Crucible [Hardcover]

Nancy Kress (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2004

Nancy Kress made her reputation in the early 90s with her multiple award-winning novella, "Beggars in Spain," which became the basis for her extremely successful Beggars Trilogy (comprising Beggars in Spain, Beggars and Choosers, and Beggars Ride). Since then she has written over a dozen novels, including the well-received Probability Trilogy, culminating in Probability Space, which garnered her the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best SF Novel.

Now comes a brand new science fiction epic.
It began with Crossfire: a far-future novel of planetary colonization and alien first contact. Jake Holman, a man trying to escape a dark past, brought together a diverse group of thousands to settle on a new world. But instead the humans found themselves caught in the crossfire of a galaxy-spanning war between two disparate species: agressive, militaristic humanoids known as Furs and passive, plantlike creatures known as Vines.

Having cast their lots with the peaceful Vines, humanity faces all-out war against the technologically superior Furs. Our only hope? A virus designed by the Vines to remove all aggressiveness from the Furs. Can it spread fast enough to save not only Holman's colony, but the rest of humanity? And at what price to the Furs?

Driven by strong ideas and deep moral questions, and peopled with real-as-life characters, Crucible shows Kress at the top of her form, amply demonstrating why she has been one of science fiction finest authors of the past twenty years.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kress’s idea-packed sequel to Crossfire (2003) carries several leading characters and conflicts some 39 years farther into the future of a distant human colony. To settle the planet Greentrees, Jake Holman, now aged and feeble, has brought diverse groups: the huge Cutler clan, Arabs, Chinese, New Quakers, Cheyennes. The dissident Chinese city Hope of Heaven seethes with antagonism toward Mira City, where Alexandra Cutler as "tray-o," the Technology Resources Allocation officer, serves as one of the executive triumvirate. When a ship arrives from a devastated Earth, Alex falls prey to its charismatic captain, Julian Martin, whose suave exterior cloaks a formidable and ruthless will to power worthy of Rome’s first Caesar. Martin’s Machiavellian manipulation of Mira City’s naïve citizenry, including Alex, soon easily makes him its dictator. Meanwhile, in space on a daring attempt to defuse the aggressive humanoid Furs’ ability to wage war, Karim Mahjoub and Lucy Lasky are captured by the alien plantlike Vines. A highly complex plot, intricately interwoven motivations and a constantly shifting focus detract from the novel’s pace, while characterizations and dialogue occasionally appear superficial or predictable. Nonetheless, Kress’s inventive juxtaposition of cultures and political systems and her sympathetic treatment of minority viewpoints offer much food for thought. FYI: Kress’s short fiction has won Hugo and Nebula awards.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The second novel about the settlement of the planet Greentrees takes place 50 years after the events of Crossfire [BKL Ja 1 & 15 03]. The interstellar expedition to wage germ warfare against the hostile alien Furs succeeds, but it also uncovers much more than was expected about the supposedly friendly Vines and returns with news of new potential dangers. Meanwhile, militarized refugees from a crumbling Earth appear to constitute a valuable defense against the hostile Furs, though their own agenda is a menace to the utopian society of Greentrees. The last half of this book portrays a multicornered fight between space Furs, planetary Furs, Vines, and a double handful of human factions, resolving many conflicts but setting the stage for more in the final volume of Kress' trilogy. Kress is becoming equally adept with hard science, alien contact, planetary colonization, and action, and at combining those four elements with exceeding, possibly unique flair. A must for sf collections. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1 edition (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765306883
• ISBN-13: 978-0765306883
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,634,352 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific follow-on to "Crossfire", September 17, 2004

By 

Scott R. Lucado "I'm the other author named L... (Fort Worth, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crucible (Hardcover)

Nancy Kress continues her space-colonization story with this novel, a sequel to "Crossfire."

In terms of plot, the book opens as the colonists on Greentrees are still caught between the rock of "Furs" and the hard place of "Vines"--alien races at war with each other. The humans are allied with the Vines, who have a plan to eliminate the Fur threat.

If that weren't enough, a ship of humans arrives from Earth, bringing ambitions and prejudices of their own--and a whole new dimension to the conflict.

Without giving away too much, the story unravels a thorny briar patch of conflicts at many levels--among humans, planets, interstellar species, ecologies, technologies, biologies, relativity, and especially philosophies.

It's a massive undertaking on Ms. Kress's part, and she succeeds brilliantly. One of her strengths as a writer is that she has an appreciation for technology without being seduced by it. Better still, she creates very believable characters--the only other writer I can think of who created characters as convincingly was John D. MacDonald. But more than just a character study, she has an intricate, well-paced plot with a resolution that doesn't let anyone off the hook.

Best of all, there's enough threads to support a third entry in the series.

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent Space Opera from Nancy Kress, but...., September 11, 2005

By 

John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crucible (Hardcover)

Nancy Kress's "Crucible", the sequel to her novel "Crossfire", is noteworthy mainly since it has more of her excellent world-building featured in her best novels. Alas her characters are not really all that memorable, with the sole exceptions of Alex Cutler and General Julian Martin, but even they are depicted in scenes that seem all too predictable. Here in "Crucible", the human colonists of the planet Greentrees must contend with yet another battle between the alien civilizations of the Vines and Furs, and the unexpected visit of an Earth warship, Crucible, and its charismatic commander, General Julian Martin. Having enjoyed some of Kress's earlier work, I am surprised that her characters and plot aren't nearly as memorable as those from "Beggars in Spain".

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fine outer space cerebral thriller, August 5, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crucible (Hardcover)

Four decades ago Jake Holman and thousands of settlers following him were trapped in the middle of an inter-galaxy war between the militaristic humanoid Furs and the serene flora-like Vines. Jake and his followers supported the Vines against the bellicose Furs though the odds heavily favored the latter. The Vines used a last-hope virus to remove the aggressive tendencies of the Furs.

Jake is old and frail, but feels proud of his accomplishments especially the diversity he brought to Greentrees. Still a fierce contention exists between the Chinese in the city Hope of Heaven against the technocrats of Mira City. When the earth ship CRUCIBLE arrives on Greentrees, Captain Julian Martin ruthlessly uses that antagonistic rivalry to further his ambitions to become planetary dictator. He seduces Technology Resources Allocation Officer Alexandra Cutler, a member of the Mira City executive triumvirate, and other key citizens to do his bidding. Off planet the fighting between the Furs and the Vines remains heated. On and off the orb, Jake's dream is turning nightmarish.

The sequel to CROSSFIRE, CRUCIBLE contains plenty of action and intriguing alien species with deeply developed cultures. The story line moves along two paths, off and on the planet, but also is somewhat difficult to follow because of the complex continuous changes as to what is the core of the tale. Most interesting for those who read the first novel is how much Jake has aged from the swashbuckling hero to an elderly statesman ignored by the next generation as being yesterday's news. Fans, as they did with Nancy Kress' previous outer space cerebral thriller, will ponder the author's concept that society needs to defend the right to live alternate .and minority lifestyles.

Harriet Klausner