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Glory Season

by David Brin (Goodreads Author)

3.72 · Rating Details · 2,907 Ratings · 103 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 s ...more

Paperback, 772 pages

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

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Jun 30, 2012 Zach rated it it was ok

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 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. ...more

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Dec 12, 2008 Ben Babcock rated it liked it · review of another edition

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

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 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. ...more

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Aug 08, 2010 Tim rated it liked it

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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Dec 14, 2011 Joe Martin rated it it was amazing

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

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.

...more

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Apr 15, 2013 Dark-Draco rated it it was amazing · 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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Nov 17, 2008 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: hardback, 1998, fred-gambino

When I read this book in Australia I remember it being really good. So I've bought it and intend to re-read it.

And Fred Gambino is SO NICE!!! he sent me hi res scans of both covers he did. Isn't that Super Sweet?

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Jul 15, 2011 Jill rated it it was ok

Should have been great. As it was, I couldn't finish it. Nothing happened for 342 pages.

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Jul 21, 2010 Jennifer Sigman rated it it was ok

The ending is quite disjointed. It's like he was starting a new thought, then just stopped, practically mid-sentence.

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Mar 11, 2017 Juan Raffo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Se lee con facilidad, entretiene, historia de aventuras en un cultura exótica constituida por clanes de mujeres capaces de auto clonarse y donde los hombres son una minoría que aporta variedad genética.

Una adolescente no clon, una 'var', parte de su clan para hacer fortuna (en realidad es expulsada, que es lo que normalmente ocurre con las var) y se ve envuelta en una conspiración que involucra la llegada de un representante del resto de la humanidad despues de miles de años de aislamiento, la l ...more

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May 15, 2012 Andy Love rated it really liked it

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 14, 2010 Jen rated it really liked it

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 14, 2015 kazerniel rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

3.5 stars

I have to say I enjoyed reading this novel the 2nd time more than the 1st. The first reading experience was too marred by the disappointment over the ending (or lack of it), and also by all power being ripped away from the protagonist again and again over the book. The 2nd time I knew what to expect, so I could enjoy the nuance and world-building more.
~
Speaking of world-building, it's clearly the driving force behind the whole book. The author really takes the concept of parthenogenesis 3.5 stars

I have to say I enjoyed reading this novel the 2nd time more than the 1st. The first reading experience was too marred by the disappointment over the ending (or lack of it), and also by all power being ripped away from the protagonist again and again over the book. The 2nd time I knew what to expect, so I could enjoy the nuance and world-building more.
~
Speaking of world-building, it's clearly the driving force behind the whole book. The author really takes the concept of parthenogenesis to its logical conclusions. He paints a really rich and subtle commentary on our real world's technology-crazed patriarchy while describing its matriarchal pastoral society on a future isolated human colony planet. This colony is neither an utopia or a dystopia, Stratos's society has its own up- and downsides too.

The author also knows his forebears, now that I'm reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland, I see many nods in Brin's novel towards this earlier work.
~
As a feminist it was really refreshing to see women in very diverse roles and positions of power in this novel. In this world every politician, scholar, clan leader, mercenary are women. Men are relegated to the fringes of society with sailor and railroad worker being the only two career option for them. The book does a nice job to show that even in this somewhat less violent world people often don't fit into their sex-determined roles, and oppression and disenfranchisement pervade the society, just like our own. On Stratos social status, and thus every woman's life revolves around having children (preferably clones, and as many of them as possible).

One aspect that did not sit well with me was the overwhelming capitalism of Stratos's society (and now that I think of it, it's characteristic of Brin's other worlds as well). Despite the world being pastoral and stable, there's cut-throat competition for niches and personal advancement without basically any social safety nets in place (save for churches for the sick, and to some degree sailing companies for men). As for stability, the planet's society is also very authoritatively controlled, with tight control over advanced technology, strong censorship and very limited access to information outside what one's immediate life circumstances necessitate.
~
As usual for David Brin's novels, there's almost no queer representation at all. Same-gender romantic attraction is mentioned as accepted, but it's not really depicted aside of the protagonist's internal feelings. Actually any kind of romantic attraction doesn't have anywhere near the social recognition or interest as in our present world (with the cloning somewhat understandably so). Interestingly, mixed-gender romantic attraction is viewed as a perversion in this mostly gender-segregated world.

