So, yesterday was the official kick-off of the Keep Portland Weird festival here in Paris, which meant that I had a reading/screening in the...
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This is one of my favorite books. It's technically the second in the series, but set centuries after A Door Into Ocean, so you could probably start here if you wanted.
The main characters are members of the Windclan family: Raincloud, her husband Blackbear, and their children Hawktalon and Sunflower (and Blueskywind, who is born partway through the novel). They're from a mildly matriarchal religious minority group called the Clickers on the planet Bronze Sky. Clicker society values children highly, to the point where it is unusual to see an adult without a child in tow, and I loved how well the children were integrated into the story. They acted like believable children, without being saccharine and annoying.
The Windclans have temporarily moved to one of the contained Elysian cities on the planet Shora, where Raincloud will act as a translator in a sticky political situation with a third, warmongering planet, and Blackbear will join in the Elysians' research on genetic engineering for longevity. It's a culture clash as they try to adjust to living in an enclosed city where children are raised in communal creches away from adults and inhabitants can expect to live a thousand years or more. Shora's native Sharers, who still live on their massive living rafts, have strong opinions about genetic engineering, terraforming, and related topics, and they aren't shy about expressing their disagreements with the Elysians. Meanwhile, Hawktalon and Sunflower spend time playing with the city's robots; not having preconceived notions about robot intelligence like the adults, they're more willing to believe that when the robots act like people, it's because maybe they are...
This book includes a lot of ideas and ethical debates, but it's all woven into a gripping story involving assassination attempts, banking shenanigans, sit-ins, conspiracies, robot uprisings, and all sorts of other adventures.
This is one of my favorite books, along with its sequel Daughter of Elysium.
The book takes place on the Earthlike planet Valedon and its ocean-covered moon, Shora. The Valans have a socially stratified society which ranges from noble families in shiny urban environments (with the not-so-shiny parts and the poor kept carefully hidden from casual visitors) to dusty little rural towns. Spinel, the son of a stonecutter, lives in one of these little towns, not sure how good his prospects for the future are. Then one day two Sharers from Shora arrive and sit under a tree in the main square which one of the merchants jealously guards as his alone. Problem is, the Sharers don't have quite the same conception of property as the Valans... Soon the Sharers have offered to take Spinel back to Shora as a sort of apprentice/foster son - which his parents think is a great opportunity, since they can't really provide for him if he doesn't get an apprenticeship, and the Sharers are known for their amazing medicines and other valuable trade goods.
It's a major culture clash. The Sharers don't understand deliberate violence, rigid social hierarchy and autocratic control, or poverty or any of a number of things Spinel takes for granted. (This doesn't mean that they're all nice and get along, or that they have life perfectly figured out, mind.) Besides that, they live on giant living raft-trees in the ocean, and he can barely swim! He's never had so much seafood in his life, either. At first, the Sharers look low-tech to Spinel, but soon prove to have highly advanced biotechnology. Which it turns out they use to reproduce, since they haven't had men for thousands of years. (This means they aren't sure what to make of Spinel sometimes, but they come to accept him.) And the Sharers are getting fed up with Valedon's trade policies - they get the idea of sharing items so both parties get something they value, and have been trading their seasilk and medicines for metal cables (to tether the starworms which drive the rafts) and gems for a while. Unfortunately, since stone is unknown on their ocean world, some Sharers have become "stonesick" - obsessed with gems. Many Sharers favor closing off all contact with Valedon. Spinel finds himself in the middle of an invasion when Valedon decides it's time to take over Shora to keep the trade going, on their terms, and the Sharers respond with massive non-violent resistance
It's a great story with adventure, epic non-battles, kids learning to grow up, revolution, really neat biotech, and lots of characters struggling with divided loyalties and ethical problems.
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Emily Blodget has commented on (2) products.
Daughter of Elysium - An Elysium Cycle Novel by Joan Slonczewski
Emily Blodget, September 28, 2011
This is one of my favorite books. It's technically the second in the series, but set centuries after A Door Into Ocean, so you could probably start here if you wanted.The main characters are members of the Windclan family: Raincloud, her husband Blackbear, and their children Hawktalon and Sunflower (and Blueskywind, who is born partway through the novel). They're from a mildly matriarchal religious minority group called the Clickers on the planet Bronze Sky. Clicker society values children highly, to the point where it is unusual to see an adult without a child in tow, and I loved how well the children were integrated into the story. They acted like believable children, without being saccharine and annoying.
The Windclans have temporarily moved to one of the contained Elysian cities on the planet Shora, where Raincloud will act as a translator in a sticky political situation with a third, warmongering planet, and Blackbear will join in the Elysians' research on genetic engineering for longevity. It's a culture clash as they try to adjust to living in an enclosed city where children are raised in communal creches away from adults and inhabitants can expect to live a thousand years or more. Shora's native Sharers, who still live on their massive living rafts, have strong opinions about genetic engineering, terraforming, and related topics, and they aren't shy about expressing their disagreements with the Elysians. Meanwhile, Hawktalon and Sunflower spend time playing with the city's robots; not having preconceived notions about robot intelligence like the adults, they're more willing to believe that when the robots act like people, it's because maybe they are...
This book includes a lot of ideas and ethical debates, but it's all woven into a gripping story involving assassination attempts, banking shenanigans, sit-ins, conspiracies, robot uprisings, and all sorts of other adventures.
Door Into Ocean (86 Edition) by Joan Slonczewski
Emily Blodget, September 26, 2011
This is one of my favorite books, along with its sequel Daughter of Elysium.The book takes place on the Earthlike planet Valedon and its ocean-covered moon, Shora. The Valans have a socially stratified society which ranges from noble families in shiny urban environments (with the not-so-shiny parts and the poor kept carefully hidden from casual visitors) to dusty little rural towns. Spinel, the son of a stonecutter, lives in one of these little towns, not sure how good his prospects for the future are. Then one day two Sharers from Shora arrive and sit under a tree in the main square which one of the merchants jealously guards as his alone. Problem is, the Sharers don't have quite the same conception of property as the Valans... Soon the Sharers have offered to take Spinel back to Shora as a sort of apprentice/foster son - which his parents think is a great opportunity, since they can't really provide for him if he doesn't get an apprenticeship, and the Sharers are known for their amazing medicines and other valuable trade goods.
It's a major culture clash. The Sharers don't understand deliberate violence, rigid social hierarchy and autocratic control, or poverty or any of a number of things Spinel takes for granted. (This doesn't mean that they're all nice and get along, or that they have life perfectly figured out, mind.) Besides that, they live on giant living raft-trees in the ocean, and he can barely swim! He's never had so much seafood in his life, either. At first, the Sharers look low-tech to Spinel, but soon prove to have highly advanced biotechnology. Which it turns out they use to reproduce, since they haven't had men for thousands of years. (This means they aren't sure what to make of Spinel sometimes, but they come to accept him.) And the Sharers are getting fed up with Valedon's trade policies - they get the idea of sharing items so both parties get something they value, and have been trading their seasilk and medicines for metal cables (to tether the starworms which drive the rafts) and gems for a while. Unfortunately, since stone is unknown on their ocean world, some Sharers have become "stonesick" - obsessed with gems. Many Sharers favor closing off all contact with Valedon. Spinel finds himself in the middle of an invasion when Valedon decides it's time to take over Shora to keep the trade going, on their terms, and the Sharers respond with massive non-violent resistance
It's a great story with adventure, epic non-battles, kids learning to grow up, revolution, really neat biotech, and lots of characters struggling with divided loyalties and ethical problems.