- Hardcover: 480 pages
- Publisher: Mysterious Press (Aug 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0446524913
- ISBN-13: 978-0446524919
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.5 x 4.1 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,555,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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It was late when Tam finally left the experiment wing and crossed Alpha Complex's central lobby. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
It was late when Tam finally left the experiment wing and crossed Alpha Complex's central lobby. Read the first page
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18 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
A surprising big win -- must read
31 Oct 2001
Format:Hardcover
Sarah Zettel has achieved something very hard to do, particularly in SF. This story is both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. You will be surprised to see how fully you will be drawn in.
Helice Trust and her two daughters, Chena (age 13) and Teal (age 10), are refugees, with as little personal civil rights as refugees typically have. Determined to better their condition, Helice applies for and gets admittance to the villages of Pandora. She is aware that the global government, at odds with the rest of human civilization, has determined that her genetic makeup is nearly perfect to solve a problem they have to solve, and want to use her for biological experiments. In spite of being offered an easy way out (they're willing to pay everything she wants), she will not bear a child for them to be used as a lab rat. Although we don't get to know Helice that much in this story, she is certainly the moral center.
Tam is the remote but protective official who has charge of the village, and he is determined to support Helice in her free choice. But he may be overmatched by the planet's politics.
What fuels this books emotional impact is that Chena and Teal are fully convincing as real sisters. They love each other, and are capable of annoying each other only as real siblings can. One moment they are quibbling, the next playing a shared game that they made up. One of the games is to make up heroic stories about their missing dad, which they indulge in fully aware they are fantasies and not likely to be for real. Both girls are outgoing and inclined to get in trouble, but are still fully devoted to their mom and accept her corrections without question.
Chena is more than willing to fight for what she wants, even willing to take on a fistfight with a bigger boy her first day on Pandora rather than take an insult, but is then perfectly willing to make friends with the guy's sister. It's hard not to like someone like that. Determined to do her part and help her mom, she finds a way to make money in their new home, and eventually ends up in a fight with nearly the whole planet.
If this story has a flaw I think that the galactic crisis seems somewhat contrived. There is really very little explanation or theory why every human colony would go into an irretriveable death spiral, and the proposed solution really makes no sense. But that is the storm in the ocean; what this story is about is what is going on in the boat. Well worth reading.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Not quite paradise
18 Sep 2002
Format:Mass Market Paperback
As mutating diseases and environmental disasters devastate the various planetary colonies scattered around the galaxy, all eyes focus on the planet Pandora, an isolated research outpost, where it is hoped that a cure can be created. The Pandorans want to keep their planet pristine, so with the threat of invasion if they fail, they begin genetic experiments to find the cure. Helice Trust's genetic make-up is perfect for the experiments and the Pandorans eventually manipulate her into volunteering to bear the child they've created. The experiment turns out to be worth killing for, and Helice's two daughters Chena and Teal find themselves equal targets. Five years later, Chena and Teal are fugitives from the Pandoran scientists who are determined that they should take their mother's place. But there are other forces at work on Pandora that could be either friend or foe for the two teenagers, so whom can they trust? Zettel's novel is a compelling and fast-paced read that poses several intriguing ethical questions. While the five-year jump between parts one and two is quite jarring, it does make some sense for the story. And the ending is almost too tidy, but this doesn't take away from the overall enjoyment of "Kingdom of Cages", which ultimately is quite entertaining and thought-provoking. I'm not quite sure what the cover has to do with the story, though.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Lots of questions, but no easy answers
14 Dec 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This novel starts brilliantly, with an intriguing premise, a strange world and culture, and a cast of interesting, complex, yet likable characters. It's unfortunate that it peters out at the end, with a conclusion that manages to feel both rushed and hanging. I get the feeling this might have made a better duology, an idea reinforced by the five-year "jump" that occurs in the middle of the book which, while it ultimately makes sense, is nevertheless jarring.
My favorite aspect of the book is the fact that it presents all sides of every situation, from every perspective. We're first led to sympathize with the Pandoran's refusal to allow refugees to immigrate to their planet, then later to demonize them for it. Likewise, the interplanetary Authority and its representative, Beleraja Poulos, are first painted as bad guys, throwing their weight around and using force and terror to bully the Pandorans into helping them. Later, as we learn more about Beleraja and the situation she faces, we start to respect her courage. Zettel refuses to paint her characters in black and white; each has complicated motivations and conflicting values and it's quickly obvious that there's no "right" solution.
Even the situation presented to the two main protagonists, young sisters Chena and Teal Trust, is fraught with "do the ends justify the means" quandaries. Told their genetic makeup is uniquely suited to creating a cure for the mysterious disease striking colonized worlds across the galaxy, they are nevertheless hesitant to allow the Pandorans access to their bodies. Their qualms are perfectly understandable, yet also selfishly motivated. What if the Trusts could save lives through the sacrifice of their freedom (or perhaps lives)? Would it be worth it?
Zettel, unfortunately, makes little attempt to answer this question. The second half of the book seems to lose focus, dissolving into a confusing jumble of double-crossing. The scenes with the city-mind of Pandora, an artificial intelligence named Aleph, are so full of promise yet so ultimately confusing and secondary to the main plot that we are left frustrated.
Yet overall, this is a fascinating book with a lot of great ideas. The images of the ecology of Pandora are great, as are the descriptions of the unique culture the Pandorans have created to protect it. And Chena and Teal Trust are absolutely believable as adolescents and sisters, flawed yet likable and resourceful. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes intelligent science fiction.
My favorite aspect of the book is the fact that it presents all sides of every situation, from every perspective. We're first led to sympathize with the Pandoran's refusal to allow refugees to immigrate to their planet, then later to demonize them for it. Likewise, the interplanetary Authority and its representative, Beleraja Poulos, are first painted as bad guys, throwing their weight around and using force and terror to bully the Pandorans into helping them. Later, as we learn more about Beleraja and the situation she faces, we start to respect her courage. Zettel refuses to paint her characters in black and white; each has complicated motivations and conflicting values and it's quickly obvious that there's no "right" solution.
Even the situation presented to the two main protagonists, young sisters Chena and Teal Trust, is fraught with "do the ends justify the means" quandaries. Told their genetic makeup is uniquely suited to creating a cure for the mysterious disease striking colonized worlds across the galaxy, they are nevertheless hesitant to allow the Pandorans access to their bodies. Their qualms are perfectly understandable, yet also selfishly motivated. What if the Trusts could save lives through the sacrifice of their freedom (or perhaps lives)? Would it be worth it?
Zettel, unfortunately, makes little attempt to answer this question. The second half of the book seems to lose focus, dissolving into a confusing jumble of double-crossing. The scenes with the city-mind of Pandora, an artificial intelligence named Aleph, are so full of promise yet so ultimately confusing and secondary to the main plot that we are left frustrated.
Yet overall, this is a fascinating book with a lot of great ideas. The images of the ecology of Pandora are great, as are the descriptions of the unique culture the Pandorans have created to protect it. And Chena and Teal Trust are absolutely believable as adolescents and sisters, flawed yet likable and resourceful. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes intelligent science fiction.
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