The Revenants

by Sheri S. Tepper

They seek to answer riddles that have no answer; They are bound on a quest that has no end. Thewson of the Lion Courts. Leona, Queen of the Beasts. Medlo, outlawes Prince. Jasmine the Dancer. Terascouros the Singer. And young Jaer, whose like has never been seen: Jaer, the greatest riddle of all. They are the Revenants. This is their story.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

342 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1984

About the author

Sheri Stewart Tepper was a prolific American author of science fiction, horror and mystery novels; she was particularly known as a feminist science fiction writer, often with an ecofeminist slant.

Born near Littleton, Colorado, for most of her career (1962-1986) she worked for Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood, where she eventually became Executive Director. She has two children and is married to Gene Tepper. She operated a guest ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

She wrote under several pseudonyms, including A.J. Orde, E.E. Horlak, and B.J. Oliphant. Her early work was published under the name Sheri S. Eberhart.

Reviews

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most memorable books I've ever read. I first found it in a small shop on base at Subic Bay, in The Philippines, when it had just been published. The cover art and blurb on the back cover sold me. I was on a long deployment and this book absorbed me. The story is exciting, and moves along at a fast clip. The characters are well written and the dialogue is just simply amazing. Rereading it during this time seems eerily appropriate, as we are currently dealing with similar issues in our daily lives in Europe and the USA.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

My battered copy of The Revenants surfaced during a recent bookshelf reshuffle. After admiring the Kinuko Craft wrap-around cover for the Ace publication, I turned to the copyright page and realized this stunning high fantasy (or is it science fiction?) novel is now 40. Venturing again with its very diverse band of seekers, the highly original novel reads as if it was written for today. If you've never read it, find a copy...preferably with the Craft artwork which acknowledges all the beauty and strangeness of this tale. In a world where the wizards have fled to the stars (rockets? science fiction? but wait there's magic too), Jaer goes on a quest which is full of wandering through fantastic landscapes and meeting amazing people. Oh and if you like high fantasy battles, last minute rescues, impossible evil, and terrible monsters...well they are there too. The back cover copy of my edition is a bit off. The Revenants are NOT Jaer, who is neither female or male but both at different times, nor Thewson of the Lion Courts, nor Leona of the Beasts, nor Medlo the outlawed Prince, nor Jasmine the Dancer, nor Teracouros the Singer. The Revenants however must be found by this group before the people of the world are separated into smaller and smaller enclaves all intent on looking only like their neighbor and willing to destroy everyone or everything that is "different" (told you the plot was still relevant today). Also Medlo seeks solace for the loss of his lover Alan, Jasmine seeks her stolen child, Thewson seeks wisdom and Jasmine (Need a romance subplot? It's there!), Leona seeks a cure and finds an end to the loneliness brought about the death of the woman that she loved, and Teracouros who aches in every bone seeks to know more despite her old age. There they are, people as different as you could wish for in all the ways we measure "different" and yet that never stops them from working together to make the world larger and more united. Because all things are possible in Earthsoul and this lovely novel.

[Myridian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of Tepper's early works. It follows five main characters (that eventually get bumped up to seven) as they get thrust out into the world, meet one another, and find out important things about themselves; all in the service of saving the world. It's a classic plotline that Tepper does incredibly well. All of the characters are compelling. The world is believable while remaining amazingly fantastic.

At the same time, this book didn't quite bowl me over in the same way my favorites of hers do. There was a bit of a contrived feeling throughout, and while this went along nicely with the fairy-tailish feeling of the novel, it prevented me from investing fully in the story. The contrived feeling increased at the end which is not atypical for Tepper's works. But at the best of times the end is a twist that lets the reader know his/her perception doesn't encompass all of reality, this one left me wanting something more.

[Marie Chalupová (Levitara) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that seems weirdly current. We have a character that changes gender in his/her sleep. We get homosexual characters. We have different races and shapes of people that try to survive in a world where this religious organization is trying to separate everyone by appearance. Our group of heroes becomes all outsiders in one way or another.

The story seems very typical. Each hero is following a quest, looking for a certain artifact. Believe me, it's not going to be typical.

I really loved the world-building. It goes quite deep for a standalone. Besides the separation of religion, we have local religions and beliefs. And quite a bit of history that plays a big part in the book.

It might not be a strong book in all its length, but it has brought up some questions that made me think.

The ending made me a bit mad at first, but in the end, I found it fitting.

