Gravity Dreams [Hardcover]

L. E. Modesitt Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1999

L.E. Modesitt, Jrs bestselling SF and fantasy novels have made him one of the leading genre writers of the 1990s. His new SF novel, Gravity Dreams, is a stand-alone action adventure. Set in the distant future, our hero, born and raised in a conservative religious culture, is exiled to a more technologically advanced space-faring civilization to which he must adjust. Fortunately, he has the rare talent required to become a space pilot. What no one expects is that he might meet God, or at least a superior being, in space.L.E. Modesitt takes his place way up there with the sf and maybe some other immortals. ~ A.E. Van Vogt

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Zen master in a primitive society gets turned into a nanotech-enhanced "demon" by a mad, malicious mushroom-farmer. The master, now gifted with superhuman strength and senses, must flee his fearful Luddite fellows or face death. The similarly gifted, space-faring Rykashans take him in and use more "nanites" to bring their low-tech stray up to speed. Pssht! A spray can of nanites teaches the master the rudiments of Rykashan society. Pssht! He then learns to be a space janitor. Pssht! He later becomes a "needle jockey," a sort of interstellar flying-ace/truck driver, who even gets to talk to God (or a god, at any rate).

Leave it to L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (Fall of Angels, Ghost of the Revelator) to pull this sort of weirdness. But, as should be expected from such an inventive author, the quirky mise-en-scène serves a purpose: setting a story of personal transformation against a Twilight Zone-ian backdrop of contrasting societies, ethics, and tech levels. Although flat in spots and maybe a little pokey, Gravity Dreams is a winning little SF drama, the tale of one man's realization that true knowledge doesn't come from a can. --Paul Hughes

From Publishers Weekly

The transformation of a young man from an agrarian Luddite to a physiologically enhanced star pilot provides the plot for Modesitt's (The Ghost of the Revelator) latest, a far-future SF adventure. Young Tyndel is content with his career as a teacher and following the antitechnology philosophy of his religion, Dzin. But when he's infected with nanites, microscopic machines that alter his blood chemistry, he's labeled a "demon" and forced to flee his home of Dorcha for the high-tech neighboring country of Rykasha. Tyndel is welcomed by the ultra-rational Rykashans, who not only embrace his enhanced abilities, but recognize that he has innate talents that would make him an excellent intergalactic pilot. At first, Tyndel resists Cerrelle, his Rykashan teacher, and eschews the teachings administered through nanopills, preferring to work as a "low tech" worker on an orbital station. Yet eventually he relents and asks to begin training as a pilot. Tyndel overcomes his squeamishness, letting the Rykashas "adjust" his nervous system so he can complete the space program and integrate himself into his new society. Modesitt does a fine job of creating a believable world where citizens are exhorted to accept complete responsibility for their actions and genetically "rehabilitated" if they do not. While some readers might be put off by the excessive philosophizing on Dzin naturalism vs. Rykashan pragmatism, the novel is loaded with enough hard science and space opera elements to please the author's large and avid body of fans.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 399 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031286826X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312868260
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,689,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After spending years writing poetry, political speeches and analyses, as well as economic and technical reports on extraordinarily detailed and often boring subjects, I finally got around to writing my first short story, which was published in 1973. I kept submitting and occasionally having published stories until an editor indicated he'd refuse to buy any more until I wrote a novel. So I did, and it was published in 1982, and I've been writing novels -- along with a few short stories -- ever since.

If you want to know more, you can visit my website at www.lemodesittjr.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, November 5, 2000

By 

Daniel M. Nugent (Babylon, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gravity Dreams (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved this book. Well, now that I've gotten that out of the way, let me go on to say that I'm impressed by that Tyndel reacted to each new situation he was in. He is definitly not a static charachter as you can tell by the end of the book. Each individual section of the book was unbelievably well though out, from Dorcha, to the station, and especially the way Overspace was represented. You could see all the places and things in this book with vivid definition.

I especially liked the way Nano-tech was used. It was just another part of life. Like Televisions and radios are to us, Nanites are to the Rykhashans.

A few things I didn't like though: Just why was Tyndel more perceptive, and able to handle Overspace, than normal demons? Also, as previously noted, why doesn't Tyndel have any male friends?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thats almost the way I like it :), January 3, 2001

By 

Johs Sondrup "Balhirath" (Denmark, Europe) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gravity Dreams (Mass Market Paperback)

The first time I read this book, I found it good, but nothing special. More like an addition to both the Recluse and the Eco series. The major drawback of the book is that the plot is dragging as there is simply not enough action. Especially not when compared with The Parafaith War, which I had read a few weeks before this one (If you haven't read the Parafaith War yet DO IT).

Two weeks ago I read Gravity Dreams again and, being prepared for the lack of action, I loved it. It's extremely wellwritten with characters that really comes to life.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A nice setup, but flabby execution, September 12, 2005

By 

Peter D. Tillman (Taos, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gravity Dreams (Hardcover)

______________________________________________
Rating: "B-" -- interesting backstory, but a slow, bloated novel.

The best thing about Gravity Dreams is the backstory. Set 5,000 years from now, a post-collapse Earth supports static "mite" cultures, secretly dominated by the spacegoing nanotech Rykasha "demons". Modesitt's themes include (surprise!) ecology, personal responsibility; and passive, fatalistic ("eastern") vs. dynamic ("western") culture.

A nice setup, but flabby execution: Gravity Dreams starts out so slowly that I almost gave up (and kinda wish I had). About 75 pages in ("Sciamachy"), the pace picks up, but once the protag enters starpilot flight school... well, I learned far more about needleship [note 1] flight training than I'd *ever* want to know. "It's a sin to waste the reader's time" -- LvC Niven.

Gravity Dreams would have made a nice novella, but there just isn't enough substance here to fill 400 pages. For diehard Modesitt fans only -- and they'll want to skim.

Modesitt's previous five SF outings -- Parafaith War, Ecolitan Enigma, Adiamante, Of Tangible Ghosts & Ghosts of the Revelator (reviewed, and recommended, at site below) -- were all good to excellent, so I can forgive one clunker. If you haven't tried Modesitt's SF, don't start with Gravity Dreams!
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(1) -- one nice touch is a needleship named "Costigan".


review copyright 1999 by Peter D. Tillman