U.S. spy satellites over Asia make a disturbing discovery. An arachnid, an elephant-sized creature created by an alien race, is roaming a forest in North Korea. How did it get there? What is its purpose? Is it a weapon of some kind? When there’s complete radio silence from the North Koreans, and further satellite images show the area around the creature being evacuated, the U.S. decides to send a joint military and scientific team to investigate. The scientific component of the team includes physicist Joshua Andrews, journalist Rachael Miller, and computer expert Vinod Bhakti—the first people to have made first contact with aliens called the petrins many years ago. The petrins are masters of DNA and can create any creature they choose simply by coding the DNA for the organism. Are the petrins behind the appearance of an arachnid on Earth? Should humans reconnect with Seth, the petrin ambassador for Earth, to get answers?
When the team travels to North Korea to find answers, they discover an abandoned North Korean lab containing equipment to conduct genetic engineering. Their mission sets off an incredible, action-packed, and mind-boggling journey of adventure and discovery that leads to nothing less than the purpose for which the cosmos was created. The reason why we all exist . . .
The Arachnid is the much-anticipated sequel to the best-selling debut novel, New Eden, from Dr. Kishore Tipirneni.
The Arachnid will launch on November 13, 2020 and will be available in kindle, paperback, and audiobook formats. You can pre-order the kindle version on Amazon now.
While the first book was a more slow-paced read, book #2 is more of a quick read. I liked the return to familiar characters and locations, and the evolving meta-physical discussion. It was very interesting! The ending is a cliff-hanger, so hopefully book #3 is coming soon!
I liked the content, and how the author used his knowledge and experience to make a believable story. Yes, sometimes you have to dispatch reality to get past some of the content, but overall a very enjoyable book. Hope the third book is as good as the first and second ones.
It’s been awhile since I read New Eden, so I liked that the author included a four page overview of Book One so that I was able to hit the sequel running full speed ahead! I’d say that Tipirneni has upped his game since the first book! Not only is this an excellent sci-fi thriller on par with anything Crichton wrote, but the last third of the novel – as the characters face a dire situation – allows for some absorbing religious and philosophical soul searching. The handling of this material, especially regarding information theory, was very smart, engaging, and totally organic in terms of the characters.
In between all the page-turning drama I really enjoyed the humorous banter between the main characters. My most liked and least liked character, Vinod, is back again with funny one-liners and exasperating behavior in equal measure. He pairs off nicely against gruff old General Porter, the two of them proving for somewhat extreme left and right political bookends, while all the other characters sit somewhere in the middle. There’s also a new Cajun character who adds nicely to the mix. All of the interpersonal dynamics seem natural, and even whole pages of dialog never allow narrative tension to waver. I like that despite all the drama and contrasting personality types (each with their own strengths and weaknesses) all of the characters are likable in their own way.
Just for context, I had just finished Upgrade by Blake Crouch beforehand, and I like this one a lot better. Tipirneni is self-published and has nowhere near the same exposure as writers like Crouch or Cronin, so if you are at all curious about trying a new author and enjoy realistic but approachable and highly entertaining science fiction, I highly recommend Tipirneni!
I’ve already got Book Three – Medusa’s Gauntlet – sitting right here, so it was all I could do to throw together some thoughts for this review as quickly as possible so I can get back to it. Honestly, I haven’t been this excited to know how the story ends since I read Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary. I consider Tipirneni on par with the very writers out there!
Plausible science. Great character development. Thought-provoking themes. This author did well in telling a story that is relatable and makes you think. If you're even reading this, its very likely that you'll love it.
There are many science facts with explanations. Most broken down so it's self explanatory. Many emotions and society dilemmas are proposed. Lots of dynamic personalities, bringing up ethical and military comparisons. Made for very interesting reading. Created lots of deep thoughts. The dark and light of humanity was expressed without judgment. The characters are very personable and enjoyable. Belief in spiritual versus science is discussed without bias. Thought provoking.
A beautiful series that leaves you spellbound in a constant state of epiphany!!!.
I read myriad books, however this series is a must read for any ages. When you read these books they open your mind to some really brilliant thoughts. I really enjoyed the experience, Kilgore mixes science,spirituality, medical, human advancement, with some very compelling and awe inspiring storytelling! Phenomenal read
A very interesting continuation of the first book. The author really has an amazing mind, this is true science fiction. I feel like the writing was better in this book, which makes perfect sense now that I know New Eden was his first ever book. This was a great rebound read, I am so glad I found this gem!
Absolutely love this book! It’s Everything I think a good science fiction book should have. Great technology that seams to me to be amazing but possible, wonderful characters that are deep enough to be believable, and deep questions about morals & ethics when utilizing new discoveries. (But not coming across as preachy). I can’t wait for book number three!
This book was exciting and very intelligently written. It has a lot of science with suspense and a little romance. The only thing that bothered was me was a little bad language . For the most part I had a wonderful time reading this!
Tremendously imaginative and enjoyable first 2 books. As a physical and biomedical scientist who has been reading SF for over 65 years these books rank with the best. Asimov, Heinlein etc. characters are very nicely developed and look forward to the next book.
Some fun ideas, but as in the first book the enjoyment is killed by the wooden characters and cliche-ridden, high school level dialogue. The romantic dialogue is especially cringey. Also, some overworked Christian tropes are present so be forewarned if that’s a turnoff for you.
I love this series. I can not wait for the 3rd book and hopefully several more to follow! I want so badly to keep reading and not have to wait for more,lol.
But still tiresome. I don't even know what the lecture is about this time. There is more on God's intent. There is also some about whether a clone is the same as the original. No discussion on what happens to the original after the cloning process is accomplished other than the knowledge gap between the time of download, and the time if cloning. The whole deep philosophical analysis is simply avoided. The follow-up to the original spookyon process is that north Korea (who else?) Decides to do its own investigation. Remember that secret contact code Seth leaves behind? Nobody realizes that meant there were bad guys out in the universe. Sure enough, the North Koreans contact a bad guy, and allow the development of an infiltrator. The infiltrator is the perfect combat Ninja. He's nuclear powered, and has a gun with unlimited ammunition that he can shoot like a gatling gun. He's covered with an impenetrable armour. Only nuclear weapons can kill him (author is apparently unaware of our super bombs since they aren't mentioned). The infiltrator reproduces at an eight to one ratio about every two weeks. We get into a losing battle with the infiltrators that can hide in the forests. This is a curious thing because my understanding is that Korea has no forests (???). They were all cut down a long time ago. We still have Porter who has mellowed, but still acts off the rails, a condition that should have prevented his becoming a general. So we go back to Seth who convinces naive us that he's a good guy, only wants to protect us. Seth keeps telling us he's not going to do anything that we don't want him to do. Author goes philosophical on this demonstrating a bias in favour of bureaucracy. Seems the group is considered by him to be smarter than the individual. Of course the evil one, known as Medusa, believes she's smarter than everyone, so she creates her own group from clones (hint, hint?). Does anyone realize yet that as we all escape by clones going to New Eden, the originals are going to experience death and destruction anyway? Does the author know this? I don't think so. That's why I'm still thumbs down on this book.