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The Veiled Web
Winner of the Homer Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
Ballerina Lucia del Mar has two great dance, which consumes most of her waking hours, and the World Wide Web, which brings the outside world into her tightly regimented life. Lucia's two passions collide when a White House performance and reception leads to an encounter with handsome Moroccan businessman Rashid al-Jazari, creator of a brilliant technology that has set the Internet rumor mill afire.
A second, seemingly chance meeting with Rashid will plunge Lucia into a deadly world of desire and intrigue. For although his work has implications she cannot foresee, there are those who do understand and would turn its great power to their own destructive purposes. As she is drawn deeper and deeper into Rashid's life and work, cut off from the outside world, she finds herself becoming more attracted to him. But is her seclusion within Rashid's well-guarded Moroccan home intended to ensure her safety...or her silence? And is it already too late to stop the terrible consequences his new technology could unleash?
From the Paperback edition.
Ballerina Lucia del Mar has two great dance, which consumes most of her waking hours, and the World Wide Web, which brings the outside world into her tightly regimented life. Lucia's two passions collide when a White House performance and reception leads to an encounter with handsome Moroccan businessman Rashid al-Jazari, creator of a brilliant technology that has set the Internet rumor mill afire.
A second, seemingly chance meeting with Rashid will plunge Lucia into a deadly world of desire and intrigue. For although his work has implications she cannot foresee, there are those who do understand and would turn its great power to their own destructive purposes. As she is drawn deeper and deeper into Rashid's life and work, cut off from the outside world, she finds herself becoming more attracted to him. But is her seclusion within Rashid's well-guarded Moroccan home intended to ensure her safety...or her silence? And is it already too late to stop the terrible consequences his new technology could unleash?
From the Paperback edition.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
27 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Asaro
94 books700 followersThe author of more than twenty-five books, Catherine Asaro is acclaimed for her Ruby Dynasty series, which combines adventure, science, romance and fast-paced action. Her novel The Quantum Rose won the Nebula® Award, as did her novella “The Spacetime Pool.” Among her many other distinctions, she is a multiple winner of the AnLab from Analog magazine and a three time recipient of the RT BOOKClub Award for “Best Science Fiction Novel.” Her most recent novel, Carnelians, came out in October, 2011. An anthology of her short fiction titled Aurora in Four Voices is available from ISFiC Press in hardcover, and her multiple award-winning novella “The City of Cries” is also available as an eBook for Kindle and Nook.
Catherine has two music CD’s out and she is currently working on her third. The first, Diamond Star, is the soundtrack for her novel of the same name, performed with the rock band, Point Valid. She appears as a vocalist at cons, clubs, and other venues in the US and abroad, including recently as the Guest of Honor at the Denmark and New Zealand National Science Fiction Conventions. She performs selections from her work in a multimedia project that mixes literature, dance, and music with Greg Adams as her accompanist. She is also a theoretical physicist with a PhD in Chemical Physics from Harvard, and a jazz and ballet dancer. Visit her at www.facebook.com/Catherine.Asaro
Catherine has two music CD’s out and she is currently working on her third. The first, Diamond Star, is the soundtrack for her novel of the same name, performed with the rock band, Point Valid. She appears as a vocalist at cons, clubs, and other venues in the US and abroad, including recently as the Guest of Honor at the Denmark and New Zealand National Science Fiction Conventions. She performs selections from her work in a multimedia project that mixes literature, dance, and music with Greg Adams as her accompanist. She is also a theoretical physicist with a PhD in Chemical Physics from Harvard, and a jazz and ballet dancer. Visit her at www.facebook.com/Catherine.Asaro
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
May 18, 2022
I was prepared to compose a rant-review of this book, but the final couple of pages made me change my mind. A little. There will still be ranting! But with caveats! And some minor ***spoilers***
Okay, so this book was actually a little boring, so it's surprising that I even wanted to rant about it in the first place. Because usually the boring books don't inspire much emotion at all. But there was a lot of religious discussion in this book, given that the two main characters were Muslim and Catholic respectively, and religion played a major part in their identities.
I, as an atheist, cannot imagine religion taking up such a huge space in my life that it becomes more important than living, breathing humans. Humans who I love. I've had plenty of exposure to religion, so it's not a lack of understanding. I just don't know why someone would choose that. Like, it's not something I could ever care about. So when religious differences are the main source of strife in an otherwise very polite romantic fictional relationship, it's just so utterly confusing to me that the two wouldn't just choose each other. Elope! Bang! Everything will be fine!
