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Glory Season

by David Brin (Goodreads Author)

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 1,625 ratings · 52 reviews

Hugo and Nebula award-winning author David Brin is one of the most eloquent, imaginative voices in science fiction.Now he returns with a new novel rich in texture, universal in theme, monumental in scope--pushing the genre to new heights.

Young Maia is fast approaching a turning point in her life.As a half-caste var, she must leave the clan home of her privileged half siste...more

Paperback, 772 pages

Published May 1st 1994 by Spectra (first published 1993)

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Best Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

345th out of 1,495 books — 12,006 voters

Best Science Fiction With a Female Protagonist

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Apr 15, 2013 Dark-Draco rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, science-fiction

This is just the sort of SF I like - intelligent without being too difficult to follow, great plots without being cheesy and some excellent characters.

The story follows Maia, a 'variant' born by fatherhood, rather than the cloning that is the norm on planet Stratos. When forced to leave her childhood home, with her twin, Leie, they plan on becoming rich, finding their niche and creating a clone family of their own. But when tradegy strikes, Maia finds herself drawn into a political and radical c...more

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May 20, 2012 Andy Love rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction-fantasy

I enjoyed this book very much. Brin created a world (Stratos) that is very different from our own - a world where most of the population is women, and the dominant mode of reproduction is self-cloning, but makes that world come alive by showing how human choices determine how cultures develop from these biological facts. The book starts with the mainstream culture in which large clone families root themselves in occupational niches, while variant girls (non-clones) are sent out as 15-year-olds t...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Zach rated it 2 of 5 stars

Zach stood at his desk to write his review of David Brin's interminably boring science fiction novel, Glory Season.

I'd better start off by mentioning how tedious it was to listen to the main character's thoughts in every other paragraph, Zach thought to himself. That way, the people reading this review will understand my frustration with having the author spell out every tiny nuance of the main character's motivation in tiresome detail, as if internal monologue were the only way to accomplish th...more Zach stood at his desk to write his review of David Brin's interminably boring science fiction novel, Glory Season.

I'd better start off by mentioning how tedious it was to listen to the main character's thoughts in every other paragraph, Zach thought to himself. That way, the people reading this review will understand my frustration with having the author spell out every tiny nuance of the main character's motivation in tiresome detail, as if internal monologue were the only way to accomplish this feat in writing.

Zach raised his arms to the keyboard, feeling the muscles in his shoulders, back, and neck tense up. He laid the heels of his palms on the ergonomic padding and placed his fingertips on the keys of the home row, preparing to type his review. It really bothered me how often the exact condition of all the protagonist's main muscle groups was described right in the middle of an ostensible action sequence, he thought. I wonder how I can best get across what an obstacle this was to my enjoyment of the novel. Just as he began to type, he experienced a flashback for the purposes of character development and world building.

It's pretty inconvenient to my readers to continually break up the narrative with all this back-story exposition. But how else can I establish setting and character? Zach was swept back in his mind to weeks earlier, when he was reading David Brin's interminably boring science fiction novel, Glory Season, and thinking about the premise of a woman-dominated agrarian civilization. I would have thought this would be so much juicier, but it's incredibly dry and bland. Ethan of Athos did a much better job of exploring the converse scenario, a world composed solely of men, and did so despite being shorter and spending much less time on the unusual planet. And unlike Glory Season, it actually challenged gender stereotypes, rather than just snidely reversing some and tacitly endorsing others.

Just then, Zach's aching calf muscles, fatigued from his long stand at his desk, spasmed painfully, dumping him to the carpet. His head brushed the desk on the way to the ground, knocking him unconscious.

Zach came to an indeterminate amount of time later, his lapse into senselessness hopefully having created some dramatic tension. He stood warily to resume writing his review. Why does the main character get knocked out so often? he wondered. It's like two thirds of the plot movements occur while she's dead to the world. Want to talk about gender stereotypes? How about female hypo-agency? How about a "heroine" who is shuttled like a pawn from scene to scene, unconscious as often as not, with no understanding of what's going on or what her goal is?

Zach again placed his hands on the keyboard to begin writing. Suddenly, he was overcome by another flashback memory. He decided to explore it fully, unconcerned what this would do to the pacing or readability of his book review. He thought back to his computer science education, and learning about cellular automata.

These are pretty interesting for someone completely enamored with mathematics and puzzles, like I am, he thought, but I'm quite obviously abnormal in that regard. He watched the little black and white squares flicker on and off on his computer screen, as he sat in a dimly lit basement lab surrounded by pale, friendless virgins with poor hygiene. Most men would rather do anything else than play Conway's game of life -- even with my unusually abstract interests I find it only mildly engaging. There is absolutely no chance that this game would ever, ever, ever become the basis of a popular pastime.

