Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #563825 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-01
• Released on: 2005-04-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Set on a low-tech world where the main industry is the manufacture of carpets of human hair, German SF author Eschbach's first novel forms a grim mosaic of stories of myriad people and cultures trapped in stagnation by one powerful man's petty anger. Intended for the emperor on a distant planet, the carpets are so finely made that each carpet maker can only finish one in his lifetime, working with hairs from the bodies of his wives, who are chosen for the quality and color of their tresses. And so life goes, generation after generation, even after rumors and, finally, ships from the new government arrive with word of the emperor's removal. The new interstellar government learns the emperor secretly maintained thousands of carpet-making planets. Why? Eventually, the reader finds out the answer, though the revelation comes almost as an afterthought. While Eschbach's vignettes do form a fragile whole, the structure lacks urgency or focus. There's bound to be extra publicity because Orson Scott Card, who provides an intro, helped discover the book, but while Card fans will enjoy the large-scale world building and historical detail, they may be disappointed by the lack of real characters or sustained plot. (Apr. 15)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Enthusiastically introduced by no less than Orson Scott Card, this far-future novel does credit to everyone concerned, starting with its German author. A barren, isolated planet's whole economy turns around weaving carpets, allegedly for the emperor's palace, out of the hair of the weavers' wives. Although a weaver must have several wives to make his particular carpet, he may have only one son, who becomes his successor when he finishes his carpet and dies. Then the empire falls, creating a classic situation of a static society having to change--a theme heavily but not always well used in sf and fantasy. Eschbach records both the lead-up to it and the change from the viewpoints of many well-drawn characters, eventually affording a panorama of the rebels' becoming resistant to change themselves and revealing the secret of the carpets. Despite being broken into short episodes, the novel is one fluidly integrated story. If others of his books are as well translated in the future, Eschbach is likely to become an international phenomenon. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Customer Reviews

The Fruit of Absolute Power
This work is a striking science-fiction examination of absolute power on an inter-galactic scale. The translation from the German is excellent and the ideas presented are profound. Mr. Eschbach is obviously a student of Orson Scott Card and the book is rife with references to such Card stories as Unaccompanied Sonata, Kingsmeat, Fat Farm and others. In fact, the feeling of reading this work took me back to my discovery of Card in the pages of OMNI magazine.

Suffice it to say that the story revolves around the "hair carpet" a breathtakingly intricate work built up of individually knotted strands of human hair. Only men can be a carpet maker and they, of necessity, spend their entire life on one carpet. Ultimately, the work consumes the life of the maker only to finance the next generation's toil. As only one son can inherit, the household must consist of several wives and a house full of daughters to produce a requisite variety of hair colors. Extra sons aren't given a job out in the fields...

The work is less a novel and more of an expanded short story; the author paints a broad picture by the use of inter-related episodes that roughly tie together. The underlying theme and story provide a framework strong enough to carry the work without the need for one fully-developed character. In fact, spending more time on characterization would have detracted from the impact of this work.

I honestly could not put the book down until it was over. The ending is that killer-twist so reminiscent of early Card stories. The themes are profoundly German; there is a distrust of power in all its varieties, whether derived from religion, government, family or social expectations. Regardless of how you approach the work be prepared to think about the ideas presented for days.

Mr. Eschbach is on my must purchase list. TOR would do well to start translating his work as fast as possible.

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
There was a time when I would routinely devour several volumes of science fiction and fantasy a day, but these days there is little time for such luxuries, so I'm careful to ration my fiction reading list. I got lucky with this one. I was a bit worried by all the hype surrounding the book, but a powerful endorsement from Orson Scott Card, in my view one of the finest writers in the genre, persuaded me to read it. And I am delighted that I did. This extraordinary book fully deserves the praise that has been lavished upon it.

The writing is simple but deeply evocative. I am often disappointed by translations that fail to capture the nuances of the original, but the translator of this book - Doryl Jensen - has done an outstanding job.

The book is actually a series of inter-related short stories woven around a central theme. Thus there is little in the way of character development. Surprisingly, this is one of the few books where that does not detract from the power of the tales.

The answer to the central puzzle of the book is astonishing, and I hope that no one publishes any spoilers, because it is worth waiting for! Suffice to say that this is an extraordinary meditation on blind obedience, freedom, vengeance and the arrogance of power.

Highly recommended.

A disturbing tale
Eschbach's debut work (in English), this isn't really a novel per se, but more a collection of related tales set around a central theme: the hair carpets. While other reviewers see profound similarities to Orson Scott Card, I also saw a connection to Philip K. Dick, and his bleak view of humanity.

The book doesn't rush through things; as a result, the full nature of the situation, which is revealed only in the final chapter, becomes all the more shocking; the individual tragedies that befall many of the characters in this book are only a prelude to it.

Yet it is in that final chapter--and not the epilogue, which seems almost inevitable--that the book almost falls apart. I have trouble fathoming *how* the "present" state of affairs could have developed as it did, although I can believe Eschbach's explanation as to *why* it might happen (I would be interested to see what German readers had to say about it).

In short: this is "literary" SF in the grand tradition. It's not action-packed, but it will stay with you long after you finish the book.