Faraday's Orphans

by N. Lee Wood

When Berk Neilson, a helicopter pilot, becomes stranded on the Outside, he finds himself at the mercy of the burning sun and dangerous clans. What he doesn't expect to encounter is a companion--a wild young girl who calls herself Saydonya--and the freedom he never realized he desired.

Genres: Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Fiction

351 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

N. Lee Wood is the author of Faraday's Orphans and Looking for Mahdi, both published by Gollancz/Vista in 1996. She sold her first ever novel in Romania and hasn't stopped being published since. She is a frequent visitor to British and European conventions, and travels extensively from her home in Paris. She is married to Norman Spinrad, who shares her enthusiasm for Europe in general, and Romania in particular.

N. Lee Wood is the author of "Looking for the Mahdi (Ace, 1996), "Faraday's Orphans (Ace, 1997), and "Bloodrights (Ace, 1999). "Looking for the Mahdi was selected as a "New York Times Notable Book and was also short listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award.- The author's blend of sociology, feminism, and science fiction is reminiscent of such classics as Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale (Houghton Mifflin, 1986), Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness (Ace, 1969), and Sheri S. Tepper's "The Gate to Women's Country (Doubleday, 1988).

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Confession: I sort of cheated. I'd give this book a solid 4 stars, but it got reviews that I thought were unfair, so I decided to give it 5 stars to balance things out.

This fascinating sort-of-dystopian novel, set 200+ years in the future, is not for everyone. There's some grisly violence, but I guess I've become a teensy bid jaded in my dotage. One scene was very much like a similar scene in Lonesome Dove (the novel, not the mini-series, which I didn't see all of) which I found extremely intense and horrifying, and here it didn't really bother me. There is a bit of sexual violence which I don't think would be published today, 22 years later.

I thought the author did really well with characterization; some reviewers have said they found the two main characters, Berk and Sadonya, unlikeable; but most people aren't terribly likeable under terrible stress, and terrible stress is putting it mildly for these characters. They exist 200 years after "The Shift," when something not quite specific happened; piecing it together, I think the ozone layer disappeared and something happened with the magnetic poles. The gist of it, though, is that there are a few cities under huge domes that were created early enough that their occupants survived; the two main ones are Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, and there is another in Erie that failed and is struggling to regroup. Of course, there may be many other surviving people or communities in the world, but there's no mass communication.

Anybody who goes outside is doing so without benefit of an ozone layer, so the Outside is a dangerous place that can kill you quickly, or more slowly with enough repeated exposure. Berk, the main character, flies a helicopter his father built, and is always itching to fly.

Pittsburgh is where Berk lives, and that part I found a bit unbelievable: would they really have enough agricultural production to feed a city full of people? Of course, it is 200 years later and they have been able to build greenhouse domes, but life in the city seems suspiciously like our lives, except they need to live within the confines of the domes. Oh, and the earth is slowly healing; maybe the ozone layer is coming back? It was a little unclear to me.

SPOILERS? I think almost anything I say will be a spoiler from here on out. Berk ultimately takes a trip to the Filly, aka Philadelphia, to try to find oil. Much has been found, but they depend on it, and he's hoping to find some smaller stashes of crude oil, since all the major ones have been used up.

It gets really interesting once he gets to Philadelphia, where he becomes stranded, meets Sadonya, and tries, with her help, to survive in a very hostile atmosphere -- literally, the ozone-free atmosphere that makes a long outside trek life-threatening, and the atmosphere of gangs, "unions," who are savage, to say the least.

For fans of dystopian futuristic novels, I think it's a good one.

