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The Awakeners #1-2
The Awakeners: Northshore & Southshore
Come to the world of the River.
Come to a world distant in time and space, a world where the pace of life is counted by tides of the great River, but where, as in the river itself, there are swift dark currents flowing under a placid surface.
Meet Pamra Don--a young woman scarred by her mother's death, lured to a preist-hood where the truth must be hidden from the faithful. And meet Thrasne, a young boatman who trades from town to town, free from the iron control of the towers of the Awakeners, and the priests of the world of the River--free, that is, as long as he never speaks his mind. These two, by design and accident both, are about to discover many truths. And on the Northshore of the River, the truth can kill you.
Come to a world distant in time and space, a world where the pace of life is counted by tides of the great River, but where, as in the river itself, there are swift dark currents flowing under a placid surface.
Meet Pamra Don--a young woman scarred by her mother's death, lured to a preist-hood where the truth must be hidden from the faithful. And meet Thrasne, a young boatman who trades from town to town, free from the iron control of the towers of the Awakeners, and the priests of the world of the River--free, that is, as long as he never speaks his mind. These two, by design and accident both, are about to discover many truths. And on the Northshore of the River, the truth can kill you.
512 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
6 people are currently reading
426 people want to read
About the author
Sheri S. Tepper
74 books1,081 followersSheri Stewart Tepper was a prolific American author of science fiction, horror and mystery novels; she was particularly known as a feminist science fiction writer, often with an ecofeminist slant.
Born near Littleton, Colorado, for most of her career (1962-1986) she worked for Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood, where she eventually became Executive Director. She has two children and is married to Gene Tepper. She operated a guest ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
She wrote under several pseudonyms, including A.J. Orde, E.E. Horlak, and B.J. Oliphant. Her early work was published under the name Sheri S. Eberhart.
Born near Littleton, Colorado, for most of her career (1962-1986) she worked for Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood, where she eventually became Executive Director. She has two children and is married to Gene Tepper. She operated a guest ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
She wrote under several pseudonyms, including A.J. Orde, E.E. Horlak, and B.J. Oliphant. Her early work was published under the name Sheri S. Eberhart.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
February 20, 2014
‘Despertar’ es una novela de ciencia ficción escrita en clave de fantasía que transcurre en un planeta lejano, en un tiempo también lejano, en el que conviven humanos, que han olvidado la gloria de tiempos pasados y viven como en el medievo, y thraish, una especie voladora inteligente. Tras miles de años, ambas especies han llegado a un estado de tregua, en la que los humanos deben suministrar alimento a los voladores, consistente en los humanos muertos, a cambio de cierto elixir que alarga la vida, que cómo no, recae en manos de los dirigentes. Pero esto es sólo la base de la historia, complicada de resumir por otra parte. Tenemos extraños ritos religiosos, un fascinante y sorprendente ecosistema, intrigas palaciegas, fanáticos, y demás misterios que es mejor ir descubriendo en el transcurso de la lectura. Esta es la tercera novela de Sheri S. Tepper que leo, y me sigue fascinando su particular sentido de la maravilla.
September 26, 2013
(originally published as two novels: Northshore and Southshore.
Lately, I've been disappointed in a lot of the Tepper books I've read. She's an excellent, brilliantly original writer, but too often there's a tendency toward over the top climaxes and beat-em-over-the-head politicizing.
There definitely ARE gender issues going on here... but set in the context of the social structure of an alien species, the situation is handled deftly, with the right amount of subtlety.
It's a long book, and it lags slightly in the middle, but its also very rich, with a well-drawn world and a perfect mix of sci-fi and horrific elements.
In this world, we see a planet that was definitely colonized by humans, but the party line, set by an extremely strict society ruled by a politico-religious body called the Awakeners, is that people were always here.
One of the main tenets of the religion is that the corpses of the dead must be given to the Awakeners for "sorting." If you were not good enough in life, you are destined to be given a reanimating agent and you conscious-but-dead body will be forced to do manual labor, zombie-like.
In rebellion against her dead mother's heresy, a young woman joins the hated-and-feared Awakeners - but once there, she learns that her religious zeal is met with a degree of amusement - and a terrible disillusionment is in store, when she learns that certain practices have little to do with salvation, and much to do with the mysterious, vicious fliers - alien bird-men that have been seen talking with high-ranked Awakeners.
