- Mass Market Paperback: 592 pages
- Publisher: DAW; Open market ed edition (July 1 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0886777992
- ISBN-13: 978-0886777999
- Product Dimensions: 16.9 x 10.5 x 3.7 cm
- Shipping Weight: 295 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #533,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
The spaces between space are full of dragons. The colonists on Guera went mad--one of the plague of mutations that affected all human colonies and drove Earth back from the stars--but their controlled madness meant that they and they alone could cope with hyperspace, could ask the Earth humans they and other new human species hate for past betrayal back into space. But a virus is infecting the human-machine interfaces by which they live and stay sane, and Earth's racists are the prime suspects. Meanwhile, Jamisia, the subject of endless experiments and host to a myriad of alternate personalities, flees Earth's bloody corporate politics in pursuit of safe haven--and everyone wants a piece of her. The hacker known as Phoenix just wants revenge on the makers of the virus for the death of friends.
C.S. Friedman's galaxy full of altered humanities and vicious politics has room in it for tenderness and honor; this is a satisfying space opera because it is full of characters, some of whom will do the right thing. She is good on what stays the same when things change--the austere, mad, security expert Masada and the sweet slob Phoenix are recognizable types, but attractively individualized. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
In a far-future interstellar society, star travel is monopolized by the Outspace Guild, which controls the only method of faster-than-light travel that doesn't result in horrible mutations among the star travelers. Now a deadly software virus is attacking Guild members, so the Guild's investigators, led by Dr. Masada, must learn where it came from and how to defeat it before interstellar society breaks down. Meanwhile, a young woman, Jamisia Shido, has to flee for her life from a space habitat near Earth, where all mutations are forbidden and launched, if discovered, into Guild-controlled interstellar space. Secret illegal therapy for a disaster that killed her parents has left Jamisia with an acute form of multiple-personality disorder?and may have made her the key in the fight against the virus. The plot of this stout novel is simple, with few really original details, and the Guild and Jamisia subplots fail to connect until far into the story. Still, Friedman (the Coldfire trilogy) keeps her tale moving at a vigorous pace that's boosted through an abundance of well-chosen details, such as those accruing to the characterization of Jamisia's unruly guest personality. The novel may read like a cross between cyberpunk and Star Wars, but it is likely to hold readers' interest tenaciously. The ending neither requires nor precludes a sequel, so readers are left with some hope of again encountering Jamisia and the duel between the Guild and Earth that backdrops her adventures.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1998 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
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Favourite Book Ever,
By gestalt_filled_eyes (CA, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: This Alien Shore (Hardcover)
This is probably my favourite book ever. I borrowed it just on the premise of computers being interfaced with the brain but what I read far excelled anything I had ever imagined possible so I bought it, and read it several more times.The book is a story of a girl's coming of age, a cyber-mystery, an ineresting look at future technology's impact on society, and a classic story power/domination struggle. C. S. Friedman does an excellent job of weaving several sub-plots into an overall great book. If you enjoy reading at all then you'd probably find something to interest you in "This Alien Shore"
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as Good as Her Other Books,
By
This review is from: This Alien Shore (Mass Market Paperback)
I'm sorry to say that this book isn't in the same league as C.S. Friedman's other books. First of all, I have problems with the back story: originally, mankind set out for the stars but then found that the star drive they were using mutated their genes. OK. But, then, why did all the people on any given ship have their genes mutate in the exact same way so that they produced a viable, fertile species? It seems to me, you would have ended up with a lot of unique, sterile, monsters. Oh, well. But, I think my biggest problem with the book is that it just doesn't grab my attention. As I read it (and the writing, per se, is good), I basically felt nothing. Everything, including the main character, is bland. I did enjoy the book, but that was purely from a mechanistic point of view. The story and characters never really meant anything to me. I hope Friedman can raise the excitement level in her future works to match that found in her other past works. This book, for all the work she obviously put into it, is basically filler.
5.0 out of 5 stars
This was great,
By Katya (IL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: This Alien Shore (Mass Market Paperback)
This book was wonderful. Although very strange and a little out there at times this book makes you reconsideryour thinking about life, madness and human nature.The main charactor is an interesting gir, who was normal till something terrible was done to her. The story begins with her wakeing up, and her tutor telling her that she must flee for her life. She tries to question him, but he just tells her it will be explained in time. This is where the adventure starts. Oh and one more thing, Jamie hears vocies in her head. Every day. Then when she finally finds out why the vocies are there she wishes she didn't. A wonderful book.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
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?
|
