by Ray Nayler
First published 2024
Dr. Damira Khismatullina opens her eyes in a body that towers above the Russian tundra. The world's leading elephant behavior expert died a century ago, but Moscow's scientists have uploaded her digitized consciousness into a resurrected mammoth's brain. The mammoth revival project faces a critical problem. Scientists can clone the DNA, but the newborn giants don't know how to survive as mammoths. Damira must teach them essential behaviors before poachers eliminate the species again. She guides the herd through feeding, migration, and defense while armed hunters close in. The magnificent creatures depend on her expertise, but Damira suspects the government has hidden motives for bringing back the mammoths. She races against time to establish the population and uncover why Moscow really wants these ancient giants to walk the earth again.
Genres: science-fiction, animals, adventure, thriller
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: against-the-clock, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Russia, Tundra
Period: 21st-century
101 pages · Hardcover · Tordotcom
Content warnings: violence