NATURAL SELECTION by Dave Freedman

I read this book a few years ago but have been thinking about it a lot in the last few days. One of my favorite subgenres of science fiction is what I like to call the eco-thriller. Eco-thrillers are any movie in which the plot can be reduced to Man vs. Nature. The reason that this book has been on my mind is that I 115 pages into The Swarm by Frank Schatzing (I will put up a Part 1 review when I finish the first 300 some odd pages).

Natural Selection is a monster book. It is about Manta Rays that learn and begin to feed on humans because their natural food source has been depleted. It seems so unreal at times, but that is the fun part about books like theses.

I think that what I like most about eco-thrillers is all the science that gets handed down to the reader. At times it can be a little over whelming, but the pay off is rewarding enough to keep at it. Also, I only care enough about most of the characters that I don’t mind when a few of them start to disappear, become snacks for the Manta Rays. I was actually looking forward to a few of them dying. However, the first main character to die does not take place until the last third of the book.

I don’t want to ruin this book for you. I want you to run out and read it. It is a good summer read. Not only did I learn a lot about real Manta Rays, the ocean, and environmentalism, but I was thoroughly entertained the entire time. I liked this book so much that I’m going to give it to a friend, Mr. Horrorpants, on Friday.

Freedman, Dave. “Natural Selection.” New York: Hyperion, 2007