Sexuality seems to be a solely practical matter, either done for reproduction or to relieve sexual tension in the form of brothel visits. (Where female courtesans service both men and women.) No sexuality seems to be about personal attraction though, people just have sex with pretty much anyone who suits the criteria for reproduction and/or tension relief. This, and sexuality having a strict seasonality result in a very impersonal, aromantic-asexual social norm.
~
My main issue with the book is that it doesn't feel finished. It feels like that when the author missed a good point in the plot's arc to wrap the novel up after (view spoiler), he didn't keep going to find another graceful point to close the book, just kinda got bored and stopped writing at a random anticlimactic spot way after the end of the large story arc. As if the last few chapters were driven by inertia more than any conscious authorial decision, the newly introduced characters and events are mostly irrelevant for the plot (and are clearly only introduced to show a bit more diversity about Stratos's social life), and we don't get to know what became of many important minor characters. All in all it just feels like the book ends quarter-way through its own sequel.

While most of the Afterword is interesting and good, I didn't agree with his complaint about the criticism of male writers writing female-focused novels. He calls the criticism 'sexist', as if gendered experiences happened outside of social power dynamics, and as if - when we take a single oppressional axis - a person in the position of privilege could have the same insights as an oppressed person. We don't live in a vacuum, he seems to occasionally forget this, while other times seems to have an acute insight on how much it sucks to be a woman under the patriarchy.

--
read: 2015, 2016 ...more

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Mar 09, 2017 Nadine Jones marked it as to-read

Shelves: fantasy-and-sci-fi

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sc...

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Apr 14, 2014 Gemma rated it liked it · review of another edition

An interesting, thought provoking and well established anthropological read, Glory Season presents the coming-of-age tale of the var, Maia. Vars, or variants, are summer children born of a mother and father, and are essentially second class citizens. The winter clones are daughters whose 'fathers' are only used to 'spark' gestation (males being required only to spark the development of the placenta), resulting in clone daughters identical to their mothers. The winter clones belong to family clan An interesting, thought provoking and well established anthropological read, Glory Season presents the coming-of-age tale of the var, Maia. Vars, or variants, are summer children born of a mother and father, and are essentially second class citizens. The winter clones are daughters whose 'fathers' are only used to 'spark' gestation (males being required only to spark the development of the placenta), resulting in clone daughters identical to their mothers. The winter clones belong to family clans who prosper (or not, resulting in a dying clan) based on their marketable skill-set niche. A goal of many vars is to find a niche within which they can succeed enough to be able to create a clan of their own. This desire to find a niche of their own, and to survive and prosper in Stratos society, is the underlying goal of Maia and her twin (as opposed to clone) sister Leie. However, through events outside of their control Maia and Leie are separated, resulting in Maia being forced to face a future on her own without the sister with whom she was to form a successful clan.

Not a bad read: it took a little bit for me to get fully into it, but once I did I quite enjoyed Glory Season. One thing I enjoy about Brin's works is that his alien species are actually alien, and not just humans in an alien suit (I.e. Aliens with human motivations, goals and behaviours). Glory Season, whilst having genetically tinkered humans, is sufficiently alien enough to have a refreshingly convincing alien society, with Stratos-specific behaviours and beliefs designed to complement the genetically-modified lifestyle established by the Founding Mothers.

This lifestyle and history was cleverly integrated into the story bit by bit throughout the first half of the novel, enabling the reader to become familiar with this aspect of Stratos society, before being introduced to another facet, or expanding on what had already been presented. The timing of the presentation of this information was also done well, so that there were no real examples of the reader wondering what exactly easy going on. This was a refreshing change from an artificial-feeling word dump (e.g. Where Character A conveniently explains to Character B *everything* about a particular person/society/event) in the middle of the book, which the reader must digest before continuing on with the story. Instead, the background information flowed nicely with, and complemented, the story line.

However, whilst this was an interesting, and enjoyable, read, it didn't really have the impact that would move it to my "must read over and over again" list. I found the ending to be a bit fragmented and anti-climatic, which was disappointing in an otherwise well-grounded and well written novel.

...more

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Sep 25, 2011 S. W. rated it really liked it

As a big fan of the Uplift series, I had a lot of expectations for Glory Season. After having checked it out from my local library a few times, and never having gotten to even the second chapter, I was glad when on my final check out I got through the whole thing in a weekend!

I prefer series, so I'm hoping this book becomes the first publication of many. The ending was certainly open ended enough for a follow up sequel or several.

