An extremely unique premise and story telling format, but a dark and humorless reality to have to face. A Jurassic Park success story, but still featuring ethical chasms of "science made it possible, but should science have done it in the first place?"

It was a though read at times as an elephant lover, as an animal lover. But Damira's vengeance with her herd was as good an ending as one could hope for, given the circumstances.

So stunning that I had to turn around and read it again when I finished. 
The way the narratives are woven together, the perspective characters who were chosen, the way information is pieced out, the language used, the futures imagined, all of it so interesting, stunning, thoughtful, impactful, (this could go on forever). This is so so good. 

clever and moving. Naylor has crafted a story of interesting, sympathetic characters that truly examines so many relevant themes. My only complaint is that the prose can be a touch pretentious.

Ray Nayler has a really unique gift of taking a fascinating science fiction premise, one that sucks you in immediately, and  then posing such heavy concepts that really make you think. This book is not a fun romp through brain melding science. This is a book about the brutal impacts that the ivory trade continues to have, and the future that awaits us if we don’t take action soon. This book examines human greed, selfishness, and what drives people to extremes. It examines the human condition of empathy and guilt all while set on a backdrop of some very kick ass science fiction.

Ray is one of my favourite authors but he is really not for everyone. This one is heavy handed on the environmental themes but also captures so many deeply human moments it’s worth the western guilt. 

My only critiques are, and this may be an audiobook problem, was it was hard to distinguish between characters and what time period they were in. The start was a little hard to pick up on because I was not sure if it was the human or the mammoth narrating. 

That being said, it’s a great read and really packs a lot into a quick read. I really recommend it and the audiobook narrators were great!