Meanwhile, river traders are exempt from some of the restrictions places on townsfolk. One such riverman, a wood carver, accidentally fishes the body of the dead heretic woman from the water. It has been struck by the Blight, an ailment that turns living flesh to the appearance of wood. Pretending the dead woman is one of his carvings, he keeps her in his cabin, in a odd obsession - that will lead to yet another revelation about the weird truth of life in this world...
Lately, I've been disappointed in a lot of the Tepper books I've read. She's an excellent, brilliantly original writer, but too often there's a tendency toward over the top climaxes and beat-em-over-the-head politicizing.
There definitely ARE gender issues going on here... but set in the context of the social structure of an alien species, the situation is handled deftly, with the right amount of subtlety.
It's a long book, and it lags slightly in the middle, but its also very rich, with a well-drawn world and a perfect mix of sci-fi and horrific elements.
In this world, we see a planet that was definitely colonized by humans, but the party line, set by an extremely strict society ruled by a politico-religious body called the Awakeners, is that people were always here.
One of the main tenets of the religion is that the corpses of the dead must be given to the Awakeners for "sorting." If you were not good enough in life, you are destined to be given a reanimating agent and you conscious-but-dead body will be forced to do manual labor, zombie-like.
In rebellion against her dead mother's heresy, a young woman joins the hated-and-feared Awakeners - but once there, she learns that her religious zeal is met with a degree of amusement - and a terrible disillusionment is in store, when she learns that certain practices have little to do with salvation, and much to do with the mysterious, vicious fliers - alien bird-men that have been seen talking with high-ranked Awakeners.
Meanwhile, river traders are exempt from some of the restrictions places on townsfolk. One such riverman, a wood carver, accidentally fishes the body of the dead heretic woman from the water. It has been struck by the Blight, an ailment that turns living flesh to the appearance of wood. Pretending the dead woman is one of his carvings, he keeps her in his cabin, in a odd obsession - that will lead to yet another revelation about the weird truth of life in this world...
March 23, 2014
A flawed fantasy.
In spite of everything I found jarring such as the contradictions, implausibilities, silly characters and occasional poor taste I enjoyed these two books. But then, I do have a peculiar taste for bizarre settings and authors who use the word "antilife".
The setting is bizarre indeed and functions a bit like a mystery in that you can guess some of its features before they're spelled out (both occults ones and stuff the author filed under in media res).
The actual story has its moments but I don't think they're enough to make it more than a pretext to show off this imaginative setting (there's a bit of meta commentary about that in a flashback by the way).
About some of the problems...
Most obviously you've got a number of WTF moments like this one: "the thought of her body tied to the stake made him grunt explosively at odd times, his penis twitching in spams almost like orgasm"
And the book's general concept is not without issues: what business have the author or even the characters preaching about skepticism in a context where people's imaginary friends are sometimes for real and where lots of magic and plain nonsense happens? This is a pointlessly restrained fantasy work that tries and fails to be something else at the same time. Tepper seems to have neither the grounding in realism required to dress something else as fantasy or the talent required to make a genuine cross-genre gambit work.
Too much is predictable and too many characters are caricatures or have motivations that don't make sense. Which might not have been such a problem if the books weren't pretentious and humorless.
Finally, the language is unsatisfactory (for instance how the Talkers speak) even if you're not looking for lyricism or literary brillance.
In spite of everything I found jarring such as the contradictions, implausibilities, silly characters and occasional poor taste I enjoyed these two books. But then, I do have a peculiar taste for bizarre settings and authors who use the word "antilife".
The setting is bizarre indeed and functions a bit like a mystery in that you can guess some of its features before they're spelled out (both occults ones and stuff the author filed under in media res).
The actual story has its moments but I don't think they're enough to make it more than a pretext to show off this imaginative setting (there's a bit of meta commentary about that in a flashback by the way).
About some of the problems...
Most obviously you've got a number of WTF moments like this one: "the thought of her body tied to the stake made him grunt explosively at odd times, his penis twitching in spams almost like orgasm"
And the book's general concept is not without issues: what business have the author or even the characters preaching about skepticism in a context where people's imaginary friends are sometimes for real and where lots of magic and plain nonsense happens? This is a pointlessly restrained fantasy work that tries and fails to be something else at the same time. Tepper seems to have neither the grounding in realism required to dress something else as fantasy or the talent required to make a genuine cross-genre gambit work.