[Althea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I started reading this book, I thought, "Well, the writing's good... but it must be terribly unoriginal, because everything in it seems incredibly familiar!" Around page 75, I figured out that the reason it seemed so familiar was that I'd actually read it before.
Sigh.
But, I really like post-apocalyptic fiction, so I kept reading it.
It is good, especially for those who are fans of the genre.
However – Wood's theory on why apocalypse came about, in this book, is a geomagnetic polar shift. You can read some stuff about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagne...
However, the only people who generally seen to think that such a phenomenon will cause total disaster are the alien-conspiracy-Greys-Atlantis-psychic-power types. (Yeah, I like the theory that the reason that we have no evidence of truly advanced ancient civilizations is that when a magnetic shift occurs, all "artificial" materials DISAPPEAR, leaving only "natural" substances such as rock behind. AAAGGGH! Basic physics, anyone? Anyway.) Moreover, the changes don't (from all past evidence) seem to happen quickly. So – I'm not giving it a lot of points as far as likelihood of civilization collapsing.
The book is also named after the very interesting figure of Michael Faraday, the brilliant self-taught scientist, well-known for his research into electromagnetism.
However, Faraday is not once even mentioned within the text of the book. Too bad.

So, we have a story of a pilot from one of the domed cities that are the last holdouts of civilization. Flying his antique helicopter on a mission to try to find a source to scavenge fuel from (and also trying to secure his position in the city with an unfriendly Councilman, and wanting to resolve serious issues in his marriage), he runs into trouble, loses his ‘copter, and falls afoul of wild gangs of feral children. Saved by a young woman with a natural talent for chemistry, his mission is now merely to get back to his home alive – a task that seems near-impossible...

(Of slight interest(?), Wood was married to fellow sf-author Norman Spinrad for 15 years.)

[· · Rating 3 out of 5]

(11 March, 2021)

While this was compelling and held my interest till the very end, there was something amiss. Lack of relatable protagonist, lack of originality, gratuitous violence and no real closure are not impediments to my enjoyment of any book but here the combination kept nagging at me. Novels I cannot put down, like this one, are usually 4 or 5 stars but the above-mentioned faults (and, towards the end, a big one*) lead me to rate this 3 stars. Why I found this so compelling is somewhat of a mystery to me but it is what it is.

Some good points were: the different kinds of survival, most characterizations (except the 'beautiful but kinda empty blonde' and the 'dick politician' stereotypes) and the weird love/hate relationship between Berk and Sadonya. Overall this is good, but with only a few minors alterations (or omissions) it could have become a classic in the genre.

__________________

* Wood's decision to have Berk 'like' being raped, by a woman, is disgusting. I am soooooo fucking happy to see women can be just as stupid and ignorant as men about this subject. Bra-fuckin'-vo!

[Kathy KS · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although there a few (very few) ideas I liked in this older post apocalyptic novel, the feel of the book was actually distasteful to me. It was so depressing, but not in the way The Road might feel depressing.

The blurb makes you think that the main character ends up with a companion that shows him another way to look at the world and a new freedom. You can stretch the reality of the book to kind of fit that last sentence, but Berk's relationship with Sadonya becomes anything but uplifting.

Not my cup of tea.

[Joelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This came highly recommended and I should have loved it, but somehow it didnt tick with me. I can tell it is a good book about a well built dystopia, a world where something went really wrong and people try to survive and, for some, rebuild. I just didnt quite buy into any of the characters. Still, I think it is a good read for anyone who likes these kinds of 'bleak future' books.

[Melody · Rating 1 out of 5]

The main character in this book is despicable, and not in a way that makes him fun to hate. Rape, violence, savagery that doesn't at all make sense for a guy with a decent loving upbringing - he's frequently a very not-nice guy. Graphic sexual descriptions, usually unpleasant. Cannibalism. This book was icky.

[Trunatrschild · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm an 80's gal and love my post apocalyptical novels. This is one of the best and I keep rereading it.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this author but I just couldn't get into this book. I guess because it is so unremittingly bleak.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bizarrely memorable read. I would gladly pick up Faraday's Orphans again, if only I could find it.

[Marzell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guter poastapokalyptischer SF mit einigen für meinen Geschmack zu brutalen Szenen.