This book is hard to rate. 3.5 going to 4 because it's something I will carry with me for a while and because I feel like I could get more out of it on re-read.

[Cliff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sheri S. Tepper is one of my favorite authors, but sadly I felt this one was one of her weakest efforts. There are some interesting concepts to be found and Tepper's writing is pretty strong, although clearly some of her earliest work. But the book was trying to tell the story of 5 questers intertwined but as a solo novel, it seemed to leave quite a fair bit out.

I did still enjoy the enigmatic style of writing, but this read took me far too long, almost becoming a slog at times. I also found myself have to re-read passages because I kept getting a feeling of having missed something.

I'm only rating it as 2 stars, but it's more accurately 2.5 stars, I just expected more from Tepper.

[Gilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since finishing this book I've now read all of Sheri S Tepper's novels. I absolutely love her work and have no doubt I will revisit many of her books again in a few years.
The Revenants did not disappoint as the last in my list. It was longer than most of her books (several of them are quite short, around 200 pages) but the way the story lines grew and melded together was fantastic, and it was surprisingly fast-paced. I loved the characters and it was an excellent stand alone book. I can't believe I've run out of them now, she is one of my favourite authors of all time.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was disappointing. I'm usually quite fond of Tepper's novels, and this one started promisingly, but by the end I was mostly just pushing myself through to see how she ended it. And the ending did not really redeem the rest of the book for me. I think the main disappointment for me was the world-building. Tepper is definitely a maximalist when it comes to building her worlds, and her novels always are stuffed with ideas and unusual settings/societies/beings, but this one didn't work for me. There were too many elements and they didn't gel together - mythical creatures from our cultures like gryphons and sphinxes, but also other weirder creatures; several different kingdoms and a whole complex history that sort of feeds the plot but also kind of doesn't matter; Tepper's usual evil cannibalistic torture death cult, but then also an evil spirit of some kind that is pushing them on and maybe created them (that was never clear - also I don't think much of a spoiler - of course a novel like this is going to have some kind of evil spirit behind everything).
Again, it starts really promisingly. The story of Jaer and his/her two guardians was beautifully done, and the introductions of the other main characters was nicely done as well (and worth noting that there are several decently drawn queer characters, unusual in my experience with Tepper). Then Jaer's quest which turns into a bit of a "fellowship of the ring" situation, with all the major characters joining and presumably playing a part in the prophecy. I liked all of that. But then she just kept piling on more creatures, people, villains, side quests, lengthy descriptions of scenery that didn't really mean anything, long journeys, more history and mythology, more characters ... oy. Again, all that is kind of typical for Tepper, but a) there seemed to me even more here than normal, and b) she usually does a better job, in my opinion, of both tying all the strands of her world building together and also giving it an emotional center or story to pull me through to the end.

[Meg Powers]

I think I would absorb more of the mythology and politics of this one on a second read- especially regarding the quantum mechanics- but I enjoyed this one, even though it didn't affect me as deeply as many of her other books. It has a very RPG party-system format, which is a lot of fun.

Reading this renewed my irritation with the lazy reading comprehension of some goodreads reviewers regarding THE GATE TO WOMEN'S COUNTRY - Tepper has made it clear in the aforementioned and many other books that she did not sport a transphobic or gender essentialist agenda, and this book outright demolishes that inference.

[Tania Lindner · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were so many characters in this book and so many of their individual stories to follow, it all got a bit too complex for me. Also the language and names made it tricky to follow also, as well as all the geography! I love most of this authors books, but this one didn’t hit the mark for me unfortunately.

[Carissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Significantly more interesting a read than the low rating might suggest. Meandering, and deliberately obtuse in ways that don't really serve it, and kind of gives its hand away too early, but as a response to the era of fantasy when everyone seemed to be upon a destined quest I'll be remembering it for a long while.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tepper Project #4
Well it started out slow for me anyway and it was difficult to get into, but once I did it was an enjoyable ride. I'm still struggling a bit with the author, and that is me not her, but I will continue on with the project.

[T.S.S. Fulk · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A strange story of fate set in a very interesting dystopian world.

[Francie McQuarrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ponderous and despairing until it wrapped up in a neat little bow in the last 50 pages

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic stand alone fantasy, reminiscent of some of C.J Cherryh' s fantasy such as 'Gate of Ivrel'

[Dean Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable and complex. I do like how Tepper creates worlds, and I'm a sucker for a story with a map.

