Beggars Ride (Sleepless, #3)

Beggars Ride (Sleepless Trilogy #3)

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3.77 of 5 stars 3.77  ·  rating details  ·  622 ratings  ·  29 reviews
Nancy Kress, one of the leading writers of science fiction today, has written a number of provocative and award-winning stories and novels. But it is with the Beggars trilogy that she has reached the pinnacle of her success. Developed out of her Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novella, "Beggars in Spain," the trilogy was launched with Beggars in Spain (1993), also a Nebula n
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Paperback, 416 pages
Published December 15th 1997 by Tom Doherty Associates (first published 1996)
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Ben Babcock
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Cindy
Third in the Beggars series: Beggars in Spain, Beggars And Choosers and Beggars Ride.

What a series! Social SF at its best!

Kress starts off with a simple premise: what if we could genetically modify our children so that they didn't need sleep? She follows all the complicated, society-changing implications from there. (Hint: there's way more than you'd think!) Honestly, after reading the Hugo-award winning novella, I didn't see how it could continue; I thought she had explored all the moral and so...more
David
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Lori (Hellian)
4.5 for the whole series. Not a 5 because I have some quibbles. Most of which revolved around Kress' evil characters, which are stockboard 1 dimensional - BUT her other characters are fully scoped out and are real people in our imagination.

There are many issues here at play aside from biogenesis. I mean economic, class, political, and social. Also examination of our choices. I probably continue to update as I continue to reflect on different ones.

Right now I am most thoughtful about what is it...more
Devero
Si tratta del terzo romanzo, che chiude il ciclo degli “Insonni“ iniziato con Mendicanti di Spagna in Urania 1315 e proseguito con Mendicanti e Superuomini in Urania 1341. In altre sedi avevo scritto dell’ottimo inizio del ciclo che, tutto sommato, ha mantenuto anche nei seguiti le aspettative. L’idea di base è che in seguito alle conoscenze di manipolazione genetica si riesca ad ottenere bambini migliori. Bambini che non hanno necessità di dormire, che quindi vivono 24 ore su 24, imparano 24 or...more
Fred
I d like nancy kress books way more if she didnt feel the need to give frankly such a central role to characters that are not only far less interesting than the other "donkeys" for example but also struggling with issues you d expect to see in a coming of age story rather than something about adults.
There s also an overreliance on "difference is good" and geniuses in her novel tend to come from statistically unlikely place( given that they re also more or less fortuously mixed into the plot). Al...more
Bron
Most people on the planet have now been changed by a solution given out by the "Super Sleepless", the dynamics of the groups have once more changed, with the "Livers" no longer dependant on the "Donkeys". Unfortunately this has left the Livers homeless and cold, and now Lizzie's tribe is dependant on her in more ways than they could guess.

This trip into a futuristic world of genetic modifications and shifts in social structure are amazing, the imagination that has been used to make this, the thi...more
Charles Spitzig
The basis of this book was genetics. It takes up (27?) years after the second book in the series. I'd expected that book to be the last.

It continues the cold(sometimes) war between a group of genetically altered and the rest of humanity. The group of genetically altered are the "Sleepless"-genetically altered to have the ability to use an extra 8 hours every day. Also, usually altered to be intelligent and attractive. But, lots of people are scared of the competition. The first two books were mo...more
Marya
I was not sure if I was going to read this series after the first one, yet the characters stuck in my mind, just what was happening to them? And so I picked up the second, and then the third. I wanted to know what was going on with the sleepless, what silliness had the livers gotten into. This speaks that these stories have something that draws us in.I found many characters unpleasant, and the stories seemed to meander. Yet, I always enjoy tales of what might happen, and what we might do wrong o...more
Aerin
The first thing I'll say about this book is that it's the weakest in Kress's "Beggars" trilogy.

Which is not meant to take anything away from the second thing I'll say about this book, which is that it is still one of the best books I've read this year.

This series is top-shelf.

(It actually does reside on the top shelf of my bookcase at home, but I meant that in the metaphorical sense too!)

So, in Beggars in Spain we met the Sleepless, a group of genetically-engineered superhumans, and their even-m...more
Yosafbridg
This third novel seemed to be a bit more brutal and graphic than the other two (though looking back they all had their moments~perhaps i just felt my senses to be more assaulted at the beginning of Beggars Ride~perhaps because it is a tale of a society already in visible crisis...) The trilogy both keeps a continual narrative line alive while introducing new stories and characters; each book has its own tale to tell, and each tale is well worth hearing. All three books address moral and ethical...more
Luis GC
Fin de la trilogía de "Mendigos en España" de Nancy Kress. Quizá el primer volumen pueda leerse de forma independiente, pero el conjunto de las tres obras se complementa bastante bien.

