Grail [Mass Market Paperback]

Elizabeth Bear (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 22, 2011

Rife with intrigue and betrayal, heroism and sacrifice, Grail brings Elizabeth Bear’s brilliant space opera to a triumphant conclusion.
 
At last the generation ship Jacob’s Ladder has arrived at its destination: the planet they have come to call Grail. But this habitable jewel just happens to be populated already: by humans who call their home Fortune. And they are wary of sharing Fortune—especially with people who have genetically engineered themselves to such an extent that it is a matter of debate whether they are even human anymore. To make matters worse, a shocking murder aboard the Jacob’s Ladder has alerted Captain Perceval and the angel Nova that formidable enemies remain hidden somewhere among the crew.

On Grail—or Fortune, rather—Premier Danilaw views the approach of the Jacob’s Ladder with dread. Behind the diplomatic niceties of first-contact protocol, he knows that the deadly game being played is likely to erupt into full-blown war—even civil war. For as he strives to chart a peaceful and prosperous path forward for his people, internal threats emerge to take control by any means necessary.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This deftly told story completes the Jacob's Ladder trilogy begun in Dust and Chill. The Conns and the other inhabitants of an ancient wandering spaceship face their last and greatest challenge. They've finally found a habitable planet, but others beat them to it: "right-minded" humans, surgically altered to achieve emotional balance, and more alien to the Jacobites than extraterrestrials would be. Leaders on both ship and planet are willing to fight and kill to keep the two cultures from interacting, while old enemies aboard the Jacob's Ladder re-emerge to wreak destruction. The story is poised on a knife's edge, with the Jacobites facing both possible annihilation and inner demons just as they're closing in on their goal. Bear's talent for portraying cultural divergence and conflict is especially apparent in this intense wrapup. (Mar.)
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Review

"This deftly told story...is poised on a knifes edge.  Bear's talent for portraying cultural divergence and conflict is especially apperent in this intense wrapup." --Publishers Weekly

"Bear's Jacob's Ladder trilogy finale is a stirring and satisfying story...while also being a book about what it means to be human." --Romantic Times

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Spectra (February 22, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553591096
• ISBN-13: 978-0553591095
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #305,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I tell stories. I prefer the mountains to the desert, and rain to sun. My eyes are blue. I like flying on airplanes, but they keep making the seats smaller.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A bang and then a whimper April 12, 2011

By Chris Reviews

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really liked this series when it started and I raced through the last two books, still interested in the characters and wanted to see the conclusion. This one takes up immediately after the conclusion of the second book and you are thrown immediately into the action. I really liked the first half and felt the danger of the situation changed the tone of the series for the better. Then before you knew it you were in another chase seen through the great ship. Started to feel the same. Then new characters are introduced and everything slows way down as an ethical debate merges with a murder mystery. I never felt that the murder had the impact emotionally that it should have and the characters to be most impacted by it were marginalized in this volume. The ending fo the series was a bit of ehh? Great start, okay middle, didn't really enjoy the ending. Can't complain overall about the series and would still recommend it as pretty good science fiction just wish the ending had been stronger and didn't end is such a way that while clean and concise didn't feel like it had the real life messiness that it should or that I guess I prefer.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Jacob's Ladder leads to Heaven and God according to Genesis March 13, 2011

By Ove Jansson, Cybermage.se

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I have just finished Grail the concluding volume of Elizabeth Bear's generation ship epos Jacob's Ladder. I have a hard time distilling the story down to review size but here goes.

Jacob's Ladder is getting close to journey's end and the planet Grail. Perceval became the captain after her beloved Rien scarified herself and merged with the ship's ai and vanquished the dragon Dust, the ship library that ruled ship for centuries turning it into something from Literature. That is why the story reads as a medieval saga with transhuman technologies, knights and angels (most so in the first book). They survived the alien encounter and the acceleration that followed. Perceval and her companions have started to repair the ship again and are working towards uniting the different tribes that has been separated for so long. But the ship is far from well and not everyone agree on a course of action. Some even want to turn around not to infect another world. A theft turned murder reveals powerful old enemies. In a transhuman world death is seldom permanent.

It became something of a different story when we dive into the culture of the `rightminded' humans that already lives on Grail, the planet they call Fortune. Jacob's Ladder left earth to escape the Kleptomancy and forge their own solution to human development while humanity back on the devastated earth forged their own - rightminding. It raises all kind of interesting questions and most of them get their answers here. Elizabeth delivers civilization critique wrapped in velvet. For the people on Fortune it is a legend come alive but it also raises fear. Are the Jacobeans even human anymore? The fear of the uncorrected `normal' humans also surfaces and it is quite entertaining at times how they portrait that.... There are forces on both sides that are willing to go to war to take or protect what they think is right. Premiere Danilaw has to walk a tight rope as he becomes the emissary to the Jacobeans.

It is a complex story with many aspects and participants and I am in awe how tight Elizabeth still succeeds in keeping it, this could easily have swelled to a kilo pages. I enjoyed the different points of view and the characters are distinct and well developed. Perceval is in many respects the main character everything revolves around, she is also by far the most human in all her Exalted transhumanism. Danilaw is the other character that stands out rightminded as he is he plays old tunes on his guitar and are used to manage the planet by nudging or tweaking. I like the characters here, they don't bicker as much as I like but it is not that kind of story.

Two different paths of human evolution meet and clash. Will they be able to forge a new future together? You have to read the book to find out.

I love this series. It is like blending LOTR with The Diamond Age and Matrix with a crust of Ghost in the Machine. Grail is a satisfying conclusion to Jacob's Ladder loaded with tension, intrigue, treason, revelations and humanity. Singularity has become something of a Holy Grail in current science fiction but here Grail is a planet and trans-humanism a gateway to becoming human which is refreshing. I recommend this as one of the more significant science fiction trilogies in later years. You should really read it, I enjoyed it immensly. Read more ›

1.0 out of 5 stars Kindle ripoff May 8, 2013

By Andrew Haldane

Format:Kindle Edition

Random House is charging the same for a collection of streaming electrons as the real book. Thanks, but no thanks, gougers.

4.0 out of 5 stars The Conclusion to a Series: Grail December 3, 2012

By Wallace Rinkelhaus

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Grail is the conclusion to Bear's Jacob's Ladder trilogy, begun in Dust and continued in Chill. Jacob's Ladder, an ancient generational ship, finally comes to the end of its thousand-year journey when it reaches the habitable world the crew, led by the Conns, has named Grail. They have come to the end of their quest. Unfortunately other humans beat them to it--they call the planet Fortune. Conflict is inevitable. The people of Fortune are "right-minded," genetically altered to achieve emotional balance. The Conns, and the other inhabitants of this ship, are also altered, to the point one wonders if they are still human. Not everyone is happy about settling down planetside, either. Sabotage and murder on both sides, betrayals, assassinations, intrigue, secrets--Bear has created a heady mix to conclude her trilogy. This universe, with its Arthurian motifs, is a queer-friendly one: Captain Perceval is a lesbian; Tristan, once married, a father, falls in love with Mallory, who uses no gendered pronouns. That human sexuality is fluid is integral to the novel, which could be said to be a celebration, albeit a dark one, of cultural diversity.

4.0 out of 5 stars The Thinking Person's Sci-Fi *** Spoiler Free Review November 7, 2012

By amnightus

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Unfortunately, I didn't know this was the last book in the series, didn't figure that out until I was into the book, but I read it regardless.

All I can say is wow, Elizabeth has got a big brain. I love love LOVE sci-fi that makes you think and this has that in spades.

I love the social science and philosophical aspects of the book and the fact that the characters all seem competent.

I wish I would have read the first two books as I'm sure that would have tremendously impacted my enjoyment. I mean, if I enjoy the book as is, then I would have absolutely loved the book had I read the first two. Hell, I may just go back and get the first two..

The only negative critique I have is I feel the author missed the opportunity to really show the dynamics/conflict between the ship and the planet. I really really would have loved to have seen more socio-technical-political conflict between the planet and the ship/occupants, at least 5 or 6 chapters worth. Instead, we get like 2 chapters worth and really not even that given how quickly everything comes to conclusion.

But in fairness, I think the author had a specific type of ending in mind and as is, that ending with the story 100% works. I don't think it would have been possible to achieve that same ending if there was the conflict that I wanted to see. So, its not a mistake on the author's part, but more a matter of preference.

In any event, I loved the book, should have done a better job reading the inside cover so I could have seen this is a book 3 and read the first two books first.

I'll probably look for more books from this author