[Cera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somehow it seems like I always read this book when I'm sick or otherwise at a disadvantage to understanding it -- or maybe it's just a difficult book to make sense of. It's an unusual quest story that works as a commentary and unravelling of the stereotypical post-Tolkien fantasy novel. All the typical elements are there (a quest to save the world, magic items that need to be acquired), but they don't mean what either the reader or the characters expect them to mean, and for some reason rather than finding this interesting or clever I just found it uncomfortable and frustrating. I was also struck by how many concerns this novel shares with Tepper's True Game series, especially the Jinian novels -- the evil force in this book is a force of separation, that disconnects human settlements from one another and from the land, much as in Jinian Footseer the forest of Chimmerdong is being both literally and mystically destroyed by being cut off from the natural order.

Why the two stars? I just didn't enjoy this. I was only interested in a few of the many characters, and I didn't really like the world, and I feel like she explored her thematic concerns about mutual dependence and the need for connection so much better in the Jinian novels that I just wanted this one to be over.

[Althea Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it's better than Kings Blood Four (Tepper's first novel) - it shows the promise that is realized with her more recent works, but is still not as polished.

It's an interesting riff on the quest novel - discussing the reasons for quests (mostly, that someone wants to get rid of you) - and the fact that each person values most what someone else is bound to dismiss, or simply fail to recognize as a thing of value...

The characters (the usual motley assortment that become a Company) are interesting and varied, but I was left with the feeling that I would have liked to explore them further - especially the "bad guys" - the reasons for their turning to evil were never really mentioned at all...

The flow of the plot was also slightly awkward - as far as balancing the points of view of different characters, and when elements of the story were hidden or revealed...

Overall, worth reading for a Tepper fan - but I feel that she could do a much better job with the story if she were writing it now!

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this recently in a Melbourne book shop and it is one of the few Teppers I hadn't got, also I love the Kinoko Craft artwork on it. It's interesting re-reading old Tepper stuff as you can really trace the development of her ideas, but this is also back when the message wasn't so dark and gloom and the story telling was fresh and lively. Not my favourite of her early stuff, that would be the Marianne books which I'm going to re read soon (and which, incidentally are now worth a FORTUNE secondhand!) but a good read. Incidentally, she is apparently writing a sequel to all the True Game books which I'm a bit nervous about given that I didn't really love the Waters Rising, but I'll always buy her stuff, and other fantasy fans should also, so there.

[SBC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written and interesting. Favourite quotes:

p.63 Ephraim told Jaer that it didn't matter who his father was because "if you go back a hundred years, I had sixteen ancestors, and half of them were fathers. And if you go back five hundred years, I had two million ancestors, and half of them were fathers. And you go back far enough, and we are all related to everyone, with little pieces of the whole world inside us, so it doesn't matter exactly which human being begot us or which human being carried us, because we ware all out of the womb of earth, fathered by time."

119 If you don't know what to do next, consider doing nothing.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's taken me a long, long time to read the book through. And finally after many aborted attempts it is done!

It's a slow starter for sure, it tested my patience, determination and resilience. Which is kinda funny because that's pretty much a large part of the story too.

The tale finally gets going and gets interesting about halfway through. Stick with it! I went from loathing it, like a pile of dirty washing that has to be done; to if not outright enjoying it, at least being contented that I made it to the end.

[else fine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tepper has become pretty formulaic these days - though her eco-apocalyptic feminism is a formula I appreciate. But she used to write really, really weird books. Strange characters, bizarre landscapes, weird turns of phrase. This is the weirdest Tepper I've read yet, full of genuinely skin-crawling menace, and I loved it.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that takes many plot threads of various hue and tone and then weaves them seamlessly into a beautiful story. There is a melancholy (but not unpleasantly so) feel to the book. I love re-reading this one often. Sheri Tepper is one of my favorite writers and this is one of her greats.

[Laurin · Rating 3 out of 5]

My second attempt reading this and DNF at 60%. What can I can, it's early, unrefined Tepper, and this is not her best work by far. Very disjointed plot, thin characters, and almost too much world building (I know that sounds weird, but there it is).

[Rhiannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very interesting series, I read it a long time ago (when I say "a long time ago" I mean the 70's). This is a VERY GOOD series.

[Lwindjwla Thaliazalor · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the book i got my last name from :)

[Helen Fleischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

strange but beautiful

[RobinG · Rating 2 out of 5]

She is, hands down, my favorite author but this book seemed really confusing!

[Pixie Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read, and it has lots of undertone to think about in relation to today's society.