Dark Ararat [Hardcover]

Brian Stableford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2002

Dark Ararat is the fifth novel in an overarching masterpiece. It extends into interstellar space Brian Stableford's ambitious ongoing future history series begun in Inherit the Earth and continued in The Architects of Emortality, The Fountains of Youth, and The Cassandra Complex.

Hundreds of years in our future, humanity is expanding out into the galaxy in gigantic colony ships. Slower than light speed, the ships are filled with long-lived people who are, nevertheless, in suspended animation for all or much of the voyage. One ship has reached a promising world and begun a colony, but not everyone has yet been awakened.

Matthew Fleury is shocked to learn that he has been revived from suspended animation to replace a colleague who has been murdered.

Is the planet still inhabited by the alien race that left ancient ruins of great cities? And who killed the eminent scientist leading the investigation of the ruins? If the aliens survive, then the planet becomes off limits to humans, and the ship must find another planet to colonize. There are some colonists who would kill to leave. And some who would kill to stay.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British author and critic Stableford adds a fifth novel to his Emortality series (Inherit the Earth, etc.) with this heavily speculative tale that puts the "science" in science fiction. Expanding on the episode of humanity's first extrasolar colony from The Fountains of Youth (2000), he devises an entire biosystem based on a dual coding genome rather than Earth's sole replicator molecule, DNA. That changes everything, as the colonists learn, from reproductive strategies and lifecycles to the basic taste (mildly unpleasant) of native food. Cultural as well as scientific conflicts afflict the passengers of the colony ship Hope, whose crew members seek to expand their mission to include other stars so that they can declare the colony self-sufficient. Unfrozen from suspended animation, Matthew Fleury, an ecologist and televangelist, must solve both the mystery of a murder and the mystery of life itself down on the planet called Ararat. Weaving the two plot lines together is the suggestion that the murder was committed by intelligent humanoid natives, builders of the abandoned city in which the crime took place. After talking with every faction on ship and planet, Matt travels by boat to the unexplored great plains downriver, and the novel picks up speed as his team adventures among the native flora and the very lively fauna. Despite his reputation as "an arrogant son of a bitch" and an "egomaniac," Matt is ultimately a sympathetic hero, whose intellectual and emotional leaps of faith justify the reader's belief in him.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In the 29th century, the generation ship Hope reaches its destination, a habitable planet suitable for colonization. Awakened out of cryonic sleep, ecologist Matthew Fleury discovers that serious problems face a successful seeding of the new world with human colonists. As Fleury tries to solve the murder of one of the planet's early explorers, he confronts the possibility that the new world still contains an intelligent species and that a conspiracy exists to prevent the new colonists from building the world of their dreams. The fifth installment in Stableford's epic future history (e.g., Inherit the Earth) brings humanity to the stars and tells, in the process, a story of one man's singular dedication to the dream of populating the galaxy. Combining the best of hard science and visionary speculation, this sf drama belongs in most libraries.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (March 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765301687
• ISBN-13: 978-0765301680
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,998,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting futuristic Emortality science fiction, March 12, 2002

By 

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

This review is from: Dark Ararat (Hardcover)

By 2817 humanity bravely goes where no one has gone before as slower than the speed of light colony ships traverse the stars. Most of the space travelers lie in suspended animation awaiting the moment of awakening. One of those ships Hope has landed on a planet Ararat that appears favorable for human habitation though the eerie ruins of a great civilization scar the surface.

After a murder occurs in the fledgling colony, Matthew Fleury is awakened to replace the victim. Being an ecologist he begins to search for clues as to the identity of the killer fearing he could be next as his position might be the motive for the homicide. He wonders if the killer is a human who wants to leave, one who want to stay, or perhaps a sentient native. Matt begins a journey amidst the strange planet seeking the truth.

The fifth in Brian Stableford's futuristic Emortality science fiction series, DARK ARARAT is a cerebral tale with plenty of action and adventure starring a wonderful though egocentric hero. The story line employs a scientific grounded ecosystem based on dual coded genome rather than the earthly DNA. That makes for quite an alien trip as everything appears different to the senses yet seems so real. The mystery adds a twisting depth yet cleverly ties back to the prime plot of exploring Ararat. This novel may be the best story in one of the great series of the last decade, as Mr. Stableford returns to the roots of science fiction by encouraging his audience to philosophize about what is life within a powerhouse of an adventure.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First colony, first murder, March 25, 2002

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Ararat (Hardcover)

In the fifth volume of his Emortality series, Stableford awakens his protagonist, evangelical ecologist Matthew Fleury, from coldsleep 700 years into interstellar space and three years into the establishment of a fledgling colony on an alien planet, Ararat, which may or may not be already inhabited by a humanoid race. Matthew's awakening - to take the place of a murdered ecologist - drops him in the midst of a roiling conflict between colonists and ship's crew. In the course of the journey, the crew's view of their mission has evolved and separated from that of their human cargo. They no longer wish to nurture a single colony but see themselves as explorers of the galaxy. The crew is insisting on the colony's success, despite misgivings from the colonists. Matthew, and a policeman awakened along with him, are expected to solve the murder and get the colony back on track.

The world itself is a strange place, it's flora and fauna based not on DNA but on a dual coding genome, which, as Stableford depicts it, changes evolutionary strategies and affects everything from feeding to reproduction. Animals with the ability to photosynthesize, for instance. Widespread chimeras.

Fleury, reserving judgment as he reviews all factions, explores the ruins of an alien city, beginning to piece together an overview of the ecology even before he and three other colonists set out on a river voyage of exploration, which introduces them to some of the planet's larger and more fearsome inhabitants. Along the way, Fleury also discovers the murderer's identity but it seems almost beside the point, as it is to the other colonists.

Fleury is a likable protagonist and the book easily stands alone, while the dual-coding biology is an entertaining brain teaser.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing biological mystery, less interesting characters, April 27, 2003

By 

Richard R. Horton (Webster Groves, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Ararat (Emortality 5) (Paperback)

Dark Ararat is the fifth novel in Brian Stableford's ambitious future history of an Earth wracked by biological catastrophe, and of human "emortality". It is sort of an offshoot. At the beginning of the 22nd century as Earth seemed to face certain disaster, a series of generation ships were launched. One of these ships has arrived after hundreds of years at a new planet. Biologist and TV personality Matthew Fleury is awakened to find that things aren't going quite as planned. The crew of the ship, adapted over generations to onboard life, wants to drop off the colonists and continue traveling. But the first wave of colonists is not sure this new planet can be made habitable. And one of Fleury's colleagues has just been murdered. It is his job, along with a policeman revived along with him, to both investigate the murder, and to investigate the biological mysteries of the planet.

Not surprisingly it is the scientific mystery which dominates. Life on this planet is organized around a very different encoding molecule to DNA, and one result of this is that most organisms are some form of chimera. There are also hints of possible intelligent life, and there are hints that this chimerization may result in another form of emortality. Fleury investigates all these things, at the same time giving us a neat tour of the strange planet, while he and the policeman somewhat perfunctorily solve the murder mystery. The eventual scientific explanation is rather clever, though on a few grounds I was underwhelmed. One shortcoming may lie with me: I couldn't quite grasp all the scientific details. Another is quite common in my experience of Stableford: his portrayal of human relationships, especially romantic ones, is very distanced, and it is hard to get inside his characters. Finally, the wrapping up is very rapid, and perhaps too convenient. Still, it's in many ways a neat book - good SF for SF's sake.