Too much is predictable and too many characters are caricatures or have motivations that don't make sense. Which might not have been such a problem if the books weren't pretentious and humorless.
Finally, the language is unsatisfactory (for instance how the Talkers speak) even if you're not looking for lyricism or literary brillance.
December 22, 2018
THE AWAKENERS
Sherri S. Tepper
Hadn’t ever heard of Ms. T before – and during my continuing post-(w)retirement spate of, finally, reading, again, finally came across this book. Apparently I had purchased perhaps a dozen or so miscellaneous science-fiction books some years ago, and all had been gathering dust on the bookshelves ‘til recently. I dragged my heels, so to speak, not picking this book up ‘til I had read all (or most, in the event there is a dustier tome hidden behind other books) the others.
And this was possibly, nay, probably the best out of this haphazard random (ec)collection. As you probably know, Ms. T intended this to be two separate volumes – “NorthShore” and “SouthShore” but conveniently housed in one volume. It was sort of slow and seemingly uncongealed reading at first, but that’s the beauty – mayhaps the spell of her writing – to lay the patchwork, the lay-of-the-land so to speak, and the separate elements intermingle and I (for one) was easily swept up in it. I won’t say (no spoilers) much, if anything, about the story’s contents, only that it could have taken place on ANY PLANET, any pre-industrial-age civilization, with more than one “intelligent” species inhabiting it – the inter-actions between these elements, etc.
The author wraps all this up nicely, (yeah, a spoiler is ) a happy ending, though the future is still uncertain. I actually almost cried at the ending (could have been the whiskey).
If there were 10 stars to give, I’d rate this close to 9.
Sherri S. Tepper
Hadn’t ever heard of Ms. T before – and during my continuing post-(w)retirement spate of, finally, reading, again, finally came across this book. Apparently I had purchased perhaps a dozen or so miscellaneous science-fiction books some years ago, and all had been gathering dust on the bookshelves ‘til recently. I dragged my heels, so to speak, not picking this book up ‘til I had read all (or most, in the event there is a dustier tome hidden behind other books) the others.
And this was possibly, nay, probably the best out of this haphazard random (ec)collection. As you probably know, Ms. T intended this to be two separate volumes – “NorthShore” and “SouthShore” but conveniently housed in one volume. It was sort of slow and seemingly uncongealed reading at first, but that’s the beauty – mayhaps the spell of her writing – to lay the patchwork, the lay-of-the-land so to speak, and the separate elements intermingle and I (for one) was easily swept up in it. I won’t say (no spoilers) much, if anything, about the story’s contents, only that it could have taken place on ANY PLANET, any pre-industrial-age civilization, with more than one “intelligent” species inhabiting it – the inter-actions between these elements, etc.
The author wraps all this up nicely, (yeah, a spoiler is ) a happy ending, though the future is still uncertain. I actually almost cried at the ending (could have been the whiskey).
If there were 10 stars to give, I’d rate this close to 9.
September 14, 2018
One of her best! A powerful takedown of religion!
February 21, 2019
7/10. Media de los 7 libros leídos de la autora : 7/10
De esta autora merece la pena hablar un poco: Galardonada con el premio mundial de Fantasía a toda su carrera, sus novelas iban sobre todo de feminismo y ecología. Nació en 1929.
Aquí tenemos un mundo donde hay humanos y una raza de pájaros carnívoros aderezado con ecología, culturas y religiones de los pajaritos cuando menos curiosas. Se lee bien.
De esta autora merece la pena hablar un poco: Galardonada con el premio mundial de Fantasía a toda su carrera, sus novelas iban sobre todo de feminismo y ecología. Nació en 1929.
Aquí tenemos un mundo donde hay humanos y una raza de pájaros carnívoros aderezado con ecología, culturas y religiones de los pajaritos cuando menos curiosas. Se lee bien.
October 10, 2019
Just read everything that she wrote.
April 6, 2023
Costa Norte, con sus Despertantes y sus mercaderes de polvo de frag, sus proféticos Mendicantes de Jarbo y sus azulados sacerdotes de Potipur, llenos de relucientes espejos sagrados. Costa Norte, con sus procesiones de Melancólicos vestidos de negro, utilizando sus fustas de piel de pescado contra los ciudadanos y recibiendo a cambio buenas monedas metálicas. Costa Norte, con sus huertos de puncon, sus bosques de frag y sus campos cubiertos de vainas de pamet.
