Kingdom of Cages [Hardcover]

Sarah Zettel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 2001

The award-winning author of Reclamation, returns with a new fast-paced, galactic adventure. Humanity is facing extinction, and humans are in desperate need of a new home. The only possibility is the planet Pandora, which is a near match to Earth, but when people arrive on the planet, they find terror instead of refuge.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Humanity has spread among the stars, colonizing new worlds. Now the species is in danger of extinction from the interrelated disasters of virulent new diseases and collapsing ecosystems. Of all the colony worlds, only Pandora is unaffected, and the Pandorans are fanatically determined to preserve both their health and the pristine ecosystem, which they keep off-limits even to themselves. But the colonies have vowed to destroy Pandora if its biogenetics experts don't find a cure for the "diversity crisis." The Pandorans struggle without hope until they discover something in the Trust family genes that might save the devastated colonies. And two innocent girls, Chena and Teal Trust, find themselves fugitives in the narrow, closed settlements of Pandora, pursued by desperate scientists and criminals who will do anything, even commit murder, to gain control of the girls' genes.

In addition to Kingdom of Cages, Sarah Zettel is the author of Reclamation, which tied for winner of the 1997 Locus Award for Best First Novel and was a Philip K. Dick Award finalist in 1996; Fool's War, a New York Times Notable Book of 1997; Playing God; and The Quiet Invasion. --Cynthia Ward

From Publishers Weekly

Nothing is the least bit forced or overly clever in this winning coming-of-age story, a seamless blend of concept, plot and characterization. Chena Trust grows up on an overcrowded space station where her family has had to toil endlessly to make enough money to pay for their air. When she finally moves down to Pandora, the planet around which the station orbits, she has to work even harder than on the space station to pay for her upkeep and has to endure the humiliation of communal showers; in addition, force fields keep her away from the native Pandoran wild life. She has no idea how lucky she is. On all the other worlds humanity has colonized, the people are dying of horrible mutations as their planets' biospheres fall apart. The Hothousers who rule Pandora, and have made protecting the biosphere their mission, are dragged into using genetic engineering to help the rest of humanity overcome the "diversity crisis." An essential part of the Eden plan involves the Trust family, but they are unwilling to cooperate. Zettel (The Quiet Invasion) masterfully creates her world and allows her adolescent protagonist to mature slowly and logically. The plot moves along nicely, but at times Pandora's general serenity seeps into the main story and smothers some of the tension. (Aug. 28)Forecast: The strong female protagonists in this work will appeal to many, and there will be some YA appeal as well. While this novel won't go flying off the shelves, its catchy title may help to get it into a solid number of hands.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; 1st edition (August 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446524913
• ISBN-13: 978-0446524919
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,129,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A surprising big win -- must read, October 30, 2001

By 

Alan Deikman (Fremont, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kingdom of Cages (Hardcover)

Sarah Zettel has achieved something very hard to do, particularly in SF. This story is both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. You will be surprised to see how fully you will be drawn in.

Helice Trust and her two daughters, Chena (age 13) and Teal (age 10), are refugees, with as little personal civil rights as refugees typically have. Determined to better their condition, Helice applies for and gets admittance to the villages of Pandora. She is aware that the global government, at odds with the rest of human civilization, has determined that her genetic makeup is nearly perfect to solve a problem they have to solve, and want to use her for biological experiments. In spite of being offered an easy way out (they're willing to pay everything she wants), she will not bear a child for them to be used as a lab rat. Although we don't get to know Helice that much in this story, she is certainly the moral center.

Tam is the remote but protective official who has charge of the village, and he is determined to support Helice in her free choice. But he may be overmatched by the planet's politics.

What fuels this books emotional impact is that Chena and Teal are fully convincing as real sisters. They love each other, and are capable of annoying each other only as real siblings can. One moment they are quibbling, the next playing a shared game that they made up. One of the games is to make up heroic stories about their missing dad, which they indulge in fully aware they are fantasies and not likely to be for real. Both girls are outgoing and inclined to get in trouble, but are still fully devoted to their mom and accept her corrections without question.

Chena is more than willing to fight for what she wants, even willing to take on a fistfight with a bigger boy her first day on Pandora rather than take an insult, but is then perfectly willing to make friends with the guy's sister. It's hard not to like someone like that. Determined to do her part and help her mom, she finds a way to make money in their new home, and eventually ends up in a fight with nearly the whole planet.

If this story has a flaw I think that the galactic crisis seems somewhat contrived. There is really very little explanation or theory why every human colony would go into an irretriveable death spiral, and the proposed solution really makes no sense. But that is the storm in the ocean; what this story is about is what is going on in the boat. Well worth reading.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite paradise, September 17, 2002

By 

"blissengine" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kingdom of Cages (Mass Market Paperback)

As mutating diseases and environmental disasters devastate the various planetary colonies scattered around the galaxy, all eyes focus on the planet Pandora, an isolated research outpost, where it is hoped that a cure can be created. The Pandorans want to keep their planet pristine, so with the threat of invasion if they fail, they begin genetic experiments to find the cure. Helice Trust's genetic make-up is perfect for the experiments and the Pandorans eventually manipulate her into volunteering to bear the child they've created. The experiment turns out to be worth killing for, and Helice's two daughters Chena and Teal find themselves equal targets. Five years later, Chena and Teal are fugitives from the Pandoran scientists who are determined that they should take their mother's place. But there are other forces at work on Pandora that could be either friend or foe for the two teenagers, so whom can they trust? Zettel's novel is a compelling and fast-paced read that poses several intriguing ethical questions. While the five-year jump between parts one and two is quite jarring, it does make some sense for the story. And the ending is almost too tidy, but this doesn't take away from the overall enjoyment of "Kingdom of Cages", which ultimately is quite entertaining and thought-provoking. I'm not quite sure what the cover has to do with the story, though.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of questions, but no easy answers, December 14, 2004

By 

Ashley Megan "amazonfox" (Vernon, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Kingdom of Cages (Mass Market Paperback)

This novel starts brilliantly, with an intriguing premise, a strange world and culture, and a cast of interesting, complex, yet likable characters. It's unfortunate that it peters out at the end, with a conclusion that manages to feel both rushed and hanging. I get the feeling this might have made a better duology, an idea reinforced by the five-year "jump" that occurs in the middle of the book which, while it ultimately makes sense, is nevertheless jarring.

My favorite aspect of the book is the fact that it presents all sides of every situation, from every perspective. We're first led to sympathize with the Pandoran's refusal to allow refugees to immigrate to their planet, then later to demonize them for it. Likewise, the interplanetary Authority and its representative, Beleraja Poulos, are first painted as bad guys, throwing their weight around and using force and terror to bully the Pandorans into helping them. Later, as we learn more about Beleraja and the situation she faces, we start to respect her courage. Zettel refuses to paint her characters in black and white; each has complicated motivations and conflicting values and it's quickly obvious that there's no "right" solution.

Even the situation presented to the two main protagonists, young sisters Chena and Teal Trust, is fraught with "do the ends justify the means" quandaries. Told their genetic makeup is uniquely suited to creating a cure for the mysterious disease striking colonized worlds across the galaxy, they are nevertheless hesitant to allow the Pandorans access to their bodies. Their qualms are perfectly understandable, yet also selfishly motivated. What if the Trusts could save lives through the sacrifice of their freedom (or perhaps lives)? Would it be worth it?

Zettel, unfortunately, makes little attempt to answer this question. The second half of the book seems to lose focus, dissolving into a confusing jumble of double-crossing. The scenes with the city-mind of Pandora, an artificial intelligence named Aleph, are so full of promise yet so ultimately confusing and secondary to the main plot that we are left frustrated.

Yet overall, this is a fascinating book with a lot of great ideas. The images of the ecology of Pandora are great, as are the descriptions of the unique culture the Pandorans have created to protect it. And Chena and Teal Trust are absolutely believable as adolescents and sisters, flawed yet likable and resourceful. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes intelligent science fiction.