Zach sighed deeply, and shook his head at Brin's indefensible choice to make Life the basis of male recreation in his world. And that's just one of so many problems with this book. How can I possibly convey everything that's wrong with it? Well, I had better get started and see where it gets me. He again rested his fingers on the home row, feeling the muscles ache in his back, forearms, and shoulders, resolved to begin writing.

Just then, Zach lost consciousness.(less)

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Dec 25, 2011 Joe Martin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, fiction, library-books

The best science fiction is, at its heart, speculative fiction. These books start with a single big idea—a single question—and develop it. The great books take that idea and develop it superbly. Glory Season is a great book. It starts with a single idea: what if humans could clone themselves when times are good and revert to sexual reproduction when times are bad and genetic diversity is at a premium?

David Brin explains how his idea developed, from that single root.

The idea of cloning has been

...more

David Brin explains how his idea developed, from that single root.

The idea of cloning has been explored widely in fiction, but always in terms of medical technology involving complex machinery, a dilettante obsession for the very rich. This may serve a pampered, self-obsessed class for a while, but it’s hardly a process any species could rely on over the long haul, through bad times as well as good. Not a way of life, machine-assisted cloning is the biosocial counterpart of a hobby.

What if, instead, self-cloning were just another of the many startling capabilities of the human womb? An interesting premise. But then, only female humans have wombs, so a contemplation of cloning became a novel about drastically altered relations between the sexes. Most aspects to the society of planet Stratos arose out of this one idea.

David Brin relentlessly develops this big idea, to see exactly where it takes him. He follows it through the sciences, to see where it takes him: biology, sociology, psychology, and more. By pursuing this idea so relentlessly, he constructs a society that is very alien to our own (uncomfortably so, in cases) but yet is still very recognizable.

Glory Season is a tale of a largely static society, where women hold the upper hand. Men are kept around primarily for their ability to “spark” clone births. It’s a society largely dominated by extended clans of female clones. It’s a society where being unique is very uncomfortable and where “var” is a derisive slur.

But David Brin didn’t allow these big, well developed ideas to get in the way of telling a story. Glory Season is an adventure tale, a coming of age tale, and a tale of radicals seeking to remake society. It was both thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining. I highly recommend it.

(less)

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Nov 27, 2012 Magda rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

This is the third time I've read this book, and now it doesn't seem all that great. (I do remember taking it from a boy in some high school class, borrowing it for one period and refusing to return it until I had finished it, but promising to return it within 24 hours ... with a tough class schedule (including classes and homework, etc.), I still managed, and I think that version had over 1000 pages.)

So there are several instances in this book wherein a character, thought to be dead (but no body...more

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May 30, 2012 Cheryl rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book. The main character has spunk and the ability to push through even when the deck was sacked against her she pressed on. I became more and more intrigued as the plot progressed and our little var matured enough to realize that friends may not necessarily be the ones you think they are.

Loved the concept of a matriarchal society where the clones are dominant. The vars, or natural offspring, provide variation but are sent out into the world to make it on their own after they reac...more

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Jun 26, 2010 Josh rated it 4 of 5 stars

An interesting science fiction novel about a matriarchal planet where the majority of births are clones of their mothers. These are births sparked in winter whereas births sparked in summer are the normal mixture of parents genes. The protaginist is one such summer birth and she struggles to make her place in a world set-up for and dominated by the clones. The adventure of the novel revolves around a visitor from another planet to this isolated world. The ideas in the book are top notch and the...more

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Apr 20, 2013 Michael O'Donnell rated it 3 of 5 stars

Third time I have read this book.

It keeps drawing me back as an easy read with an interesting premise. The main protagonist is a bit annoying in the end. Too good. Too ground breaking. Like an Anne McCaffrey hero. Every time things come to a head she gets knocked out. Whole sister sideline missed the mark. So close. So devo when she disappeared. So little when she returns.

The end is rushed.

Still I would like to see what happens when the other ships come close.

An easy read with an interesting...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Emily by: Sarah Jean

This is a great book -- sometimes science fiction can be a little hard to get into, but this was a very readable, interesting book. It was easy to get pulled into this other world, which is set many years in the future. This world, Stratos, is a matriarchal society. Men exist on this world, but are strictly limited in their life & career paths.The author's afterword describes it so well: "...there is no scientific reasons to show males relegated to the sidelines of history, a peripheral soci...more

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May 01, 2011 Chris Moriarty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great, complex feminist SF from a guy. (Yes, guys can write feminist SF too.)
Highly readable, like all Brin's books, and this world and its conflicts are just so, so interesting. Fun book for math, computer science and automata fans too, since the culture of the world revolves partly around the game of Life. But it's so seamlessly woven into the storyline that most readers probably don't even realize they're getting a math lesson. If only all high school math teachers did as good a job of makin...more

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Apr 11, 2009 Ben Babcock rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: from-library, 2009-read, gender-issues, science-fiction, via-io9

Perhaps the best science fiction book I've ever read that so elegantly reverses our contemporary notions of gender. Not so great as a novel, unfortunately.

