Book 15 for my 2026 goal of 36 books for the year! Only slightly behind. My link to the book is through my bookshop.org affiliate account, which means I may earn a small commission if you buy from there.

I’ve been internet friends with Nick Mamatas for a long time now, even from the early Twitter days. (Remember Twitter? I try not to.) I’ve read and reviewed a number of his books on this blog (see here and here) and I’m always impressed by how unconventional his stories can be. In his book Sensation, for example, some humans get drawn into a secret conflict between intelligent spiders and the parasitic wasps that prey on them. Strange and instantly compelling! The same can be said about Mamatas’ recent work, Kalivas! Or, Another Tempest (2025).

As the title suggests, it is a retelling of the story of Shakespeare’s classic play The Tempest, but through the lens of science fiction!

Years ago, Kalivas was brought to a remote island archipelago by his mother, a brilliant scientist and engineer who created the technology to make humans effectively immortal and nigh omnipotent. She spared her son from this existence, however, leaving him possibly the last unaltered human on the entire planet. After his mother dies unexpectedly from a flaw in her original technology, Kalivas is left living a solitary existence. Until, that is, the Master comes.

Exiled from the mainland, the man Kalivas comes to call the Master arrives with his daughter M, and he quickly takes charge of the territory, making Kalivas his servant and occasional babysitter for his daughter as she grows into a young woman. For a long time, this seems like it will be the status quo for the rest of Kalivas’ natural life — until a massive storm brings more altered humans to them and initiates what may be a power struggle or a coup. Kalivas finds himself used as a pawn in various intrigues with the residents new and old, and must decide if he is willing to fight to break free of his servitude — even at the cost of his own existence.

Kalivas! Or, Another Tempest is an intriguing retelling of The Tempest, where unfathomably powerful technology replaces the magic of Shakespeare’s original play. I do not recall my reading of The Tempest ages ago and chose to go into the novel with nothing to compare it to and only refreshed my memory afterwards. Mamatas’ novel captures the broad strokes of the original story while maintaining its own identity and a number of twists that mark significant departures. The deeper I got into the novel, the more I wanted to learn about the fate of Kalivas, a character who is largely not in control of his own life.

The most striking part of the novel to me is what happens after the main narrative ends! Mamatas treats us to a short play, “A Procedural Algorithm in One Act.” At first, this play seems completely baffling, filled with absurd characters and nonsensical behavior. As it progresses through its four scenes, however, one starts to understand how it connects to the novel you have just read and the fate of its characters in a profound way. It is a clever, compelling, and unique epilogue of sorts to a beautiful novel and adds to it immensely.

I really enjoyed Kalivas! Or, Another Tempest and look forward to seeing what Nick does in the future! Now that I think about it, I think I might have another of his earlier works around here unread that I need to pick up, as well…