En un lejano planeta conviven los humanos y los thraish, una especie voladora inteligente. Los thraishs son una especie inteligente pero muy depredadora quienes han agotado sus fuentes naturales de alimento. Después de sangrientas guerras con los humanos han llegado a un extraño equilibrio donde un complicado acuerdo convierte a los humanos muertos en alimento de estos carnívoros voladores a cambio, por supuesto, de cierto beneficio para la camarilla dirigente.
El acuerdo incluye extrañas costumbres (como la resurrección de muertos en un plan pseudo-zombie), curiosos ritos religiosos y estricto control de la población, su crecimiento y migraciones.
En este exótico escenario veremos el desarrollo de esta historia de cuando las cosas cambian y el status quo se desbarata entre intrigas palaciegas, locos profetas con visiones y pueblos oprimidos en busca de la libertad.
Una curiosa mezcla de ciencia ficción (o fantasía escrita en clave de ciencia ficción) donde veremos costumbres extrañas y maravillosas, ecosistemas fascinantes y varios misterios que se resolverán finalmente de manera lógica y sin precipitaciones; el sentido de maravilla que uno espera de la buena ciencia ficción.
Pero lo mejor de todo: bien escrito, con personajes bien construidos (es como un Jack Vance bien hecho) y la suerte de encontrar reunidos en un solo tomo lo que en inglés fueron dos novelas separadas.
Son libros antiguos. Si dicen la verdad, nuestra historia está llena de lo mismo. Los humanos lo hemos hecho una y otra vez. ¡Al enfrentarnos con la verdad elegimos una y otra vez la locura! Una vez y otra. Elegimos dementes como líderes, diestros actores que nos cuentan bonitas mentiras. Repudiamos a aquellos que nos prometen honestidad y somos leales a quienes nos prometen mitos. Nunca la verdad, siempre el Árbol de los Dulces.
July 5, 2024
I read a little of Sheri Tepper back in the day. I enjoyed them although she tends to write the same story over and over. Once she got really strident and way out there I gave up. Somehow I must have missed these or just totally forgot them. Not a bad although still the same message of the evils of religion, although not as heavy handed as some. Interesting world building here. Liked the characters.
abandonado
October 1, 2023Abandonado al 20%
Comienza muy bien, lo de la plaga, lo de cierta estatua y los de Lila es muy interesante, pero hay capítulos que me sobraban muchísimo, que metían tantos personajes de golpe que confundía a todo el mundo.
Creo que si lo hubiera pillado en otro momento lo podría haber disfrutado, pero ahora mismo no puedo con él.
Comienza muy bien, lo de la plaga, lo de cierta estatua y los de Lila es muy interesante, pero hay capítulos que me sobraban muchísimo, que metían tantos personajes de golpe que confundía a todo el mundo.
Creo que si lo hubiera pillado en otro momento lo podría haber disfrutado, pero ahora mismo no puedo con él.
August 29, 2022
These books describe a world so strange and extraordinary, the details and certain scenes have stuck with me for decades. Like the tree woman. The gruesome labor shortage solution. The river boats.
Worth the read. My gen z teen liked the books very much.
Worth the read. My gen z teen liked the books very much.
August 9, 2017
it was okay and intresting up until the half way mark, then i think it just droned on for to long and I lost interest. Interesting idea tho 😃
June 1, 2018
Accidentally left on a train. If I had a brain, I'd be dangerous. The first half was good though :)
November 28, 2023
4,5 stars
April 2, 2015
I chose to define this as speculative fiction because it is another Mathusian setting, with population control a central issue for the predatory Flyers and their Talkers. It is a very complex set of novels and I don't recommend reading either as a stand-alone. Even so I found the ending somewhat inconclusive. One presumes Southshore will undergo an environmental catastrophe as the Flyers clear the continent of mammalian life. Northshore is a place of hope, as it has been from it's first mention. there are several forms of sentient life on this planet, the arrival of humans and the presence of other aliens, the Strangeys in the water add to the avian diversity which is presumed to be the indigenous life. The Birds have eaten most of the mammals and have failed to check their reproduction. When humans arrived one of the largest mammals had already become extinct, and two other species are critically endangered. The ruling cast of the Servants have advised checking the mating/reproductive cycle, but the Flyers are all about appetite. They have discovered that humans can be eaten if treated with a native fungus which turns them into short lived zombies. The humans have generated a horrific religious structure to keep the avians supplied with food. The Fliers eat the corpses, and the Talkers eat live humans dosed with the Tears. On islands in the great River live another form of sentient birds, the pacifist Treecy who walk and talk much like people. But their males die after mating, and a misunderstanding about this limited life cycle causes great grief.
