AUGUST 2017 - AudioFile
In this audiobook's bleak future, words shape the existence of objects. When items aren’t labeled, or their identity isn't confirmed aloud, they begin to dissolve. Narrator Kirsten Potter's voice is concise and clear, precisely evoking the cold, flinty environment of the colony called Amatka, in which an “information assistant” named Vanja finds herself. Vanja is sent to Amatka by "The Committee" to research the hygiene habits of the locals. What starts as a simple assignment takes a darker turn when Vanja discovers threatening evidence that will put Amatka in danger. Potter deftly alternates between the sharp tone of Vanja’s housemate, Nina, and the soft uncertainty of Vanja's voice as a romance begins to bloom despite the icy atmosphere. E.E. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
04/10/2017
Tidbeck reimagines reality and the power of language in her dystopian sci-fi novel. Vanja lives in a world of small colonies where all produced objects revert back to primordial sludge if people do not constantly name them; the failure of one colony in this duty resulted in catastrophic loss of life. To avert similar chaos and destruction, a highly regimented communist collective tightly controls every activity (including recreation, job placement, and child-rearing) and encourages citizens to report any lapse in naming or other inappropriate behavior. The regime, however, has recently allowed some private enterprise, including Vanja’s employer, a producer of hygiene products. Despite her shyness, Vanja is sent to interview the inhabitants of the outer colony Amatka about what products would help them and their underground mushroom farms withstand the harsh tundra climate. In this new environment, Vanja encounters the small subversions of the local librarian trying to save history, her retired-doctor housemate whose questions rattle Vanja, and a famous poet who mysteriously disappeared years before. Emboldened by their actions, Vanja starts to doubt the commune’s motives and rapidly learns that there is more going on than anyone is willing to admit. Tidbeck introduces the mysteries and mechanics of her world slowly while leaving the origins of these pioneers opaque. Her ending takes a turn into much weirder territory, but her tense plotting, as well as the questions she raises about language, control, and human limits make this a very welcome speculative fiction novel. (June)
From the Publisher
Tidbeck excels in drawing small details that send a chill up the spine—and turn this dystopian novel into a fine piece of horror-weird fiction.” —The Washington Post, “The best science fiction and fantasy books to read this month”
“An unforgettable dystopian novel…equal parts Le Guin, Kafka and Borges.” —The Guardian
“Unique, with a strong and compelling voice…. A book to get lost in, highly recommended for lovers of modern fiction.” —SFBook Reviews
“What elevates [Amatka] is the skill of Tidbeck’s execution and the sheer weirdness of a world in which the very building blocks of reality depend so completely on how we perceive them.” —New Scientist
“Reading [Amatka] is a remarkable exercise in which the borders of perception and communication fluctuate and bend…. A parable like those of Franz Kafka…. Amatka possesses the qualities of a fable and the febrile brilliance of weird fiction at its most inventive and self-questioning.” —Weird Fiction Review
“In her brilliant and bizarre novel Amatka, Karin Tidbeck evokes with quiet precision a dystopian reality that becomes more eerie by the page. The lines blur between fabrication and truth, between annihilation and creation, between bureaucratic obedience and heroic defiance. This book will grip you and move you. Though Amatka may be a fantastical place, we should all heed its warnings.” —Helen Phillips, author of The Beautiful Bureaucrat
“Tidbeck sets up a world rife with mystery…. [Amatka] calls to mind Ursula K. Le Guin’s…speculative fictions of social unrest…. The comparison would be daunting for a writer of lesser gifts, lesser gumption, but Tidbeck invites it, boldly.” —Bookforum
“This is a story about the way reality crumbles—a timely and troubling novel that ranks among the best works of queer science fiction.” —Slate
“A phenomenal and wholly original work from a writer to watch, Amatka is a book that is truly out of this world.” —Bustle
“[Amatka’s] surreal vision of deadly conspiracies, political oppression, and curtailed freedom couldn't be more eerily timely.” —NPR.org
“Compelling. . . . I recommend that you lay your hands on a copy.” —Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice
“Tidbeck's haunting world made of words is undeniably disturbing and provocative.” —The Chicago Tribune
“A fresh dystopian twist. . . . Tidbeck's first novel, translated by the author from her native Swedish, is grim, spare, and fascinating.” —Library Journal
“Karin Tidbeck’s Amatka is a stunning, truly original exploration of the mysteries of reality and what it means to be human. It’s brutally honest and uncompromising in its vision—a brilliant short story writer has been revealed as an even more brilliant novelist. One of my favorite reads of the past few years, an instant classic.” Jeff VanderMeer, author of the Southern Reach trilogy
“Tidbeck reimagines reality and the power of language in her dystopian sci-fi novel. . . . Tidbeck introduces the mysteries and mechanics of her world slowly while leaving the origins of these pioneers opaque. Her ending takes a turn into much weirder territory, but her tense plotting, as well as the questions she raises about language, control, and human limits make this a very welcome speculative fiction novel.” —Publishers Weekly
“Karin Tidbeck is a brilliant conjurer of worlds, a fabulist armed with an imagination as fiercely strange as any I have ever encountered. Her fiction is built on a foundation of improbabilities and even outright impossibilities, and if you surrender to its increasingly bold claims on reality you will walk away surprised, thrilled, and in all likelihood changed forever.” —Matt Bell, author of Scrapper
Library Journal
05/15/2017
Vanja, an information specialist, has traveled to the colony of Amatka on a mission from the central government. She is to survey the residents as to their use of hygiene products, probing their willingness to try new brands. Vanja is placed in a local house with Nina, Ivar, and Ulla, who have little to share. Amatka is a cold, poor place, where the tenets of society have to be obeyed rigidly. Vanja knows these rules well, as does everyone else: mark everything around you, say the name of every object around you, or risk it losing its shape and coherence. But she finds these rules failing her in Amatka and begins to believe there is another way to live. Amatka's dystopian landscape, vaguely Soviet in flavor, offers a fresh twist: everything is made of a fungus-like material that needs to be vigilantly reminded to remain in its form. Vanja begins as something of a cipher but becomes more sympathetic as she questions her assumptions and grows closer to roommate Nadia. VERDICT Tidbeck's (Jagannath) first novel, translated by the author from her native Swedish, is grim, spare, and fascinating.—MM