Ruins

The beguiling latest from Brooks-Dalton (The Light Pirate) follows an archaeologist whose obsession with the past lays waste to her present. Ember Agni, 38, hasn’t been on a dig for eight years. Biding her time at a university where she’s “not well-liked” due to her lack of interest in teaching, she’s married to a sweet, responsible builder with whom she has increasingly little in common, and longs to return to the field. After the first act, the reader begins to gather that the novel takes place sometime in the future following a climate disaster called the Crisis, but it’s not until much later that Brooks-Dalton clarifies the setting for Ember’s story line. When Ember learns that an unstable former graduate student she has sent to investigate an area forbidden by the government is on his way home with a mysterious artifact, her hopes rise, and she burns whatever bridges she can to follow in his footsteps. At this point, Brooks-Dalton shifts focus from the low-key drama of academic infighting and a crumbling marriage to startling revelations about Ember’s life and the world she’s living in. The adventure story is cunningly crafted, and Ember is a fascinating character: prickly, ambitious, and obsessive in her search for the truth. It adds up to a captivating mind-bender. Agent: Jennifer Gates, Aevitas Creative Management. (Mar.)