After ten thousand years in exile, the cyber-warriors return in their fleet of spaceships to the planet that rejected them: Earth.
Adiamante
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Earth was once the capital of an interstellar empire, but now it's just another inhabited planet in a forgotten universal order. Its citizens survive through kindness, environmental conservation and non-aggression. But humanity's great strides toward erasing its violent past are threatened when 12 ships made of indestructible adiamante appear in orbit. The ships are from a former colony bent on subjugating the Earth and its inhabitants. But the strict ethics that have helped revitalize the Earth may be its downfall, as the human homeworld struggles to find a way to save itself without violating its new-found principles.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
In the far future, humanity is scattered among the stars and has divided into many subgroups. On Old Earth itself, after many wars and disasters, society is based on conservation and non-aggression. But the resilience of this culture is tested when a hostile fleet of 12 spaceships appears in orbit around the planet. Built of adiamante, a nearly indestructible material, the ships have been sent by a former colony bent on revenge. Narrator Ecktor deJanes, Earth's temporary coordinator, has to prevent the fleet from sterilizing the planet. He's not without resources, as it turns out. But he's bound by a code of honor that mandates that "those with great power must exercise equally great responsibility." Modesitt avoids the digressions and lingering scholarly points that sometimes slow his popular Recluce series, though his narrative here does get didactic at times ("For all our nets, for all our communications, humans... are aliens, aliens to each other and to the universe, and that is why we must trust"). If he doesn't always fully explain the technological distinctions and intricacies of his elaborate far-future Earth, he nevertheless paints an absorbing picture of this world and how it became what it is.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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First Sentence
If the conversation had been offline and spoken, neither of which was possible within the working systems contained in the adiamante hull of the Gibson, the words would have followed old patterns, patterns based on the spoken words that seldom echoed within the bulkheads and networks of the Vereal ship. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
If the conversation had been offline and spoken, neither of which was possible within the working systems contained in the adiamante hull of the Gibson, the words would have followed old patterns, patterns based on the spoken words that seldom echoed within the bulkheads and networks of the Vereal ship. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Marie Gagnon
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book is an excellent example of what makes science-fiction so appealing to me : timeless questions and ideas, put in a different perspective, so that a new understanding may be found.
Power vs responsibiliy, and what make a society stable ? Food for the thought, packaged in a good action plot.
By R. Borroff
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This novel presents a compelling entree to a mythos/universe that the author expands in other novels, but Adiamante may lack the vicersal tug that you get from a truly great novel. Well worth reading, even loosing sleep for, but by the very nature of its characters and message, not one you'll push on your friends.
More mature and thoughtful readers will remember this one fondly, and return to it often.
More mature and thoughtful readers will remember this one fondly, and return to it often.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is the first L. E. Modesitt book I picked up, and it was a pretty entertaining read. It sustains through a second read too, for the presentation of the two different cultures remains consistent throughout.
I found the approach unexpected - even though by the end of chapter 3 there is little doubt about how the story will conclude, that leaves room for an amazing amount of suspense in just what the path will be to get to that foregone conclusion. Also the changes in points of view - first person for the demi and third person for the cybs - are a good way to unrelentingly underscore the impersonal outlook of the cybs as opposed to the demi's beliefs that life must be lived "whole-body".
All in all the best science fiction book I have read in a while. I realize it's been published for some time but that just means it's still worthwhile to browse outside of the newly-published book selections.
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4.5 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great!
This has to be my favorite book by L. E. Modesitt Jr. (I've read about ten).
I'm prone to multi-volumne series, but this one is short but sweet.
Published on Jun 18 2002 by Joel Weeks
5.0 out of 5 stars
Old Earth...
After ten thousand years, after the Flight, the rise as well as fall of the Rebuilt Hegemony and the Chaos years demi and draffs have learned a peaceful way of life. Read more
Published on Sep 21 2001 by Michael Valdivielso
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Earth is a Dangerous Place
I believe Modesitt is trying, with this book, to get the readers to look around at the world today for what it is. Read more
Published on Feb 18 2000 by C. Perryn McLaughlin
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent book.
This is one of the best books I've read recently. Modesitt makes you think. What is power? Who deserves it? What prices will the powerful have to pay? Read more
Published on Sep 25 1999
4.0 out of 5 stars
A story of conflict and great responsibility.
Adiamante seems to follow the underlying theme that most of Modesitt's works incorporate. Once again there is found a people who wish nothing more than to be left alone, yet are... Read more
Published on Oct 9 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting Idealogy
The true litmus test is whether a book is remembered or forgotten, and this book is not easily forgotten. Read more
Published on Oct 2 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very, very well thought out: a thinker
This book is put to the extremes in all ways. The script, if a little complicated, is very good with everything else. Read more
Published on July 29 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars
A flat out excellent book
I was on my way to Switzerland in the airport and found myself caught with nothing to read. I went into a nearby book store looked in science fiction and found this as the only... Read more
Published on July 20 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating reading
In this novel, Modesitt has managed to convey the feeling that, if we would just be honest with ourselves about our very human motivations and faults, we could have a society that... Read more
Published on April 5 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mature and thoughtful fiction
How would you run a planet if you were truly Grown Up? Having set up a society you like, how would you defend it without losing your soul? Read more
Published on Feb 23 1998
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