Plot Summary
The Tusks of Extinction, a novella by Ray Nayler, captured the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 2025. Published by Tordotcom in January 2024, this science fiction work spans 112 pages and tackles the complexities of de-extinction, conservation, and human impact on the natural world. Nayler, known for his earlier novel The Mountain in the Sea, crafts a narrative set in a future where woolly mammoths roam once more, blending ecological thriller elements with introspective character studies. The story unfolds across dual timelines, one in the past amid the fight against elephant poaching in Africa and another in a 22nd-century Russia where revived mammoths face new threats. Readers encounter a world where technology allows consciousness transfer, raising questions about identity, memory, and the ethics of resurrecting extinct species. This review examines the book’s plot, characters, themes, style, and broader context, offering insights for those interested in speculative fiction that addresses real-world environmental concerns.
The novella opens in a future Siberia, where scientists have successfully brought back woolly mammoths as part of an ambitious project to restore a Pleistocene-era ecosystem. This effort seeks to combat climate change by recreating vast grasslands that trap carbon in the permafrost. The mammoths, engineered from ancient DNA combined with that of the last remaining elephants, form small herds in protected reserves. their valuable tusks attract poachers and wealthy trophy hunters, echoing the historical exploitation that drove elephants to extinction.
At the heart of the story stands Dr. Damira Khismatullina, a renowned elephant conservationist from the past. Killed by poachers a century earlier while working in Africa, Damira’s consciousness was preserved through advanced scanning technology. In the future, her digital mind gets uploaded into the body of a mammoth matriarch. This unusual procedure allows her to impart essential behaviors and instincts to the herd, which lacks the cultural knowledge passed down through generations in wild populations. Damira’s new existence bridges human intellect with animal senses, particularly the significant role of scent in triggering memories and guiding actions.
The narrative shifts between timelines. In the past, Damira’s life as a human researcher unfolds, showing her dedication to studying elephant behavior and combating the illegal ivory trade. She witnesses the devastation wrought by poachers, who decimate herds for profit, leaving orphaned calves and shattered family structures. These scenes highlight the emotional bonds within elephant societies and the human greed that disrupts them. Nayler portrays the African landscapes with vivid detail, from dusty savannas to hidden watering holes, setting a stark contrast to the frozen taiga of the future.
In the 22nd century, the revived mammoths navigate a world altered by human intervention. The herd’s survival depends on Damira’s ability to teach them migration patterns, social hierarchies, and defensive strategies against predators—including humans. Poachers, operating in the shadows of corrupt systems, pose an immediate danger, using high-tech gear to track and kill for tusks that fetch exorbitant prices on black markets. Meanwhile, legal loopholes allow affluent individuals to participate in sanctioned hunts, treating the mammoths as exotic game rather than living beings with rich inner lives.
Interwoven subplots introduce additional perspectives. A young boy named Svyatoslav, the son of a poaching family, grapples with his inherited lifestyle. Raised in poverty, he assists his parents in the harsh Siberian wilderness, learning survival skills that clash with fleeting moments of empathy toward the animals they hunt. His storyline adds nuance to the portrayal of poachers, showing them not as caricatures of evil but as people trapped in cycles of desperation and tradition.
Another thread follows Vladimir, the husband of a wealthy businessman named Anthony. Invited on a luxurious hunting expedition, Vladimir confronts the moral implications of trophy hunting. The opulent setting—private jets, gourmet meals, and state-of-the-art weapons—contrasts sharply with the raw brutality of the hunt. As the group pursues the mammoths, Vladimir’s discomfort grows, forcing him to question his role in a system that commodifies life for sport.
Nayler builds tension through escalating encounters between the herd and human intruders. Damira, in her mammoth form, experiences the world through heightened senses: the earth-shaking footsteps of her kin, the scent-laden winds carrying warnings, and the visceral fear of approaching danger. The plot reaches climactic moments where past and present collide, as Damira’s human memories inform her actions in protecting the herd. Without revealing key resolutions, the story examines the consequences of technological hubris and the fragile line between preservation and exploitation.
The novella’s structure allows for a compact yet layered tale, clocking in at under 120 pages. It moves fluidly between action-oriented sequences, like chases across the tundra, and quieter reflections on loss and renewal. Readers might find the shifts between timelines disorienting at first, but they serve to underscore the continuity of human flaws across eras. Overall, the plot delivers a gripping eco-thriller that avoids simplistic resolutions, leaving space for contemplation on the long-term effects of de-extinction projects.
Characters
Nayler populates The Tusks of Extinction with a diverse cast, each contributing to the exploration of human and animal interactions. The characters feel grounded in their motivations, drawing from real-world archetypes while adding speculative twists.
Dr. Damira Khismatullina serves as the protagonist and narrative anchor. As a human in the past timeline, she’s depicted as a passionate scientist with deep knowledge of elephant sociology. Her fieldwork involves observing matriarchal herds, documenting communication through infrasound and trunk gestures, and advocating for anti-poaching measures. Damira’s personal history includes a childhood fascination with animals, shaped by stories from her grandmother about ancient beasts. This background fuels her determination, even as she faces dangers from armed poachers and bureaucratic indifference. In the future, her consciousness within the mammoth body transforms her perspective. She retains human reasoning but gains access to primal instincts, creating a hybrid identity that struggles with alienation. Nayler portrays her internal conflicts with subtlety, showing how memories surface unpredictably, triggered by scents or sounds. Damira’s arc questions what it means to be alive, blending grief for lost species with hope for their return.
Svyatoslav, the teenage son of poachers, offers a sympathetic view from the antagonists’ side. Living in a remote Siberian village, he assists his family in illegal hunts to make ends meet. His father teaches him tracking and shooting, while his mother provides emotional support amid their hardships. Svyatoslav’s ambivalence emerges in quiet moments, such as when he encounters a mammoth calf and feels a spark of wonder. This character humanizes the poaching community, illustrating how economic pressures and cultural norms perpetuate destructive practices. His interactions with the herd highlight generational divides, as he wrestles with inherited values versus personal ethics.
Vladimir represents the elite end of the spectrum. Married to Anthony, a powerful entrepreneur, Vladimir enjoys a life of luxury but harbors reservations about his husband’s pursuits. The hunting trip becomes a catalyst for self-reflection, as Vladimir witnesses the mammoths’ intelligence and social bonds up close. His discomfort stems from a background in academia, where he studied history and ethics, contrasting with Anthony’s pragmatic worldview. Nayler uses Vladimir to critique class privileges, showing how wealth insulates individuals from the consequences of their actions while enabling exploitation.
Supporting figures enrich the world-building. Anthony embodies unchecked ambition, viewing the hunt as a status symbol. Poachers like Svyatoslav’s parents appear as pragmatic survivors, driven by necessity rather than malice. Scientists in the de-extinction program, briefly sketched, represent optimistic futurists who overlook potential pitfalls. The mammoths themselves function almost as characters, with the herd displaying complex dynamics: protective matriarchs, playful juveniles, and wary bulls. Through Damira’s eyes, their behaviors reveal emotional depth, from mourning rituals to cooperative foraging.
Nayler’s character development avoids stereotypes, giving even minor roles moments of introspection. Relationships, such as Damira’s bond with her herd or Svyatoslav’s family ties, drive the emotional core, making the novella resonate on a personal level.
Themes and Symbolism
The Tusks of Extinction weaves several themes into its fabric, using the revival of woolly mammoths as a lens to examine broader issues. One central theme involves the ethics of de-extinction. Nayler portrays the scientific process—extracting DNA from permafrost, hybridizing with elephant genes, and gestating in artificial wombs—as a double-edged sword. While it promises ecological benefits, like restoring biodiversity and mitigating climate effects, it also risks creating animals ill-equipped for survival without human intervention. The novella suggests that bringing back species requires more than genetics; cultural transmission, lost over millennia, proves essential for thriving populations.
Human greed and the commodification of nature recur throughout. Tusks symbolize wealth and power, driving the ivory trade that extinguished elephants and now threatens mammoths. Poachers and hunters represent different facets of this greed: the former act out of poverty, the latter from entitlement. Nayler contrasts these with conservation efforts, showing how economic inequalities fuel environmental destruction. The story critiques systems that prioritize profit over sustainability, with legal hunts exposing hypocrisies in wildlife management.
Memory and identity form another key strand. Damira’s uploaded consciousness blurs lines between human and animal, as she navigates a body with different sensory inputs. Scents evoke fragmented recollections, symbolizing how memories shape behavior in intelligent species. The novella draws parallels to elephant memory, known for retaining knowledge of water sources and threats across decades. This theme extends to cultural memory, questioning whether revived species can reclaim lost heritage or remain shadows of their ancestors.
The human-animal bond receives nuanced treatment. Nayler emphasizes empathy gaps, where humans project their values onto animals without understanding their perspectives. Damira’s transformation bridges this divide, allowing insights into mammoth cognition. Symbolism abounds in herd dynamics, mirroring human societies: matriarchs as leaders, calves as vulnerable futures. The Siberian landscape, with its thawing permafrost and vast expanses, symbolizes fragility in the face of change, underscoring climate themes.
