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Hand of Prophecy
With her highly acclaimed first novel, Speaking Dreams, Severna Park has emerged as a powerful new voice in thought-provoking science fiction. In Hand of Prophecy, she once again launches readers into a spellbinding universe of brutality, betrayal, triumph, and love. A galaxy whirls in conflicts as tyrant slavers prepare to roar back and realm the frontier planets wrested from them generations ago. Living on one of the forfeited worlds they covet most in Frenna, bred for bondage and given a virus that guarantees tow decades of youth for servitude, followed by an agonizing death. But then she learns an amazing secret: the end is not inevitable. It seems impossible, but there is an escape. An antidote. A cure.
Yet Frenna's escape is into an exotic, bloodswept world, a fierce arena where muscled slaves wage brutal battle for their masters' amusement. Frenna has become a medic: her job is to administer a mercifully quick end to the mortally wounded. Nut she still carries the secret of unfathomable freedom. And as warships arrive in conquest, this last hope must endure in a murderous domain of monstrous holograms and irresistible deadly potions. In the final frenzy, sisters and lovers, killers and saviors, all will be swept together in a maelstrom of annihilation, survival--and redemption.
With her highly acclaimed first novel, Speaking Dreams, Severna Park has emerged as a powerful new voice in thought-provoking science fiction. In Hand of Prophecy, she once again launches readers into a spellbinding universe of brutality, betrayal, triumph, and love.A galaxy whirls in conflicts as tyrant slavers prepare to roar back and realm the frontier planets wrested from them generations ago. Living on one of the forfeited worlds they covet most in Frenna, bred for bondage and given a virus that guarantees tow decades of youth for servitude, followed by an agonizing death. But then she learns an amazing secret: the end is not inevitable. It seems impossible, but there is an escape. An antidote. A cure.
Yet Frennas escape is into an exotic, bloodswept world, a fierce arena where muscled slaves wage brutal battle for their masters amusement. Frenna has become a medic: her job is to administer a mercifully quick end to the mortally wounded. Nut she still carries the secret of unfathomable freedom. And as warships arrive in conquest, this last hope must endure in a murderous domain of monstrous holograms and irresistible deadly potions. In the final frenzy, sisters and lovers, killers and saviors, all will be swept together in a maelstrom of annihilation, survival--and redemption.
Yet Frenna's escape is into an exotic, bloodswept world, a fierce arena where muscled slaves wage brutal battle for their masters' amusement. Frenna has become a medic: her job is to administer a mercifully quick end to the mortally wounded. Nut she still carries the secret of unfathomable freedom. And as warships arrive in conquest, this last hope must endure in a murderous domain of monstrous holograms and irresistible deadly potions. In the final frenzy, sisters and lovers, killers and saviors, all will be swept together in a maelstrom of annihilation, survival--and redemption.
With her highly acclaimed first novel, Speaking Dreams, Severna Park has emerged as a powerful new voice in thought-provoking science fiction. In Hand of Prophecy, she once again launches readers into a spellbinding universe of brutality, betrayal, triumph, and love.A galaxy whirls in conflicts as tyrant slavers prepare to roar back and realm the frontier planets wrested from them generations ago. Living on one of the forfeited worlds they covet most in Frenna, bred for bondage and given a virus that guarantees tow decades of youth for servitude, followed by an agonizing death. But then she learns an amazing secret: the end is not inevitable. It seems impossible, but there is an escape. An antidote. A cure.
Yet Frennas escape is into an exotic, bloodswept world, a fierce arena where muscled slaves wage brutal battle for their masters amusement. Frenna has become a medic: her job is to administer a mercifully quick end to the mortally wounded. Nut she still carries the secret of unfathomable freedom. And as warships arrive in conquest, this last hope must endure in a murderous domain of monstrous holograms and irresistible deadly potions. In the final frenzy, sisters and lovers, killers and saviors, all will be swept together in a maelstrom of annihilation, survival--and redemption.
307 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1998
70 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 19, 2014
2.5 stars. It was okay. The plot was a little confusing to follow (too many characters introduced too quickly) and some of the internal logic didn't always seem to hold together.
September 20, 2021
Carrie found this one in the Free Library at Northern Sun (your source for liberal-themed stickers and t-shirts in south Minneapolis). And for a random pickup, it's not bad.
The first couple chapters draw you in with solid world-building: a fairly standard space-opera setting with some intriguing ideas about caste and biotech. But the story itself is more along the lines of slave narrative (perhaps better called "liberation narrative" in this context). As hifalutin as that sounds, the plot settles into a gritty but engaging gladiator story by the second act. There's a somewhat predictable interlude of steamy, steamy sex around the midpoint, and some less predictable plot twists in the rising action.
The biggest problems are that our hero Frenna is awfully credulous for someone in bondage, and the other characters are not drawn well enough for their motivations to be clear. So when the climax arrives, it's a bit of a clusterfuck, it doesn't quite make sense either in terms of the characters or the scale of the story. I think Park may have been aiming for "first in the lauded series" here, but the characters aren't sharp enough, and the surviving plot threads dangle limply. Recommended with reservations.
The first couple chapters draw you in with solid world-building: a fairly standard space-opera setting with some intriguing ideas about caste and biotech. But the story itself is more along the lines of slave narrative (perhaps better called "liberation narrative" in this context). As hifalutin as that sounds, the plot settles into a gritty but engaging gladiator story by the second act. There's a somewhat predictable interlude of steamy, steamy sex around the midpoint, and some less predictable plot twists in the rising action.
The biggest problems are that our hero Frenna is awfully credulous for someone in bondage, and the other characters are not drawn well enough for their motivations to be clear. So when the climax arrives, it's a bit of a clusterfuck, it doesn't quite make sense either in terms of the characters or the scale of the story. I think Park may have been aiming for "first in the lauded series" here, but the characters aren't sharp enough, and the surviving plot threads dangle limply. Recommended with reservations.
May 10, 2020
Tiptree shortlist 1998
June 8, 2020
I found this book at random at a used book store a few years back. It was my favorite then and I just picked it up again to check if it still was. It is.
May 21, 2020
To escape inevitable death, a slave medic must foment a revolution.
April 29, 2013
The sequel to Speaking Dreams, set in the same universe in which slavers have a List of people from 18-22 who they are free to enslave if they can find them. When they do find people on the List, the slavers inject them with a virus which keeps them young for 20 years and then kills them. This book is primarily about an underground slave-freeing movement and also features offhandedly queer characters. It's a tiny bit dated, maybe, and prone to wince-inducing erotic passages, but I think it holds up.
June 26, 2015
I found this novel confusing and unevocative. Park made no progress from her first novel to this one and instead seems to have gone backwards in every aspect. The only reason this novel is not at 2 stars is that the plot showed enough (untapped) potential to keep me mostly interested even in the midst of my book long confusion.
April 25, 2012
Read this book when I was fresh out of intermediate school. I'll just say it isn't for the squeamish. Avoid if you've had only limited exposure to graphic depictions of violence or sex. Enjoyable plot and setting, description of characters is rewardingly unpretentious.
October 2, 2016
Not nearly as good as Speaking Dreams. Weird and fragmented, everything smells like curry. Not particularly recommended, but not offensively bad.
June 7, 2011
Sex-ay!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews