Earth
David Brin. Bantam Books, $19.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-553-05778-2
Weaving an epic of complex dimensions, Brin ( Startide Rising ) plaits initially divergent story lines, all set in the year 2038, into an outstandingly satisfying novel. At the center is a type of mystery: after a failed murder attempt, a group of people try to save the victim, recover the murder weapon, identify the guilty party and fend off other assassins, all the while being led through n + 1 plot twists--each with a sense of overhanging doom, because the intended victim is Gaea, Earth herself. The struggle to save the planet gives Brin the occasion to recap recent global events: a world war fought to wrest all caches of secret information from the grip of an elite few; a series of ecological disasters brought about by environmental abuse; and the effects of a universal interactive data network on beginning to turn the world into a true global village. Fully dimensional and engaging characters with plausible motivations bring drama to these scenarios. Brin's exciting prose style will probably make this a Hugo nominee, and will certainly keep readers turning pages. (June)
Details
Reviewed on: 05/01/1990
Genre: Fiction
Hardcover - 608 pages - 978-0-553-07064-4
MP3 CD - 978-1-5113-9710-0
Mass Market Paperbound - 704 pages - 978-0-553-29024-0
Open Ebook - 496 pages - 978-0-307-57340-7
Paperback - 622 pages - 978-1-5040-8638-7