Class disparities appear in the contrasting lives of poachers and elites. Svyatoslav’s family struggles in isolation, while Vladimir’s world offers excess. This highlights how environmental issues intersect with social justice, as the poor bear the brunt of conservation restrictions while the rich exploit loopholes.
Grief and loss permeate the narrative. Damira mourns extinct elephants, her past self, and potential failures in protecting the mammoths. The story evokes elegy for vanished worlds, yet hints at resilience through adaptation. Symbolically, the Alexander device—a tool for consciousness transfer—represents humanity’s attempt to defy death, raising questions about legacy and continuity.
Nayler integrates these themes seamlessly, using the speculative premise to reflect on contemporary challenges like biodiversity loss and ethical biotechnology.
Writing Style and Structure
Nayler’s prose strikes a balance between accessibility and depth, suiting a non-technical audience. Sentences vary in length, with short, punchy phrases during action scenes contrasting longer, descriptive passages that evoke sensory details. He employs contractions naturally, creating a conversational flow that draws readers in. The third-person perspective shifts among characters, providing multiple viewpoints without confusion.
The non-chronological structure enhances thematic resonance. Timelines interweave, with past events illuminating future dilemmas. This mirrors the web-like nature of memory, especially in Damira’s chapters, where scents trigger associative leaps. Nayler avoids heavy exposition, integrating world-building through character experiences: a poacher’s casual reference to tech or a scientist’s log entry.
Descriptive language shines in environmental depictions. The Siberian taiga comes alive with crunching snow, howling winds, and the earthy musk of mammoths. African scenes burst with heat, dust, and the low rumbles of elephants. Nayler draws on folklore, incorporating Nenets myths about underground beasts, adding cultural layers without overwhelming the plot.
Pacing maintains momentum, with reflective interludes punctuating tension. The novella’s brevity demands efficiency, and Nayler delivers concise yet evocative scenes. Dialogue feels authentic, revealing character traits: Damira’s resolute tone, Svyatoslav’s hesitant speech.
Some readers might note occasional exposition dumps, but these serve to clarify speculative elements. Overall, the style supports the story’s introspective tone, blending thriller pace with philosophical undertones.
Comparisons to Other Works
The Tusks of Extinction invites parallels to Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, both featuring resurrected prehistoric creatures and warnings about tampering with nature. Nayler’s focus on cultural restoration and emotional bonds differentiates it, emphasizing ecology over spectacle.
Echoes of Brooke Bolander’s The Only Harmless Great Thing appear in the portrayal of elephant experts and human-animal divides. Bolander’s work, blending history and speculation, shares Nayler’s concern for exploited species.
Sam J. Miller’s Blackfish City explores mind-transfer and environmental collapse, akin to Damira’s consciousness upload amid climate threats. Peter Dickinson’s Eva, with its body-swap premise, mirrors identity shifts.
Nayler’s earlier The Mountain in the Sea, examining octopus intelligence, aligns in themes of nonhuman cognition and conservation. These comparisons position the novella within eco-speculative fiction, alongside works like Jeff VanderMeer’s Borne, which probes biotechnology’s consequences.
Unlike action-heavy tales, Nayler’s restraint favors character-driven narratives, similar to Ted Chiang’s thoughtful shorts.
Reception and Impact
Since its release, The Tusks of Extinction has garnered positive attention in science fiction circles. Reviewers praise its timely exploration of de-extinction, especially amid real-world efforts by companies like Colossal Biosciences to revive mammoths. The novella’s Hugo win in 2025 underscores its resonance, beating competitors with its blend of adventure and ethics.
Readers appreciate the emotional depth, particularly Damira’s perspective, which humanizes abstract issues. Some critique the short length for limiting subplot development, but many find the conciseness effective. Sales figures indicate strong interest, with translations expanding its reach.
The book sparks discussions on conservation, influencing views on poaching and wildlife trade. Its impact extends to educational contexts, where it illustrates climate solutions and ethical dilemmas. Nayler’s work contributes to growing eco-fiction, encouraging reflection on humanity’s role in restoration.
Summary
The Tusks of Extinction stands as a compelling novella that merges speculative science with poignant themes. Through Damira’s journey and the mammoths’ plight, Nayler examines de-extinction’s promises and perils. Characters like Svyatoslav and Vladimir add layers to the critique of greed and class. The writing style, with its sensory richness and structural ingenuity, enhances the narrative’s effect. Comparisons to Jurassic Park and similar works highlight its place in the genre, while the Hugo award affirms its quality. This book offers a thoughtful read on environmental stewardship and identity.
