- Paperback
- Publisher: Ace Books; First THUS edition (May 1988)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0441448518
- ISBN-13: 978-0441448517
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.2 x 2.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This remarkable book of linked stories by one of the best prose stylists in SF is set in a future England that has become a tight little island in a destroyed, postholocaust world. Powerful churches have long kept their grip on the people with a theology of fear that makes formidable demons out of the poor, weak mutants of the surrounding badlands. To ward off these specters, an elaborate, tradition-encrusted system of kites with hex signs or armed observers fly over the realm. The men of this Kite Corps, performing hazardous duty to sustain a myth, are driven to find a separate peace, to transform, if they can, disillusionment into enlightenment, to move forward from an assumption of guilt to an assumption of responsibility. These obdurate moral and intellectual questions, together with a pastoral vision of a working, Constable-esque countryside, and the appealing characters whose lives open up to reveal the web of their society are all part of the debt Roberts owes George Eliot, as he acknowledges by naming a key city Middlemarch. Structurally, however, Roberts is so expansive and indirect that he challenges the reader to put the pieces together and some individual sequences are reticent to the point of obscurity. There is also a strong streak of Victorian, paternalistic fantasy in the repeated rescue of waifs. If it is slow and demanding, this is still a rich, complex work that marks a considerable advance in maturity and skill over Roberts's early stories.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A true original, great to see it in print, Dec 21 2000
By merlinme "merlinme" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Kiteworld (Paperback)
Keith Roberts preferred style seems to be linked short stories (see also his book Pavane). The chapters in Kiteworld are effectively self contained, though characters reappear, and the book does build to its conclusion. Structure isn't the only original thing about Roberts' writing; the world he creates is truly unique, one where badlands have been created and in which kites have taken on a mythic power as the defence against the forces from these badlands; the Kite fliers are somewhere between jet pilots and priests in status. In this setting he deals with strong human relationships and emotions. Be warned: this is not your typical fantasy or science fiction light read; some point of comparison might be Stephen Donaldson. Personally I find it all the more worth reading because of its strong themes, but it's not to everyone's taste. I have to say, the ending is very disappointing (or I might well have given it five stars). But two of the middle stories are some of the most emotionally gripping stories I've ever read. Buy it if you want to read something truly unique in science fiction.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
