THE TUSKS OF EXTINCTION

Gabrielle de Cuir and Stefan Rudnicki expressively give voice to a range of characters in this speculative novella about the environment and the nature of consciousness. In the near future, when elephants have been poached to extinction, Russian scientists have resurrected a herd of mammoths. To teach them how to be wild, their matriarch has been imbued with the consciousness of Damira, an elephant expert murdered by poachers a generation ago. De Cuir, with a luminous voice, gives a fierce and pensive portrait of Damira and a moving interpretation of a local young poacher. In contrast, Rudnicki's resonant gravelly narration exposes the self-involvement of scientists and the greed of a billionaire who is permitted a legal kill for an astronomical sum. The ending astonishes. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2024]