Customer Reviews

AESTIVAL TIDE (Spectra Special Editions)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Aestival Tide brought together all of the things I appreciate most about Elizabeth Hand. Her telling of how relationships would be if sex were no longer important, how the world would be if no one saw the sky, how a man would live if he were no longer a man, how a machine could express humanity, all without being cartoonish or over the top. She creates a world that exists, with flaws and history, yet nothing for most people within to belive in, because they lack the ability to care no matter how hard they try.

Elizabeth Hand has done it again! She has created a profoundly disturbing, beautifully written masterpeice. Like it's predecessor WINTERLONG Ms. hand has taken what could have been nothing more than a dime store sci-fi novel and turned into a rich, well crafted, stunningly beautiful epic. This isn't so much a science fiction novel as it is a sweeping tale filled with deeply felt characters and lush prose. I would reccomend this book to anyone.

If you are looking for a sequel to Winterlong, you will be dissapointed. This book is more like a companion, but it is beautiful in its own right. Sheds more light on the world that Winterlong gave so many tantalizing little hints about, while at the same time, almost seeming to create another world within that one.

It's a far out comparison, but some of Hand's sci-fi images and concepts remind me of Cordwainer Smith (if you don't know him you should!)

Aestival Tide is a brilliant trip into an exotic future. The language is beautiful, the author uses her knowledge of religion and culture to its full extent, and a very subtle sense of humour runs throughout. If you enjoy spectacle, intricate ceremony, some deliberately over-the-top flourishes, and lyrical writing, this is the ticket. When you read this book, you will know the significance of the Green Country.

Elizabeth Hand's immaculate use of the English language to portray a world in disharmony and upheaval is as beautiful as it is disturbing. This book will haunt you years after you read it. Highly recommended.