The Immortals [Hardcover]

Tracy Hickman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

In a twenty-first-century America ravaged by disease and stifled by martial law, one man, Michael Barris, a wealthy interactive-television mogul with a controversial past, challenges the system and becomes the sole hope of a desperate world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's 2010, and an attempted cure for AIDS has mutated into a deadlier disease, V-CIDS. The U.S., under martial law, has set up "quarantine centers" in the Southwest. Searching for his gay son, Jon, media mogul Michael Barris smuggles himself into one of centers only to discover that it and the other centers are actually extermination camps. With a strange assortment of allies, including the leader of the camp's gay barracks, an army officer and a local cowboy, Barris precipitates an inmates' rebellion that promises the unraveling of the death-camp system and the overthrow of the government that established it. Here, Hickman is working with a classic SF theme that's been popular since the days when the Great Menace could be the Yellow Peril or invaders from Mars. It shares some its predecessors' common faults-sentimentality, a dubious scenario, questionable technology-but boasts some considerable virtues, including superior characterization, a carefully built setting and excellent pacing. This novel represents a radical departure for the author, who's known for more easily popular SF and fantasy (the Deathgate Cycle, etc.). He's to be commended for his daring and vision.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The year is 2010. The V-CIDS virus, once thought to be a cure for AIDS, has mutated into an even deadlier disease and is ravaging the United States. While scientists struggle to find a cure, victims are rounded up and isolated in government camps. Their numbers increase at a staggering rate, and the camp officials treat the victims like so much cordwood to be shipped to local crematoria. Outside the camps, paranoia and homophobia run rampant. Michael Barris, an outspoken TV executive, bucks the paralyzing fear and seeks to visit his estranged son at one of the camps. Once inside, he too becomes a prisoner, and his efforts to deal with his own feelings as well as the overwhelming lack of humanity and compassion that he witnesses make this a powerful, disturbing, and depressing story. Hickman is coauthor with Margaret Weiss of the "Dragonlance" sf series (e.g., Dragonlance: The Legend Becomes Reality, Random, 1986). For popular collections.
Susan Gene Clifford, Hughes Aircraft Co. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Roc Hardcover (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451454022
• ISBN-13: 978-0451454027
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #482,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

`Dragonlance' originators Tracy and Laura Hickman have been publishing game designs and stories together for over thirty-two years - nearly as long as their marriage - and thus started them both on a life of adventure and imagination.

Tracy is a NYT Best-Selling co-author (with Margaret Weis) of many Dragonlance novels including the original `Dragonlance Chronicles', `Dragonlance Legends', `Rose of the Prophet" and "Darksword" trilogies as well as the seven-book "Deathgate Cycle".

Tracy and Laura are remembered together for their role-playing game designs in `Dragonlance' and the `Oasis of the White Palm' series but are perhaps best known for their classic adventure, the original `Ravenloft.'

Life now has provided them the opportunity to fulfill a dream: to write novels together. Tracy and Laura work from adjoining offices in their home and answer questions on their work through their website at www.trhickman.com.

Visit www.dragonhearthproductions.com for information on our monthly podcasts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy addition to any library, August 4, 2000

By 

croll (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Immortals (Paperback)

A fan of Hickman's DragonLance/D&D-themed work when I was younger, it was with some trepidation that I picked up The Immortals for I wondered how an author who'd written fantasy could give the attention and seriousness due the topics addressed within this novel. I shouldn't have worried.

The Immortals is a compelling and driving read, with dark yet entirely realistic imagery, a future that is entirely possible, and a look into the mindset of the American--no, the world's-- populous. The characters are engrossing. Hickman develops them with a master's touch, displaying their humanity (for all the good and evil the term encompasses) to the reader in a way that helps to put our own world into a framework that makes a little more sense. One begins to understand the power of denial, the violence that fear and ignorance foster, and the responsibility each of us must assume as human beings.

Beginning with the arrest of the protagonist's son for his infection with an AIDS-like disease, the book carries you through the father's search for his estranged son and turns into a struggle to finding meaning in the madness of society--intolerance, fear, prejudice and apathy.

The design and function of the concentration camps is entirely believable, removed from public eye and administered by a small military force shieled from scrutiny. Though set in the future, the techonology is entirely believable yet thankfully does not take the reader's mind away from the story itself. Ultimately, this is a story about humanity, and one we should all read.

I hope that this is not the last such novel by Hickman. Though his works of fantasy are thoroughly enjoyable, it is works like this that live up to the ideals of what science fiction ought to be--examining and challenging our own lives.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This one really sticks with you., July 6, 2000

By 

Spring Lea E. Henry "Ellorien" (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Immortals (Hardcover)

It's been about 3 years since I first read this book, and I have yet to forget how I felt when I got to the last page. Hickman's realistic characters and believable social structure go a long way towards the flawless suspension of disbelief. I think people who enjoy science fiction as well as those who just enjoy speculative fiction will both find something in here for their tastes. Hickman does a superb job of discussion the issues at hand without preaching directly to the reader. I just might have to read this one again for pure pleasure!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gripping, touching, scary., July 12, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Immortals (Paperback)

I read this book on the recommendation of a friend and found myself hooked. I work in medicine and can, unfortunately, see that this could happen...a cure worse than the disease. I was also intrigued by the theory that instantaneous feedback could lead to the end of debate and thoughtful consideration in government and the populous. I was scared, and touched by the characters ability to regain their humanity. A good read