The male MC's Muslim views contributed to the second part of my rant. His sexism! It seemed innate to his beliefs, despite his progressiveness in the text. After admiring the female MC for a while (she's a prominent ballerina), they end up married after someone drugs them both and the hero lands plan and because it's Morocco I guess they have to be married because of cultural stuff. So then she's isolated in his enormous Moroccan mansion with his family, and a mother-in-law who strongly frowns upon her wearing a cross necklace. Anyway that doesn't make sense but I'm not done! The American heroine is given rooms in which to dance, but she has to cover up in case a man walks in. Maybe just instruct men to... not walk in on her? And she has to be veiled when leaving the house even though other women in the city are not veiled. Then! After they sleep together (which took forever, because they were both dithering about their religious beliefs, and happened off page), the hero asks her to compromise basically everything about her life in order to accommodate their marriage, to which she barely consented in the first place (due to recovering from being drugged). She's like "Uh... no, I won't live in seclusion or go to dance at a more conservative company." And he's like "You dancing all provocatively was fine when I was only an admirer but I'm your husband now and that's not cool." So, my rant boils down to sexism. Hate!
However, here come the caveats. On the last couple of pages, after the hero has almost died by the bad guys and they become separated (due to aforementioned differences), they meet up again and decide to compromise. He will live half the year in the states, and she will live half the year in Tangier. They decide to educate their future children in both religions. Yay! So I'm actually not *too* mad about the sexism anymore.
This book was actually kind of surprising to me for how much it focused on the two MC's relationship. So while there was a lot of outdated internet and tech stuff, and a few actions scenes, there were also descriptions of dancing and scenery and long conversations between the MCs. That's what I always want in a novel, because I'm more interested in relationships, particularly romantic ones, than the actual happenings around the characters (however necessary that plot may be), and how that relationship develops due to the plot factors. However, it's not what I've come to expect from books that aren't explicitly in the romance genre, much to my disappointment.
Unfortunately, despite the book being balanced in a way I prefer, I found the characters very dull. They were so polite to each other that they weren't interesting. As a result, the rest of the book didn't hold much interest for me either. But this was a quick read, and despite it being boring I didn't zone out while reading. Still, I'll be donating my copy.
Okay, so this book was actually a little boring, so it's surprising that I even wanted to rant about it in the first place. Because usually the boring books don't inspire much emotion at all. But there was a lot of religious discussion in this book, given that the two main characters were Muslim and Catholic respectively, and religion played a major part in their identities.
I, as an atheist, cannot imagine religion taking up such a huge space in my life that it becomes more important than living, breathing humans. Humans who I love. I've had plenty of exposure to religion, so it's not a lack of understanding. I just don't know why someone would choose that. Like, it's not something I could ever care about. So when religious differences are the main source of strife in an otherwise very polite romantic fictional relationship, it's just so utterly confusing to me that the two wouldn't just choose each other. Elope! Bang! Everything will be fine!
The male MC's Muslim views contributed to the second part of my rant. His sexism! It seemed innate to his beliefs, despite his progressiveness in the text. After admiring the female MC for a while (she's a prominent ballerina), they end up married after someone drugs them both and the hero lands plan and because it's Morocco I guess they have to be married because of cultural stuff. So then she's isolated in his enormous Moroccan mansion with his family, and a mother-in-law who strongly frowns upon her wearing a cross necklace. Anyway that doesn't make sense but I'm not done! The American heroine is given rooms in which to dance, but she has to cover up in case a man walks in. Maybe just instruct men to... not walk in on her? And she has to be veiled when leaving the house even though other women in the city are not veiled. Then! After they sleep together (which took forever, because they were both dithering about their religious beliefs, and happened off page), the hero asks her to compromise basically everything about her life in order to accommodate their marriage, to which she barely consented in the first place (due to recovering from being drugged). She's like "Uh... no, I won't live in seclusion or go to dance at a more conservative company." And he's like "You dancing all provocatively was fine when I was only an admirer but I'm your husband now and that's not cool." So, my rant boils down to sexism. Hate!
