving poor Black and Latinx salvagers to gut the planet and send the spoils to the colonists in space. The narrators' interwoven voices share stories and relay letters, articles, and journal entries. The resulting mosaic highlights the humanity of those left behind and chronicles their individual experiences--an ill-fated journey to harvest cacti, a successful prison uprising on the eve of the apocalypse, an almost magical discovery of horses amid the rubble. The audio suffers a bit from uneven pacing and volume changes, but, overall, listeners will be transfixed by its spare beauty. S.A.H. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
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June 1, 2022
The earth is dying and has become a new wild west frontier after being left behind by everyone rich and privileged enough to migrate to one of the space colonies. In this near-future reality, countless lives and stories intertwine and break apart. A demolition team scrambles to make a living in neighborhoods withering like foliage in drought. A young man from the colonies goes against the tides and returns to earth, hoping to give his grieving partner something to live for. Tragedies both large and small blunt the lives and experiences of everyone left standing. While reminiscent of The Expanse with its intersecting, brilliant character sketches, Onyebuchi's (Riot Baby) latest lacks the elements of space opera to lighten the tone. VERDICT Vividly narrated by multiple voices and told in nonlinear vignettes with prose that alternates between devastatingly concise and arrestingly descriptive, this audiobook will appeal to fans of literary science fiction but may frustrate those looking for a traditionally structured, plot-focused story.--Chrystopher Lytal
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
