The Last Legends of Earth

The latest novel by Attanasio ( Radix ) partakes of elements of both fairy tale and high-tech science fiction. Billions of years in the future, long after the extinction of humankind and of the planet Earth, humans have been resurrected as pawns in a cosmic power struggle waged in a distant world. Tall and ungainly Chan-ti Beppu, who can expect only a spinster's life in her native land, travels by lynk (a portal joining even remote regions) to the beautiful city of N'ym, where she woos and wins Ned O'Tennis. A fighter pilot, he is one of the Aesirai, a human strain crafted from the genetic code of Earth's Vikings and unmolested by the lethal, spiderlike zotl who prey on all other humans. But when war heats up Ned is called away, and Chan-ti finally must seek her lover in the treacherous Overworld, where no humans are safe. Theirs is an epic love story, intricate, wildly imaginative and touching. (Sept.)