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Horizons
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Product Description
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #209020 in Books
- Published on: 2007-10-30
- Released on: 2007-10-30
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Mass Market Paperback
- 336 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In this well-done tale of politics in near-Earth orbit from Rosenblum (The Stone Garden), Ahni Huang, a class nine empath, cyborg and daughter of the ruler of Taiwan, has been sent up the space elevator to the synchronous platform New York Up to avenge the supposed murder of her brother. There she finds herself enmeshed in a complex web of political intrigue as various factions struggle for control of the platform's future. She also meets Dane Nilson, New York Up's charismatic chief agronomist, who sees himself as the midwife to humanity's next evolutionary step, and Koi, who may well be that next step. The major plot threads—a space colony's attempt to gain freedom from a domineering Earth government, human distrust of the Other, the importance of balancing the environment—aren't particularly new, but the author uses them nicely to create an entertaining tale. Rosenblum, who also writes mysteries as Mary Freeman, provides a fascinating picture of how humanity might develop in zero gravity. (Oct.)
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Review
“It's a tale of revolution and restraint that should satisfy any Heinlein fan. Horizons presents an excellently crafted world. Along with authors like Ben Bova [Rosenblum is] charting the near space future with solid characters at the helm and lot of good insights into the world of tomorrow.” --SFRevu
“Immensely satisfying with its cast of intelligent, sympathetic characters, its attention to detail, and its clear and efficient style. . .[Rosenblum’s] most successful novel to date.” --Locus
“Well-done tale of politics in near-Earth orbit . . . . An entertaining tale. . . . Rosenblum . . .provides a fascinating picture of how humanity might develop in zero gravity.” –Publishers Weekly
“Mary Rosenblum's Horizons offers a thought-provoking adventure with an equally unusual main character who is not who she thinks she is as she sets out to avenge a death that never happened in orbital "worlds" that are developing their own unique flora and fauna -- as well as another step in human evolution.” --L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
"A smart, sexy, and savvy future thriller from one of the best new writers in science fiction, people by real human characters with psychological complexity and emotional depth, and driven by a plot that races ahead like a runaway train." –Gardner Dozois
"Well researched, well written SF--- and with great characters, pacing, and action. This is Mary Rosenblum's absolute best." –Walter John Williams on Horizons
“An intricate, treacherous, and ultimately subversive book, not only in whom you can trust, but in what is being subverted.” –Michael Flynn on Horizons
“Horizons is a sure winner. It has it all: believable tech, plausibly detailed and complex politics, and engaging characters. If you want to know what the human future might actually look like -- this could well be it.” –Nancy Kress
About the Author
Customer Reviews
Fast moving near future SF set on orbital habitats, with nice SFnal elements
Mary Rosenblum's Horizons is a near future SF novel with a somewhat old-fashioned shape and set of concerns. And I liked it for that -- it's very exciting, fast-moving, with some nice speculative elements. And with an engaging heroine. And really nasty bad guys. (Who espouse a philosophy I personally find repellent -- but which many might have at least some sympathy for.)
The heroine is Ahni Huang, daughter of the head of an influential Taiwanese commercial family. In the opening sequence she goes up to the North American Alliance's orbital platform, NYUp, to avenge her brother Xai's murder. But there she learns that Xai is actually alive, and acting against her family. She also discovers a secret on NYUp: a group of apparently illegally modified humans are living in microgravity, under the leadership of Dane Nilsson, the still "normal" chief "gardener" for the orbital.
After a confrontation with her father and mother, who are acting at mysterious cross-purposes, she returns to NYUp. The platform is under increasing tension. There is an independence movement, led by Dane, but it is spiralling out of control, moving too rapidly, apparently as a result of external agitators. Possibly these are controlled by Xai, who may be working with Li Zhen, son of the Chinese leader, and the man in charge of the Chinese orbital platform.
All this moves very rapidly to a confrontation -- the World Council military is pushed to act against the people of NYUp, particularly Dane. So Ahni must figure out who is really behind all these problems, and how or if she can get sufficient cooperation between Dane's allies on NYUp, between an asteroid-based pilot/smuggler, and between Li Zhen to prevent a true disaster from destroying everybody's hopes for the future.
I quite enjoyed the novel. At the same time it has some weaknesses. Notably the resolution of the plot is quite convenient -- it is exactly what we as readers want, but it comes too rapidly, too easily, but also after (I felt) a somewhat implausible raising of the stakes, increasing of the danger to the characters we care about. By which I mean that I think the end state could have been plausibly arrived at, but somewhat more slowly. But that would have been hard to make work novelistically. In the end Horizons is lots of fun, good solid SF -- not a lasting masterpiece but nice work.
Colorful world-building, surely plotted story
Mary Rosenblum's Horizons is a purely enjoyable story of adventure and intrigue, with a convincing multi-cultural setting and cast.
When we first meet Anhi Huang, empath and scion of a powerful family in Taiwan, she's going up to one of earth's four orbital platforms to exact retribution on her brother's killer. Though the trip doesn't turn out at all as she planned, she gets a short tour of the platform, meets some mysteriously different people, and realizes that something very wrong is happening is happening on New York Up.
When she returns to earth and her father tries to publicly disgrace her for her perceived failure, she decides instead to go back to NYup and try to save the platform and its strange population. With the help of Dane Nilsson, a bio engineer and revolutionary leader, Anhi gets closer and closer to the heart of the conspiracy to take down the orbital platforms for good.
The plot zips along, and Rosenblum still manages to write interesting, sympathetic characters and build a world that feels real.
Horizons A Main Course Read
Before this book joins the dusty pile beside my bed for future re-reading, I thought I'd put up a very brief review.
Mary Rosenblum has written a book that is more than a salad, more than a slice of pie, it is a main course. I found it complicated enough that it deserved slow reading, chewing, savouring. I will read it again to pick up on things that might have slipped past me as my sleep meds kicked in.
Read it yourself and see what I am talking about. At random points during my day, I imagine myself in the low gravity areas of NYUp and at my tired moments I compare myself to one of her characters being held in gravity that was oppressive.
Go ahead and order it, you need some reading that will stick to your ribs.
