- Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Spectra Books (Jun 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0553583743
- ISBN-13: 978-0553583748
- Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 1.9 x 17.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 843,138 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The fate of a planet lies with an outcast woman and a mysterious visitor....
In this richly imagined and thought-provoking novel, Liz Williams tells the story of a world engineered to preserve the precarious balance between animal and human. To this world comes an emissary from a distant planet who will walk the razor-thin line between consciousness and instinct, freedom and conformity, life and death.
On Monde D'Isle a rugged people live in union with their world. They migrate with the tides of the moon, sense the meridians of the planet, and slip into a Dreamtime that grants them access to -- and escape from -- the darker urges of their animal nature.
Mevennen ai Mordha is out of tune with her people's "bloodmind." She is protected by her devoted brother Eleres, who refuses to listen to those who say that Mevennen is not fit to live. Still, Mevennen fears that even her brother will give in to his instincts during the time of the hunt, when the Mondhaith seek out the weakest as their prey.
Taking her on an expedition in hope of a cure, Eleres has brought Mevennen deep into the wilderness. There they are visited by a strange woman who they are certain is a ghost, but who is really a Gaian anthropologist charged with bringing utopia to their world. She promises to heal Mevennen -- but it is a promise that comes with a terrible price....
In this richly imagined and thought-provoking novel, Liz Williams tells the story of a world engineered to preserve the precarious balance between animal and human. To this world comes an emissary from a distant planet who will walk the razor-thin line between consciousness and instinct, freedom and conformity, life and death.
On Monde D'Isle a rugged people live in union with their world. They migrate with the tides of the moon, sense the meridians of the planet, and slip into a Dreamtime that grants them access to -- and escape from -- the darker urges of their animal nature.
Mevennen ai Mordha is out of tune with her people's "bloodmind." She is protected by her devoted brother Eleres, who refuses to listen to those who say that Mevennen is not fit to live. Still, Mevennen fears that even her brother will give in to his instincts during the time of the hunt, when the Mondhaith seek out the weakest as their prey.
Taking her on an expedition in hope of a cure, Eleres has brought Mevennen deep into the wilderness. There they are visited by a strange woman who they are certain is a ghost, but who is really a Gaian anthropologist charged with bringing utopia to their world. She promises to heal Mevennen -- but it is a promise that comes with a terrible price....
From the Back Cover
On the planet Monde D'Isle a rugged human-descended people live in union with their world. They migrate with the tides of the moon, sense the meridians of the planet and slip into a Dreamtime that grants them access to - and escape from - the darker urges of their animal nature. But Mevennen is out of tune with her people's bloodmind and fears for her life during the time of the hunt, when her people seek out the weakest as their prey. And she seems haunted by a ghost.
Now an expedition has arrived on Monde D'Isle, charged with bringing utopia to this lost colony. The "ghost" is anthropologist Shu Idaan Gho and she promises to heal Mevennen - but it is a promise that comes with a price the whole world must pay. And why should the world want to?
The Ghost Sister was first published in the US in 2001 to immediate acclaim: it was a New York Times Notable Book of 2001, it was nominated for the Philip K. Dick and the Spectrum Awards (Best Novel), and in the UK it was on the shortlist for BSFA best novel. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is another complex vision of two worlds, meeting in mutual incomprehension. It is completely different in both tone and content from Empire of Bones, but equally excellent and absorbing.
Themes include moral responsibility, the nature of consciousness, the problem with anthropology, subjectivity versus objectivity, the observer affecting the observed etc. There are also two conflicting versions of Gaianism, which reflects contemporary issues about the best way to interact with our own planet.
Liz Williams manages to deal with profound issues in a subtle & non-didactic way. The characters play out their drama with a sense of tragic inevitability, but the involvement of the offworld anthropologist affects both them and her. The technology is convincing as well.
I loved the ideas in this book - the way the people of Mondhile interact with their landscape, the descriptions of their world and its history. The multiple-perspective narrative is great too, because you get the viewpoints of all the different characters. Highly recommended.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Unique speculative fiction
28 Jun 2001
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The founders of the colony on remote Monde D'Isle established the prime directive of harmony with nature. Thus, the life cycles of the descendants tie into the planet's pulse including a feral urge to unleash their animal instincts. The weak are systematically killed.
Somehow Mevennen ai Mordha survived her time out in the wild, but upon returning everyone knew something was wrong with her. Her family wanted to kill Mevennen as befitting the weak as only the strong survives. Only her brother Eleres and the Satahrach Luta kept her alive. However, as the tides have increased in velocity, Mevennen suffers increasing fits. To save his beloved sister Eleres takes her inland to an abandoned tower. Not long afterward off-planet individuals arrive. Mevennen believes she sees a ghost while the visitor insists she is a Gaian anthropologist sent to help the people.
THE GHOST SISTER is an engaging science fiction novel that follows closely a culture that seems like nomads living within the cleansing of Ancient Sparta. The story line moves slowly forward to insure the reader understands the civilization and the key players. Fans of speculative fiction that focuses on characters and lifestyles will enjoy Liz Wlliams's THE GHOST SISTER.
Harriet Klausner
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Intelligent fantasy for thinking people
13 July 2001
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Liz Williams' first novel fulfils the promise of her short stories. This is an intelligent book which skilfully combines a richly realized fantasy setting with clever science-fiction ideas; the blurring of the boundaries between the magical and the scientific is reminiscent of Ursula Le Guin.
This is a story in which you are invited to immerse yourself completely in the mindset of two very alien cultures - and explore what happens when these cultures collide. It is a thoughtful exploration of the philosophical aspects of cultural miscommunication, in a situation where all concerned are acting for the best.
Williams' trademark sense of place means that the country through which the characters pass is evocative and beautiful; the land itself, to which the characters are so tightly bound, is an important aspect of the book, and Williams' superior descriptions do it great justice.
An excellent first novel, and I am looking forward greatly to her second.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Ghost Sister
30 Oct 2003
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Humans return to a long-lost colony. But do they bring enlightenment or destruction to the people who have become natives of Monde D'Isle?
I've been working my way through Liz Williams' books and enjoying them; this is my favorite so far. She creates a beautiful and fascinating world, peopled with interesting and well-drawn people. Ideas are particularly strong in her work, and Ghost Sister, with its genetically modified, wild and tormented not-quite-humans, is no exception. I found the stifling ideology that informs the new human mission to be believable, if fanatical, and quite frightening; I spent the last quarter of the book in terror that I was about to read another That Ancient Light. The characters are sympathetic and vivid, particularly the questioning, idealist Elerres.
Williams is a good sentence-level writer, but at times an overly formal, slightly stiff diction creeps into this particular novel, which lessens its emotional immediacy. Elerres' narration seems particularly prone to this. I would have liked the climax to be a bit bigger and more dramatic, and I wanted to see more of the world -- which in itself is an indication of good worldbuilding, since I got the impression there was more to see. Williams doesn't seem to write in series, but more work set among the Mondhaith would be welcome.
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