[XOY]⇒ PDF Gratis Daughter of Elysium Joan Slonczewski 9780380770274 Books

Daughter of Elysium Joan Slonczewski 9780380770274 Books

Download As PDF : Daughter of Elysium Joan Slonczewski 9780380770274 Books

Daughter of Elysium Joan Slonczewski 9780380770274 Books

(UPDATE NOTED BELOW)
I loved this book in its print version, so much so that I needed to get a Kindle version. The story itself is gripping -- a struggle of foreigners on a world full of nearly immortal people. A tale of cultures, feminism, grown technology and growing sentience, as well as the differences between the poor and the rich, the ageless and the short-lived.

I'm actually writing this because the Kindle version has a serious formatting issue about a third of the way through -- everything starts underlining. It's detracting from my otherwise happy enjoyment of the story of Raincloud, Blackbear, their children and the world of Shora.

(This would be 5 stars except for formatting. The book itself should be 5 stars, and perhaps the formatting should be a 2)

UPDATE: The formatting is supposed to be fixed. I haven't had a chance to go back and re-read, but this puts the book back up into a 5 star for me.


Tags : Daughter of Elysium [Joan Slonczewski] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Bringing her family to the pristine technological world of Elysium in order to avert an interplanetary war,Joan Slonczewski,Daughter of Elysium,Avon Books,038077027X,VIB038077027X,American Science Fiction And Fantasy,Fiction,Fiction - Science Fiction,Fiction Science Fiction General,MASS MARKET,Romance,Romance & Sagas,Science Fiction - General

Daughter of Elysium Joan Slonczewski 9780380770274 Books Reviews

Just found this today, hooray! Excellent writer. I'm looking forward to rereading her books. This author has such a talent for world-building.
I am not a big fan of sci-fi books (mainly secluded to Kurt Vonnegut), but this book was engrossing. It wasn't a great literary feat, but it kept me interested. It is good FICTION.
Slonczewski does a fantastic job of creating different cultures in this novel. Many SF novels suffer from poorly thought out cultures; a particular problem is that of monoculture, when the various cultures presented in the book have only superficial differences. Ms. Slonczewski avoids that completely. There are, by my count, four main cultures in this book the ageless Elysians, the Clickers from Bronze Sky, the Urulites, and the Sharers. There are also several other cultures which play a less important part in the book.
Each of these cultures is completely distinct from the others, with regard not only to manners, customs, and dress, but also some of their fundamental assumptions about how human society should be organized. The interplay between members of these cultures -- their conversations, arguments, and differing opinions -- bring to life a novel which might otherwise have been tedious. Excellent reading!
Following a couple centuries after "A Door into Ocean", "Daughter of Elysium" revisits the planet Shora, home of the ocean-dwelling Sharers and the city-dwelling Elysians. Raincloud Windclan came to Elysium accompanied by her family to help avert a war. Her scientist husband was invited to assist in delving into the secrets of Elysians' longevity and in solving the Elysians' inability to bear children. The technologically superior Elysians live a pleasurable existence surrounded by their robot servants, who are slowly gaining sentience despite various precautions. In this epic sci fi tale, various threads entwine and produce a glorious and compelling exploration into compassion and humanity that fascinates as it entertains. Slonczewski deftly portrays the complex nuances of the bevy of characters, leading readers to explore their own human natures and giving us much to ponder.
Shora, the water covered world from "A Door Into Ocean," has continued to be the home to the Sharers and now the Elysiums, descendents of the forces that tried to conquer the water world for over a thousand years. We get to see this world fresh through the eyes of the Windclan family headed by Raincloud, brought because of her skills as a translator, her husband Blackbear who is a doctor, and their two children. These foreigners are very important in allowing Slonczewski to detail the culture and technologies of her complex universe without boring us with pages of hard science fiction descriptions. Both combining hard and social science fiction elements this novel may please readers of both.

There are four major problems facing Shora -- an issue with the longevity of the Elysiums (Blackbear's focus), the patience of the Sharers for the stupidity and short-sightedness of other other humans, a threat from one barbarian world that could destroy the peace of the galaxy (Raincloud's job), and an internal robotic problem that drove humans across the galaxy in the first place. Frankly these are too many major stories to be tackling and I felt that most of them were given shorter treatment than I would have liked; focus on the first three would have been great with a set-up for another novel to tackle the robot problem.

The Windclans were engaging enough that I'd love to read more about them. The Sharers are unique and intriguing and I fell in love with them in "A Door Into Ocean" so I'm curious as to their beginnings. The Elysiums seem frighteningly like us today as do the barbarians off-world in their blind pursuit of what each person or family wants regardless of the greater good. I plan to see if I can find more of these stories and start reading them.
I really like scifi/fantasy titles and pick up many of the free books. This one caught my eye, but I just couldn't get into it. After a couple chapters I gave up.
Great follow up to "A door into ocean" - great start of the Elysium universe! Quite another thing that the film . . .
(UPDATE NOTED BELOW)
I loved this book in its print version, so much so that I needed to get a version. The story itself is gripping -- a struggle of foreigners on a world full of nearly immortal people. A tale of cultures, feminism, grown technology and growing sentience, as well as the differences between the poor and the rich, the ageless and the short-lived.

I'm actually writing this because the version has a serious formatting issue about a third of the way through -- everything starts underlining. It's detracting from my otherwise happy enjoyment of the story of Raincloud, Blackbear, their children and the world of Shora.

(This would be 5 stars except for formatting. The book itself should be 5 stars, and perhaps the formatting should be a 2)

UPDATE The formatting is supposed to be fixed. I haven't had a chance to go back and re-read, but this puts the book back up into a 5 star for me.