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Lear's Daughters #1,2
Lear's Daughters
The environmentally-themed science fiction classic that's "grand- scale storytelling ( Library Journal )."
The year is 2073. Earth's climate is faltering and her ecosystems are breaking down. Her burgeoning populations now rely on food and energy supplies imported from colony worlds.
A routine exploratory mission to the planet Fiix finds a world at war with itself, continuously devastated by unpredictable weather patterns. When storms and flooding ruin the Terran base camp and destroy their power and communication links, the explorers must discover what's causing the weather's behavior, not just for the sake of science, but to ensure the expedition's success and survival.
The year is 2073. Earth's climate is faltering and her ecosystems are breaking down. Her burgeoning populations now rely on food and energy supplies imported from colony worlds.
A routine exploratory mission to the planet Fiix finds a world at war with itself, continuously devastated by unpredictable weather patterns. When storms and flooding ruin the Terran base camp and destroy their power and communication links, the explorers must discover what's causing the weather's behavior, not just for the sake of science, but to ensure the expedition's success and survival.
752 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
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129 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 22, 2009
A wonderful update of a brilliant duology first published in the 1980s. The storyline is pretty much the same as the original, but the writing is tighter, the motivations for the characters are better explained, and things aren't quite as black and white as in the original.
The addition of references to an ecologically destroyed earth are fascinating. It's never made completely clear in the book exactly what has gone wrong on earth, but there is clearly a global warming environmental catastrophe of a scale which the IPCC is currently predicting. This backdrop makes complete sense of the rationale behind "Lear's Daughters" .
The Sawl culture is brilliantly drawn and the character of Ghirra is especially moving as a person confronting a huge change in his perception of the world, but at the same time making the Terrans challenge their own assumptions (e.g. on the benefits of perpetual economic growth, or population control as a benefit to society).
The Terran crew are also very well characterised, somewhat archetypal (e.g. spacer, grunt, heroine of the Left and company man) but these archetypes work well in this parable of culture vs company, environment vs economics.
And the Goddesses - well, you'll have to read the book, but I still think that the concept of weather goddesses is fantastic.
"The Wave and the Flame" and "Reign of Fire" were two books that shaped the way I thought as a teenager. Reading the updated version, Lear's Daughters, makes me grateful to Ms Kellogg that I was able to share her world as a teenager when it inspired me to study environmental science, and now more than 20 years later I still work in the environmental sector. This book has brought me full circle and reaffirmed my commitment.
The addition of references to an ecologically destroyed earth are fascinating. It's never made completely clear in the book exactly what has gone wrong on earth, but there is clearly a global warming environmental catastrophe of a scale which the IPCC is currently predicting. This backdrop makes complete sense of the rationale behind "Lear's Daughters" .
The Sawl culture is brilliantly drawn and the character of Ghirra is especially moving as a person confronting a huge change in his perception of the world, but at the same time making the Terrans challenge their own assumptions (e.g. on the benefits of perpetual economic growth, or population control as a benefit to society).
The Terran crew are also very well characterised, somewhat archetypal (e.g. spacer, grunt, heroine of the Left and company man) but these archetypes work well in this parable of culture vs company, environment vs economics.
And the Goddesses - well, you'll have to read the book, but I still think that the concept of weather goddesses is fantastic.
"The Wave and the Flame" and "Reign of Fire" were two books that shaped the way I thought as a teenager. Reading the updated version, Lear's Daughters, makes me grateful to Ms Kellogg that I was able to share her world as a teenager when it inspired me to study environmental science, and now more than 20 years later I still work in the environmental sector. This book has brought me full circle and reaffirmed my commitment.
February 27, 2012
After reading the first one hundred pages, I can say this is better than I had hoped it would be. As good as any Jack McDevitt, and just as big in its scope and ambition. Kellogg manages to create a world that is not only fantastic, but very believeable as well. Now, if I only had time to sit down and read it all at once!
Okay, I found the time and it was well worth it. This book really caught my attention. Kellog manages to tell an older style sci-fi story without it feeling dated or too light weight. It is a lengthy book, but don't be put off by that. Turn off the TV, computer, or whatever takes up your time, and read this one. It's worth it.
Okay, I found the time and it was well worth it. This book really caught my attention. Kellog manages to tell an older style sci-fi story without it feeling dated or too light weight. It is a lengthy book, but don't be put off by that. Turn off the TV, computer, or whatever takes up your time, and read this one. It's worth it.
