Blackfish City

A Novel

By: Sam J. Miller

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

"Miller gives us an incisive and beautifully written story of love, revenge, and the power (and failure) of family in a scarily plausible future. Blackfish City simmers with menace and heartache, suspense and wonder. Plus, it has lots of action and a great cast of characters. Not to mention an orca and a polar bear!" (Ann Leckie, New York Times best-selling author and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Clarke Awards)

After the climate wars, a floating city is constructed in the Arctic Circle, a remarkable feat of mechanical and social engineering, complete with geothermal heating and sustainable energy. The city's denizens have become accustomed to a roughshod new way of living; however, the city is starting to fray along the edges - crime and corruption have set in, the contradictions of incredible wealth alongside direst poverty are spawning unrest, and a new disease called "the breaks" is ravaging the population.

When a strange new visitor arrives - a woman riding an orca, with a polar bear at her side - the city is entranced. The "orcamancer", as she's known, very subtly brings together four people - each living on the periphery - to stage unprecedented acts of resistance. By banding together to save their city before it crumbles under the weight of its own decay, they will learn shocking truths about themselves.

Blackfish City is a remarkably urgent - and ultimately very hopeful - novel about political corruption, organized crime, technology run amok, the consequences of climate change, gender identity, and the unifying power of human connection.

©2018 Sam J. Miller (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

boring slog with some great concepts

I've picked it up several times and I still can't finish it. in spurts of truly enjoyable storytelling is intermingled some genuinely tedious oration. Furthermore, yes, the worldbuilding is great but inconsistent. for example, it's cold you are informed, but other than being told that, it doesn't much exist in the characters senses. When you live in the cold, from chills to chilblains, it is ever present discomfort. I will probably try to pick it up again in a few months because the premise is undeniably fertile ground.

loved it. loved the story. loved the characters

so good. such a great story. i need seven more words to finish this review.

stunning, beautiful, hard to pin down.

After oil wars, water wars, genocides, refugee, there's a bloodstained city in the arctic sea.

Decent SF, So-So Cli-Fi

The reader was very good. The novel had a lot of interesting ideas, but wasn't done well. it started slowly with much confusion. It ended hurriedly with much confusion. The climate apocalypse was not convincing, nor powerful. The LGBT perspective added value but also was annoying, partially because it wasn't handled in enough depth.

Blew Me Away

I loved how the author imagines a future so connected to our present, and connected to our humanity. Blackfish City is writhing with personalities, political intrigue, and medical mysteries. From intimate scenes to epic ones, the author pulls you right in. This is SF with a heart as big as the Arctic Circle. Fans of Pullman should definitely check this out.

Dystopic 1%'ers and Occupy adrift

Sam J Miller's Blackfish City is a dystopic vision of the future following climate change and the collapse of world governments. Societies separate from sovereign nations have been established in the oceans by tapping into geothermal energy. Human nature persists and pretty soon the haves (landlords) and the havenots (tenants) are going at it. Into this mix add dysfunctional and corrupt local government and criminal gangs and you have the usual pattern of human history. An ensemble cast of various players, initially presented as unrelated end up having many connections.

The basic economic viability of this arrangement is never quite satisfactorily presented. A meta-AIDS disease, the "breaks" is extant. Nanotechnology has permitted the mental linkage of humans and animals with a genetic component. There's a typical "life is cheap" mentality, but the presumed fragility of this tenuous ecosystem is never explored.

The narration is reasonable, although character distinction is just acceptable.

Inevitable Future

Call me crazy but seeing how things are today, I think Blackfish city is how it all ends.

Don’t know what to think

Story was all over the place and drifted in and out of consciousness. There were interesting aspects to it but the story lacked fluidity. In the end I didn’t really love the characters and didn’t really care what happened to them.

The unifying power of family

This is one of those sweeping, multi-character novels that weaves together so many seemingly unrelated stories until they finally come together in an ah-ha moment. The politician’s assistant who manipulates her corrupt boss to do some good, the prize fighter who throws almost every fight, the gender-fluid street teen, the spoiled rich kid whose grandfather was one of the last to escape drowning New York City, the female crime boss, and the “orcamanser” who shows up at the arctic floating city of Quannock riding a killer whale with a polar bear in tow, all brought together in this post-climate change novel to save their city and its people. Political corruption, organized crime, a medical mystery, futuristic technology, poverty of the masses, and the unifying power of family.

Great setting and performance. Meh story.

Worth listening to just for the very evocative world. "City Without a Map" has some really good writing. I wasn't very compelled by what the writer did with the cool toys he made, but I feel like I missed some subtleties. I would give a sequel a read. The place and characters could support many different stories.