We see the various human societies on this world, the transient boaters, the nomadic black Noor, and the complicated lives of those in the coastal cities. Each world has a representative or two in the narrative. The Boaters and the Noor as skeptical of the townies, and their supervising Towers. In reading these two novels I wish she had gone for the classic trilogy format instead of these somewhat truncated books. The power struggles within the Towers are less convincing because the characters aren't fleshed out enough to command sympathy. it's hard to root for anyone in the power structure or care about their conflicts which are dry and sharp. I felt like I was reading a summary statement at times, and I will conclude this one.
We see the various human societies on this world, the transient boaters, the nomadic black Noor, and the complicated lives of those in the coastal cities. Each world has a representative or two in the narrative. The Boaters and the Noor as skeptical of the townies, and their supervising Towers. In reading these two novels I wish she had gone for the classic trilogy format instead of these somewhat truncated books. The power struggles within the Towers are less convincing because the characters aren't fleshed out enough to command sympathy. it's hard to root for anyone in the power structure or care about their conflicts which are dry and sharp. I felt like I was reading a summary statement at times, and I will conclude this one.
December 31, 2014
I really thought that I had not read this before, so I was quite surprised as the story unfolded how much came back to me. In some ways this is because this is a classic Tepper and so many of the familiar themes are there for those who know her work. In others it is simply why I enjoy rereading books so much, as while I forget, the remembering is so much fun.
As usual Tepper challenges us with environmental issues, and here to a lesser extent feminist. Unusually she touches on race, but familiar topics are hierarchy, capacity, and the evil which is culpability in the smallness of the human condition and fundamental stupidity in being refusing to face difficult decisions or change for the better. There is a lot going on here, and while Tepper is less forceful in her message than in some of her books, she is far less subtle than she is in others and she has a broad spectrum of issues to deal with here.
Unfortunately, I found none of the characters really very likable. Even the best were weak, enablers, lacking in any real spark with which to see the problems change and wrapped up in their own foolish problems. Resolution did not depend upon them, and seemed to be inevitable without the players, a given, sooner or later. So in the end, I felt it hard to really care about any of the characters or even really the fate of the world of the River.
I think while this has a lot of thought to offer, I have seen them presented better by Tepper elsewhere and this is really the start of some of her poorer works. That is not to say that that anything written after this point was not good, which is not the case, but in reading this I am struck with a foreshadowing of where she starts to go wrong. A great world, some really interesting ideas... and then what?
As usual Tepper challenges us with environmental issues, and here to a lesser extent feminist. Unusually she touches on race, but familiar topics are hierarchy, capacity, and the evil which is culpability in the smallness of the human condition and fundamental stupidity in being refusing to face difficult decisions or change for the better. There is a lot going on here, and while Tepper is less forceful in her message than in some of her books, she is far less subtle than she is in others and she has a broad spectrum of issues to deal with here.
Unfortunately, I found none of the characters really very likable. Even the best were weak, enablers, lacking in any real spark with which to see the problems change and wrapped up in their own foolish problems. Resolution did not depend upon them, and seemed to be inevitable without the players, a given, sooner or later. So in the end, I felt it hard to really care about any of the characters or even really the fate of the world of the River.
I think while this has a lot of thought to offer, I have seen them presented better by Tepper elsewhere and this is really the start of some of her poorer works. That is not to say that that anything written after this point was not good, which is not the case, but in reading this I am struck with a foreshadowing of where she starts to go wrong. A great world, some really interesting ideas... and then what?
