CARVE THE SKY

by Alexander Jablokov ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 26, 1991

In Jablokov's stunning debut, humans have spread throughout the solar system by the 24th century, but the Terran Union and the Technic Alliance hover on the brink of war. Into the hands of Lord Monboddo, an Earth-based Union secret agent, and Anton Lindgren, his seneschal, comes a finely wrought figurine containing a jewel of ngomite--an enormously valuable mineral composed of superheavy elements and supposedly created by the now-vanished star-travelling Acherusians. Anton and Monboddo plan to seize the much larger chunk of ngomite from which the jewel was cut, but their task is complicated by rival Technic agents and Anton's soon-to-be lover, Vanessa Karageorge of the Academia Sapientiae. And why is an unidentified band of soldiers roaming the solar system stealing other enigmatic Acherusian artifacts? The hunt for the ngomite, and the supposedly dead creator of the figurine, genius sculptor Karl Ozaki, takes Anton and Monboddo out to the Asteroid Belt, where finally they confront Ozaki and discover the ambitions of the fanatical Dispossessed Brethren of Christ: they have assembled a working star drive from the scattered Acherusian artifacts. Fuzzy in places, but told with economy and discipline, intelligently and consistently inventive, and inhabited by life-sized characters: splendid, absorbing science fiction with range, depth, and charm.

Pub Date: March 26, 1991

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1991

Categories: FICTION