Explorers of the New Century [Paperback]

Magnus Mills (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2006

When Magnus Mills gives the world a shake, you never know what might fall out of his pockets," proclaims the Los Angeles Times. In his terse new tour de force of a tale, Mills gives history a shake, and you'll never guess what the fallout is. Set at the dawn of the great age of exploration, the era of Shackleton and Perry and Scott, the book presents the adventures of two intrepid teams, both vying to reach the AFP, or Agreed Furthest Point-a worthy, even ennobling cause. The competition is friendly but conditions are extreme. To get through the arid, lifeless landscape, both teams must learn to make sacrifices, sacrifices that will change just about everything.

Mills burst on the literary scene a decade ago with The Restraint of Beasts, a novel Thomas Pynchon called a "demented, deadpan-comic wonder." This new work proves that he has become a master storyteller whose books are each "as welcome as a warm bus on a rainy day" (The Oregonian).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

NOTE: This review reveals a plot twist in the book In this acidly allegorical fancy, two unidentified nations at an unidentified time send coordinated expeditions into an uninhabited place of extreme weather—"the Agreed Furthest Point from Civilization." After arrival at camp, and a minor mishap that injures a mule (which has to be destroyed), the British-seeming team sets out, taking a difficult route over scree-strewn hillocks; the Scandinavian-seeming team, a few days ahead, progresses up a dry river bed. Given the polar explorer motif, questions begin to nag. Why does no one mention the poles? Where is the ice? Where are the sled dogs, and why are both expeditions encumbered with mule trains? Answers present themselves as we become familiar, through indirect hints, with the manner in which the mules have become a burden for both societies. One day, as disaster strikes the British party, a crew member and several mules drown—and one of the mules speaks. Mills (The Restraint of Beasts) expertly wields a narrow-bandwidth prose that hides distortions of reality in its very matter-of-factness. The effect is similar to the way old painters used to put anamorphic skulls in the foreground of their paintings: when we finally understand what we are seeing, it creates a backward-crashing estrangement from any sense of normalcy. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

NOTE: This review reveals a plot twist in the book

Since his first novel, The Restraint of Beasts (1998), was short-listed for the Booker Prize, Mills' reputation has rapidly risen, and his works have been widely translated. A signature feature of his narratives is a penchant for black comedy veiled in disarmingly minimalist prose. His latest novel takes that to its deadpan limits. In a deceptively straightforward plot, two expeditions of nineteenth-century explorers, one apparently British, the other Scandinavian, both accompanied by mules, blaze separate trails deep into a bleak wilderness in a race to pinpoint the Agreed Furthest Point from Civilization. Despite relentless winds, dwindling rations, and the loss of several mules, their exploratory resolve remains strong, albeit tainted by some decidedly strange motives. For it soon becomes more and more clear that the "mules" aren't what one would normally assume, and the expeditions are less noble acts of discovery than attempts to relieve society of an annoying ethnic burden. A slyly original critique of racism and the pretensions behind civilization's zeal for moral uplift. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (March 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156030780
• ISBN-13: 978-0156030786
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #397,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars (4.5) "We can assume that the terrain is bound to change eventually.", March 12, 2006

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Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Explorers of the New Century (Paperback)

In the new century, theories abound, the inventiveness of the age giving way to unparalleled problem solving and great social movements, citizens infused with a can-do spirit, the future sparkling on the horizon. Against an expanse of untamed continent, two teams of explorers, one perhaps Scandinavian and the other perhaps British) set off for the AFP, Agreed Farthest Point, one team west, over land and the other charting a course through a dry riverbed, their mules critical to the success of the endeavors. The loss of one of their mules is a blow to Johns' party, who are forced to their overland trek since Tostig's, has co-opted the riverbed route. Small fissures erupt as the westerly journey begins, but Johns and his deputy keep the men in check through discipline.

On the first day of the march, the western group is confronted by miles and miles of scree, their progress slowed by the uncertain surface, the mules unable to maintain secure footing. Tostig, who has left markers in the dry river bed for Johns to follow, notices the second group has splintered off in another direction, suggesting they want to make a contest of it; Tostig informs his men they have a rival for the goal. While John's expedition is larger and manned with volunteers, Tostig's is smaller, all seasoned professionals.

So begins the two-pronged march, ostensibly with the same objective, each party driven as well by a spirit of competition, both in service to the newly popular Theory of Transportation, their mules integral to the ventures. As might be expected, the terrain offers each group serious obstacles, but they are rigidly controlled by military-like hierarchies of leader and trusted troops. Human nature ever unpredictable, a few question the logic of authority, setting in motion an undercurrent of discontent and doubt. For the most part they soldier on, each step closer to the AFP bringing new challenges of adaptation and altered strategies for the same objective. Nothing in this adventure is as promised from the outset, no discernible physical markers or identifiable terrain.

In the stark prose of man against nature, Mills frames this tale with the nobility of intent, yet lays the groundwork for a mind-bending twist that stops the reader cold. Whatever assumptions and preferences for either team, Johns' or Tostig's, the seduction of adventure pales in the light of ideology. Life and death are at stake at every turn in this remarkable novel, but who's life and who's death and who shall decide? As biting as the arctic winds that buffet the travelers, Explorers of the New Century will leave you chilled and disturbed. Luan Gaines/ 2006.

4.0 out of 5 stars A vivid, if peculiar tale., January 9, 2010

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John Allen "latebloomer" (Northampton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Explorers of the New Century (Paperback)

'Explorers of the New Century' seems to be an allegory for a variety of society's mores. Amongst them - chauvinism,racism,and the collective stupidity of blind adherence to regulations. Like Mill's previous book 'The Restraint of Beasts', the story is compelling reading even though there's no obvious direction (he presents a deliberately vague overall picture, while the simple details of day to day life are rendered with humor and crisp detail). Both books are very simply written, which is part of their charm. The cliche "Less is more" fits and works in these instances.

5.0 out of 5 stars Tour de Force, October 5, 2008

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Avid Reader (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Explorers of the New Century (Paperback)

This is my first exposure to Magnus Mills, and I'm impressed. Taut diaologue and evocative descriptions bring you into the world of the explorers. Yet, the author puts their arduous journeys in a larger context -- and leaves the reader to ponder important lessons about man's humanity.

The book veers into the world of magical realism, like Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Except that Mills does it in a spare way, instead of the lush world (and vocabulary) of Marquez. And it's just as effective.

This is a truly memorable book. It will stay with me for a long time.