Bee Speaker
Published on 5. June 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
448 pages
978-1-0359-0146-3 (ISBN)
Description
From the Arthur C. Clarke award winner, Adrian Tchaikovsky, comes the third instalment of the DOGS OF WAR science fiction series, a future where genetically engineered "Bioforms" have inherited not the Earth, but the Solar System.
The end of the world has been and gone.
There was no one great natural disaster, no all-consuming world war, no catastrophic pandemic. Only scores of storms, droughts, and selfish regional conflicts. Humanity was not granted a heroic end. Instead, it bled to death from a thousand cuts.
But where Earth fell apart, Mars pulled together. Engineered men and beasts, aided by Bees - an outlawed distributed intelligence - survived through co-operation, because there was simply no alternative.
Fast forward to today. A signal - 'For the sake of what once was. We beg you. Help.' - reaches Mars.
How could they refuse? A consortium of Martian work crews gather the resources for a mission: a triumphal return to the blue-green world of their ancestors. And now here they are - three hundred million kilometres from home.
And it has all already gone horribly wrong.
The end of the world has been and gone.
There was no one great natural disaster, no all-consuming world war, no catastrophic pandemic. Only scores of storms, droughts, and selfish regional conflicts. Humanity was not granted a heroic end. Instead, it bled to death from a thousand cuts.
But where Earth fell apart, Mars pulled together. Engineered men and beasts, aided by Bees - an outlawed distributed intelligence - survived through co-operation, because there was simply no alternative.
Fast forward to today. A signal - 'For the sake of what once was. We beg you. Help.' - reaches Mars.
How could they refuse? A consortium of Martian work crews gather the resources for a mission: a triumphal return to the blue-green world of their ancestors. And now here they are - three hundred million kilometres from home.
And it has all already gone horribly wrong.
Reviews / Votes
'A gripping dive into bioethics and artificial intelligence' * New Scientist on DOGS OF WAR * 'You don't need to have read Dogs of War to enjoy Bear Head - but why deny yourself the pleasure?' * The Times on BEAR HEAD * 'Funny, appalling, gruesome and uplifting (often at the same time), Bear Head is propelled by a cracking plot that balances dystopian satire with a palpable sense of moral peril' * Daily Mail on BEAR HEAD * 'If you're a fan of Black Mirror, this classic dystopian book will have you hooked within the first few pages. Smart, fast-paced, and razor-sharp, this book is surprisingly funny while still remaining deeply thought-provoking' * Daily Express on BEAR HEAD * 'A rousing good read' * Guardian on BEAR HEAD * 'A book that's by turns funny and poignant, while all the time moving at a cracking pace... he may just be the UK's best science fiction novelist.' -- Johnathan Wright * SFX Magazine * Tchaikovsky is brilliant at thinking his way into the minds of these tinkered-with animals. * New Scientist * 'An absolute stunner of a read, which sits as a fabulous standalone... Punchy, amusing, beautifully created and imaginative, join one heck of a rescue mission as it answers a plea for help.' * LoveReading *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
518 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0359-0146-3 (9781035901463)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Adrian Tchaikovsky is a British science-fiction and fantasy writer known for a wide-variety of work including the Children of Time, Final Architecture, Dogs of War, Tyrant Philosophers and Shadows of the Apt series, as well as standalone books such as Elder Race, Doors of Eden, Spiderlight and many others. Children of Time and its series has won the Arthur C Clarke and BSFA awards, and his other works have won the British Fantasy, British Science Fiction and Sidewise Awards.