The idea of a modified parthenogenesis is not a novel one, but i ...more

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Oct 20, 2014 Black Beard rated it did not like it

Shelves: unfinished

I read a whopping 42 pages of Glory Season before I decided I'd had enough. I found the prose terrible and the worldbuilding convoluted yet corny, the characterization of the twins somewhat cliche, and the matriarchal world poorly constructed.

Women's fear of violence from men wouldn't be any stronger than fear of violence from other women in a matriarchal world, and there definitely wouldn't be butt-pinching and leers. Violence against women and sexual harassment stem from a patriarchal societ ...more

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Dec 06, 2013 anday androo rated it it was amazing

Just recalled this book from the dark depths as I finished another sci-fi, Calculating God.

This book set the tone for me of what I now consider good sci-fi. No space battles, no inter-species trysts, just a good speculative romp through the possible future of humanity, gender, cloning, class society, determinism, and the search for meaning.

I remember finishing it in the wee hours, on a school-night I'm sure, and beginning to read it again immediately, cover to cover.

I can't recall exactly when I ...more

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Apr 19, 2008 Anja rated it really liked it

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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Apr 18, 2012 Cheryl rated it really liked it · 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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Sep 01, 2014 Adam rated it liked it · review of another edition

Excellent idea for a novel and exciting to read a lot of the time. At least three characters you really care about. The theory behind this story is awesome, and even plausible. Like a lot of sci-fi, too much world information is thrown at you before you've been drawn into the story enough to want that much detail. The world-building/world-explaining never ends. It's a rich place, but could have done with fewer groups and less social detail for a one-off story. The main character was a little too ...more

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Feb 26, 2014 Tomislav rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-stars, science-fiction

This was nominated for, but did not win the James Tiptree Award, which resulted in some controversy at the time. Brin has publicly stated that he felt that the decision was unfair. Ursula LeGuin's written comments as a part of the review committee, start off with negative generalizations about male writers, so there may be some truth to Brin's position. However, it is also true that while the characters of Glory Season display some altered gender behavior, they also have characteristics that are ...more

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May 31, 2012 Ben rated it liked it

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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Jun 09, 2013 Jim rated it really liked it

A favorite author, and I was certainly looking forward to a good, solid SF novel after plowing through several...lesser...books.

So even clocking in at over 700 pages, this proved to be a relatively easy read, interesting enough plot and characters, and a satisfying story overall.

However! All the hints and peeks at long-past history of the planet, of the people who settled it, and all the goings-ons elsewhere in the cosmos, past and present, seemed like much more interesting stories!

I wanted to r ...more

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Dec 30, 2011 Nicole rated it liked it

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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May 26, 2013 Terry rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, heroic-quests, science-fiction

For some reason this book has stayed with me over the years and I have read it three times. It's just a convoluted story I keep remembering like a tune you can't get out of your head. I like this much more than the uplift novels, which seemed more for kids. I don't know. Maybe this one is for kids too. I probably couldn't tell as I have never properly reached adulthood according to those who know me best.

Maybe because it has sailing and pirates and secret islands and secret codes it reminds me o ...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Emily rated it really liked it

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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Nov 27, 2012 Magda rated it it was ok · 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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Mar 11, 2012 Martin Fossum rated it it was ok

A fair SF work based on the scientific premise where cloned women stand at the top of the human hierarchy. On a distant planet, of course, and with a yawnable narrative. I guess you'd call this "orthodox SF" because of its attention to following the science, but the story is a little flat. No blood is shed. The protagonist, a teenage woman, is constantly knocked unconscious when the action peaks. And her convalescences seem to be a convention to clear up the plot. A NICE story, this, but again, ...more

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Oct 11, 2014 Kim rated it really liked it

In a world created by rabid feminist(and i mean complete man haters) a young, unclone girl leaves with her sister to find there way in the world. I found the book wonderful, if a little over detailed at times. The world was fascinating even if I was constantly wondering if the author anti-feminist or very equalist( though this may in part be because i recently learned the Ender series' author was a homophobe). The story itself was excellent, had a good flow, with surprising moments. and good pu ...more

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Jun 26, 2010 Josh rated it really liked it

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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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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Foundation's Triumph (Second Foundation Trilogy #3)

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“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.” — 6 likes

“Cultural contamination that is directed outward is always seen as ‘enlightenment.” — 5 likes

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