Deception Well (Paperback)

The novel is set on Silk, a sealed habitat atop a space elevator on the
strange & isolated world of Deception Well. Silk was resettled by
refugees from Heyertori, a world sterilized by a rogue Chenzeme swan
burster. The city was deserted when they arrived, but full of human
bones. The refugees thought the Old Silken were killed by a plague
from the planet. They sealed off the beanstalk and live in comfort, but
supplies are running low & they have no way to leave - they were
dumped after a contract dispute with their sentient greatship.

Silk is attacked by followers of the prophet Jupiter, who believe they
can attain ecstatic Communion on the planet's surface. Many of the
cultists are killed, apparently including Jupiter. His son Lot survives,
and the surface of the novel is Lot's struggle to accept his father's
legacy, and to discover the true nature of the Deception Well.

The novel is a fine combination of top-notch tech-speculation and
traditional storytelling. It has a couple of sags that could have been cut,
but I'm nitpicking. If you haven't yet tried Linda Nagata, "Deception
Well" would be an excellent place to start. Nagata's website at www.maui.net/~nagata
is also worth checking out. IIRC it
has a sample chapter of "DW".

Happy reading!
Pete Tillman

I am giving this book an average rating because I liked it but it has serious flaws. First and foremost, was an extremely slow, laborious read. Her characters were moderately interesting but they did not really grow or change in any significant fashion. For all his introspection, not even Lot changes so much as he moves around and lets events dictate what will happen to him. Urban's big surprise decision at the end was uetterly predictable since his character moved not one iota the entire novel. Other majour characters seem to act capriciously or randomly; one minute they're going one way, the other they've reversed themselves and while Lot seems to have a clue why (we are told anyway), Nagata never makes it terribly clear to us.

So, too the very creative society Nagata has envisioned. I found it intriguing, but it was so diffusely and haphazardly described that I never felt terribly invested in the conflicts that arose from it. And therein, perhaps lies the real problem with the book. The setting, concepts and central idea are all marvelous but the execution is second-rate. The real conflict arises so much from the setting, and so little from deep and convincing characterization, that Nagata is forced, again and again, to assert that events make sense or that a character's actions are reasonable - but I rarely felt that way simply from reading what happened. A truly great book would not need so much explanation and assertion.

I really had a hard time "getting into" this book even after I was halfway through it - so much so that, when I took it on a plane, I bought another book to read in flight because this one was too difficult to read steadily. Still, I liked the book. As an intellectual exercise, it was plenty interesting. It is written intelligently and fairly sparkles with the kind of imagination and creativity about ideas, cultures and settings that marks the very best SF produced today. The problem is, that isn't enough to set it above so much other quality work being produced.

In short: I won't hesitate to recommend that you buy and read this book if you have some free time, but if time constraints limit you to only reading the best, you'd be best served by looking elsewhere.