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Earth Made Of Glass (Paperback)

by John Barnes (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; New edition edition (8 April 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0752816586
  • ISBN-13: 978-0752816586
  • Product Dimensions: 18 x 11 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,224,896 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #27 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > B > Barnes, John

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
In a sequel to A Million Open Doors, John Barnes writes another novel in the universe of the Thousand Cultures. Humanity dwells in colonies (some natural and some artificial) spread over hundreds of planets that lost touch with each other for more than a thousand years. Due to the invention of the springer, an instantaneous teleportation device, the worlds are communicating again. But after centuries of isolation, reunification results in intense cultural and economic stress.

Giraut and Margaret, characters from the earlier book, are now a husband and wife diplomatic team for the Council of Humanity. They also do clandestine work for the Office of Special Projects, an undercover organisation that deals with serious problems that result when local governments prove intractable. Their next assignment: promote peace and co-operation on Briand, a hellish planet whose physical hostility is matched only by the hatred its two cultures show to each other.

Tamil Mandalam was founded by classical Tamils, and Kintulum was founded by classical Mayans. Tamils believe themselves to be perfect and believe that once the springer does open Briand to humanity, they will show the rest of the universe how to live. The Mayans, when they communicate at all, apparently feel the same way. The magnificence of each culture's accomplishments in art and literature is overshadowed by citizens' bigotry.

A difficult assignment indeed; as if high gravity, high temperatures and ethnic attacks weren't enough, Giraut and Margaret's mission grows even more troublesome because of their marital problems, Margaret's depression and the bureaucratic thick-headedness of Briand's Ambassador. --Bonnie Bouman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
At the furthest reaches of the galaxy exist the Thousand Cultures, societies scattered across 31 inhabited worlds in 25 star systems. The Inner Complex - which includes Earth - has been able to exert control over the Thousand Cultures because it contains 90% of all human population and because all traffic must pass through it. But humanity is expanding and the complexes are beginning to fight over access to the frontier worlds. Giraut and Margaret are posted to the frontline - Quidde, base of Chaka Home: a culture based on a Millennialist black American sect claiming spiritual descent from Chaka Zulu's army. But they aren't the only culture on Quidde and history looks very much like repeating itself as three factions engage in a struggle that echoes the bloody twentieth century wars in Rwanda and Bosnia. Giraut and Margaret must hunt out the last vestiges of good in a corrupt world - or risk seeing humanity as we know it disappear forever.

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3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but unfortunate., 16 Jun 1999
By A Customer
The ideas in this book are interesting: a huge interstellar culture discovers instantanous transportation and so must attempt to pacify the agressive elements on far flung posts of the former expansion.

However, this book suffers from mediocraty. The story is a little depressing and dark, without being briliantly so as in Consider Plebias (Ian Banks). The charicters are not particularly strongly developed and are a little one dimensional. The book ends rather abruptly, like the author reached the word limit and had to round up.

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Good follow-up to 'A Million Open Doors', 10 May 1999
By A Customer
If you haven't read 'A Million Open Doors', stop now. Go read that, and find out about the Thousand Cultures of humanity and the attempts to reunify them now that the 'springer', the hoary old sci-fi gimmick of instantaneous transport, has put them back in touch.

OK, so now to EMOG. The main characters of AMOD, Giraut and Margaret, are sent to the bum-hole of the universe, an isolated world with little habitable land and two mutually antagonistic cultures, one Tamil and one Mayan. The progress of their diplomatic mission is set against their attempts to save their marriage and the results, while not remotely unexpected, leave you with a sense of sadness and horror.

A beautifully painted book, with wonderful descriptions of the clashing cultures and a supporting cast that are more believable that the protagonists. It made me feel as if I was in high-tech version of 15th century Asian or American cities: definitely worth a read.

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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting look at culture clashes, 24 Sep 2008
By Rod Williams "hairybloke@aol.com" (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
Barnes' sequel to the impressive `A Million Open Doors' sees cultural agents from the Council of Humanity's Special Projects Office Giraut Leones and his wife Margaret, sent to the 1.3 gravity world of Briand.
The backstory is that Humanity has been spread over numerous planets for hundreds of years, each of which is home to one or more cultures, some of which are (or were) recreated dead cultures from Earth's past.
Most of the cultures have now been reassimilated into `Interstellar Culture' mainly due to the fact that ancient alien artifacts have been discovered on several worlds, and the Council of Humanity wants a united Human race to meet the inevitable First Contact.
Briand is a literary work of art in itself. It is a volcanic poisonous world whose only habitable areas are two island plateaux. On these were settled recreated Tamil and Mayan civilisations. Unfortunately, the Mayan plateau was rendered uninhabitable by a volcano eruption and the Mayans had to be relocated on the Tamil plateau.
Tensions between the two cultures run high and the OSP agents are sent in to attempt a diplomatic solution.
Barnes' scene-setting, descriptive skills and characterisation are top-notch and meld to produce a complex and compelling novel.
It's a novel about relationships (between individuals and cultures); about the nature of Truth, the power and danger of fundamentalist belief systems and it's also about love.
The simmering hatred of the two cultures for each other is contrasted with the marriage of Giraut and Margaret, whose failure to communicate with each other is mirrored by the tension between the Mayans and the Tamils.
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