Extremophile

LoveReading Says

Fittingly billed as a “biopunk thriller”, Ian Green’s Extremophile is a romp of criminal cyberpunks, eco-warriors and ethical dilemmas set in a dystopian imagining of London. Ambitious, inventive and written in an addictive style, it comes recommended for fans of Neuromancer and China Miéville.

Exploring environmental ruin, corporate control, grassroots resistance, and the impulse to keep on trying even when all seems doomed, the narrative focusses on biohackers and punk musicians Charlie and Parker, who live in near-future London that’s on the brink of climate collapse. A place in which people are either Green, Blue or Black: “Greens want to save the world…Blues don’t give a fuck as long as there is profit… Blacks know that the world is fucked and you either need to have a good time or find a bath and a toaster”.

Into this, Charlie and Parker are hired by extreme activists called the Heavy Crew, the “hardest of the hard Greens”. No tactic is excluded from their arsenal — including assassination and arson — which elicits very different responses from Charlie and Parker. While Black-hearted Charlie wants to walk away, Parker is of a more hopeful persuasion and believes it might still be possible to bring about change.

In short, Extremophile presents an inventive experimental journey through human nihilism, optimism and morality in the age of AI and climate crises. 

Reviewed by Joanne Owen
Joanne Owen’s lifelong love of reading and writing began when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire, and very much wished that witches (and Mrs Pepperpot) were real.
More reviews by Joanne Owen

About Extremophile

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DRAGON AWARDS 2025FINANCIAL TIMES' BEST SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS OF 2024Charlie and Parker are punks by night, biohackers by day, living in the stuttering decay of near-future climate-collapse London.They pay for the beer they don't steal with money from their sketchy astronomy site Zodiac Code, while Charlie's bio-bespoke augments equip the criminals, punks, and eco-warriors of London. They have to deal with disgruntled clients, scene kids who don't dig their band, and a city that's run by corporates and criminals. Their world is split into three factions: Green - who are still trying to save the world; Blue - who try to profit while they can, and Black - who see no hope left. When a group of extremist Green activists hire them for a series of jobs ranging from robbery to murder, Charlie - who struggles to feel anything except Black - wants to walk away. But Parker still believes they can make a difference, and urges her to accept. As they enter an escalating biological arms race against faceless corporations, amoral biohackers, and criminal cyberpunks, Charlie will have to choose what she believes in. Is there still hope, and does she have a right to grab it?

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