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Rift
There is a fine line between transformation and ruin....
Twenty-four-year-old Reeve Calder has spent his life on a high-tech space station, watching as terraforming gradually fails on his home planet of Lithia--a failure that has doomed the colonists stranded there to short, brutish lives. Reeve's dream has always been to rebuild Lithia. But when a mysterious explosion destroys the station, forcing Reeve to crash-land on Lithia's blood-hued soil, he soon learns that the reality of saving a dying planet is quite different from what he imagined. For Gabriel Bonhert, former captain of the space station, has set in motion a world cataclysm, using a fatal probe that will travel down the fiery pathway of a deep mantle plume.
Now, to save the homeland he has never known, Reeve is caught in a race against time to reach Bonhert's base in the Rift Valley, a remote volcanic gateway to the hidden heart of Lithia. His staunchest ally may be a feral girl who alone seems enthralled by what Lithia is becoming, and whose enigmatic past holds the key to startling possibilities. As the old Lithia struggles to be reborn in a tide of toxic red flora creeping across the oxygen-starved planet, Reeve forges onward, coming into conflict with savage enclaves of colonists, a doomsday genemorphing cult, and a mysterious alien race with its own intentions for the planet--intentions that may include humanity's slavery or their terrible transformation....
Twenty-four-year-old Reeve Calder has spent his life on a high-tech space station, watching as terraforming gradually fails on his home planet of Lithia--a failure that has doomed the colonists stranded there to short, brutish lives. Reeve's dream has always been to rebuild Lithia. But when a mysterious explosion destroys the station, forcing Reeve to crash-land on Lithia's blood-hued soil, he soon learns that the reality of saving a dying planet is quite different from what he imagined. For Gabriel Bonhert, former captain of the space station, has set in motion a world cataclysm, using a fatal probe that will travel down the fiery pathway of a deep mantle plume.
Now, to save the homeland he has never known, Reeve is caught in a race against time to reach Bonhert's base in the Rift Valley, a remote volcanic gateway to the hidden heart of Lithia. His staunchest ally may be a feral girl who alone seems enthralled by what Lithia is becoming, and whose enigmatic past holds the key to startling possibilities. As the old Lithia struggles to be reborn in a tide of toxic red flora creeping across the oxygen-starved planet, Reeve forges onward, coming into conflict with savage enclaves of colonists, a doomsday genemorphing cult, and a mysterious alien race with its own intentions for the planet--intentions that may include humanity's slavery or their terrible transformation....
- GenresScience Fiction
528 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1999
7 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Kay Kenyon
43 books254 followersKay Kenyon is a fantasy and science fiction author. She is now working on her 21st novel, a fantasy. She has been a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award and several others and recently had a trilogy optioned for film, The Dark Talents: At the Table of Wolves.
Her newest fantasy series is The Arisen Worlds quartet. Book 1, The Girl Who Fell Into Myth, Book 2, Stranger in the Twisted Realm, Book 3, Servant of the Lost Power and Book 4, Keeper of the Mythos Gate. "A story of powers and magic on a grand scale.” —Louisa Morgan, author of The Secret History of Witches.
Her acclaimed 4-book series, The Entire and The Rose, has been reissued with new covers: Bright of the Sky. Called "a splendid fantasy quest" by The Washington Post.
She loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her at http://www.kaykenyon.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter.
Her newest fantasy series is The Arisen Worlds quartet. Book 1, The Girl Who Fell Into Myth, Book 2, Stranger in the Twisted Realm, Book 3, Servant of the Lost Power and Book 4, Keeper of the Mythos Gate. "A story of powers and magic on a grand scale.” —Louisa Morgan, author of The Secret History of Witches.
Her acclaimed 4-book series, The Entire and The Rose, has been reissued with new covers: Bright of the Sky. Called "a splendid fantasy quest" by The Washington Post.
She loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her at http://www.kaykenyon.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 16, 2019
A good traditional science fiction story with convincing aliens, a nice Hal Clement-like setting, an interesting plot with some neat twists, and some fun background stories to keep things moving.
January 3, 2014
Kay Kenyon is a new favorite. Her fiction is always about worlds colliding and learning to coexist. Some of the human/alien interactions are surprisingly tender, even while acknowledging that our first impulse is to fear what we don't understand.
June 6, 2020
In true Kay Kenyon style, this book builds a fascinating world with a complexly cultured alien species and human enclavers trying to make life work 1000s of light years from Earth on a planet becoming increasingly more hostile and lethal for habitation.
The story is told primarily through the eyes 3-4 main characters: Reeve, a young man from Station, the space station that was orbiting Lithia and whose people were seen as deserters for having left the planet when things started to go bad. At times, we see the story through the eyes of Loon, whose heritage becomes a game changer for both her and the enclavers. We also see other sides to the planet and the dynamics of life there through the eyes of Nerys, a smart, stubborn enclaver through whom we get to know the alien species called the orthong, who also inhabit Lithia. Finally, we keep tabs on the rebel Stationers through the observations of Mitya, who the reader starts out not thinking much of until even he plays a major role in turning the future of Lithia and all its inhabitants. Along the way, readers are introduced to and find reason to invest in characters such as Spar, Loon's loyal body guard, Khalid, a ship captain trying to find balance in a cruel world, and Salidifor, Nerys' orthong teacher, and several others.
The book explores the challenges of the planet Lithia reverting to its original state when terraforming goes wrong, which I have never seen explored yet in a science fiction (none that I have read yet anyway). The orthong race were somewhat reminiscent of the Tarig, which are from Kenyon's amazing four-part series The Entire and the Rose. Both are complex, culturally nuanced species who act as master/overlord figures in their respective stories, and who human characters are not sure to love, respect, or loathe. An entire set of stories with this species and its continued presence on Lithia and how it might evolve to help the enclavers would be wonderful. I was most invested in the sections that described this species, their complex culture and language, and the humans' interactions with the species.
There were points in the book that seemed to flounder a little or leave me a tad confused. For example, the mention of using hexagons to guide the complicated dance language that Nerys learns to communicate to the orthong came out of nowhere. One understood from a few sentences what the hexagons were for, but the hexagons were introduced into the story as if they had been described before the passage in which they first appear, but I have no memory that they were ever mentioned. Two or three other intricate details were introduced that way: as if they were already known pieces of information, rather than new to the reader. I think this was done as a way to show the passage of time, but for me, it was a momentary confusion each time I encountered it. Some might also wonder at the sheer number of claves and characters introduced across the story, but by the end, I guarantee that you'll see why so many characters were needed!
If I were asked how to describe this book, I'd say, "It's a little like Mad Maxx Beyond Thunderdome (incidentally, domes do feature in the book!) meets genetic manipulation with a side order of a whole bunch of taller, less cute, equally furry Sulleys from Monsters Inc." At this point, I think I have read almost every book Kay Kenyon has written, and this one features in the top 7 for me out of her repertoire.
The story is told primarily through the eyes 3-4 main characters: Reeve, a young man from Station, the space station that was orbiting Lithia and whose people were seen as deserters for having left the planet when things started to go bad. At times, we see the story through the eyes of Loon, whose heritage becomes a game changer for both her and the enclavers. We also see other sides to the planet and the dynamics of life there through the eyes of Nerys, a smart, stubborn enclaver through whom we get to know the alien species called the orthong, who also inhabit Lithia. Finally, we keep tabs on the rebel Stationers through the observations of Mitya, who the reader starts out not thinking much of until even he plays a major role in turning the future of Lithia and all its inhabitants. Along the way, readers are introduced to and find reason to invest in characters such as Spar, Loon's loyal body guard, Khalid, a ship captain trying to find balance in a cruel world, and Salidifor, Nerys' orthong teacher, and several others.
The book explores the challenges of the planet Lithia reverting to its original state when terraforming goes wrong, which I have never seen explored yet in a science fiction (none that I have read yet anyway). The orthong race were somewhat reminiscent of the Tarig, which are from Kenyon's amazing four-part series The Entire and the Rose. Both are complex, culturally nuanced species who act as master/overlord figures in their respective stories, and who human characters are not sure to love, respect, or loathe. An entire set of stories with this species and its continued presence on Lithia and how it might evolve to help the enclavers would be wonderful. I was most invested in the sections that described this species, their complex culture and language, and the humans' interactions with the species.
There were points in the book that seemed to flounder a little or leave me a tad confused. For example, the mention of using hexagons to guide the complicated dance language that Nerys learns to communicate to the orthong came out of nowhere. One understood from a few sentences what the hexagons were for, but the hexagons were introduced into the story as if they had been described before the passage in which they first appear, but I have no memory that they were ever mentioned. Two or three other intricate details were introduced that way: as if they were already known pieces of information, rather than new to the reader. I think this was done as a way to show the passage of time, but for me, it was a momentary confusion each time I encountered it. Some might also wonder at the sheer number of claves and characters introduced across the story, but by the end, I guarantee that you'll see why so many characters were needed!
If I were asked how to describe this book, I'd say, "It's a little like Mad Maxx Beyond Thunderdome (incidentally, domes do feature in the book!) meets genetic manipulation with a side order of a whole bunch of taller, less cute, equally furry Sulleys from Monsters Inc." At this point, I think I have read almost every book Kay Kenyon has written, and this one features in the top 7 for me out of her repertoire.
August 2, 2025
A very good novel by Kay Kenyon but to be honest, none of her novels have disappointed me yet although this one could have been a tad shorter. Nonetheless it was worth reading and kept me interested for the most part with engaging aliens and great world-building.
December 28, 2019
Slow, scary, odd.
January 29, 2014
This is the first of my mini-reviews, due to a backlog of books I have grown. My computer was dying and it took too long to write them, so I set the books aside. With my poor memory, I can't give much, but I will try. Eventually I will get caught up, and we will go from there. So, as for Rift, it's a good solid space story. A multi-generational space station, terraforming gone wrong, and various factions that want to stay up in space, or come down to the surface and keep trying to get it to work, and people who have been living there, and been "changed" as the planet changes. Add in a strange race of aliens who capture human women, and it becomes a somewhat odd story, from many POVs, about finding what is right for the planet, and for it's inhabitants. I gave it 4 stars for it's unusual approach, and subjects. Otherwise I would give it a 3 for simply being too far out for my tastes, and too many characters to follow.
April 27, 2015
An anthropocene SF taken to the extreme: humanity has destroyed Earth and terraformed other planets. The terraforming went wrong and the technology to do so has been lost. Several levels of technology and society collides in the geological rift of that world. While an interesting concept, the story never truly gets off the ground.
November 22, 2008
The premise sounded quite interesting but once I started reading, was not impressed with teh author's style. I ended up not finishing the thing.
Currently reading
September 22, 2012So far so good
January 20, 2014
Great story! Rift is a novel with great alien world description and alien "people" characterization with interesting adventurous twists and turns.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews