Hurricane Fever reads like a novella written by someone mainlining energy drinks and James Bond-genre action films. It's low on character development and high on apocalyptic bio-bombs, fast paced and fun with lots of blood, guts, miraculous rescues and plot-convenient knocks to the head, and I loved it!
I do wish we got to see more character development, especially for Kit: there was space for us to see her motivations in more heart-wrenching detail, and I would have liked to, especially since that could have also given the villain a bit more complexity. But I thought Roo was an interesting, if barely-plausibly-tough, lovable rogue. And while I've seen some reviews complaining about the space cannon, that tech is actually totally real! I've encountered references to it before in classic Golden Age SF (maybe Heinlein? Like, I'm thinking maybe they had a space cannon in THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS?), and I loved seeing it resurrected and re-used in this book.
I've read Buckell's short stories before and loved his sense of humor, and there were definitely moments in Hurricane Fever where that shone through (like the fact that Roo keeps acquiring transportation via being handed keys by rich people who mistake him for the valet! lmao). If you liked this, definitely check out his other work! I've been in a reading slump and this was exactly what I needed to get myself out of it.
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