Dreamships [Mass Market Paperback]

Melissa Scott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 1993

A wealthy corporation owner hires a space pilot to track down her insane brother, a man who might have just created the first fully conscious artificial intelligence. Reprint. NYT. K.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Scott ( Mighty Good Road ) puts a slightly different spin on the SF staples (and present-day impossibilities) of faster-than-light (FTL) travel and artificial intelligence (AI); the former is part of the novel's well-thought-out future atmosphere, and the latter is the focus of the plot. The "Drive" that sends the novel's protagonists into an alternate space (thus allowing for FTL travel) translates that space into a virtual reality landscape of the pilot's choice. Scott's future world is on the brink of achieving AI, and Scott deals with the political and social ramifications of this. Reverdy Jian, a freelance pilot, and her partners, Imre Vaughn and "Red," are hired to fly to a planet called Refuge to find their employer's brother. Manfred, the computer that aids their flight, appears to be AI, and their return from Refuge brings about a tremendous controversy--if Manfred is sentient, the question arises: Do AIs have the same rights as humans? The plot itself is fairly thin, and could not fill out a 350-page hardcover on its own. Scott's solution is to pad it with the aforementioned atmosphere, which is forgivable because it is so well done. This postulated future is convincing, just different enough from our own to pique the reader's curiosity.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Freelance space pilot Reverdy Jian accepts a commission from an enigmatic and powerful woman whose goal--to find her missing brother--belies a darker purpose. Scott's strengths as a writer lie in her grasp of complex technology and her deft characterizations. Jian is a heroine worth several novels, and the vivid universe that Scott creates for this high-tech sf adventure begs for further exploration. A good choice for most sf collections.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (July 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812513029
• ISBN-13: 978-0812513028
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,277,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Truly Delightful and Intelligent Read, June 30, 2008

By 

Jonathan Golding "The Librynthian" (Vista, Ca) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dreamships (Mass Market Paperback)

Melissa Scott's Dreamships is one of my favorite novels and I return to it from time to read it again. However, if you are looking for fast paced action adventure this is not the novel for you. Scott's work is more character and idea driven, and I find her people and thoughts fascinating.

When Reverdy Jian and her co workers Imre Vaugn and "Red" agree to pilot the starship "Young Lord Byron" to an asylum planet called Refuge they get more than they bargained for. Not only is their employer less than honest about the nature of their voyage, but as events play out their trip will catalyze massive social unrest when it is learned that they may have a true artificial intelligence on board.

In a sense the book is not so much about artificial intelligence as it is about how the discovery of true AI might impact a society. So Scott takes her time building up our sense of the culture and world her characters inhabit. And to me, at least it is an intriguing world. Persephone where most of the action is set is a planet with a rotation of four standard days so that temperatures on the surface are always either too hot or too cold for comfort. The majority of the inhabitants live in an underground city which inverts our ideas of prestige and power in that the wealthiest classes live far below the surface. Scott has created an equally complex social and political world. The planet is owned by an offworld government, but actually governed by a corporate cartel and the political tensions created by this situation play out as the story unfolds.

Also as a person who grew up in Southeast Asia I have a great appreciation for the multicultural aspect that Scott weaves into her tale. So many science fiction novels I have read are simply projections of American culture into the future. While Reverdy Jian and her partner Imre Vaughn are "Yanquis" (caucasians) the majority of Persephone's inhabitants reflect a mixed Asian background, and Scott melds many elements together so that we are left with the sense of an authentically different culture.

Another aspect of Scott's work which I find apealing is her willingness to explore what everyday life might be like in a future society. Her characters have real jobs and do real work and Scott doesn't shy away from taking time to explore this aspect of things. Obviously this is not everyone's cup of tea, and I can understand how someone expecting a more plot driven story might be disappointed. On the other hand, I find that when the action beats in the story occur they feel much more real and generate much more tension than they would otherwise.

On the whole though, I think it is the people who draw me back to this novel again and again. Scott creates lifelike characters with real problems, hurts and needs. Although the people in the story occaisionally act heroically, they are not heros. They are ordinary working class people who are caught up in events that are momentous and beyond their control. Scott then sets them into her densely layered future world and the result is in many ways an extraordinarily touching story.

If you are interested in an intelligent well written thought provoking work of entertaining science fiction I highly recommend Dreamships and its companion novel Dreaming Metal.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, March 12, 1998

By 

Lynn Fisher (Meriden, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dreamships (Mass Market Paperback)

I had read "Dreaming Metal" before I read this book and picked up "Dreamships" in anticipation. I was a little disappointed. I felt the book moved slowly at the beginning, although I liked the concept of piloting a ship using virtual images. I knew from reading "Dreaming Metal" what some of the plot had to be, and found the confrontation between Reverdy and Manfred to be tamer than I had expected.

Overall, the technology and the relationships between the people in this story kept me interested enough to finish the book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good idea; poor execution, July 7, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Dreamships (Mass Market Paperback)

At first blush, I was intrigued by the situation this book presented. I was looking forward to a really good read, but unfortunately I was disappointed by the way Scott handled her plot. The action plodded when I wanted it to move quickly, and then sped through a lot that I thought needed more attention. The last fifth of the book, in my eyes, deserved four-fifths of the page count, and vice versa. To balance all that, I did enjoy the descriptions of the technology for the most part, and the environment in particular. The overall plot was good, even allowing for the odd expansion/compression mentioned above. As a whole, however, it just wasn't enough to draw me all the way in.