- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Orb Books; 1 Reprint edition (Nov 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312876505
- ISBN-13: 978-0312876500
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 14 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,571,449 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
Out beyond the Enclaves, in the desolation between the cities, an Indian flyer has been downed. A chip encoded with vital secrets is missing. Only Gahzee can venture forth to find him--walking the line between the Dreamtime and the Realtime, bringing his people's ancient magic to bear on the poisoned world of tomorrow.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
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
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a departure from de Lint's usual mix of present day city life with Native North American myth and legend, this is set in a post-apocalyptic future. It is an excellent story and is thoroughly enjoyable.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is a bit of an oddity, interesting rather than good
It focuses on Gahzee, an American Indian who must leave his Enclave, which is free from the pollution that has wrecked the rest of North America (and the world) to recover some of the Enclave's high technology that has found its way out and into the wasteland.
The outside world is your typical post-apocalyptic wasteland, with Japanese Corporations taking over what is left. And this is where the first of the books problems come in. The Japanese characters are very stereotypical Yakuza, obsessed by personal honour and revenge.
The American Indians too are stereotypical, more 'spiritual' than other people, and not a little bit smug with it.
Finally, for some reason in the book the American Indian Enclaves had a higher technology than the rest of the world. I did wonder if it came from an outside source, but apparently not. It wasn't expalained and just seemed to be there to demonstate that 'native' ways were superior to Western ones.
That said, it was well written, and despite its faults, I'm glad I gave it a try. I just wish he had ironed out some of the faults, and it could have been an excellent book. Still, other people might get more out of this than me.
It focuses on Gahzee, an American Indian who must leave his Enclave, which is free from the pollution that has wrecked the rest of North America (and the world) to recover some of the Enclave's high technology that has found its way out and into the wasteland.
The outside world is your typical post-apocalyptic wasteland, with Japanese Corporations taking over what is left. And this is where the first of the books problems come in. The Japanese characters are very stereotypical Yakuza, obsessed by personal honour and revenge.
The American Indians too are stereotypical, more 'spiritual' than other people, and not a little bit smug with it.
Finally, for some reason in the book the American Indian Enclaves had a higher technology than the rest of the world. I did wonder if it came from an outside source, but apparently not. It wasn't expalained and just seemed to be there to demonstate that 'native' ways were superior to Western ones.
That said, it was well written, and despite its faults, I'm glad I gave it a try. I just wish he had ironed out some of the faults, and it could have been an excellent book. Still, other people might get more out of this than me.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
15 reviews
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
A mystical sf adventure that works
28 Oct 2000
Format:Paperback
As the twenty-first century is half way through its final decade, the world is a terrible place to live except for the Enclaves. Most of the residents of the planet live in polluted communities ruled totally by money and greed with things turning worse all the time as the world nears collapse under the weight of destruction and devastation and dissolution. On the other hand, the Enclave is a clean environment where the tribes thrive in peace. The powers of the disease ridden environs outside the Enclave blame the problems on the Tribes as a means of diverting accountability by using a convenient scapegoat to silent the masses.
A flyer containing an Enclave technological chip that could help cleanse the world crashes in the outside. Afraid that it will be misused, the Enclavers send Gahzee into the precarious mess to retrieve the chip before the outside world begins encroachment on the Enclaves.
SVAHA is a reprint of the classic tale of Native American magic mingling in a world on the eve of destruction caused by self-interests polluting the environment and the minds of the people. The story line is fast-paced, filled with action, and loaded with fully developed characters representing different sides of the conflict. This novel shows why Charles de Lint has been so highly regarded by fans of science fiction and fantasy for well over a decade. Readers of HIERO'S JOURNEY will fully relish this great tale.
Harriet Klausner
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
A great book! Get it before it disappears again!
18 Jan 2001
Format:Paperback
I really like de Lint's urban fantasy for its grittiness and despair which exists alongside its hope and beauty. I would call this book science fiction-- it takes place in the future and deals with technology we clearly don't have. It also deals with Native American/ Aboriginal spirituality and Dreamtime. It's a beautiful quest book about creating community in an awful time and place between people who are not terrible and not immediately identifiable as 'community.' I am very glad to see this book is now in print again, it deserves a large audience. I had to wait for years to find a copy, you won't have to.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Not so sure about this.
22 Jan 2003
Format:Paperback
I love, love, LOVE de Lint. But Svaha...Svaha left me a little cold. I enjoyed reading it, sure, but it didn't affect me the way his books usually do. Part of the problem, I think, is that I don't think even de Lint knew what he wanted this book to be about. There is an element of Japanese culture, the cliched wastelands, the mandatory Native spirituality...but nothing really tying any of them together. The book revs up an adrenaline high early on, keeps it going, and then just ENDS. In, like, a page, the story reaches its climax and conclusion, and the reader is left thinking, "What? It's DONE?" The story doesn't feel finished to me. There is also the annoying gratuitous character death, which is really atypical for de Lint. He keeps introducing these characters, mostly walking sci-fi charicatures, and then kills them off. Also, there was what I have come to call the "Wyrd Science" problem--the panoramic view of the future, the technology--basically, all the sci-fi stuff just sounded sort of off to me.
Don't get me wrong, here...the writing is pretty damn good, and a bad de Lint is better than a great Nina Kiriki Whatsername any day. But this just didn't quite work for me.
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
- Books > Fantasy > Contemporary
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.
