★ 06/22/2015
The discovery of the fountain of youth kick-starts this excellent fantasy thriller from Farnsworth (Blood Oath and two other Nathaniel Cade vampire novels). In 1537, Simón de Oliveras y Seixas and five of his closest soldiers claim the fountain of youth in the Florida swamps after slaughtering the members of the Water Clan of the Uzita, who guard “The Water.” Nearly 500 years later, Simon Oliver III, as Simón now calls himself, heads Conquest Biotech, a firm best known for its anti-aging pharmaceuticals, and his fellow Spanish conquistadors run the board. With the fountain’s water supply dwindling, Simon hires scientific genius David Robinton to find its secret. Meanwhile, Simon and his cohorts remain locked in a centuries-old war with Shako, the daughter of the Uzita chief and the massacre’s only survivor. Each man is obsessed with living forever, yet exhausted from the lies and hiding they’ve done for centuries and bored by life’s pleasures. “To live forever, you have to have something to live for,” one of them thinks. The realistic approach is one of this inventive novel’s major strengths. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM. (Aug.)
Excellent fantasy thriller . . . The realistic approach is one of this inventive novel’s major strengths.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A fantastical witch’s brew of Spanish conquistadors, biotechnology, and hubris . . . with cinematic pacing and colorful action scenes, Farnsworth blends a unique premise into fun summer reading . . . entertainingly explores the border where science fantasy meets reality.” — Kirkus Reviews
“I’ve been a fan of Christopher Farnsworth ever since his first book, and he just keeps getting better. The Eternal World has exactly what I look for in great adventure fiction: a compelling plot, memorable characters, top-notch action scenes, and heart-stopping twists.” — Boyd Morrison, author of The Ark and, with Clive Cussler, Piranha
I’ve been a fan of Christopher Farnsworth ever since his first book, and he just keeps getting better. The Eternal World has exactly what I look for in great adventure fiction: a compelling plot, memorable characters, top-notch action scenes, and heart-stopping twists.
03/15/2015
Fans of Farnsworth's "President's Vampire" series will appreciate his latest, which opens with Simon De Oliveras and his conquistadores discovering the Fountain of Youth. Slaughtering the natives who protect the fountain, they enjoy five centuries of bliss, then turn desperately to medical genius David Robinton when the fountain's source is destroyed. Meanwhile, the chief's daughter survived the massacre and has been plotting revenge. With a 50,000-copy first printing.
2015-05-20
Moving away from his President's Vampire series, Farnsworth (Red, White, and Blood, 2012, etc.) offers a fantastical witch's brew of Spanish conquistadors, biotechnology, and hubris. Legend says Ponce de León sought the Fountain of Youth in Florida. According to Farnsworth, Simón de Oliveras y Seixas found it there in 1527. Simón, a Spanish soldier, is now known as Simon Oliver III, CEO of Conquest Biotech. Max, Francisco, Pedro, Sebastian, and Aznar, his conquistador Council of the Immortals, share the wealth, using the elixir and "succeeding themselves as father to son for generations." Simon has problems, though, beginning with the revenge-obsessed Shako, daughter of the Uzita Water Clan's chief, who rescued him back in the 16th century before he betrayed her and stole the fountain's secret. Worse, Simon's secreted supply of the fountain water is dwindling, and the source cannot be found. With Conquest marketing a cutting-edge anti-aging drug, ReGenesys, Simon hires double-Ph.D. genius David Robinton to re-engineer the magic Florida spring water. Farnsworth's science is easy reading as David rejiggers DNA so that "all new cells would be rebuilt without junk or cancer or waste." The premise requires buy-in: Simon visualizes his power "to save this miserable, fallen world from itself," but the world 500 years ago mirrors the present. Shifting settings across those five centuries, Farnsworth sometimes stops for social commentary, most effectively when Andrew Jackson engineers mass killings of Native Americans in Florida or when Shako offers a synopsis on female oppression. However, there's more action than philosophy or science, and other than David's evolution out of naiveté, only Shako comprehends the vagaries of "souls rotting long before their bodies died." With cinematic pacing and colorful action scenes, Farnsworth blends a unique premise into fun summer reading. Michael Crichton's gone, but Farnsworth entertainingly explores the border where science fantasy meets reality.