Thursday 29 November 2012

Prehistoric or real? The dinoasurs...

In the last installment of short blogs from Simon Barrett thoughts turn to prehistory, dinoasurs and science...

Dinosaurs are soooo prehistoric.  Z however stands for Zenith.  Geneflow and the mad scientist Samantha Josephs have accelerated grown dinosaurs from fossil material, engineered and augmented them with human capabilities and computer technology to make the perfect killing machines.  There is only one problem ... 13 year old Adam Adler.

The Z. series is a great trilogy, building up from one adventure to an international conspiracy.  It begins with Z.Rex and Adam’s first encounter with a living, breathing T-Rex with the capability to disarm a bomb.  Together they team up to rescue Adam’s Dad held captive by Geneflow.  In Z.Raptor Adam is marooned on a pacific island and part of a Geneflow game: hyper evolved dinosaurs with the minds of killers versus Adam and a handful of survivors.  While Adam is looking forward to a normal life, Geneflow have other plans.  Z.Apocalypse is a global emergency and once again Adam with the help of Zed needs to end Geneflow, before the world destroys itself in a Third World War.

Constant throughout the series is the relationship between Adam and his father Bill Adler.  Adam and Bill usually end up saving one another, motivated by their love for one another.  This takes on greater resonance in Z.Apocalypse, when Adam encounters the clone of his father.  Bill’s clone on one level should have no feelings towards Adam, but despite the technology and the science, something of the human spirit continues to survive and saves Adam.  Similarly with the dinosaurs, something of Adam’s spirit is passed on to them.  It is this spirit wanting freedom and valuing loyalty and friendship that fights against Geneflow’s desire to control and command.

Finally, another important question in the series, is who can you trust.  When you have the means to create the perfect killing machine that is immune to all conventional modern weaponry then there are too many vested interests.  Scientists, soldiers and politicians aid Adam and Bill in their quest to destroy Geneflow, but do they really want to destroy this technology or do they want to obtain this knowledge for their own purposes?

The Z. series has been a thrilling read as Adam is pursued around the world by mad scientists and over-sized reptiles.  In so doing, the author Steve Cole explores some important ideas about family, friendship and trust that will means this trilogy deserves to be reread and will continue to appeal to future readers.

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