- Paperback
- Publisher: Avon Books (Mm); Reprint edition (Jan 1988)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0380700557
- ISBN-13: 978-0380700554
- Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 10.4 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,705,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A boy, who has known nothing in his brief life but love and darkness, forces open a window and sees for the first time the outside world, which also sees him: an illegal immigrant by birth. Arrested, his parents tortured to death, we see through Thomas Windoms eyes a race preparing to deal with overpopulation in the only manner left.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Hugo, Nebula, and Campbell Award winner, Barry Longyear is author of the acclaimed Enemy Mine, made into a major motion picture by Fox. Recent works include The Enemy Papers and Yesterdays Tomorrow. Having completed training as a PI, his current work is a mystery titled The Gentleman Prefers Blood. He lives with his wife, Jean, in New Sharon, Maine.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I originally read this novel as a teenager and was blown away. I re-read it recently and enjoyed it again. It is set in the future when the world population is out of control and reproduction is limited by the state. Thomas Windom is an illegal child taken from his parents at a young age and placed in a brutal state orphanage. The book tells Thomas's story as he grows up and discovers the reasons behind his harsh reality, the necessity for the MACIII computer, and the role he has to play in the future it is creating.
Is free will an illusion? Thoroughly recommended.
Is free will an illusion? Thoroughly recommended.
Format:Paperback
I read this in my late teens and it's got some haunting prose throughout.
While veering off towards the end you can forgive Barry Longyear for this as it is written from the main character's perspective and he is clearly off the rails by the novel's finish.
Some scenes still haunt me (the revenge on the orphanage guard, Thomas sharing the bed of a teenage female mentor who takes advantage of him and the downbeat ending to name just three).
Well reccomended but very heavy.
While veering off towards the end you can forgive Barry Longyear for this as it is written from the main character's perspective and he is clearly off the rails by the novel's finish.
Some scenes still haunt me (the revenge on the orphanage guard, Thomas sharing the bed of a teenage female mentor who takes advantage of him and the downbeat ending to name just three).
Well reccomended but very heavy.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
15 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Beautiful work
4 April 2006
Format:Paperback
When I was a kid, I had pretty typical taste in Science Fiction. It was Heinlein, Asimov, and even some Piers Anthony.
This book changed how I thought about science fiction. It says something, not only about the fictional world, but about our world. Instead of being about rough sketches of a characters to advance an idea, it's about a child growing up and finding out what his world is and what it means.
At the same time... man, is it bleak. I recommend this book to everyone, but some people just put it down midway because they don't like the ideas that that world has to live by. It's not a book for kids, but that's why I loved it, and think it's a book that everyone should read.
This book changed how I thought about science fiction. It says something, not only about the fictional world, but about our world. Instead of being about rough sketches of a characters to advance an idea, it's about a child growing up and finding out what his world is and what it means.
At the same time... man, is it bleak. I recommend this book to everyone, but some people just put it down midway because they don't like the ideas that that world has to live by. It's not a book for kids, but that's why I loved it, and think it's a book that everyone should read.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Chilling
11 Feb 2005
Format:Paperback
Thomas Windom's only sin was being born an illegal child in this Malthusian nightmare set in the not-too-distant future of an overpopulated Earth. Tommy is thrown into a brutal work camp with other illegal children, a place filled with unspeakable brutality and the aching sweetness of first love. He inevitably turns to studying the system which has enslaved him and discovers the key to the prophecy made by the all-knowing computer, Mac III, which runs this frighteningly believable world. The ideas and images remain with you long after the book is over. Unforgettable.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Powerful, Chilling, Superb
17 Nov 2005
Format:Paperback
A darkly gripping and starkly graphic picture of the near future, told in compelling first-person by the central character, as he grows from child to adult. Difficult to put down, almost forcing the reader to continue to the end. Certainly among Longyear's best, and easily on the long list of alltime best sci-fi novels.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
