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Avatars Dance #3
Burning the Ice
More than a hundred years after a small band of humans stole an antimatter-fueled starship and headed away at near-lightspeed, a colony of those renegades' descendants are now struggling to survive on Brimstone, a barely-habitable world of ice and bitter cold four dozen light-years from Earth.
In the long run, they hope to slowly terraform Brimstone, making it, if not Earthlike, at least bearable. In the short run-well, life is hard, and everyone lives in everyone else's laps. Not easy for anyone. Particularly hard if, like Manda, you just aren't cut out to get along with others in conditions of constant crowding and zero privacy.
Most people wouldn't be eager to get away from the main colony and work on a scientific project in the howling frozen wastes. For Manda, it's a deliverance. But news of the intelligent life she discovers in Brimstone's depths will change everything-if she can bring the news back to her fellows alive. For, it turns out, there are political plots and counterplots still active in the colony, dangerous twists tracing back to Earth itself...and outward to the stars.
In the long run, they hope to slowly terraform Brimstone, making it, if not Earthlike, at least bearable. In the short run-well, life is hard, and everyone lives in everyone else's laps. Not easy for anyone. Particularly hard if, like Manda, you just aren't cut out to get along with others in conditions of constant crowding and zero privacy.
Most people wouldn't be eager to get away from the main colony and work on a scientific project in the howling frozen wastes. For Manda, it's a deliverance. But news of the intelligent life she discovers in Brimstone's depths will change everything-if she can bring the news back to her fellows alive. For, it turns out, there are political plots and counterplots still active in the colony, dangerous twists tracing back to Earth itself...and outward to the stars.
544 pages, Hardcover
First published August 17, 2002
1 person is currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Laura J. Mixon
15 books38 followersLaura J. Mixon is a chemical and environmental engineer better known as a science fiction writer. She writes about the impact of technology and environmental changes on personal identity and social structures. Her work has been the focus of academic studies on the intersection of technology, feminism, and gender. She has also experimented with interactive storytelling, in collaboration with renowned game designer Chris Crawford. She is married to SF writer Steven Gould (Jumper), with whom she collaborated on the novel Greenwar. In 2011, she began publishing under the pen name Morgan J. Locke. Under that name, she is one of the writers for the group blog Eat Our Brains.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 29, 2019
A great mixture of sci-fi/fantasy and war. Reproduction and survival are major themes. The story follows Manda and other colonists on a icey planet. The technology is advance and they have clones of each other.
The alien was interesting but having it a more major element, the story was a little slow to start and very teen drama.
The alien was interesting but having it a more major element, the story was a little slow to start and very teen drama.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 28, 2015
The story picks up after the first hundred pages.
May 2, 2021
Fun to read once I got over the hiccups of understanding the names (of people and hilariously ridiculous things and concepts) and the particular ways the clone pairs talked (with lots of breaks because two people participate in one sentence). It had everything!! undersea aliens, clones, people wanting to hang onto (artificial) extension of life and power, sex, relationship drama, pretty good technical content about programming and physics. i got this a long time ago as part of Duke's women in science & engineering scifi book club, finally getting around to it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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January 13, 2020dnf @ ~230 pages
April 24, 2020
The descendants of a renegade colony struggle to survive on the ice planet of Brimstone.
May 24, 2020
Annoyingly whiny and bad-tempered protagonist; the initial premise was too implausible; deus-ex-machina interventions. There were some interesting ideas but the drawbacks were too much.
June 24, 2017
If you think you can handle intense teen angst and loneliness while you wait for the story to pick up, this is a highly worthwhile read.
In a small colony of clones trying to eek out a living on a freezing moon in a distant star system, Manda, a depressed loner in a very clique-based society, pilots undersea waldoes to explore the world. Although someone reveals that not all is what it seems, and she's taken to the corpse of the world's first leader, Mandy's life went on normally... until a massive cave-in smashes important systems, disrupts the colony, and kills her sister.
Strange discrepancies start to pop up, the colony's leaders stick their heads in the sand, and she's sent to retrieve a missing unit. A moment of contact - and a glimpse of native life! - before all is black again. She and Jim, a sonar specialist she rapidly becomes close to, suspect outside interference.
When she takes an old underwater vessel on a possibly one-way trip, Manda goes from pariah to hero, inspiring hope in the wake of tragedy. Under the ice they find that the outsiders' control is greater and more dangerous than they ever believed; she has to get back to warn the others, but even if that is possible, will it be in time?
It does take a while to get moving; the first hundred pages are mostly angsty exposition and overexploration of the culture. In many ways it resembles a society based entirely on a high-school social culture, full of cliques, grudges, "coup" (owed favors) that forms a barter system and family power, and petty jealousies. Manda is very excluded, and perhaps Mixon spends too much time showing us just how much. But the emotional troubles are real, painful to read, and after the cave-in and death she and her family seem more real. Though often at odds, they are all painted sympathetically, not an easy task. Family loyalty is a recurring theme; it may not be the strongest bond, but it is the most permanent. I didn't get quite enough sense of how old everyone was, though, not until near the end.
Once the story does pick up, it takes off and never lets up. Throughout the explorations and ruminations is a strong undercurrent of confusion, distress, and haste, which anyone can relate to. Her feelings for Jim aren't as thoroughly explored, just because everyone's distracted by too much going on in the meantime. All of the people are well painted, each with their own faults, wants, and hearts. Even the schizophrenic crèche-born. Many things just plain don't make sense for a while, but all is slowly revealed, settling down to a satisfying conclusion. I highly recommend.
This is a sequel to Proxies, but I'd have never known. I didn't need to read it to understand the story. This could possibly be mined for a sequel, years down the line (dealing with renewed contact from Earth, and the alien?), but anything sooner would be a stretch. I for one look forward to any effort in this direction.
In a small colony of clones trying to eek out a living on a freezing moon in a distant star system, Manda, a depressed loner in a very clique-based society, pilots undersea waldoes to explore the world. Although someone reveals that not all is what it seems, and she's taken to the corpse of the world's first leader, Mandy's life went on normally... until a massive cave-in smashes important systems, disrupts the colony, and kills her sister.
Strange discrepancies start to pop up, the colony's leaders stick their heads in the sand, and she's sent to retrieve a missing unit. A moment of contact - and a glimpse of native life! - before all is black again. She and Jim, a sonar specialist she rapidly becomes close to, suspect outside interference.
When she takes an old underwater vessel on a possibly one-way trip, Manda goes from pariah to hero, inspiring hope in the wake of tragedy. Under the ice they find that the outsiders' control is greater and more dangerous than they ever believed; she has to get back to warn the others, but even if that is possible, will it be in time?
It does take a while to get moving; the first hundred pages are mostly angsty exposition and overexploration of the culture. In many ways it resembles a society based entirely on a high-school social culture, full of cliques, grudges, "coup" (owed favors) that forms a barter system and family power, and petty jealousies. Manda is very excluded, and perhaps Mixon spends too much time showing us just how much. But the emotional troubles are real, painful to read, and after the cave-in and death she and her family seem more real. Though often at odds, they are all painted sympathetically, not an easy task. Family loyalty is a recurring theme; it may not be the strongest bond, but it is the most permanent. I didn't get quite enough sense of how old everyone was, though, not until near the end.
Once the story does pick up, it takes off and never lets up. Throughout the explorations and ruminations is a strong undercurrent of confusion, distress, and haste, which anyone can relate to. Her feelings for Jim aren't as thoroughly explored, just because everyone's distracted by too much going on in the meantime. All of the people are well painted, each with their own faults, wants, and hearts. Even the schizophrenic crèche-born. Many things just plain don't make sense for a while, but all is slowly revealed, settling down to a satisfying conclusion. I highly recommend.
This is a sequel to Proxies, but I'd have never known. I didn't need to read it to understand the story. This could possibly be mined for a sequel, years down the line (dealing with renewed contact from Earth, and the alien?), but anything sooner would be a stretch. I for one look forward to any effort in this direction.
February 2, 2015
Mixon's high-tech second skins and HUD displays seem prophetic. Hard science fiction along with the exploration of self, a unique clone society, and an abrasive young protagonist who neither softens nor becomes obnoxious. Some more emotional sections wax on and do not achieve the detail of the technological ones, but any simplicity could be attributed to clear emotional honesty. Excellent world-building with a memorable heroine.
February 1, 2016
Really turned into a fantastic book. After you get used to the grammar used to refer to the characters. Certainly an overlooked book, and now somewhat difficult to find from looking at book stores. There is a new eBook edition however that has the entire series. I think I may just pick this up and read the other two. My understanding is they are only loosely connected.
July 20, 2011
EXCELLENT novel, I fell in love with Laura Mixon when I read her novels.
Intelligent and funny, great read.
Intelligent and funny, great read.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews