This is a fun diversion for sci-fi fans even if it doesn’t quite manage to make any profound statements on gender or...
A political and family drama set in two very different colonies on the moon—one patriarchal, one matriarchal.
Erno is an exile from the Society of Cousins, a matriarchal society where men can’t vote. He’s recently washed up in Persepolis, a colony founded to recapture dreams of Persian glory. While Erno struggles at the fringes of Persepolis, Amestris sits in a place of power in the colony—but only because of her father’s wealth and influence. Mira is a provocative Cousins graffiti artist who’s sleeping with Carey, a notorious troublemaker and “the most popular boyfriend in the colony.” Carey’s son, Val, is getting interested in the "masculinist" cause led by Hypatia (who’s also Carey’s lover). Soon, all of them, plus Val’s mother, Roz, and an "uplifted" canine journalist named Sirius will be drawn into a complex web of alliances and machinations. In this tense political environment, Carey’s desire to play a bigger role in his son’s life could destabilize everything. For a futuristic Utopia, the Society of Cousins is based on oddly old-fashioned ideas about essential differences between men and women, and the characters’ motivations don’t always ring completely true. But Kessel (The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories, 2008, etc.) has imagined a richly detailed future world, and a strong plot full of intrigue keeps this story moving along.
This is a fun diversion for sci-fi fans even if it doesn’t quite manage to make any profound statements on gender or political oppression.Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8144-1
Page Count: 608
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
After years of unprepossessing folderol—the wearisome Nine Princes in Amber retreads are depressingly typical—Zelazny bursts forth with, well, ``Victorian light supernatural fantasy'' just about covers it. Narrator Snuff, a guard dog who performs complex thaumaturgical calculations in his head, has many duties: to keep various Things firmly trapped in mirrors, wardrobes, and steamer trunks; to accompany his master, Jack—he of the magical blade—on weird collecting expeditions into the graveyards and slums of Victorian London; and—for a single hour each night—discuss the day's goings-on in human speech. Snuff's neighbors include: Jill the witch and her familiar, Graymalk the cat, with whom Snuff forms a friendly alliance; Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Frankenstein, Dracula, a werewolf, and a satanic vicar. The witches, detectives, doctors, vampires, etc., along with their equally industrious familiars, trade information and scheme for advantage as the full moon of Halloween approaches; at that time, a magical showdown to decide the fate of the Earth will occur. Some of the characters are ``openers,'' determined to open a magical doorway allowing the Old Gods to reoccupy the Earth; others are ``closers,'' equally resolved to keep the magical door nailed shut; and a few are involved yet stand outside the Game altogether. Snuff's problem is to discover who is which. Sparkling, witty, delightful: Zelazny's best for ages, perhaps his best ever.
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-12508-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1993
Even though the cracks are beginning to show, and the sheer narrative power of the superb original series is lacking, Dune...
Third in the Dune prequel series from originator Frank Herbert's son Brian and collaborator Anderson (Dune: House Atreides, 1999, and Dune: House Harkonnen, 2000). Duke Leto Atreides plans to attack planet Ix and drive out the occupying genetic-whiz Tleilaxu, while his concubine Jessica must travel to the imperial capital, Kaitain, to give birth to her child—not the daughter she was ordered to bear by her Bene Gesserit superiors. The Emperor Shaddam grows crueler and less restrained as his conspiracy with the Tleilaxu to develop a synthetic substitute for the miraculous spice “melange” advances. Shaddam's coconspirator Ajidica, the Tleilaxu Master, has tested “amal” on himself and obtained a superhuman brain boost; better still, the imperial Sardaukar troops stationed on Ix are already addicted to amal, so that now they'll obey him rather than the Emperor. The Emperor's agent, Hasimir Fenring, isn't convinced that amal will be an effective substitute for melange and demands more tests. Regardless, Shaddam squeezes the Great Families to reveal their secret spice stockpiles; once equipped with amal, he can destroy planet Arrakis—the sole source of the natural spice—and hold the galaxy to ransom. The plot heads for one of those black-comic moments where everybody's holding a gun to somebody else's head.
Even though the cracks are beginning to show, and the sheer narrative power of the superb original series is lacking, Dune in any guise is as addictive as the spice itself.Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2001
ISBN: 0-553-11084-5
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2001
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