However, here come the caveats. On the last couple of pages, after the hero has almost died by the bad guys and they become separated (due to aforementioned differences), they meet up again and decide to compromise. He will live half the year in the states, and she will live half the year in Tangier. They decide to educate their future children in both religions. Yay! So I'm actually not *too* mad about the sexism anymore.
This book was actually kind of surprising to me for how much it focused on the two MC's relationship. So while there was a lot of outdated internet and tech stuff, and a few actions scenes, there were also descriptions of dancing and scenery and long conversations between the MCs. That's what I always want in a novel, because I'm more interested in relationships, particularly romantic ones, than the actual happenings around the characters (however necessary that plot may be), and how that relationship develops due to the plot factors. However, it's not what I've come to expect from books that aren't explicitly in the romance genre, much to my disappointment.
Unfortunately, despite the book being balanced in a way I prefer, I found the characters very dull. They were so polite to each other that they weren't interesting. As a result, the rest of the book didn't hold much interest for me either. But this was a quick read, and despite it being boring I didn't zone out while reading. Still, I'll be donating my copy.
December 8, 2025
This is a novel published in 1999 that's a near-future speculation of AI development. It's told within a framework of romantic intrigue and dance and religious differences that got a little too drawn-out and intense to keep me completely engaged (some of the discussions went on far too long), but it's a well-written and thoughtful story. Asaro's science writing is always interesting. It was on the early Nebula ballot for best novel of the year and won the HOMer Award the next-to-last year that they were extant.
April 28, 2014
I've read other Catherine Asaro books and have enjoyed them. In fact, she autographed one for me many years ago and I follow her on Twitter. So I was intrigued when I read the description of this book. However, it was pretty dull and I gave up after getting a quarter of the way through. Lucia, the female protagonist, is a pretty pathetic excuse for a contemporary woman, in my opinion. She falls for a Moroccan stranger who is good looking and into software. She's into the World Wide Web. While this was set in 2010, the book was published in 1999 and feels dated. Lucia's into the old online services like AOL, Prodigy (did that even still exist in 1999?), Compuserve and even the old Genie. Ancient. Netscape is a browser that's still in use. There's AI in web browsing in the book, but that's about as "sci fi" as the book gets. It's more of a romantic "thriller," without many thrills.
Back to Lucia. She's a high school drop out who's a top ballerina. She goes to Italy with her dance company, runs into the Moroccan, takes a drive with him and is kidnapped along with her companion by the driver and several others. They are drugged. And this is where the plot started to bug me. Lucia sleeps. A lot. And is dazed while awake at other times. She leans on her soon-to-be husband, Rashid, (surprise!) for support and he has to carry her around. While he's up and going from his drug induced haze, she sleeps for days. And even after she's up, she can't eat because her dainty self is too queasy. She stumbles across his computer room, but gets weak and has to go back to sleep. Snore. Boring. Weak female in need of strong male presence. Pathetic female weakling. And this from a female author! Where's the strong female character? Is this meant to represent women in general? This bugged the hell out of me, to the point where it was distracting and thus caused me to stop reading. And I'm disappointed because I expected so much more from this author, who has a PhD and is a genius. I guess that doesn't always translate to good writing. If Asaro had been more adventurous in her predictions of computer and Internet usage in the near future, I would have appreciated it. If she had written one of her normal sci fi novels, I would have appreciated that too. This was just a poor excuse to write a weak romance with some religion thrown in. Not a good book and not recommended.
Back to Lucia. She's a high school drop out who's a top ballerina. She goes to Italy with her dance company, runs into the Moroccan, takes a drive with him and is kidnapped along with her companion by the driver and several others. They are drugged. And this is where the plot started to bug me. Lucia sleeps. A lot. And is dazed while awake at other times. She leans on her soon-to-be husband, Rashid, (surprise!) for support and he has to carry her around. While he's up and going from his drug induced haze, she sleeps for days. And even after she's up, she can't eat because her dainty self is too queasy. She stumbles across his computer room, but gets weak and has to go back to sleep. Snore. Boring. Weak female in need of strong male presence. Pathetic female weakling. And this from a female author! Where's the strong female character? Is this meant to represent women in general? This bugged the hell out of me, to the point where it was distracting and thus caused me to stop reading. And I'm disappointed because I expected so much more from this author, who has a PhD and is a genius. I guess that doesn't always translate to good writing. If Asaro had been more adventurous in her predictions of computer and Internet usage in the near future, I would have appreciated it. If she had written one of her normal sci fi novels, I would have appreciated that too. This was just a poor excuse to write a weak romance with some religion thrown in. Not a good book and not recommended.