May 23, 2011
739 pages! If you're looking for something along the "saga" line this is a good one for "anthropolotical scifi." Story opens as already marooned scientific/business spacers find the snow and ice they've crashed in beginning to melt at unheard of speed. The natives, seemingly a primitive culture living in caves, rush to help them survive. There are environmental messages all over the place both for the Sawls of the planet Fixx as well as the human crew. I shall give nothing else away.
Kellogg and William B. Rossow re-wrote/edited this version which combines two book from the 1980's: Wave and the Flame and Reign of Fire. They did a great job mondernizing the technology to make the present book readable for now (ie. 2011)
Kellogg and William B. Rossow re-wrote/edited this version which combines two book from the 1980's: Wave and the Flame and Reign of Fire. They did a great job mondernizing the technology to make the present book readable for now (ie. 2011)
October 20, 2009
I'd just watched a BBC adaptation of Shakespeare's "King Lear," and so was intrigued by the title of this book—and by its massive size.
Turns out this is a revised and combined edition of two novels from the mid-1980s: The Wave and the Flame and Reign of Fire, originally published as by M. Bradley Kellogg. As such, this volume is an interesting example of changing trends in marketing, and perhaps too of a relaxation of gender biases in sf publishing. Science fiction's history is full of tales about authors who were dissuaded from selling books under their own names. I don't know whether that's the story behind this particular name change, but I do find it interesting that Kellogg's original works passed completely under my radar despite their themes, which I would have thought tailor-made for me, whereas this edition caught my attention.
Since I haven't read the originals, I don't know how much has been changed, but this updated version struck me as fairly well-done—virtually seamless (I could not tell where the novels had been spliced together) and devoid of jarring anachronisms, apart from the occasional charts and illustrations, which were not updated along with the text. Even the ostensibly computer-generated figures are obviously hand-drawn or typewritten.
I didn't actually see much to tie it to Shakespeare's play, either. The basic plot here is fairly straight hard sf. A star-faring expedition from a resource-starved Earth must deal with Fiix, an inhospitable yet inhabited planet whose climate was badly misread by the initial robotic surveys. Listed co-author William Rossow, a scientist specializing in cloud behavior and satellite image interpretation, appears to have contributed newer material on climate change and environmental science here. Fiix is inhabited by the Sawl, a cave-dwelling culture that is apparently primitive and mystical, but has (literal) hidden depths.
Lear's Daughters doles out its revelations about the Sawl and the bases for their beliefs slowly but inexorably. Most of the book's pages, though, are devoted to the unfolding relationships among its characters—the Terrans with their varying agendas (the expedition is ostensibly a scientific one, but it's financed by a mining consortium which expects a return on its investment), and their trusting hosts. This makes it very much an unusual work in its ostensible genre, and may be an advantage or a deficit, depending on what you're reading sf for. I myself rather enjoyed Lear's Daughters's discursive nature, and did not often begrudge its pace, although I did occasionally skim pages here and there.
But the book does build to a satisfying crescendo, and does have a point or two to make about current events back here on Earth. All in all and despite my faint praises, I do think this was a solid work of relatively hard sf.
Turns out this is a revised and combined edition of two novels from the mid-1980s: The Wave and the Flame and Reign of Fire, originally published as by M. Bradley Kellogg. As such, this volume is an interesting example of changing trends in marketing, and perhaps too of a relaxation of gender biases in sf publishing. Science fiction's history is full of tales about authors who were dissuaded from selling books under their own names. I don't know whether that's the story behind this particular name change, but I do find it interesting that Kellogg's original works passed completely under my radar despite their themes, which I would have thought tailor-made for me, whereas this edition caught my attention.
Since I haven't read the originals, I don't know how much has been changed, but this updated version struck me as fairly well-done—virtually seamless (I could not tell where the novels had been spliced together) and devoid of jarring anachronisms, apart from the occasional charts and illustrations, which were not updated along with the text. Even the ostensibly computer-generated figures are obviously hand-drawn or typewritten.
