I really loved the premise of this novella, and it did appeal to my interests. However, it didn't quite hit the mark for me. I felt like I would enjoy this more as a full length novel because the ideas could have been explored further.

I absolutely loved THE TUSKS OF EXTINCTION by @raynayler! (See the synopsis below ⬇️.)

Synopsis:
Moscow has resurrected the mammoth. But someone must teach them how to be mammoths, or they are doomed to die out again.

Dr. Damira Khismatullina, an expert in elephant behavior, was brutally murdered trying to defend the world’s last elephants from the brutal ivory trade. Now, her digitized consciousness has been downloaded into the mind of a mammoth.

As the herd’s new matriarch, can Damira help fend off poachers long enough for the species to take hold? Or will her own ghosts, and Moscow’s real reason for bringing the mammoth back, doom them to a new extinction?

🦣

I feel that the novella was the perfect length at 112 pages. The characters were well-developed as you get a good sense of how they are in a short amount of pages. I was a little confused in the beginning as the character of Damira went back and forth between her human life and the mammoth life but the confusion didn’t last long.

The story really highlights the problem of elephant poachers and the illegal ivory trade. There is a real visceral hatred for the poachers that come through from the rangers and I felt a rage myself. Probably because some of the passages made me think about the genocide in Palestine right now as well. Esp when the idea of humanity and the lack of it is raised.

I feel that the mammoth’s solution to the problem of the poachers was so satisfying. At this point no one can blame the victims for fighting back. The killing of these animals both for sport and for poaching affects more than just the rangers and politicians. Relationships between people and families are put on the line and they’re left to question what exactly they’re willing to overlook.

I’d really recommend this for anyone who likes sci-fi thrillers and/or short reads. Especially if you are passionate about world issues.

Thank you @tordotcompub for my copy!

Please see my review in the July/Aug issue of Analog Magazine:

https://www.analogsf.com/current-issue/the-reference-library/

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I ended up listening to this on audio. I don't remember much about it, nothing in particlar really stood out. I would suggest reading this over listening to an audiobook version.

The Tusks of Extinction was a heavy novella and I really enjoyed the world building. the animal cruelty was hard to stomach though.

DNF at 20% I just couldn't get into this at all. A little too hard to image and I really hate reading about animal cruelty.

Thank you net galley for the earc in exchange for an honest review.

I think this is an excellent book. I subtracted one star because there are details here about elephants being slaughtered for their tusks, feet- whatever people think they can make money from- and it was very hard to read about that.

The basic idea is that the mind of a dead woman who was a champion for the elephants is inserted into a genetically resurrected mammoth. You just have to go with this.

The author wants to explore how people create themselves and recreate themselves- through their remembered life story, through education and options, through the people they associate with. Humans travel through time in their minds, focusing on the stories that they want to tell themselves who they are. Damira, the resurrected human mind, finds that the way that mammoths remember allow her to re-experience her human memories more vividly than she would otherwise have been able to.

There's a whole lot of other stuff packed into this novella. How capitalism turns countries and creatures into mere resources to be harvested. How poorly our professed values as a society match with where we put our resources and attention. How easy it is to compromise and become complicit. How lonely it can be to reinvent and relearn yourself, as we all must do periodically.

I've read this book and The Mountain in the Sea by this author in quick succession because I'm really impressed by their work, and I'll look for more.

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler was thought provoking sci-fi novella, but it’s not the typical sci-fi. There’s a lot of humanity with the science, the science being more the jumping off point for the reality that presents itself after the fact.

I love a novella that feeds me like I just consumed a 900 page novel, because I thought the story was tight and came around full circle. Going into this blind would have been cooler but the book description below had me at mammoth.

TW: Language, drinking, toxic family relationships, death of parent, poachering, smoking, mourning, animal death, gory scenes

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:Moscow has resurrected the mammoth, but someone must teach them how to be mammoths, or they are doomed to die out, again.

The late Dr. Damira Khismatullina, the world’s foremost expert in elephant behavior, is called in to help. While she was murdered a year ago, her digitized consciousness is uploaded into the brain of a mammoth. Can she help the magnificent creatures fend off poachers long enough for their species to take hold?And will she ever discover the real reason they were brought back?
Release Date: January 16th, 2024
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 192
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
1. Liked the writing style
2. Loved the idea of Mammoth coming back (Hello Jurassic Park)
3. Liked that we follow Damira Khismatullina and

What I Didn't Like:
1. Made me so mad reading about the hunters
2. Some parts bored me

Overall Thoughts:
Reading this book it was so completely sad. My heart goes out for all the mammoths that were in this book even though I know mammoths are a stand in for elphs. Poaching is such a controversial thing. And it doesn't make it right.

Following the characters we have the doctor that's trying to save the mammoths from the poachers. She does everything she can to study them and learn about their lives all the while trying to protect them from the poachers that are trying to kill them for their ivory. Reading about that was very heartbreaking and reading about them losing a fellow mammoth was very sad.

We also get the POV of a young boy who's been dragged into this lifestyle but his father. He doesn't really want to do this and he wants to quit. His father has been murdered but he still has to survive so he goes with the other Hunters to kill the mammoth.

Did enjoy where the author took this book. Acknowledging that the boy no longer wanted to do this he was willing to save the mammoth with the help of the doctor whose consciousness was put into one of the mammoth.

I hated that they left him behind but in the end he wasn't one of them.

Final Thoughts:
I really enjoyed the tone of this book even though it's such a short story.

I thought the author did a really great job at describing the heartbreak and sadness that comes with the murder of extinct animals and near extinct animals. In the end humans just don't really care about something that has no value to them unless it has money attached to it.

Some parts of the book though I did feel like they dragged and we're a little boring. They came off very dry.

I enjoyed the authors note.

IG | Blog


Thanks to @netgalley and @Tordotcom for this ebook and @SpotifyAudiobooks for the audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a story about memory.

I enjoyed this quick, interesting scifi read. I wish it had been a much longer book bc the world built was fascinating and it moved so quickly there wasn’t a lot of time spent on individual elements.

Thank you so much Netgalley & Tordotcom for the eArc!

The Tusks Of Extinction is a mammoth of speculative fiction, in every sense of the word. It plays with perspective to fantastic effect, providing an insightful, engaging, and entertaining conjecture on conservation.

Ray Nayler’s debut, The Mountain In The Sea, made us look at an octopus with fresh eyes. His latest novella expands on all the things you loved about The Mountain In The Sea, and then some. It’s a perfect companion to it in many respects. Only, this time, it’s mammoths under the microscope.

The challenges of de-extinction make a fascinating backdrop on which to paint a complex study of what makes us human. There’s a nature to humanity, and it’s explored beautifully through the varying lenses of its three main characters.

If you’re wondering whether three different perspectives can be fully explored in the short length of a novella, then don’t worry — there’s substance packed into every sentence. Each character is given depth and realism, and the switch between them allows for some beautiful moments of juxtaposition and harmony. There’s a real beauty to the way they all come together, making the book feel more complete somehow.

Damira was the absolute standout for me. She’s a scientist (specialising in the study of elephants) whose consciousness has been uploaded into the body of a mammoth. The way her viewpoint changes from body to body, and how her new form impacts her is exquisitely rendered. I could feel her trunk, the thickness of her hide, and the sharp edge of her tusk, which is exactly the point. Every herd needs a leader, and Damira makes a superb one, not just for the mammoths, but for the reader too.

The prose is lush. The world is packed with futuristic details that make it feel both grounded and fun. There’s a real refinement to the way that Nayler hints at the wider world. A single word can change the whole landscape. Nothing is spoon-fed. His style has never been more impactful than it is here.

Ultimately, this is not just a cool take on the conservation challenges of the future, but a reminder that empathy holds true power, while also probing at its limits. When a species becomes aware of the challenges it faces to survive, it becomes accountable for the way it approaches those challenges. This novella didn’t just enhance my empathy for the elephants of the world, but it made me ponder the way in which humanity goes about the business of preservation. Life isn’t just about survival, it’s about the way we survive, and whether we can preserve our empathy as a species, or whether our ability for gentleness and compassion is heading for extinction. And in this respect, it performs an act of de-extinction — resurrecting the question of what makes us human by forcing us to consider how we treat the inhuman. It doesn’t feel preachy, but it definitely throws up more questions than you’d expect for a book of its size.

It may be short in length, but this novella is elephantine in its scope and depth. If you’re a fan of The Mountain In The Sea, you’ll enjoy the shape of these tusks. Both cerebral and heartfelt, The Tusks Of Extinction aims for both the head and heart, and it doesn’t miss. It’s a must-read for every fan of genre-bending, thought-provoking sci-fi. This is a triumph of a story that, much like an elephant, you’ll never forget.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I have not yet read Ray Nayler's The Mountain in the Sea (though I own it) but after reading this little novella, it's getting bumped up on my TBR. The premise of this book is so unhinged in the best possible way and the execution followed through on that premise with such humanity (mammoth-ity?) and depth. It brings to light a current day issue (ivory hunting and the impact on the elephant/rhino populations) in a unique manner that got me hooked and invested from the start. It was beautiful without feeling (to me) overly preachy, but... you know, trigger warnings for animal and human deaths.

Ray Nayler came hot out of the gates with his debut novel The Mountain in the Sea and instantly won my attention for all time. Learning that he was releasing a novella in early 2024 about reviving the wooly mammoth was a cause for celebration. The Tusks of Extinction delivers on its premise but it needed more space to truly shine.

Dr. Damira Khismuatullina was one of the world’s foremost experts in elephant behavior before she was murdered by poachers. She also happened to have her consciousness digitized a year before her death so she could be part of a library of experts for the future to pull from. When scientists in Moscow decide to resurrect the mammoth, they are surprised to find out that the mammoths don’t know how to exist as mammoths. So they upload a copy of Damira’s consciousness into the brain of one of the mammoths to try to teach them how to be themselves. But even in the future, some poachers value the ivory within the mammoth’s tusks. Can Damira assume the role of matriarch and use her knowledge to teach the mammoths before they become fodder for the world’s elite?

I enjoyed The Tusks of Extinction, but it needed more room to breathe. It was a fast-paced story that explored three different characters and how their lives intersected. Damira was easily the most interesting as her perspective was a sort of fever dream. Nayler played with the concept of memory a lot, interweaving Damira’s past and present with research on elephant behavior and memory. It heightened the seamlessness of her memories and mental state, allowing the reader to slip between her past and present with ease. It also opened up avenues for Nayler to explore the ramifications of memory, culture, and inserting a human consciousness into the brain structure of another animal. While Damira’s story was the most complete, its revelations didn’t have enough time to deliver on the oomphs that The Mountain in the Sea so devastatingly uncovered. Instead of digging at the essential reality of memory and recall, the hard realizations felt like general knowledge. They weren’t disappointing, they just didn’t have the same punch.

While the other characters had even less time to develop, they were still interesting lenses to view the world around Damira. Vladimir, the husband of an ultra-rich philanthropist with a deadly penchant for hunting magnificent beasts, follows his husband on a hunting trip for the first time. His story mostly revolved around his relationship with Anthony, but there wasn’t a whole lot there beyond body language observations. I liked Vladimir’s perspective, brushing up against the rangers and highlighting how funds for the reserve are garnered. But I also felt that his story was the weakest because he didn’t do much but observe. It was a neat window, but I wanted him to have a little more character.

Svyatoslav is a sixteen-year-old poacher who watched his entire camp get demolished by Damira’s clan. He gets some interesting character moments and is there to peel back the realities of the poachers’ black market, and the people who live on the fringes who make it happen. I liked his sections just because of the pure brutality on display. The descriptions of the constant scent of blood, the nightmare the poachers were trapped in, and the banal existence of day-to-day life in the tundra were impressive. It was a space for Nayler to dive into the subjective experience without too much philosophizing, grounding the headier ideas. Given a little more time, Svyatolslav would have been a good place to explore one’s meaning within such an industry, and what might happen if it became threatened.

In the end, The Tusks of Extinction was enjoyable but it feels like it could have been longer. Nayler has good instincts and is really good at leading his readers down interesting paths that question the nature of things. It would have been easy to dive into genetics, but instead, Nayler targeted culture, and cultural knowledge and how humans mess with it, and misunderstand it. I want to see more of what Nayler can do, and if you want a good introduction before diving into his novel, The Tusks of Extinction is a nice bite-sized appetizer.

Rating: The Tusks of Extinction – Two tusks curved slightly up
-Alex

An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts on this book are my own.

The Tusks of Extinction - Ray Nayler

This review will attempt to be as spoiler free as possible, but it may contain a few mentions of character development, broad conflicts, or thematic content.


For this discussion, let’s start broad. In Ray Nayler’s upcoming second novel, The Tusks of Extinction (Jan 16, 2024), he engages with the harsh realities of elephant poaching and the ivory trade. One thing I love about Nayler’s work is that he so purposefully engages in reality. Yes, his stories are science fiction. Yes, they present worlds that are unfamiliar to us as readers. But, when we read them, they feel familiar. The worlds feel like they are ours. The characters feel relatable. The problems feel important. And they are. In his article from the May/June 2023 edition of Asimov’s, “Not Prediction, but Predication,” Nayler argues that “Science fiction stories, by using that predicative difference as the basis for the creation of worlds both like and unlike our own, provide an artful refraction of reality. Science fiction’s stories are lenses we can focus on our present moment, our past, and – often incidentally – the places we might be headed. With this power, we are simultaneously able to look at the “what-if” of the author’s created world, and the “why this?” of our own.” Science fiction pushes us to ask questions of ourselves, to think about how we will shape the future from our own time. This is the hallmark of good science fiction; the stories matter.

At the end of this novel, like in the acknowledgements of The Mountain in the Sea, Nayler discusses the inspiration for his work. In The Tusks of Extinction, it is his brief experience with the ivory trade in Southeast Asia. He provides titles of works for the reader to pursue if they want to learn more or be more engaged in this issue, listing influential texts and inspirational people who are connected to this work in various ways. This direct explanation of what the book is about may not be necessary for many readers, but to me it makes his work feel more like activism than a vague philosophy about the potential of human action.

The novel itself is a compelling read about human greed and our capacity for untold violence, but also the strength of compassion. Through the fight to prevent the death of the elephant and the de-extinction of the mammoth, there are also questions about what drives us as individuals. Are our concerns determined by the places we live and the people we know? Does our environment decide who we will become? Or can we reject what surrounds us in pursuit of a deeper truth? As we decide what matters in our world, can we forge our own path? Nayler’s characters are shaped by memory (and I loved how he incorporated memory into the sections with the mammoths), but also by their desires for the future. As with many of his stories, he writes from a place of optimism and hope. I would love to see more of these types of stories, see the influence this positivity could have on a generation of readers.

This review might not actually say that much about the story, but I promised to try to avoid spoilers, and I think I’ve done it. I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and I recommend it to anyone into scifi, biology, mammoths, or just anyone looking for a story that wrangles with the darkness in our world but shows some light at the end of the tunnel.


Thanks to Matt Rusin and Tordotcom for the gifted copy!

This was an interesting and impactful story, which was a little confusing to follow at times. The notion of putting the consciousness of a human into the brain of a re-introduced extinct species is fascinating and I think I would have liked more exploration of this element of the plot. I thought the book had a lot to say about the horrors of ivory poaching and definitely made me think, but the plot could have been a bit tighter for me.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

What a strange and wonderful little novela. I did not know what to expect from this, but it was a really interesting read. Different from what I normally read. Gritty and violent in ways I think were important to the subject matter. Also thoughtful and informative. I think science fiction or speculative fiction is always at its best when anchored in something important about our current time, or the time it is written in. This book really delivers on real current science mixed with what could be. Worth the quick read.

All the elephants in the wild have been killed for their ivory. Dr. Damira Khismatullina, a Russian scientist, had lived and breathed elephants while she was alive. But now she is needed again. Russian scientists have brought mammoths back, but they do not know how to be mammoths in the wild. So a Russian scientist uploads Damira recording into a mammoth matriarch in the hopes that Damira's knowledge of wild elephants will help the mammoths survive. However, nothing comes fee. The government wants to allow some hunting of male mammoths. But will Damira and the mammoths let the killing begin or will they stomp this human action out? An interesting short novel that asks some hard questions.

Thanks Netgalley for the chance to read this title.

I’ve been curious about Ray Nayler’s work for a bit, since my wife enjoyed The Mountain in the Sea, so I was quite interested in giving The Tusks of Extinction a shot. The blurb left me a bit unsure, though, wondering if it’d feel maybe a bit goofy and weird, with a human in a mammoth body.

Well, the execution worked out well, tying in Damira’s memories and past with how she’s experiencing the world now as a mammoth, with different senses and different priorities. It took a few pages for me to orient myself to what exactly was going on, but that’s very much intentional, because Damira’s a little lost in the memories too.

I was going to talk about one of the threads being rather weak, but actually looking back on it, I was wrong to think so. There are basically three threads: a rich hunter (from the point of view of his husband), Damira, and the son of a poacher. They do all three meet and make sense of each other, giving each other meaning and casting the point of the story into relief — and Vladimir’s point of view in particular really added emotional shading to the story, beyond just the obvious outrage of Damira.

Definitely eager to try more by Nayler now.

I adored this fantastic Speculative Fiction/SF novel! Simultaneously heartwrenching (elephant extinction, Ivory Trade) and heartwarming (rangers' dedication to protecting species, elephants' and mammoths' emotional lives and capacity to relive not just memory fragments but entire chains of Memory), THE TUSKS OF EXTINCTION is an important entry in the literature of evolution, climate destruction, and consciousness, highlighting the immense capacity for human greed, and the equivalent capacity in humans for empathy.

Elephant expert Dr. Damira Khismatullina is pressed into service in a most unusual way when scientists bring back mammoths from extinction. Mammoths have been gone so long that the new iterations don't have anyone to teach them how to properly mammoth. That's where Damira comes in. The first Ray Nayler novel I read and devoured, The Mountain in the Sea, was built upon the premise of super-sentient octopi with expanded lifespans, such that they are able to develop a culture and language. This novella also delves into an intelligent species, and features human characters willing to go to great lengths to save that species, and others bent on hunting them down. I found The Tusks of Extinction thought-provoking and enjoyable. It was like a snack compared to the feast that was TMITS. In any case, bring on the next Ray Nayler book. I'm a fan who can't wait to read what species he hyperfocuses on next.
[Thanks to Tor/Forgeand NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy and share my opinion of this book.]