Cover blurb
Mass Extinction isn’t what it used to be…
Dr. Ina Adama is a time-traveling ecologist. Sent back 66 million years to the Late Cretaceous period, her mission is to investigate the extinction of the dinosaurs. Why did behemoths like tyrannosaurs and titanosaurs die out when other animals such as frogs, crocodiles and birds did not?
Despite some close encounters with sharp teeth and vicious claws, Dr. Adama’s research is progressing well. Until the impossible occurs; another human being falls from the sky. And he has some very, very bad news.
Extant is a sci-fi novella and is the first book of the Extant series.
My thoughts
Extant is a self-published novella by trained scientist turned sci-fi author Jack Croxall. The book consists of the opening chapters of what will likely be a novel-length tale, so don’t go into it expecting a tidy resolution. This is serialized storytelling, with Extant ending on a cliffhanger to be resolved in its as-yet published sequel, Exponent.
Extant is told through the transcribed audio logs of Dr. Ina Adama, an ecologist sent on a solo mission to the late Cretaceous to study the K-Pg extinction. Adama comes from a future where Earth is on the verge of ecological collapse. An organization called the Institution funded the mission hoping the extinction of the dinosaurs will provide clues for reversing the catastrophe threatening humanity. The mission is going smoothly until one day a time-traveling shuttle falls from the sky. The vessel is armed to the teeth and piloted by a single occupant who is cagey about his mission, at least at first. When he finally opens up, the man has bad news for Adama, both about her own future and the future of humanity. But can he be trusted?
Extant is a short but refreshing sci-fi adventure, although it is hard to review until it gets a proper ending. A lot of self-published dinosaur fiction depicts the animals as B-movie monsters that wreck gory carnage on human protagonists. That can be fun, but it gets a little tiring after a while. Extant instead embraces its sci-fi roots, focusing on mystery and discovery rather than horror or over-the-top action. The first few chapters chronicle Adama’s interactions with wildlife in the Cretaceous world, and honestly, I could have read a book just about that. When the time-traveling stranger shows up, the dinosaurs take a backseat to the narrative’s central conundrum, although they do make a memorial reappearance in the climax. The cliffhanger ending will leave you either frustrated or intrigued about what comes next. For me it was the latter, although the novella’s short length helps in that regard.
I suspect I know where the story is going and may have read a version of this before. (Click here only if you want possible spoilers.) Of course, I won’t know if I’m right until we get a sequel, which I hope won’t be too long a wait.
Trivia
- Author Jack Croxall has a Substack newsletter.
Reviews
- None
Prehistoric Pulp 