April 3, 2011
Two early novels in one volume. As with most of Tepper's novels, the plot concerns social issues, religion and class structure. Cover blurb: "Come to a world distant in time and space, a world where the pace of life is counted by tides of the great River, but where, as in the river itself, there are swift dark currents flowing under a placid surface. -- Meet Pamra Don, a young woman scarred by her mother's death, lured to a priesthood where the truth must be hidden from the faithful. And meet Thrasne, a young boatman who trades from town to town, free from the iron control of the Towers of the Awakeners, and the priests of the world of the River -- free, that is, as long as he never speaks his mind. These two, by design and accident both, are about to discover many truths. -- And on the Northshore of the River, the truth can kill you."
As indicated above, the story takes place on an unnamed world circled by The Great River which separates two landmasses. The northern landmass, Northshore, is populated by humans and Thraish, an avian species. The two species, especially their leadership, have a somewhat parasitic relationship with each other -- the Thraish provide a life-extending elixir for the elite priesthood, and the priesthood provides food for the Thraish. But all is not well on Northshore. An underground resistance movement is disrupting the food supply; and a young priestess has discovered the truth about her religion. Both of these have far reaching consequences which change life on Northshore forever.
Engaging characters, some very nice imagery. Recommended.
As indicated above, the story takes place on an unnamed world circled by The Great River which separates two landmasses. The northern landmass, Northshore, is populated by humans and Thraish, an avian species. The two species, especially their leadership, have a somewhat parasitic relationship with each other -- the Thraish provide a life-extending elixir for the elite priesthood, and the priesthood provides food for the Thraish. But all is not well on Northshore. An underground resistance movement is disrupting the food supply; and a young priestess has discovered the truth about her religion. Both of these have far reaching consequences which change life on Northshore forever.
Engaging characters, some very nice imagery. Recommended.
Read
October 14, 2015Al principio, como es habitual, uno se encuentra muy desubicado. Se dibuja una sociedad dividida en castas con muy extrañas costumbres. Y está el Río Mundo, al que todos los seres se someten, un aspecto más de la curiosa configuración con que la autora ha dotado al escenario. Poco a poco descubrimos algunos significados, y cuando las piezas comienzan a encajar unas con otras, entonces de nuevo cambia y se introducen otros aspectos más que enriquecen la fábula. Los Traish, grandes pájaros inteligentes, no comprenden a los humanos más de lo que estos les comprenden. Les separa una cultura e idiosincracia propia, y el desconocimiento de su propio pasado. Por su lado, los humanos, olvidan fácilmente lo que quieren, y se dejan conducir con una facilidad pasmosa cuando la superstición y la ignorancia les conducen. Es muy interesante. Esta autora me recuerda cada vez más a Ursula K. Leguin, en cuanto al desarrollo de personajes en un entorno extraño, ajeno, coherente. Me ha sorprendido bastante...
February 10, 2017
I usually love books by Sheri S. Tepper, and while this one isn't bad, it's not her best. Still it had some interesting characters, and some good world building. All in all, it was readable....but I won't read it again.
October 28, 2015
This is a hardcover edition of both Northshore and Southshore.
I was totally confused by Northshore. Too many intrigues, too many characters, too many different things happening. I'd just get something straight, and then learn I was in error; it just didn't make much sense to me. Then the whales (strangeys), Pamra and the baby (Mary and Jesus) and poor dumb Peasimy Flot, made it over the top. HOW long were they all on this planet? And why? And WHY were all the books suppressed or hidden?
Southshore was a little better. I began to make headway with the plot and the intrigues, since all the main characters had been killed. Queen Fibji and Thrasne were the only two left who seemed to know anything, and I wasn't sure about them. Beginning in Chapter 18, page 316, it began to make sense. But then comes Chapter 19 . . . Ah, well. It was interesting . . . I guess.
How about Weside? Or Easide? Ms. Tepper? A long story about them MAKING IT?
I was totally confused by Northshore. Too many intrigues, too many characters, too many different things happening. I'd just get something straight, and then learn I was in error; it just didn't make much sense to me. Then the whales (strangeys), Pamra and the baby (Mary and Jesus) and poor dumb Peasimy Flot, made it over the top. HOW long were they all on this planet? And why? And WHY were all the books suppressed or hidden?
Southshore was a little better. I began to make headway with the plot and the intrigues, since all the main characters had been killed. Queen Fibji and Thrasne were the only two left who seemed to know anything, and I wasn't sure about them. Beginning in Chapter 18, page 316, it began to make sense. But then comes Chapter 19 . . . Ah, well. It was interesting . . . I guess.