September 22, 2010
I love the way Asaro combines fascinating scientific speculation with characters who are so human and so real. I am intrigued and excited by the concept of a true artificial intelligence. Most science fiction fans are weaned on stories of thinking computers, and I enjoyed exploring questions such as "how do you define a soul?" or "can a machine have a conscience?" The AI in this novel is a memorable character in its own right, and an appealing one.
Even more, however, I enjoyed the developing relationship between Rashid and Lucia, and the look at a culture that is as foreign to me as it is to Lucia. The characters were very real to me, and I cared about what happened to them. A romantic myself, I wanted things to work out for them, but at times the distance between them seemed impassable. The two main plot elements mesh perfectly; the story of two individuals attempting to find common ground in which they can be together, and the idea, the dream, of a new technology that can help all humanity find a common understanding.
Even more, however, I enjoyed the developing relationship between Rashid and Lucia, and the look at a culture that is as foreign to me as it is to Lucia. The characters were very real to me, and I cared about what happened to them. A romantic myself, I wanted things to work out for them, but at times the distance between them seemed impassable. The two main plot elements mesh perfectly; the story of two individuals attempting to find common ground in which they can be together, and the idea, the dream, of a new technology that can help all humanity find a common understanding.
March 31, 2015
If an artificial intelligence can be reprogrammed to lose its conscience, is it really a sentient personality? This question means life and death to Lucia del Mar and Rashid al-Jazari, because a ruthless group is determined to capture their friend and computer program Zaki; they think it can help them take over the world.
In addition to the science fiction story of Zaki, Asaro gives intense consideration to the differences in religion and lifestyle between Islam and Catholicism. Rashid and Lucia's ideal is a meeting place where all religions can gather, but their reality looks too different.
I picked THE VEILED WEB up as a change from an arid history book, and was captured immediately by ballerina Lucia and computer genius Rashid. Their passionate creativity sweeps the reader away.
In addition to the science fiction story of Zaki, Asaro gives intense consideration to the differences in religion and lifestyle between Islam and Catholicism. Rashid and Lucia's ideal is a meeting place where all religions can gather, but their reality looks too different.
I picked THE VEILED WEB up as a change from an arid history book, and was captured immediately by ballerina Lucia and computer genius Rashid. Their passionate creativity sweeps the reader away.
September 3, 2020
4 Stars for The Veiled Web (audiobook) by Catherine Asaro read by Caroline Shaffer. The story is interesting but it’s feeling a little dated.
September 15, 2019
The book was published in 1999 and I actually read it in it in 2010, when it is set. It wasn't deliberate. I found it someplace at the time and took it home to read.
In it Dr. Asaro was making some predictions about the state of the world wide web and she wasn't far off at that time. Granted, if you read it now it may seem dated but put it into the context of when it was written.
Also, like all of her books, there's a kind of romantic aspect to it between ballerina Lucia and web genius Rashid. By the way, Dr Asaro is also a dancer.
In it Dr. Asaro was making some predictions about the state of the world wide web and she wasn't far off at that time. Granted, if you read it now it may seem dated but put it into the context of when it was written.
Also, like all of her books, there's a kind of romantic aspect to it between ballerina Lucia and web genius Rashid. By the way, Dr Asaro is also a dancer.
October 21, 2018
I enjoyed this surprisingly more than I thought I would. I picked it up cheap from the discount library shelf. I didn't expect to be pulled into the dark intrigue of Web conspiracy and learning cultural respect. There are just layers I didn't expect that really make this book a well-deserved pat on the spine.
August 4, 2016
Ballerina Lucia del Mar has two great passions: dance, which consumes most of her waking hours, and the World Wide Web, which brings the outside world into her tightly regimented life. Lucia's two passions collide when a White House performance and reception leads to an encounter with handsome Moroccan businessman Rashid al-Jazari, creator of a brilliant technology that has set the Internet rumor mill afire.
