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Book guide

Venomous Lumpsucker

by Ned Beauman

In a collapsing near-future world, one ugly little fish may be the last thing standing between extinction, corporate guilt, and a conspiracy no one wants uncovered.

Genre and trope pairingsSci-FiDystopianLiterarySocial commentary
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About Venomous Lumpsucker

In the 2030s, mass extinction has become an industry, with companies, biobanks, and extinction credits turning ecological collapse into business as usual. When a cyber-attack wipes out the world’s biobanks, the last genetic traces of countless lost species vanish with them. Animal cognition scientist Karin Resaint and extinction-industry executive Mark Halyard are forced into an uneasy search for the venomous lumpsucker: a small bottom-feeding fish believed to be the most intelligent fish on the planet, and possibly already extinct. Their journey through toxic reserves, floating cities, and authoritarian territory pulls them into a larger mystery about who destroyed the biobanks, and why.

Reading signals

Spice
Light
Darkness
Dark
Pacing
Balanced
Content warnings
  • suicidal thoughts
  • suicide attempt
  • animal death
  • suicide
  • animal cruelty
  • mental illness
  • death
  • gore
  • gun violence
  • self harm

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