Keeper's Child [Paperback]

Leslie Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 8, 2007

It is the year 2038. A genetic accident has brought forth a new world, new rules, and a new set of cultures. Death has gone airborne and the end of the world is coming. Dr. Jesse Grange has spent much of his adult life trying to rebuild a damaged land. He lives as hero and celebrity, guardian of one of the last remaining safe havens on the continent. But the mistakes of the past have at last caught up with him, and deep in his underground laboratories his hopes of a real future for his people are dashed. Jesse takes his dark secret with him to the edge of the sea where his brother, banished Keeper of the sick, is dying. On the shore the air is grey, the sand bitterly cold, and the tainted ocean unduly warm.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Leslie Davis lives in Washington State with three cats, two imps, and a lawyer. Sundays find her at home trolling the Internet for the latest news on Battlestar Galactica and Fridays are spent hard at work on her latest novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing; 1 edition (October 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894063015
• ISBN-13: 978-1894063012
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,999,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An engrossing story of the future will satisfy any avid science fiction reader., January 9, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Keeper's Child (Paperback)

It's the near future: the land is dying, the poor are sick, and a doctor has spent thirty years of his life trying to protect and rebuild a protected city and its technology. Jesse's been a hero for his efforts - but he journeys away from his beloved city to experience firsthand the dying world, and possibly its only salvation in a girl who was born with a genetic trap in her blood, struggling for her life. An engrossing story of the future will satisfy any avid science fiction reader.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

4.0 out of 5 stars A bit slow, but really good, August 23, 2008

By 

Paul Lappen (Manchester, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Keeper's Child (Paperback)

Set in the near future, this takes place on a continent whose population and climate have been ravaged by disease and genetic mutation.

It all began innocently enough. Many years before, a cargo ship full of genetic material sank off the coast. Over 600 migrants were hired to clean up the mess. It took years for their offspring to develop what became known as Bruster's Syndrome, but once they did, the government panicked. The diseased and their relatives were kept in quarantined camps. Those frightened citizens who could leave the continent have certainly done so. Houses for the diseased, who are called desgastas, are set up. In a way, Bruster's is like AIDS, in that a person can live a normal life with the disease. But, once it takes hold, the end is slow, painful, disgusting and assured.

Jesse is a celebrity in Carpenteria, one of the last safe cities on the continent, but the scientific mistakes in his past have caught up with him. His latest experiment has failed, dashing any hope of a future for his people. Beckoned by Harold, his brother and the last Keeper of the sick, Jesse travels to the shore, and sees the ruined climate for himself.

Harold's last ward is a young girl named Robin, who may be the savior of humanity. She is born desgastas, and has spent her whole life in exile. Jesse takes her to the city, to give her something of a normal life. Robin volunteers in a makeshift hospital, helping those dying of Bruster's. Eventually, she contracts full-blown Bruster's (for lack of a better term), and, amazingly, she survives. She has long since run away from the city, and returned to the house at the shore, where Jesse takes several samples of her blood, and returns to the city to turn them into a serum. Meantime, the desgastas squatting outside the city have entered the city and taken over. Now, they are dying faster than anyone can keep up with them.

This is a rather "slow" novel, but a really good novel. Stick with it, for the story is very much worth reading.

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVED IT! Couldn't put the book down, January 24, 2008

By 

James Tanner "mjtanner" (Syracuse, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Keeper's Child (Paperback)

This story reminds us of how delicate we need to live in tune with nature and technology. It is a great book with well develped characters. I loved the detailed discriptions of the setting of the book. I began to feel part of the story and couldn't put it down. This is a page turner and I can't wait to see what happens next.