A second, seemingly chance meeting with Rashid will plunge Lucia into a deadly world of desire and intrigue. For although his work has implications she cannot foresee, there are those who do understand and would turn its great power to their own destructive purposes. As she is drawn deeper and deeper into Rashid's life and work, cut off from the outside world, she finds herself becoming more attracted to him. But is her seclusion within Rashid's well-guarded Moroccan home intended to ensure her safety...or her silence? And is it already too late to stop the terrible consequences his new technology could unleash?
I enjoyed the thought of such AI and VR, as well as the fast plot. The whole compromise on religion is the real fantasy here. Both Catholicism and Islam claim to be God's true religion. Trying to compromise on that is like trying to compromise on the laws of physics. Some sexuality- touching above the waist but in context and not gratuitous. Some profamity, but limited.
A second, seemingly chance meeting with Rashid will plunge Lucia into a deadly world of desire and intrigue. For although his work has implications she cannot foresee, there are those who do understand and would turn its great power to their own destructive purposes. As she is drawn deeper and deeper into Rashid's life and work, cut off from the outside world, she finds herself becoming more attracted to him. But is her seclusion within Rashid's well-guarded Moroccan home intended to ensure her safety...or her silence? And is it already too late to stop the terrible consequences his new technology could unleash?
I enjoyed the thought of such AI and VR, as well as the fast plot. The whole compromise on religion is the real fantasy here. Both Catholicism and Islam claim to be God's true religion. Trying to compromise on that is like trying to compromise on the laws of physics. Some sexuality- touching above the waist but in context and not gratuitous. Some profamity, but limited.
July 30, 2021
It got better as it went along. This book doesn't have the sadism of the Skolian books, which is a relief. There is still a lot about gender dynamics, male dominance, and different cultures butting up against each other.
Initially the connection between the Lucia and Rashid didn't seem believable. What works for a fantasy setting or even historical fiction with characters falling in love or getting married so quickly, it harder to to accept when written in a contemporary novel. But as the book went on, Asaro did a reasonable job interrogating the relationship. I though it resolved adequately.
Reading a book about the internet, virtual reality, and AI written in 1999 is interesting. A lot of descriptions of internet related things for an audience that might not be overly familiar with it. Those are pretty dull now. And the speculation on where technology had both things that we still can't do now and things that seem silly now.
Initially the connection between the Lucia and Rashid didn't seem believable. What works for a fantasy setting or even historical fiction with characters falling in love or getting married so quickly, it harder to to accept when written in a contemporary novel. But as the book went on, Asaro did a reasonable job interrogating the relationship. I though it resolved adequately.
Reading a book about the internet, virtual reality, and AI written in 1999 is interesting. A lot of descriptions of internet related things for an audience that might not be overly familiar with it. Those are pretty dull now. And the speculation on where technology had both things that we still can't do now and things that seem silly now.
July 22, 2014
I was unimpressed with the author's writing style. Half way through I couldn't take another "his face gentled" and gave up on the book altogether.
June 6, 2024
Felt like several books, many ideas, stories meshed together, and not well.
April 9, 2024
When I see in the book information that this one the author an award, I feel so confused. I've read othr Catherine Asaro books and enjoyed them, but I did not enjoy this one at all. I never felt connected in any way to the main woman lead, Lucia del Mar, because I within a few chapters, I felt she was making stupid choices. On top of that, Asaro tends to balance the exploration of technology with the human story but this time I felt there was far too much time on the primary relationship between Lucia a Rashid (which I did not understand at all). This made me annoyed at the book and I had to force myself to finish it.
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February 6, 2023 Ballerina Lucia del Mar finds herself in the center of intrigue. After an attempted kidnapping she finds herself married to high tech businessman Rashid al-Jazari and taken to his home in Morocco. In Morocco she discovers Zaki, an AI Rashid has been developing that everybody wants. It was OK. There was nothing new with the AI stuff. The Moroccan culture was described in detail. It was intresting to see another culture used as setting in SF.
November 13, 2025
it's been sixteen years since the original publication--before 9/11 but after worsening tensions with Arabic/Muslim sphere. The start is slow but the conclusion hopeful. The vision is still not realized but more plausible now.
It feels dated but the romance and the vision are done well. In 1997, I think dot matrix printers were still the norm and cell phones were by the minute.
Not my favorite of her books. it was well written as usual.
It feels dated but the romance and the vision are done well. In 1997, I think dot matrix printers were still the norm and cell phones were by the minute.
Not my favorite of her books. it was well written as usual.