Este tercer libro es bastante más lento y espeso que los dos anteriores, especialmente que el primero. En varios momentos quizá habría desistido si no fuera por terminar la trilogía. Al final mereció la pena, como casi siempre, porque el final lo merece.

Recomendable solo para amantes de la ciencia ficción.
Christina
4.5*

I liked this even better than the previous two!! Yet, it seemed like it regressed in some ways technologically speaking. At last for how many years, time had advanced.

A few details weren't made clear until later in the book, so it was a bit jarring to determine the looks and ethnicity of a character to be different later. It was just a bit misleading. Those details were minor.

Such a great book. I really, really enjoyed it.
Gendou
Full of strong female characters.
In line with the first 2 books, investigates novel neurological, biological, and social questions.
I read a lot of science fiction, and I kept waiting for a twist in the plot, but it never came.
Compared to the first 2 books, this one has a couple of seriously dark chapters; not that this is a bad thing.
Xerxessia
In diesem letzten Band der Bettler-Trilogie ist der Focus auf den "normalen" Menschen. Die Verursacherinnen der aktuellen Situation sind zwar Schläfer bzw. SuperS, aber hier müssen jetzt die anderen die Suppe auslöffeln. Tja, auch mit Super-Intelligenz ist gesellschaftliches Geschehen halt nicht unbedingt vorherzusehen.
Grandios schrieb Nancy Kress auch in diesem letzten Band ein neues Abenteuer um ihr Thema "gesellschaftliches Zusammenleben" und "Auswirkung von genetischen Veränderungen".
Andrew
I read all three books in the Beggar's series in fairly quick succession - after the second I wanted to know what happened next so I picked up the third right away. If there were a fourth I'd start reading it next! The story was very compelling, with interesting science and sociology. I felt somewhat disappointed at the end, but I think that's because I wanted to know what happens next. The epilogue certainly left it open for another book. Maybe some day Nancy Kress will write book number four.....more
Colleen
Nancy Kress...wow! This book gets better as it goes. Have to reread Beggars in Spain and read the second in the trilogy. Kress is thought-provoking and hard-hitting...and if you like hard science, she can deliver.
Ari
I thought the trilogy ended on a strong note. Kress manages to keep finding new angles on the overall question she's interested in, which is human inequality and needs. Highly recommended.
Rachel
I like that this series extends such a long time period (100+ years). It gives the author a chance to really develop some of the social and political implications of the science.
Kyrie
After Beggars and Choosers, I was expecting so much more. This tale took an unexpected turn and as a result, I didn't like it as well as the first two in the trilogy.
Melissa McCauley
I loved Beggars in Spain and have read it and the sequel, Beggars and Choosers, many times. However, this novel is a bad ending to the trilogy, mainly perhaps because my favorite character, Leisha Camden, was killed off in the second novel. Most of the characters are two-dimensional and unlikable, except for Lizzy, a throwback genius Liver who is doomed to a welfare existence.
Foxglow
Part three of the "Sleepless" series. What happens in the aftermath? A race to the finish.
Karina
Much better than the second in the series.
Amblingbooks.com
"Kress brings her Beggars trilogy to a powerful close�.The scale of Kress's vision is large as she lays out a drama that�convincingly if unsurprisingly�argues that moral quandaries can't be addressed by technology." � Publishers Weekly

Listen to Beggars Ride on your iPhone, desktop, or smartphone.
Sara Brosnan
I absolutely was fascinated by this trilogy as an adolescent...mostly by the idea of people who have no need to sleep and by the philosophical and ethical questions raised by genetic modification...I was glad upon rereading to discover that they age well upon rereading. This one is better than the second one but not as good as the first.
Laura
The third book in the "Beggars" trilogy. Another excellent read. Nancy Kress manages to maintain her complex society and characters, and provides some indirect social commentary on the nature of human excellence and empathy.
Mike
Nov 15, 2007 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: scifi
Satisfying completion to the trilogy. Provocative story on how the talented and mundane interact.
Stefanie
3rd in Trilogy. Very thought-provoking.
Dick
May 20, 2013 Dick marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
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Beggars Ride (Hardcover)
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Nancy Kress is an American science fiction writer. She began writing in 1976 but has achieved her greatest notice since the publication of her Hugo and Nebula-winning 1991 novella Beggars in Spain which was later expanded into a novel with the same title. In addition to her novels, Kress has written numerous short stories and is a regular columnist for Writer's Digest. She is a regular at Clarion...more
More about Nancy Kress...
Beggars in Spain (Sleepless, #1) Beggars and Choosers (Sleepless, #2) Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Elements of Fiction Writing) Steal Across the Sky Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Dynamic Characters and Effective Viewpoints

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