Earth's Ecocide: Extinction 3147

By: David A. Collier
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Publication Date: October 14, 2024
ISBN: 979-8-89132-404-6
Reviewed by: Carolyn Haley
Review Date: August 12, 2024

It’s chilling to think about each of today’s dire issues by itself—climate change, global war, artificial intelligence running amok—but even worse to imagine how they might combine and where that might lead two millennia from now. As in, destruction of the planet and the human species! However, that’s the premise of Earth’s Ecocide: Extinction 3147 by David A. Collier with a positive spin that distinguishes it from other post-apocalyptic fiction.

The author clearly states his purpose: “The Earth’s Ecocide novel series shows both young and adult readers an exciting, adventure-packed, fictional, and cautionary account of humanity’s one-thousand-year struggle to save Earth as a habitable planet. I have two objectives for writing this series: To help awaken humanity to the realities of climate destruction, unregulated artificial intelligence, and disruptive tribal behavior and how it might end, and to encourage movie producers and their firms to make emotional movies about these realities and why we must protect our home.” From page one to the end, including detailed back matter, the author delivers on his intent.

The story centers on the Torg family, who in different roles lead the surviving human population of North America (a sustainable 2,076) in their underground home, Ridge City, built in the caverns of Kentucky. They were driven there by the collapse of Earth’s biosphere, which created a hostile environment—now dominated by the Imperium, a master race of robots who evolved from unchecked AI.

The robots are impervious to the “upside” conditions that threaten biological life forms, as well as void of compassion, emotion, and any other quality that makes them compatible with humans. Their only priority is electricity to keep their world operating. Robots and humans live in uneasy neutrality, since the Imperium have no use for the humans. “Robots in certain regions killed humans, but in other regions, they ignored them much like humans had ignored earthworms.”

That changes when the people of Ridge City start running out of fuel to run their nuclear fusion systems, upon which their lives depend. The only source of replenishment is the Imperium supply, which the humans must steal. Thus begins a ticking-clock story of how they can accomplish this before their systems run down: twenty days and counting.

Three people, two of their own benign robots, and a dog undertake the hazardous mission. They must sneak out of their sanctuary by a secret underwater passage, into a world of scalding heat, toxic air, predatory reptiles and insects, then find the fuel they need to steal, stealing an Imperium vehicle to get there and transport the fuel back, meanwhile constantly dodging Imperium soldiers who have superior vehicles and weapons. They are captured and escape multiple times, each more damaging, as their successes and failures mount.

Ultimately, they must fight the Imperium directly, against impossible odds. So impossible, the story becomes a feverish page-turner because you can’t believe the humans will survive nor believe the author will let you down by letting them die, so you need to know how it turns out!

A metaphysical power enters the story as the dangers escalate. (“But humanity’s demise wasn’t unnoticed. Something far greater than the Imperium was watching.”) This power was established in the previous two volumes of the saga and offers hope against the impossible odds. What it is, how it works, and what it will contribute remain undefined as it integrates with the struggling heroes. But it’s the connecting tissue between the story and the author’s purpose, and injects the positive spin that overarches this tale.

The prose could benefit from another edit to catch typos and funky punctuation; to fine-tune overwriting; and to address contradictory elements, such as the “upside” world being presented as so severely toxic that almost all life on Earth has been destroyed, yet once the characters are out there, they encounter all sorts of recognizable creatures and plant life and are able to survive in a conventional manner. Aside from these minor technicalities, the story, characters, and scenario are plausible and the book hard to put down.

Quill says: Earth's Ecocide: Extinction 3147 will keep you up at night in suspense, while at the same time inspiring you to do your part in saving the world.