Plague Birds

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By Jason Sanford

Publisher Description

In this far-future dark science fiction novel—a Philip K. Dick and Nebula Award finalist—Jason Sanford imagines a future of genetically and artificially advanced humans who protect the remnants of the human race.

Glowing red lines split their faces. Shock-red hair and clothes warn people to flee their approach. They are plague birds, the powerful merging of humans and artificial intelligences who serve as judges and executioners after the collapse of civilization.

And the plague birds' judgment is swift and deadly, as Crista discovered as a child when she watched one kill her mother.

In a world of gene-modded humans constantly watched over by benevolent AIs, everyone hates and fears the plague birds. But to save her father and home village, Crista becomes the very creature she fears the most. And her first task as a plague bird is hunting down an ancient group of murderers wielding magic-like powers.

As Crista and her AI symbiote travel farther from home than she ever imagined, they are plunged into a strange world where she judges wrongdoers, befriends other outcasts, and uncovers an extremely personal conspiracy that threatens the lives of millions.

Plague Birds is a genre-bending mix of science fiction and dark fantasy and the epic story of a young woman who becomes one of the future's most hated creatures with a killer AI bonded to her very blood.

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Plague Birds Reviews

3.5

Witch Bitch

Created 3 months ago

Logan Romm

Created over 1 year ago

Amadan

Created almost 2 years ago

“Plague Birds is a strange book. It's not labeled as YA, and I realize a teenage girl protagonist doesn't automatically make something YA. But the writing was often gratingly YA in nature, with super-advanced AIs "screaming in outrage" and throwing tantrums and acting like, well, teenage girls. And the story is one of Crista unwillingly becoming a Plague Bird, questing through a post-apocalyptic world being harassed by her abusive ex-boyfriend, making kissy-kissy-woo-woo with a futuristic warrior monk who cracks bad jokes, and eventually becoming the Girl of Destiny... So yeah, pretty much YA, with a heavy anime influence. Set 20,000 years in the future, Plague Birds is technically science fiction, but the combination of AIs and nanotechnology gives certain people powers that are effectively magic, and which are about as well understood by non-magical folk. Normal humans are all genetically altered with animal genes, so everyone is part human and part wolf, cat, bird, badger, deer, etc. Crista is a wolf-girl. Crista lives in a small village protected by its own AI, as most villages in this strangely pastoral future are. Roaming this world are "Plague Birds," humans who have been bonded to "Blood AIs" who exist as nanites in their bloodstream. Plague Birds effectively have super-powers; their blood AIs can instantly repair any injuries, and when the Plague Birds cut themselves, the blood AI emerges in a spray of nanotech-blood that can slay armies. Plague Birds are wandering judges, juries, and executioners who lay down justice (usually fatal) to criminals. They are hated and feared by the populace despite their function. Crista's mother was killed by a Plague Bird, or so Crista believes. Everyone else claims she's imagining it. Then one day Crista meets a Plague Bird, who turns out to be an ordinary, very tired woman who's been doing this job for thousands of years. She's not a scary monster, she's just someone who got stuck with a job and immortality she didn't want. In a contrived set of "tag, you're it" events, Crista winds up inheriting the former Plague Bird's blood AI, "Red Day," and becomes a Plague Bird herself. She is forced to leave her village and begin her circuit of this world, littered with post-industrial villages, the ruins of ancient cities, and the scars of world wars from thousands of years ago. Eventually, Crista is caught in a plot that pits her fellow Plague Birds against sentient archologies and ancient digital libraries, each other, and an even more powerful AI threat. There was a lot of imaginative world-building in this book. There are violent and bloody battle scenes. It's post-apocalyptic wizard battles, end-of-the-world conspiracy theories, technological riddles and enigmas, and romance. I found it fun but frustrating, as many of the answers seemed pulled out at random and a lot of mystery was facilitated by the simple gimmick of "AIs can alter people's memories and perceptions." I also could not avoid seeing Crista as a YA protagonist. Her ex-boyfriend is an ongoing antagonist, her new boyfriend is a dorky man-giant, she banters with her blood AI Red Day like a pair of high school frenemies, and I grew tired of "her inner wolf growling." It's an interesting book but it felt a little like a debut novel by someone who was going for a more literary SF tale but couldn't escape YA and anime tropes.”

dui

Created over 2 years ago

“objectively, i know that there are many flaws within this book. it jumped around too much, the plotlines tangled like a cheap pair of earphones, and the characterization left a lot to be desired. but it was so much fun, i read this in two sittings, forgetting the world around me and becoming completely absorbed in this one. can i tell you why? how? what? when? who? no. but i don't care.”

Drew Singleton

Created over 2 years ago