March 11, 2025
Simple, Yet Surprising
A student of North African history and culture, I turned to this book because of its setting. Turning its pages, I found more, much more, to engage me as a reader. This is a fine story, told well, and one that resounds with the human spirit while presenting cold hard facts.
A student of North African history and culture, I turned to this book because of its setting. Turning its pages, I found more, much more, to engage me as a reader. This is a fine story, told well, and one that resounds with the human spirit while presenting cold hard facts.
January 24, 2018
Maybe this book just wasn't for me, but I'm bored out of my mind. Both of the main characters make me vaguely uncomfortable, and I can't imagine appreciating a relationship developing between them. I'm giving it a dnf.
April 29, 2018
This book was written too long ago for the part regarding the internet and AI to be intriguing. Moreover, I thought I had understood the mystery underneath by page 90, but I was wrong. Because there was no mystery at all. Disappointing.
October 1, 2024
Catherine Asaro vision of the future in 1987 had us further ahead then we have managed to attain so far. Even so, I hope a day comes when all religions are able to live together in peace with technology.
October 27, 2018
Interesting cultural questions.
March 6, 2021
Cyberpunk romance thriller. If you like her stuff, you'll like this.
May 2, 2025
AMAZING!
I couldn't put this book down. The detail and beauty is exquisite. Do yourself a favor, and read this. You will not be disappointed.
I couldn't put this book down. The detail and beauty is exquisite. Do yourself a favor, and read this. You will not be disappointed.
September 22, 2010
Nicely thought provoking about religious differences, but I prefer more emotional entertainment.
Story brief:
This is a story about Rashid a wealthy Muslim man from Morocco who is a software genius. He created an artificial intelligence system named Zaki. He strictly follows all Muslim religious rules including praying five times a day, fasting during daylight hours during Ramadan, etc. Lucia is a high school dropout from New Mexico, who is one of the leading ballerinas in the world and devoutly Catholic. Rashid has admired Lucia for five years and traveled many times to see her perform. He sees her in a café in Sicily and offers her a ride which she accepts. The driver had drugged their beverages causing them to pass out. He is part of a kidnapping group. The kidnappers want Zaki and Rashid’s services to modify it for their purposes. Rashid and Lucia are taken in a private plane to Algeria, where they are able to get free. A single woman can not travel with Rashid in that country, so they get married and then flee to his home in Marrakech, Morocco. She stays in his home with his extended family for a few weeks, experiencing life in the Muslim world.
Story Ideas:
This story is primarily an exploration of cultural and religious differences between Catholic Lucia and Muslim Rashid. There is a lot of discussion about how they cannot be together because of their differences. He would like her to live in seclusion in Marrakech away from the public and not to be seen dancing on stage in scanty clothing. Her life and identity is dancing. She could never be happy if she had to give it up. Additional discussion concerns Rashid’s ideals of helping people come together from every religion to meet and accept each other in peace. The author provides some interesting ideas about what artificial intelligence might be like, with Lucia having conversations with Zaki (the AI software). Lucia and Zaki also go exploring web sites together.
Reviewer’s Opinion:
The story would be interesting for readers wanting to think about these ideas. There are some thrills due to two kidnapping attempts with interesting escapes. There is a gentle romantic development as Lucia and Rashid fall in love with each other. My major problem is that I was not drawn in emotionally. I didn’t feel for the characters. I don’t’ know, but maybe part of the problem was a lack of vulnerability in the characters. I want to feel sympathy, humor, surprise or delight. I don’t require all of those, but I’m trying to suggest something that might have made it better for me. I did not find this enjoyable entertainment. It was more of a thoughtful discussion.
Story length: 355 pages. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: 2. Length of sex scenes: about 1 sentence each. These were told/referred to, not shown. Setting: current day U.S., Sicily, Algeria and Morocco. Copyright: 1999. Genre: contemporary romance.
Story brief:
This is a story about Rashid a wealthy Muslim man from Morocco who is a software genius. He created an artificial intelligence system named Zaki. He strictly follows all Muslim religious rules including praying five times a day, fasting during daylight hours during Ramadan, etc. Lucia is a high school dropout from New Mexico, who is one of the leading ballerinas in the world and devoutly Catholic. Rashid has admired Lucia for five years and traveled many times to see her perform. He sees her in a café in Sicily and offers her a ride which she accepts. The driver had drugged their beverages causing them to pass out. He is part of a kidnapping group. The kidnappers want Zaki and Rashid’s services to modify it for their purposes. Rashid and Lucia are taken in a private plane to Algeria, where they are able to get free. A single woman can not travel with Rashid in that country, so they get married and then flee to his home in Marrakech, Morocco. She stays in his home with his extended family for a few weeks, experiencing life in the Muslim world.
