After Long Silence [Hardcover]

Sheri S. Tepper (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 310 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; Book Club edition (1987)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000HTQ1GG
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,151,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of Tepper's first and most unusual worlds, December 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: After Long Silence

While I found this book confusing at first, as I persevered the story gradually crystalized. That's an appropriate way of putting it, as the book is set on a planet filled with lovely but fractile crystal structures that shatter, killing foot travellers. The trip singers have created soothing musical sounds to play to each structure, which allow passage. But are the singers commuicating with the crystals and are the crystals a new form of intelligent life? If so, planetary exploitation can be halted.

Tepper has a great imagination and creates believable situations that speak into our own time and lives as well.

I was ultimately caught up in the dilemma and found the conclusion immensely satisfying. Worth hanging on through the initially confusing stages, for the characters are ultimately well developed and the reader cares what happens to them.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When will this be back in print!!???, July 26, 2004

By 

avanta7 "avanta7" (Northeast Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: AFTER LONG SILENCE (Mass Market Paperback)

Vintage Tepper. And a lovely piece of work it is.

Jubal, a planet in the process of colonization by humans, is a world full of strange and wonderful things, some amusing, some dangerous. The Presences, large crystalline structures scattered throughout the land, are dangerous, and they are everywhere, preventing easy travel between settlements. They can be passed only with the aid of a Tripsinger, a trained vocalist and musician who accompanies a group of travelers and, in essence, sings the party past the fragile crystal mountains. Each structure requires a different song; the song seems to set up some sort of counter-resonance peculiar to the individual structure that prevents the crystal from fracturing due to the vibrations made by the mules, wagons, and humans as they pass. Even one wrong note could cause a potentially fatal shatter. One structure, called Enigma, has thus far proven impassable: no one has discovered the proper song which will allow safe passage. Except, perhaps, one person.

And then there are those who want to see the Presences destroyed because they hinder free trade and easy commerce. A strange cult which worships the Presences has also arisen. Amid much intra-planetary politics, money grubbing, and, umm, a few alluded-to deviant sex games, the fates of Jubal and the Presences will be decided.

In this early novel, Tepper establishes some of her touchstone themes which she continues to develop in her later work: responsible use of natural resources; religious fanaticism; tolerance of differences; human (and non-human) rights.

Tepper's vivid imagination stands her in good stead here. As a trained vocalist myself, I was intrigued by the notion of literally singing for one's life. How would the knowledge that one wrong note could kill affect the quality of my song? I was captivated by the viggies, small indigenous mammalian-like creatures, who are so much more than they seem. As are the Presences themselves, beautiful and deadly and awe-inspiring.

My only quibble with the story is insufficient information on the cult of the Crystallites. Did they want to preserve the Presences? Or were they allied with those who wished to destroy them? Either I missed it or Tepper never made clear what precisely was their purpose, their agenda. The agenda of the leaders was made quite clear, but not the purpose of the cult they established -- what was the propaganda they preached? At any rate, it's a relatively minor quibble in an otherwise wonderful read.

While surfing about the internet, I discovered this book has an alternate title, The Enigma Score. A rose by any other name, etc. etc. [grin]

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Tepper's most memorable books, and I've read them all, July 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: AFTER LONG SILENCE (Mass Market Paperback)

I started reading Tepper's books years ago, starting with the "True Game" series. I've loved everyone of her books. But I think that the alien intelligences in "Raising the Stones" are the best realized of any Sci. Fi. book Ever! How funny, they didn't realize men were intelligent!