Canadian science-fiction author Sylvain Neuvel likes a big idea. In his Themis Files trilogy it was giant alien robots that could be controlled by specially trained humans. In his follow up Take Them to the Stars trilogy it is a generations-spanning alien conflict happening within the context of the second half of the twentieth century and, in particular, the space race. His latest standalone novel The Many is a hive mind novel. Neuvel tries to answer the question: what if we all knew what everyone else was thinking and feeling?
The first host of the alien intelligence that crash lands on earth is a tick. When that tick bites Carole she unknowingly shares its consciousness which encourages to bite local baker Booker. Soon the two find that they share each others’ thoughts and memories. Booker, while still out of control and operating partly as Carole, infects Carole’s husband Shivanish and then the three hatch a plan to include the local doctor Evelyn in their group. Things feel stable as a mind-sharing foursome until a shocking event throws this arrangement out the balance and the ‘infection’ starts to spread.
The Many, if nothing else, is one of the most idiosyncratic zombie narratives of recent times. Yes, there is transmission by biting. But rather than becoming a ravenous horde, those who are bitten reach a new level of consciousness and understanding. They bite not for pleasure or for food but because they want everyone to be part of their hive mind. Neuvel focuses on the positives of this sharing of knowledge and understanding. When people literally live the lives of others it does away with things like discrimination, hatred and violence.
In this respect, The Many is a little too Utopian. Neuvel never explores or considers how young children would handle suddenly having the experiences and memories of adults or what impact the sharing of negative thoughts and experiences would have. The main way readers are asked to consider some of these issues is through the eyes of Booker’s teenage child Layla.
Hive minds are clearly in the ether at the moment. It is the central conceit of the science fiction series Pluribus (coincidentally Latin for ‘many’). Hive minds have been generally seen as a negative (another good example of this are the Borg in Star Trek) – a metaphor for a loss of individuality. But Neuvel wants to put a more positive spin on this idea to ask the question: in a world riven by artificial divisions what would happen if we could all just live in each others’ shoes? While the book, and particularly its conclusion, doesn’t work as well as Neuvel might like it is still an interesting vehicle for considering this question.
The Many by Sylvain Neuvel
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