Story Ideas:
This story is primarily an exploration of cultural and religious differences between Catholic Lucia and Muslim Rashid. There is a lot of discussion about how they cannot be together because of their differences. He would like her to live in seclusion in Marrakech away from the public and not to be seen dancing on stage in scanty clothing. Her life and identity is dancing. She could never be happy if she had to give it up. Additional discussion concerns Rashid’s ideals of helping people come together from every religion to meet and accept each other in peace. The author provides some interesting ideas about what artificial intelligence might be like, with Lucia having conversations with Zaki (the AI software). Lucia and Zaki also go exploring web sites together.
Reviewer’s Opinion:
The story would be interesting for readers wanting to think about these ideas. There are some thrills due to two kidnapping attempts with interesting escapes. There is a gentle romantic development as Lucia and Rashid fall in love with each other. My major problem is that I was not drawn in emotionally. I didn’t feel for the characters. I don’t’ know, but maybe part of the problem was a lack of vulnerability in the characters. I want to feel sympathy, humor, surprise or delight. I don’t require all of those, but I’m trying to suggest something that might have made it better for me. I did not find this enjoyable entertainment. It was more of a thoughtful discussion.
Story length: 355 pages. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: 2. Length of sex scenes: about 1 sentence each. These were told/referred to, not shown. Setting: current day U.S., Sicily, Algeria and Morocco. Copyright: 1999. Genre: contemporary romance.
May 17, 2020
It's been a while since I disliked a book this much but I think it hit too many stereotypes for me. Ballerina Lucia del Mar crosses paths with Moroccan businessman Rashid al-Jazari and her world is forever changed. Rashid creates technology. He has already created a "Siri-like" application that is used by practically everyone. (Note: this book was published in 1999.) But he has also created a VR system so advanced that it will change the world. Rashid is an idealist. Others, not so much. He is also one of Lucia's biggest fans. The two are on a date when they are kidnapped and transported from DC to the Middle East. The only way that Rashid can get them released is to marry her. And this is where the book stops making any sense. While the marriage makes vague sense, the fact that Rashid insists that it is a real marriage is silly. Then she is taken to the Jazari compound in Algiers and is allowed no contact with the outside world, not even email. All the Jazari women are secluded like this. Lucia is allowed contact with a sophisticated AI which she helps to develop merely by talking to it. But Lucia is an international ballerina. She is not satisfied with being a traditional Muslim wife and she has no interest in converting from Catholicism. The problem with the book is that there were too many issues to explore and none were done so satisfyingly. Asaro is a terrific writer and has written wonderful things. This isn't one of them. Or maybe it is just too outdated.
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August 17, 2015In July 2010, web-surfing prima ballerina Lucia del Mar briefly meets Rashid al-Jazari, the Moroccan inventor of a cutting-edge artifical intelligence system. In August, the meet again in Italy and are kidnapped by international terrorists who covet Rashid's invention. They escape but a hasty marriage is arranged to protect them. Islamic Rashid and Catholic Lucia are an unlikely pair, but when the terrorists strike again, the marriae survives with hopes for a more tolerant future.
Although full of the technical aspects of AI (which you can pretty much skip over), the book's strengths are the sensuous and respectful evocation of Islamic culture and how Lucia adapts, and the creation of Zaki, the AI - the most quirky and moving character! Mostly clean and quite interesting for a sci fi.
Although full of the technical aspects of AI (which you can pretty much skip over), the book's strengths are the sensuous and respectful evocation of Islamic culture and how Lucia adapts, and the creation of Zaki, the AI - the most quirky and moving character! Mostly clean and quite interesting for a sci fi.
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January 9, 2010SF,Romance
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April 15, 2015I gave up midway through chapter 2.
October 19, 2013
For a thriller it was kind of slow, with way too much detail. Frankly, I got bored with all the computer and AI details.
May 7, 2015
A brilliant look at the future of world AI intelligence, and it possibly ramifications
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