Wrapping up the far-future trilogy begun with Araminta Station and continued in Ecce and Old Earth (1992), the struggle for control over the scenically spectacular and biologically diverse planet Cadwal. Here, the unspeakable Smonny Clattuc, her hordes of Yip subjects, and her allies at the cliffside town Stroma on the continent of Throy are preparing to invade and destroy Araminta Station. To forestall this, investigators Glawen Clattuc and Eustace Chilke must determine the facts behind the possibly significant involvement of interstellar engineer and entrepreneur Barduys and his adopted daughter Flitz in Smonny's complex affairs. After pursuing inquiries on several planets—one populated, hilariously, by food faddists and health freaks—Glawen and Chilke discover that Barduys himself has been swindled by Smonny's associate, the venal Namour; indeed, they arrive just in time to prevent Namour from murdering Barduys. On Cadwal, meanwhile, Smonny attempts to assert her authority by destroying Stroma; in retaliation, her erstwhile allies burn the atoll-town Yipton to the waterline. Would that all trilogists provided as succinct and pithy a summary as Vance does here. Otherwise, enjoyable but rather thin: Vance's tendency to invent brilliantly and prodigiously in the opening volume, and thereafter to lose interest, is particularly evident.
Pub Date: May 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-312-85133-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1993
A wild riff on interspecies warfare sure to make pet owners think twice the next time their tabby cats dart by.
A war novel/religious allegory about cats, dogs and giant ants driven by a hive mind. Yes, really.
So, let’s imagine W. Bruce Cameron’s silly and maudlin A Dog’s Purpose recast as a violent and frightening post-apocalyptic global battle for the souls of Earth’s survivors, layered with a messiah prophecy that makes The Matrix look simplistic by comparison. If that’s a bit much, maybe just think Animal Farm re-imagined by Orson Scott Card. Either way, you end up with this devilishly entertaining debut about anthropomorphized animals caught in a conflict between an invading army of insects and the planet’s few remaining humans. The novel begins from the point of view of Sebastian, an aloof but observant house cat whose only true companion is a dog named Sheba. Through animal eyes, he describes Earth’s descent into chaos as giant ants—that’s Hymenoptera unus to you—break through the planet’s crust to wreak havoc on human civilization. At the heart of their plan is the decision to release a virus that gives all animals self-awareness, a bipedal structure and better-than-human intelligence. After the change, Sebastian recreates himself as the cat-warrior Mort(e), the hero of a breakaway army called The Red Sphinx. “Don’t you all know who this is?” says his superior to a new crop of recruits. “This is Mort(e). The hero of the Battle of the Alleghenies. The Mastermind of the Chesapeake Bridge Bombing. The crazy bastard who assassinated General Fitzpatrick in broad daylight. This choker was killing humans before some of you were born.” After a while the story gets kind of messy with a memetic virus called “EMSAH,” the aforementioned prophecy and the preordained battle to end all wars, but it’s still awfully good sci-fi that imagines a world where humans are no longer at the top of the food chain.
A wild riff on interspecies warfare sure to make pet owners think twice the next time their tabby cats dart by.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61695-427-7
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Soho
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
First of a three-book series covering the world of remote tomorrows, the effectiveness of this first volume is curtailed by its attempt to cover more than a century in time with its many generations of characters. Psychohistorian Seldon senses the coming crash of the galactic empire, prepares a chosen corps of his best students to colonize a remote planet where war cannot impede his work. The story of this colony's survival and eventual command of the broken empire sustains the narrative which is- this time-better science than fiction.
Pub Date: Aug. 30, 1951
ISBN: 0553382578
Page Count: -
Publisher: Gnome Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1951
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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