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Adrian Tchaikovsky, Bear Head (Head of Zeus, 2021, 400pp, £8.99)
Following on from his imaginative novel Dogs of War (2017), Adrian Tchaikovsky's Bear Head submerges us once again in his future world of modified humans and animals. With similarities to Adam Roberts's Běte (2014) and Paolo Bacigalupi's work, this piece of uplift Action looks at biotechnology, symbiotic relationships and artificial intelligence. Tchaikovsky uses anthropocentric attitudes as well as concepts of dominance and control to fuel a warning against new technology in the hands of those with unscrupulous power and oppressive control.
Bear Head explores an almost predictable-sounding future: terraforming another planet, modified humans building homes on Mars for those who can afford to pay for them, as well as advanced technology including data storage and technological adaptations to the brain. However, whilst this text tells a story of humans reaching out into space to colonize another planet, the multiple narrators force the reader to consider the treatment of nonhumananimals (NHAs), human dominance and fear-fuelled anthropocentrism, which piggybacks off contemporary anxieties of artificial intelligence and other unfamiliar technology.
Dogs of War introduced us to bioengineered and modified animals called Bioforms. Rex, a dog Bioform, and his Multiform attack team outgrow their subservience to achieve independence, in an admirable fight for bioethics and the rights of Bioforms. Set forty years later, Bear Head reveals the world Rex left in his stead: the progression of technology and challenges being faced...