Last Reviews of Earth
Aug. 1st, 2012 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHi,
So one of the blogs I frequent was discussing sci-fi from the 80's and 90's. Among the titles mentioned was The Last Legends of Earth by A. A. Attanasio put out in 1989. The short description sounded good and it was being re-released as an e-book so I thought I'd give it a whirl.
This will probably be one of the best books I've read this year and is just a great piece of sci-fi in general.
Here's the blurb -- in the far-distant future, the spider-like zotl are strip-mining another dimension. Gai, a native of that dimension, is launched into the zotl's dimension (our own) and builds a trap for them. Gai creates an unusual dual-star solar system with a number of planets orbiting on/between them. She then populates these worlds with sentient beings for the zotl to feed on. Among the drifting genetic material in our galaxy, Gai finds locked fragments of Terran DNA and proceeds to populate the worlds with humans. This draws the zotl to her worlds and Gai hopes to then find a weapon hidden in space-time with which to destroy the zotl homeworld and end them once and for all.
She's on a bit of a timer though -- the artificial solar system is also collecting energy to propel Gai back to her dimension. In 7000 years Gai returns home willy-nilly. So the book covers this huge span of time and focuses mostly on Ned O'Tennis and Chan-ti Beppu who fall in love but are scattered through time and must chase each other through history. Oddly, the book side-steps most of the thorny time-travel questions that you might expect to arise. The book is also happy to look in on other characters, even those who only have a relatively brief appearance.
The book is wide-ranging and garrulous and it was a delightful read. Just chock-full of interesting ideas and the long lens of time allows the author to explore how the past is viewed by the future.
I'm really pleased I picked this up and I think a lot of you will like it as well. Oh, the book also claims to be part of the Radix Tetrad and I believe it's the last book in the series, but except for a couple minor pieces, there's no ties to any of the other books and Last Legends stands completely on its own.
later
Tom
So one of the blogs I frequent was discussing sci-fi from the 80's and 90's. Among the titles mentioned was The Last Legends of Earth by A. A. Attanasio put out in 1989. The short description sounded good and it was being re-released as an e-book so I thought I'd give it a whirl.
This will probably be one of the best books I've read this year and is just a great piece of sci-fi in general.
Here's the blurb -- in the far-distant future, the spider-like zotl are strip-mining another dimension. Gai, a native of that dimension, is launched into the zotl's dimension (our own) and builds a trap for them. Gai creates an unusual dual-star solar system with a number of planets orbiting on/between them. She then populates these worlds with sentient beings for the zotl to feed on. Among the drifting genetic material in our galaxy, Gai finds locked fragments of Terran DNA and proceeds to populate the worlds with humans. This draws the zotl to her worlds and Gai hopes to then find a weapon hidden in space-time with which to destroy the zotl homeworld and end them once and for all.
She's on a bit of a timer though -- the artificial solar system is also collecting energy to propel Gai back to her dimension. In 7000 years Gai returns home willy-nilly. So the book covers this huge span of time and focuses mostly on Ned O'Tennis and Chan-ti Beppu who fall in love but are scattered through time and must chase each other through history. Oddly, the book side-steps most of the thorny time-travel questions that you might expect to arise. The book is also happy to look in on other characters, even those who only have a relatively brief appearance.
The book is wide-ranging and garrulous and it was a delightful read. Just chock-full of interesting ideas and the long lens of time allows the author to explore how the past is viewed by the future.
I'm really pleased I picked this up and I think a lot of you will like it as well. Oh, the book also claims to be part of the Radix Tetrad and I believe it's the last book in the series, but except for a couple minor pieces, there's no ties to any of the other books and Last Legends stands completely on its own.
later
Tom