In Glory Season, David Brin depicts a world with an intensely matriarchal society. The majority of the population of Stratos consists of female clones, "sparked" in winter by male sperm, but genetic copies of their mothers. Men and "variant" girls are born in summer. Designed this way the founders of Stratos, this society is supposedly pastora...more Perhaps the best science fiction book I've ever read that so elegantly reverses our contemporary notions of gender. Not so great as a novel, unfortunately.

In Glory Season, David Brin depicts a world with an intensely matriarchal society. The majority of the population of Stratos consists of female clones, "sparked" in winter by male sperm, but genetic copies of their mothers. Men and "variant" girls are born in summer. Designed this way the founders of Stratos, this society is supposedly pastoral and stable, with the clones running the show and the "vars" (men and variant girls) struggling to fit in wherever they can.

Brin does a masterful job at creating Stratoin society and instilling it with values that are essentially the opposite of what we might consider "normal" in Western society. For example, in Stratoin society, men don't fight. Almost every man serves aboard a ship as a sailor until retiring; otherwise, they stay in "sanctuaries" during the summer, unless invited by a clan looking to produce some vars. As Glory Season is told from the limited omniscient perspective following a female var, we get a sense of the prejudices that pervade Stratoin culture. These stark differences from the way our society operates are only emphasized by the arrival of the "Outsider", Renna, an advanced scout from the multi-world Phylum.

For his world-building achievement with this book, Brin deserves much praise. It's not easy to construct such a logical, consistent society yet still remain within the bounds of scientific possibility and avoid descending into a lampoon of Amazon-like cultures. Glory Season is neither a cautionary tale about what matriarchy would be like, nor is it an encomium for matriarchal rule. Rather, as Brin explains in his afterword, it's a novel-length answer to "What if?". Any good science fiction story should begin by trying to answer that question.

I was much less impressed with the plot and characterization. Much of the plot was difficult to follow, and the parts I did follow I often found boring or repetitive--Brin had a tendency to render Maia, our stalwart protagonist, unconscious when he needed to end a chapter on a cliffhanger. For the first couple of blackouts, it was effective, but then it became old, even when he lampshades it later on.

I can't decide if I admire or am annoyed by Maia! On the one hand, she's a plucky protagonist, definitively individual in a culture where one strives to be the same as one's clone sisters. On the other hand, she is continually buffeted around among forces she can't control; even when she does reach out to try and seize the day, she's knocked down before she can truly succeed. The end of the book seems to imply that this is part of the story's theme, that Maia's adventure has finally allowed her to mature to the point where she can strike out as an individual and begin making her own way through life.

Unfortunately, there are too many loose threads to leave me satisfied. Maia's twin, Leie, (and this isn't a spoiler, because anyone who reads the book should realize two pages after Leie dies that she really isn't dead) reappears only to disappear about fifty pages later. It's a touching reunion, but one devoid of purpose save for a few plot points during the dry climax of the book. It kind of makes me feel like the end of The Matrix, where they just sort of walk off into the crowd of oblivious pod-happy people.

Brin aims for something lofty, but he overshoots and misses, at least in my opinion. Still, Glory Season is worth a read for its sociological value alone. And the story isn't too bad, just not great.(less)

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May 07, 2008 Anja rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: sci-fi readers

I have really enjoyed David Brin as a writer. I liked this book a lot. Unlike some sci-fi books it was based in reality, or it used to be, this book is set far in the future. It gives reasoning and theories as to why this book is taking place, why the world exist, why there is trouble, things that most sci-fi books don't explain but make it easier to read.

Maia and Leie are twins, meaning they had a father and a mother, they are summer children. They are less important on Stratos than their pee...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Adrian Griffis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-recommended, science-fiction

This is one of my favorite works of fiction. Long ago, the original colonists of this world arrived with a mission to establish a society where men were not dominant. An interesting set of genetic changes helps establish the conditions for this society. These events in the distant past set the scene for this story.

Brin does an outstanding job of working out the details of a very plausible and very human story.

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Oct 06, 2010 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Interesting world-building and enjoyable story, but every time it starts to get interesting, the heroine gets clonked on the head. I liked Elisabeth Vonarburg's In the Mothers' Land better as an exploration of similar ideas.

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Mar 05, 2013 Ben rated it 3 of 5 stars

The second time reading this, I expected to enjoy it more than I had the first time. I remembered it as being a very enjoyable read, and was looking forward to taking my time with it this time around. It was definitely a pleasure to explore Brin's vision of a planet of female clones, how such a society would function and the role of men, and the situation of the variant women.

Brin paints a very interesting world; one which we can picture as being quite real and well explored. The story is inter...more

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Jan 14, 2009 Diana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction-fantasy

Took a while to adapt to the language of this world, but I thoroughly enjoyed the lead and her innocence and her friendship with the stranded starship pilot. As a twin, I also appreciated that the sisters relationship seemed real, each with their own personality, and focused on how their relationship changed as they grew older.

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Dec 10, 2010 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

One of my favorite Brin novels. Maia is a normal girl in a society dominated by female clones. Males and non-clone females are second class citizens. Kicked out by their clone family, Maia and her twin sister embark on a life of adventure. There's pirates, radicals, a mysterious off-world visitor, and much playing of Conway's Game of Life (this was my first introduction to it). Great fun.

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Jul 03, 2012 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi

Although I rated it five stars I had some issues with the book, mainly that the second half was so rushed. I think it would have been better if Brin had taken his time, even if that meant writing two books instead of one. However, I adore this book because I love the unique concept and world building.

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Aug 26, 2010 Tim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Interesting. This is a weird brand of fiction that explores an idea far better than it tells a story. Unfortunately, that doesn't become clear until about 2/3 of the way in.

Glory Season makes for a good anthropological/sociological what-if book, and uses a coming-of-age story as the narrative adhesive.

This book is heavily flawed in terms of what it is trying to do as a book, but if you can bring yourself to appreciate the underlying ambition, it ends up a pretty decent read.

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Jan 12, 2009 Corvidae rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love David Brin to death, but only read this book two years ago on the suggestion of a friend. I found it to be one of the best feminist-scifi books I've ever read from a male author. Intriguing concepts, good cultural discussion, yet with well-rounded characters and an engaging plot.

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Jul 14, 2010 Jen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science_fiction

Great world building, and the author is deft and unveiling information in a way that is both page-turning and believeable.

The story didn't quite live up to the excitement I felt reading the first half, and I felt that the ending was a little flat. All in all, a good vacation read.

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Feb 13, 2013 Nicole rated it 3 of 5 stars

The world is extremely well-developed and you can tell that an enormous amount of thought went into every detail.

That said, I wish Brin had held back on the description a bit as I found the endless descriptive pages (Life or the colored light wall come to mind) to be a little tedious.

The main character also gets knocked unconscious an awful lot. To the point where I felt like he had her get hit in the head every time a scene change was needed.

What I loved was how you couldn't help but place yo...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a really interesting book. I liked how it examined gender roles by dramatically reversing them, and I also really enjoyed all the stuff about puzzles and codes and the game of Life.

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Dec 18, 2012 Ruthie Powell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Read the Afterward first.
Loved the detail given about the planet. If we do fine another "earth", there's no guarantee it will be a planet sized copy of what we're familiar with.

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Jun 10, 2011 Scythan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

It has the feeling of a medieval fantasy novel, yet is much better because it makes sense- it's definitely science fiction! Great book overall, with fun concepts to think about.

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Jan 18, 2013 Emily Olson rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love this book! It starts out a little dry, I started it and quit 5 times. But when I finally read it through, I was captivated. What a wonderful story!

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Dec 29, 2008 Witt rated it 3 of 5 stars

Brin portrays and interesting matriarchal clone culture but in the end I wasn't as impressed as I was with his other books.

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Jul 15, 2009 Marva rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 15, 2012 José Manuel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Round the circle: First, imagine the women as aliens. After, describe them from an human perspective.

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Dec 09, 2011 Amos rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, society, speculative, own

Fascinating world. Brin creates an environment that is full of familiar types, yet still quite alien.

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About David Brin

David Brin is a scientist, speaker, and world-known author. His novels have been New York Times Bestsellers, winning multiple Hugo, Nebula and other awards. At least a dozen have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Existence, his latest novel, offers an unusual scenario for first contact. His ecological thriller, Earth, foreshadowed global warming, cyberwarfare and near-future trends...more

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Quotes from Glory Season

“While I have the floor, here's a question that's been bothering me for some time. Why do so few writers of heroic or epic fantasy ever deal with the fundamental quandary of their novels . . . that so many of them take place in cultures that are rigid, hierarchical, stratified, and in essence oppressive? What is so appealing about feudalism, that so many free citizens of an educated commonwealth like ours love reading about and picturing life under hereditary lords?

Why should the deposed prince or princess in every clichéd tale be chosen to lead the quest against the Dark Lord? Why not elect a new leader by merit, instead of clinging to the inbred scions of a failed royal line? Why not ask the pompous, patronizing, "good" wizard for something useful, such as flush toilets, movable type, or electricity for every home in the kingdom? Given half a chance, the sons and daughters of peasants would rather not grow up to be servants. It seems bizarre for modern folk to pine for a way of life our ancestors rightfully fought desperately to escape.” — 4 people liked it

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