by
Liz Williams
ISBN: 0-553-58498-7 Order from: Amazon.com
A pleasant novel, with strong characters and weak science, of human evolution and the boundaries between familiar and exotic.
Reviewed by David on August 10, 2003
Genre: Science Fiction (Regressed Colony)
Synopsis: Monde D'Isle is populated by a humanoid race, with low technology but well organized in small towns. However, unlike more normal humans, they have senses and instincts that make them strong, fast and sensitive. But these animal-like abilities come with a price: a fierceness that makes them deadly, and sometimes self-destructive.
A small expedition from a nearby colony comes to this world in search of lost colony to befriend and enlighten. But the mysteries of this world bring dangerous change to both the natives and the visitors.
Full Review: This book is well-written and entertaining, describing a people balancing between the joy and danger of savage instinct and the calming, sometimes stifling civilization. Like exotic werewolves, they exalt in their instincts and rue the bloody results. The characters are generally interesting, but the book dilutes the emotional intensity between multiple viewpoints.
The native society is fascinating, in its exposure of our own dreams and nighmares, and howing the quest for a precarious but satisfying balance between nature and civilization. The science behind Monde D'Isle seems implausible, but can be mostly ignored in favor of its fascinating effects.
The visitors from technological Irie St Sire seem mostly two-dimensional except for the viewpoint anthropologist.
The combination is a flawed but ultimately satisfying exploration of the near-human alien, and the search for the foundations of happiness, as a combination of the famliar and the exotic.
Overall: 5.5; Plot: 5.5; Characters: 6; Style: 6; World-building: 6; Originality: 6;
Copyright date 2001, Bantam Books (Bantam Spectra), July 2001, Mass market paperback, 339 pages
ISBN: 0-553-58498-7 Order from: Amazon.com