- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: St Martins Pr (April 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312871627
- ISBN-13: 978-0312871628
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Product Description
Review
"The world-building is magnificently detailed; the characters are done with deftness and wit."--"Chicago Sun-Times" on "Daughter of Elysium"
"By the time the conflict she introduces in Part One has moved to center stage, you not only know the antagonist intimately, you care passionately about the outcome."--"New York Times Book Review "on "A Door Into Ocean"
"Slonczewski, a biologist, effectively describes a scary new world, filled with quaint-talking humans and primitive ways, whose fate is not resolved until a young female embarks on a quest that reveals the true nature of the aliens."--"The Wall Street Journal "on "The Wall Around Eden "
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"By the time the conflict she introduces in Part One has moved to center stage, you not only know the antagonist intimately, you care passionately about the outcome."--"New York Times Book Review "on "A Door Into Ocean"
"Slonczewski, a biologist, effectively describes a scary new world, filled with quaint-talking humans and primitive ways, whose fate is not resolved until a young female embarks on a quest that reveals the true nature of the aliens."--"The Wall Street Journal "on "The Wall Around Eden "
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
The planet of Prokaryon is harsh and alien, uninhabitable for normal humans - accessible only to those willing to be genetically altered, a long and painful process. This marks it as the perfect site for a colony of orphans. Founded by Brother Rod and his fellow Spirit Brethren, the colony offers them a chance to forge a new home in relative peace. But all is not as it seems on Prokaryon. Sudden, fortuitous rainstorms quench forest fires and then rapidly dissipate. The entire planet's ecosystem is highly structured - too structured to have been formed by the randomness of nature. But decades of research have turned up no real evidence of any "hidden masters" of Prokaryon. So when Proteus Unlimited, a greedy interstellar corporation, plans to terraform Prokaryon, first mining it and then making it habitable by normal humans, thereby netting huge profits, the search for native intelligent life becomes a frantic race against time. Lost in this shuffle of bureaucracy and greed is this simple colony of orphans, whose settlement will be wiped out if the entire surface of the planet is boiled off.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a landmark piece of science fiction. It introduces two new themes which are likely to sweep the world of science fiction, eventually becoming part of its stock in trade.
The first of these is 'lifeshaping" -- the author's felicitous alternative to terms like "genetic engineering" or "biotech". The very term suggests the immense possibilities opening up as the result of current developments in microbiology. Joan Slonczewski, a professional microbiologist, very capably projects the good things we may be able to do, and makes them plausible. Her exploration of the moral and social implications is, in my estimation, much deeper than much of what commonly passes for "bio-ethics".
It's almost impossible to invent a theme that is entirely new to science fiction, and Slonczewski herself has written previously of "lifeshaping". However, sometimes a theme that's been around explodes into prominence because of developments that catch the public fancy -- in this case, the cloning of "Dolly". Cloning is (literally) a baby step towards lifeshaping, and may or may not be advisable in its own right, but it's important that the broader vision of lifeshaping figure into the discussion. "The Children Star" puts that vision forward eloquently.
One subtheme which I find particularly important is that lifeshaping can serve as an alternative to "terraforming". The latter is set up in this story as a straw man: inconceivably rough handling of a planet to make it human-habitable, in circumstances where the planet is more than a lifeless rock to start with. Personally, I anticipate that most planetary bodies will be found initially lifeless, and that we will have to use all the tricks at our command to establish a space frontier at all. Lifeshaping looks like a welcome addition to our toolbox, not a substitute for other aids.
Sooner or later, too, it will occur to somebody that if we can "lifeshape" human beings to fit extraterrestrial environments, we may be able to lifeshape diverse forms of human beings to fit an evolving ecology here on Earth.
I can't comment on the second landmark theme (yes, "lifeshaping" was just the first), because it's the surprise solution to a mystery which builds up throughout the story. Suffice it to say that it's more speculative than lifeshaping, but would justify the book all by itself.
Format:Hardcover
Wow! This book turned out to be quite a surprise. I generally don't like "child-themed" science fiction so had left this one on my reading stack for a while. When I finally did get into the first few chapters, I found out how my preconceptions from the book's title, and the blurb on the back cover were totally off base.
The very depth of mathematics and biology that are explored, within the context of a most fascinating story, are both mind expanding and enlightening. There is quite a bit more here than first meets the eye. The plotting and storyline combined with the hard science make this a most memorable and worth while novel. Highly Recommended.
Format:Hardcover
James blish wrote stories where people are altered to fit the environment way back in the 50's, but maybe there's more to "lifeshaping" than that.unusual mixture. END
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