Warriors of the Rainbow

Warriors of the Rainbow, A.D. Harvey, Bloomsbury USA, 2000

A man is released from jail in near-future England and finds that Europe has been plunged into an endless winter. What's worse is that while he was jailed, his girlfriend died in a mysterious epidemic. She isn't exactly dead; she has been brought back to life, and her body is being used as a test bed for an artificial brain.

He kidnaps the creature that looks like his girlfriend from the research center where it is being monitored, and live together sort of happily while society falls apart around them. One night, the police come and take them away. They aren't under arrest for leaving the research center. The whales of the world have learned how to communicate with man, and told the governments of the world to put those two on a small boat and send them on a southwest course into the Atlantic Ocean - Or Else. After many years of losing the battle against humans, the animals have started to fight back, led by the whales, who have figured out how to mess with Earth's climate.

If nothing else, this story is appropriately strange. This novel is interesting, plausible, and very easy to read. Except for a feeling that the novel ended before the story ended (sequel?), this one is very much worth checking out.