I didn't actually see much to tie it to Shakespeare's play, either. The basic plot here is fairly straight hard sf. A star-faring expedition from a resource-starved Earth must deal with Fiix, an inhospitable yet inhabited planet whose climate was badly misread by the initial robotic surveys. Listed co-author William Rossow, a scientist specializing in cloud behavior and satellite image interpretation, appears to have contributed newer material on climate change and environmental science here. Fiix is inhabited by the Sawl, a cave-dwelling culture that is apparently primitive and mystical, but has (literal) hidden depths.
Lear's Daughters doles out its revelations about the Sawl and the bases for their beliefs slowly but inexorably. Most of the book's pages, though, are devoted to the unfolding relationships among its characters—the Terrans with their varying agendas (the expedition is ostensibly a scientific one, but it's financed by a mining consortium which expects a return on its investment), and their trusting hosts. This makes it very much an unusual work in its ostensible genre, and may be an advantage or a deficit, depending on what you're reading sf for. I myself rather enjoyed Lear's Daughters's discursive nature, and did not often begrudge its pace, although I did occasionally skim pages here and there.
But the book does build to a satisfying crescendo, and does have a point or two to make about current events back here on Earth. All in all and despite my faint praises, I do think this was a solid work of relatively hard sf.
October 2, 2012
This 700+ page science fiction novel took me a long time to read (I read two other books before finishing it), and though it was slow-going at times, I really liked it. Both the Terran scientists and the Sawls (natives of the planet they're visiting) are complex, believable characters who grow and change as they get to know each other and face many different types of challenges. The central mystery is continually engaging and has a satisfying conclusion, the planetary and climate science of the planet Fiix is unique and interesting, and even the evil character has different levels. Hard to recommend because of its length, but I think readers who like hard sf with an anthropological twist would really enjoy it.
August 9, 2019
I had read the original two books decades ago. I don't know what's changed in the meantime, other than some typos being introduced. It still reads well, but, given the recent changes, I was surprised that the survey team weren't carrying cameras that recorded almost everything. Perhaps one of the biggest changes in society since the 1980s is the mobile phone, giving users communications (assuming base stations or line-of-sight or peer-to-peer) and photography.
An interesting book about a survey team from Earth looking for lithium to solve Earth's energy problems, on a planet populated with almost-humans, with a very strange weather system. The residents seem to have degraded from a formerly scientific/technological society...
An interesting book about a survey team from Earth looking for lithium to solve Earth's energy problems, on a planet populated with almost-humans, with a very strange weather system. The residents seem to have degraded from a formerly scientific/technological society...
August 20, 2009
Strange... very strange. And yet so familiar.
A tightly controlled system gone astray, and yet the locals are in harmony with their environment... The visiting Terran team is shown woefully out of sorts, despite their advanced technology.
This book - rather a set of two - will make eerie sense to anyone concerned about the state of today's ecology and weather.
A tightly controlled system gone astray, and yet the locals are in harmony with their environment... The visiting Terran team is shown woefully out of sorts, despite their advanced technology.
This book - rather a set of two - will make eerie sense to anyone concerned about the state of today's ecology and weather.
Read
September 24, 2012Couldn't get past the first 100 pages. Nothing "grabbed" me about the story and I have enough books to-read - or to review :-( - that I don't want to waste my time on this one at the moment.
I'll keep it stashed away in my closet somewhere because there might come a time when I would want to read it but I don't think it would rate more than a 2 even then.
I'll keep it stashed away in my closet somewhere because there might come a time when I would want to read it but I don't think it would rate more than a 2 even then.
unfinished
September 11, 2010Skimmed this. Didn't like any of the characters enough to sit and read through all of this very loooong book. Plot was somewhat interesting, but not enough for me to wade through stuck with people (characters)that I didn't particularly like or care enough about.
January 16, 2015
This is great science fiction on many levels: social, anthropological and physical. The world building is great. The aliens, perhaps not the best I have ever met, but alien enough. I was happy when I found these books and I wonder that I found them so long after they were first published.
June 6, 2021
A Must read.
February 18, 2014
If this book hadn't been so poorly written it probably wouldn't have taken 739 pages to tell the story. The themes were intriguing but poorly executed, and while there were several strong female characters they were relegated to the sidelines of the overall story.
September 20, 2011
What can I say? When it takes two attempts to start reading a book; and the second one only half-hazardously; it doesn't bode well for the quality of the story.
June 8, 2012
A very long book(over 700pgs)but well worth the time to read..I would recommend this book to any die hard reader!!!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews