Home [Hardcover]

Kimberly Fuller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1997

When Maran, an eighteen-year-old student, rescues a young space traveler named Alik, he claims to have escaped a planet where one race, the Frathi, waged a war of extinction on another, the Arakkans. But Maran is Frathi. Why has she never heard of this? Slowly the horrible truth of a buried past comes to light: Her people are guilty of genocide.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up. Maran Thopel, 17, lives on Terrat Du, a planet resembling Earth, and has always felt strangely alienated from her family and friends; she is the only person she has ever seen with violet eyes. She and her friends spot a meteorlike object that they soon discover has a space traveler aboard, a young man named Alik who is immediately attracted to Maran and who also has violet eyes. His planet, Arakka, was attacked years before by invaders bent on annihilating all of the residents. He was frozen in time and put on a space vehicle to land years later to try to reclaim what was violently taken from the Arakkans. Maran soon realizes that Terrat Du is actually Arakka, and that her people, the Frathi, are the ruthless invaders. She decides to help Alik and begins a dangerous journey of self-discovery, where she learns that she is Arakkan and destined to assume a role in a final resolution of her people's struggle with the Frathi. Parallel to this narrative is the love story between Alik and Maran and the ideological struggle between Alik's commitment to peaceful negotiation and Maran's born-again militancy. The author combines elements of Star Trek concepts with solid characters and a fast-moving plot. A multilayered science-fiction story rich in narrative description.?Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A teenager finds herself caught in the middle of a genocidal war on a distant planet in this rough-hewn debut. Set apart by her unique violet eyes, Maran has grown up believing that her people, the Frathi, were the first on Terrat Du; a space capsule washes up on shore and she learns from its passenger, Alik, emerging from 20 years of suspended animation, that the Frathi were invaders who systematically wiped out billions of native Arakkans. Shockingly, Alik also has violet eyes, a revelatory clue to Maran's hidden past. Rapidly falling in love, the two set out to see if any Arrakans survived, and after touring an old temple that had been converted into a death camp, they find scattered bands, ready to unite in a vengeful counterstrike. The physical actions are described with eye-glazing thoroughness; the cast swells to the point of confusion with minor characters; there are illogical, simplistic explanations, hackneyed dialogue, and awkward phrasing right out of the late-late movie--``The fates have brought us together, Maran. It must be true. Some things are meant to be.'' (Fiction. 12-15) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (March 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312861524
• ISBN-13: 978-0312861520
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #992,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating Plot In a New Science Fiction Novel, May 6, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Home (Hardcover)

I would have to comment that Kimberly Fuller, a promising young author, has gifted the world with a new and stunning piece of literature for the Science Fiction readers of today. In "Home" the plot is captivating and keeps you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what happens next. I found myself reading into the night to finish this wonderful book. I would highly recommend this book to those who enjoy an exciting adventure of other worlds and times.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning debut from a young authoress, May 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Home (Hardcover)

Home is not a book easily described. When asked about it, I simply have to give one of those cheesy answers like "it's about human nature," because they are the only words than can compare. Unlike Science Fiction by many other modern authors, Ms. Fuller portrays a story built on the common ground of human experience rather than making a book about the wonders of science that only happens to have a plot. This book may seem small at first, but it is explosive and will open new thoughts as to what it means to be human. Her work is more reminiscent of Hemingway than Einstein, as all Sci-fi should have been-- as it was in the days of Herbert, Aasimov, and Clarke.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for your average Trekker, so leave your communicators at home!, August 24, 2008

By 

Vincent A. (Edmond, OK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home (Paperback)

I read the other reviews and I just don't understand those who rated this book a 1 star rating. I have learned this rule from all the books I have read that if the book doesn't flow within the first 2 to 3 chapters you will probably have to wade through it, and I used to do just that but anymore I don't read them. From the first chapter this book really flowed and took me along with it...it was like the books I read when I was a kid where I couldn't put it down and would read 100 pages in one sitting. The story was moving and I was moved to tears (I'm a grown man w/wife + kids btw), the characters were better than the majority of crap scifi novels out there and the romance wasn't harlequin. The person who wrote that probably still lives with mom and dad and wanted a hard core scifi (like Fred Savage in Princess Bride "is this one of those Kissing books?"). I feel that the other person who reviewed her book with a 1 star on the day she died must have a black heart to do that.
I cannot believe that a young girl wrote this book, it made me feel like I was rereading Frankenstein (also by a young girl). In fact I live not too far from where she lived and I didn't even know about her because I'm not originally from Oklahoma. I was so moved by her book that I wanted to look up what other books she had written (thinking that this was written in '97 that by now she has written a plethora of other great works)... then sadly my search was cut short when I came across her obituary. I have never ever written a review before but I think she deserves some recognition even if belatedly.