Genetic Soldier [Paperback]

George Turner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1995

Returning to an overpopulated Earth after an unsuccessful, seven-century search for habitable planets, the crew of the starship Search is confronted by a hostile, anarchistic Earth culture that resists their peaceful overtures. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Brilliantly combining world-building, genetics and Buddhist philosophies, Australian writer Turner achieves a thought-provoking, far-future sequel to The Destiny Makers . Nugan is a colonist aboard the spaceship Search , which was designed to explore distant suns and settle its occupants on an inhabitable world. After hunting for several decades, however, the "Searchers" have found no new suitable planets and are desperately homesick. By applying faster-than-light physics, they return to an Earth that is 700 years in their future--and populated by a human race redesigned through wholesale genetic tinkering. Earth's new intelligentsia, wedded to a mysterious philosophy revolving around the Buddhist concept of "Indira's Net," doesn't want the Searchers to upset their plans by rejoining the planet's population. Key to the scheme of the "Earthers" to keep the colonists from resettling is Soldier, an overly educated man-of-action whose assignment to repel the Searchers is complicated by his pheremonally induced attachment to Nugan's daughter, Anne. Soldier's innate sense of duty inspires him to struggle to find a humane way to fulfill his mission, even though separation from Anne, who proves his genetic match, will eventually kill him. The final confrontation between the Searchers and the genetically altered Earthers proves woefully and disappointingly one-sided, but the outcome allows Turner to speculate on the long-term effects of Indira's Net and to provide an intellectually satisfying conclusion to the philosophy, as well as the action, of this challenging novel.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Avon Books (Mm) (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380721899
• ISBN-13: 978-0380721894
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,110,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A dark foreboding of future humanity, a worthwhile read!, January 27, 2001

By 

Hank Schwartz "banjo & SciFi" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Genetic Soldier (Hardcover)

George Turner's dark vision of human life on Earth after the catastrophic fall of civilization, so vividly and convincingly portrayed in his wonderful "Drowning Towers" and "Down There In The Darkness", lives yet again in "Genetic Soldier".

This novel tells of the return to Earth of the 300 person crew of the starship SEARCH after 700 years of travel between the stars in search of another habitable planet. They have visited over 30 possible planets, found all inhospitable, and are finally driven "home" by a homesickness that brought them to the brink of mutiny and despair.

The crew has actually only aged about 30 years since most of the voyage time was spent in a time suspended cryogenic sleep. And so it is that the far distant relations of the people now living on Earth seek to be readmitted into what has evolved into an alien culture. Those who outlived the trials and terrors of the past have no place for the returning carriers of catastrophe and seek to force them to leave Earth once again and forever.

The gene Wizards of the old world, in preparation for the inevitable fall, had engineered a new humanity with strict adherence to a specific genetic plan that would produce beings most capable of survival in the coming dark ages. One of these genetic classes is the Soldier Genetic with members bred to great endurance and fortitude.

It falls to our hero Atkins' Tommy, also known as Soldier, to deal with the unwanted visitors, and his struggle and eventual surprising triumph is the stuff of this tale.

Typically wonderful characterization by Turner, with complex and convincing players, makes this philosophical commentary on our present path a powerful and poignant statement. Tommy finds himself trapped by his genetic constitution in a plot that surprises and intrigues.

I felt that the ending was perhaps a bit too convenient, but I also feel that Turner's message is important and should be carried to every ear.

Find this out-of-print book. Read it and all the others by Turner that you can find. Take pleasure in his great skill and style, and ponder the deep message that he conveyed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome characterization, June 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Genetic Soldier (Paperback)

AAUUGGHH!! How tragic that this book is out of print. Unfortunately, I think the title (which I doubt was selected by the author) might tend to turn people off. In fact, the title Soldier Genetic would have been more apropos, which anybody who has read the book would understand. The plot of this book was solid and engrossing. But, its true strength lies in the best world and character building narrative that I have ever seen in any scifi book. The members of this future society as well as the society itself are vastly different from what we know today, but Turner does an exceedingly good job of building a believable world with complex and UTTERLY FASCINATING characters. Turner, if you ever read this review yourself I would like to say, my hat is off to you . You have created an exceptional piece of work here.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Australian SF Reader, August 4, 2007

By 

Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Genetic Soldier (Paperback)

A complex tale that is a sequel to the Destiny Makers, as travellers return to Earth many centuries later to find a lot of changes.

Some people in charge don't like such wild cards. One man's relationship with a woman will become important, as he is determined to be the appropriate genetic match for her. It is likely to be dangerous for him, however.