- Hardcover: 371 pages
- Publisher: Legend (3 Nov 1988)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0712623841
- ISBN-13: 978-0712623841
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14.2 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,283,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
This science fiction novel tells how the human race is at war with the Ged, a species that is baffled by mankind's ability to turn violence upon itself. In order to defeat the humans, the Ged must first understand them, but they don't anticipate that they will meet opposition from a few humans.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I finished "An Alien Light" a few days ago. On the world of Qom, members of two warring factions of humans, Delesians and Jelites, are drawn to a mysterious grey city that appeared overnight. Several are selected by the Ged, an alien species willing to teach them and reward them with riches and weapons. But the Ged are not benevolent teachers. They are attempting to unravel the Central Paradox: How can a race that kills its own make it to the stars? Wonderful characters, excellent pacing, but the ending is a bit forced. Read "Beggars in Spain" then read this!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
11 reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Good Thoughtful Science Fiction
2 Jan 1999
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Good Science Fiction book. Second book of Nancy Kress' I have read (Brain Rose in 1992?) and both have been thoughtful and to have contained fully explored themes. In this book an alien race confines a community of ship wrecked humans to study them. The humans have been stranded on the planet so long they have reverted back to a roughly medieval lifestyle. The purpose of the experiment is to allow the aliens to better understand humans so they can defeat them in an on-going war they are having with Earth. Both the primitive human community and the alien culture are fully developed in the book. Philosophical questions are asked and answered through the story. A largely successful effort to write about human behavior from the standpoint of an outside observer. What makes us strong, what makes us weak, and what makes us dangerous. Well written both from an idea stand point and a story line stand point. Kress is a concise and economical writer who develops characters pretty well.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Into the City of the Aliens!
7 May 2008
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is the first book I read authored by Nancy Kress (1948) and I look forward to read more from her pen!
"An Alien Light" (1988) is a very interesting sci-fi novel with keenly defined characters and powerful argument.
The story is as follows: in far future humankind has expanded thru the universe and collided with intelligent alien species.
The Geds are loosing the war and desperately try to investigate these annoying humans.
They choose Qom a god-forgotten planet, inhabited by humans, to establish their city-laboratory-experimental-place. They lure humans to enter R'Frow and stay there while Geds observe them and try to draw conclusions.
Qom is populated by two confronting communities: Jelites, with a military structure similar to ancient Sparta and Delysians a mainly commercial group with similarities to ancient Phoenicia.
The author sagaciously let loose the antagonistic humans in a closed environment supervised by aliens delivering a griping story.
The novel has an almost rushed ending that do not invalidate its merits, as no loose strings are left, nevertheless I was expecting something more elaborated.
All in all "An Alien Light" is an enjoyable sci-fi novel, with a last warning: it is oriented to adult public.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.
"An Alien Light" (1988) is a very interesting sci-fi novel with keenly defined characters and powerful argument.
The story is as follows: in far future humankind has expanded thru the universe and collided with intelligent alien species.
The Geds are loosing the war and desperately try to investigate these annoying humans.
They choose Qom a god-forgotten planet, inhabited by humans, to establish their city-laboratory-experimental-place. They lure humans to enter R'Frow and stay there while Geds observe them and try to draw conclusions.
Qom is populated by two confronting communities: Jelites, with a military structure similar to ancient Sparta and Delysians a mainly commercial group with similarities to ancient Phoenicia.
The author sagaciously let loose the antagonistic humans in a closed environment supervised by aliens delivering a griping story.
The novel has an almost rushed ending that do not invalidate its merits, as no loose strings are left, nevertheless I was expecting something more elaborated.
All in all "An Alien Light" is an enjoyable sci-fi novel, with a last warning: it is oriented to adult public.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
"Violence aids intelligence."
13 Jan 2007
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Ged have come to Qom. The Ged, after warring with humans in space, can't figure out how such a volatile species could ever have achieved the ability to travel in space. The Ged are different, evolved over centuries upon centuries of communion and cooperation. They don't ... they can't ... understand the unpredictable nature of human beings.
On Qom, two factions constantly war with each other, Jela and Delysia. Each city holds unique traits to their citizens and has little tolerance for their foes. Yet when the Ged open the walled city of R'Frow to any citizen, Jelite or Delysian, promising riches to the traders and weapons to the warriors, the two factions find themselves encaged together inside R'Frow.
Inside R'Frow, they find that the Ged have changed their circadian cycles. Ayrys, a Delysian glassblower, Jehane, a Jelite warrior, Dehar, an ostracized Jelite warrior-priest, and SuSu, a Jelite prostitute, all find themselves part of the Ged plans to "observe" humans and why they've developed the capacity for interstellar flight.
Kress has built a believable world with Qom, intriguing with its alien cycles and the adaptation of the humans that live there. Plant life flourishes, and Jelite and Delysian both know the treacheries of the landscape. Archaic customs of each faction both hinder and help them through their experience with the Ged, and in the end their answer lies within their very own planet.
'An Alien Light' is a compelling story of an alien species observing humans. The aliens are really alien, and the humans are all too representative of how humans interact with each other. This is a very thoughtful "hard" Sci-Fi, with plausible scenarios through modern science stretched into the imagination of a masterful story-teller. I highly recommend this book. Enjoy!
On Qom, two factions constantly war with each other, Jela and Delysia. Each city holds unique traits to their citizens and has little tolerance for their foes. Yet when the Ged open the walled city of R'Frow to any citizen, Jelite or Delysian, promising riches to the traders and weapons to the warriors, the two factions find themselves encaged together inside R'Frow.
Inside R'Frow, they find that the Ged have changed their circadian cycles. Ayrys, a Delysian glassblower, Jehane, a Jelite warrior, Dehar, an ostracized Jelite warrior-priest, and SuSu, a Jelite prostitute, all find themselves part of the Ged plans to "observe" humans and why they've developed the capacity for interstellar flight.
Kress has built a believable world with Qom, intriguing with its alien cycles and the adaptation of the humans that live there. Plant life flourishes, and Jelite and Delysian both know the treacheries of the landscape. Archaic customs of each faction both hinder and help them through their experience with the Ged, and in the end their answer lies within their very own planet.
'An Alien Light' is a compelling story of an alien species observing humans. The aliens are really alien, and the humans are all too representative of how humans interact with each other. This is a very thoughtful "hard" Sci-Fi, with plausible scenarios through modern science stretched into the imagination of a masterful story-teller. I highly recommend this book. Enjoy!
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