How about Weside? Or Easide? Ms. Tepper? A long story about them MAKING IT?
February 20, 2007
Be sure you have the second book before you get to the end of the first or you will be left hanging. This book has a quite start with Thrasne a boatman aboard a barge. He trades from town to town and sees much of the odd ways of the people on shore. In a town they pass a woman commited suside by throwing herself in the river. A cardenal sin aginst the Awakeners. That night Thrasne pulls her up in his net ravaged with a thing that aflicts things in the water turning them to wood, they call it blight. Instead of letting her float away he keeps her and hides her in his cabin. After awhile Thrasne is sure that even frozen by blight that the woman actually moves and is trying to talk to him. Thus starts a very strange story.
September 7, 2010
This book is very interesting and I am alaways impressed by Sheri Tepper's world-building, but for some reason I keep putting this down and re-reading comfort books instead of finishing it. Maybe it is just my mood. I really do want to finish it.
But I couldn't end up getting back to this one. I just didn't care about the main characters that much. Thrasne was boringly tragic and Pamra was over the top tragic. Not my thing. The world was amazing, but the characters didn't come alive for me.
But I couldn't end up getting back to this one. I just didn't care about the main characters that much. Thrasne was boringly tragic and Pamra was over the top tragic. Not my thing. The world was amazing, but the characters didn't come alive for me.
September 22, 2010
Human colonists live in an uneasy treaty with the native Thraish, a carniverous bird-people who have hunted all the native beasts to extinction. The balance of truce is maintained through a religious system that conceals the truth from the people of Northshore. But the truth will soon be revealed.
I liked Northshore better than the second book, Southshore. The world that Tepper creates is well fleshed out and interesting, but as the second book wraps up her message, the books start to become a little didatic.
I liked Northshore better than the second book, Southshore. The world that Tepper creates is well fleshed out and interesting, but as the second book wraps up her message, the books start to become a little didatic.
April 28, 2016
This book was one of her older novels and it was amazing to see the seeds of ideas that were later expanded to other whole books. Hints of Grass and Gate to Womens Country are there. It was as I have come to expect, a story full of questions about life and religion. How people come to believe in what they do and of course, interesting alien cultures. This book has more than one life-form not indigenous to the planet.
This book was definately interesting. I think that if you likedd anything else that Ms. Tepper has written you can't help but like this one too.
This book was definately interesting. I think that if you likedd anything else that Ms. Tepper has written you can't help but like this one too.
October 18, 2007
Sheri Tepper has a truly weird imagination, which is wonderfully refreshing after all of the formulaic fantasy out there. There are some themes that this book has in common with Singer from the Sea, but it is rich with its own imaginatively strange and morally interesting ideas and characters, so this is not a drawback, but rather provides an interesting look at how Tepper sees things... at what she finds the most compelling metaphors for our society (and it ain't pretty).
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February 28, 2014Breathtaking in its scope, this book opened my mind to a new way of narrative. She starts in the middle and you need to pay attention and catch up. But I never felt annoyed. There was plenty to keep me busy, thinking, wondering and still wanting more. That's just style. Then we get to the notions of content. As I remember it, it was a feast of questions about what we do to in honoring our traditions and how that can bind us to really outlandish outcomes. Great book.
November 8, 2009
Another good Sheri S. Tepper book. I'm glad that I could find both books in one volume to keep making it through. I had originally ignored this book based on the cover... 'Too fairy-princess-y' I had thought. It has nothing to do with that. A rich story that ends in a way that was interesting and satisfying.
August 16, 2012
Couldn't finish it. Made it to page 246 and realized that with 6 story lines going, all kind of depressing, all using made up words to a high number level to go with this fantasy world, that I just have better things to do.
Tepper, I love you for Gate to Women's Country and Grass. I will try others. This one was just a miss for me.
Tepper, I love you for Gate to Women's Country and Grass. I will try others. This one was just a miss for me.
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September 1, 2014A completely new and fascinating world grew within its pages but with all the characteristics of our world both good and bad. A fantasy world with love, honour, kindness, sacrifice on one hand and evil, greed, selfishness and cruelty on the other. An enjoyable read with interesting ideas and characters.
February 21, 2007
Tepper's imagination has created a strange, creepy, surreal world with compelling characters you'll feel like you know personally. What with the huge pooping crows and love between man and wooden woman, there's no way to put it down.
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