The Last Mortal Man: Book One Of the Deathless [Paperback]

Syne Mitchell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Deathless | Publication Date: June 6, 2006

In the twenty-fourth century, nano-designed biology has turned the world into humanity's playground. And entrepreneur Lucius Sterling has created a trillion-dollar empire solving the world's problems: poverty, disease, war, and even death. But when a new technology attacks the fundamental building blocks of nano-biology, the survival of humanity is at stake.And only Sterling's estranged grandson, Jack, can stop the destruction.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This enthralling science fiction thriller focuses on advances in nanotechnology that have irrevocably transformed every aspect of the not-so-distant future, remaking entire cities and eradicating death and disease for those with sufficient wealth. In Elysium, a nanotech-built island fortress, Jack, the great-great grandson of nanotech trillionaire Lucius Sterling, finds himself shut out of immortality because of a deathly allergy to the nanobiology that converts mortal men to Deathless. After 10 years of quarantine, Jack escapes to one of the few places on Earth untouched by the advances: a Mennonite enclave in Montana. His peaceful life there is disrupted when Lucius calls him back to Elysium in desperation: a mysterious cloud of particles capable of destroying any nanotech person, place or thing they come in contact with—a "dissembler"—threatens to destroy the fabric of the modern world, and Jack may be the only person who can stop it. Mitchell establishes a realistic future evolved logically from our present, giving her themes—mankind's "right" to immortality, capitalist control of scientific advancements, the slippery nature of progress—the weight of believability. Her characters are exceptionally well-drawn, and her philosophizing is skillfully balanced against the unfolding action. This book is the first in a series that should prove fascinating. (June)
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Review

Syne Mitchell writes with the knowledgability, assurance, courage, and deceptively simple style of...Bova, Arthur C. Clarke or Tom Clancy. (Spider Robinson, author of Very Bad Deaths)

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Roc (June 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451460944
• ISBN-13: 978-0451460943
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,363,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting seat of your pants, science fiction thriller, June 7, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Mortal Man: Book One Of the Deathless (Paperback)

The twenty fourth century is a whole new world where nano-biology has advanced to the point where cities can be grown and those who can afford it can be converted to the Deathless, immortals who never age, fall ill or need sleep or food. Lucius Sterling founded the nano-biology firm and he decides who will be immortal or not depending on if they can meet his price and if they are useful. His most trusted employee is Alexia, a Deathless who once tried to kill him but now watches his back against his many enemies.

Lucius had the scientist who created mano-biology grow his own nation island Elysium where he is the ruler. While Alexa is the one person he trusts, Jack, his great-grandson is the one being he loves. Jack develops an allergy to nano-biology and must live in a dead zone in Watershed Valley, Montana a place free of the Deathless. He is called back to Elysium because Lucius has discovered that someone has created a dissembler that destroys nano-biology. He wants Alexa and Jack to find where it is being produced and stop it. While they search for it, whole cities are destroyed and millions of people die. Unless they can stop it from being used, civilization and most of the world's population will be destroyed.

Syne Mitchell's opening book in her new series "The Deathless" is an exciting seat of your pants, science fiction thriller. The two protagonists are likeable and understandable characters who together make a team that is capable of solving the impossible. The wonders of future civilization in the twenty forth century dazzle the audiences with its advancements and higher standards of living. There are few authors who can match Ms. Mitchell's believable world building.

Harriet Klausner

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best, September 15, 2006

By 

KatiKat - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Last Mortal Man: Book One Of the Deathless (Paperback)

"The Last Mortal Man" book by Syne Mitchell is the first book in the Deathless series. It was a really strange one...

It's a sci-fi set in a not so distant future on Earth. The Sterling company has developed nano-technology that allows people to become Deathless, virtually Immortal. For almost two hundreds years everything worked just fine, but then, the disassemblers appeared, a tiny, new-generation nano-technology, that destroyes the old one. The world started to crumble and hundreds of thousands of people died in a matter of seconds. And that's the beginning of the story...

The main heroes are Alexa DuBois and Jack Sterling, the great-grandson of Lucius Sterling, the founder of the Sterling company.
The Immortals can't have children, but Lucius decided to have one anyway and thanks to an artificial insemination, he really did have a kid with his current flame. His great-grandson Jack
is allergic to nano-technology though, and has to live in the so called Dead Zone where there is no nano-technology present. He lives in Watershed Valley in the religious community of the Mennonites.
Alexa is a dying girl who wanted to kill Lucius Sterling but he makes her his best weapon and bodyguard, turning her into a ruthless Deathless who is ordered to protect the Sterling children above everything else.

And then there is the little girl, Isobel... But that would spoil the main plot :)

The actual story is set in an apocalyptic world and opens the question if it's right to save one individual at the cost of millions of other lives - and that's the main problem of the story too. You can't feel sorry for anything that happens to the main heroes because through their so called humanity they spread death around ruthlessly. To save one village, Jack kills thousands of people by blowing up an airport... To save one girl, Jack sacrifices at least a dozen children younger than she...

I have never encountered a book that was so full of betrayal, selfishness, mistrust and ruthless killing where one wasn't needed and indecision where a merciless strike really was needed. And I'm not even talking about the Mennonite with their Old Ways and Bible preaching; they treated women like rags, beating them and denying them their rights - with Jack just looking away to "not make it even worse". Alexa doesn't trust anyone, not even Jack, and she has all the bones in her body crushed, looses legs and arms like she is shagging hair. Jack doesn't trust anybody, not even Alexa and survives time and time again severe allergic reactions... etc.

Yeah, it wasn't bad per se, but I will have to think really hard before buying the second book :(

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Alexaead, part I, December 11, 2006

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lb136 "lb136" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last Mortal Man: Book One Of the Deathless (Paperback)

In "The Last Mortal Man," Syne Mitchell combines her interest in nanotechnology with her love for the space operatic epics of the middle of the last century.

This tale, first of a series, begins with an assassination attempt that will keep you on edge, and then hurtles forward into the mid future, where the "deathless," people who've been genetically and nanotechnally modified to live forever, have the power. (I mean really, really live for ever--they can apparently recover from being buried alive under a building.)

Now, the people who don't have the money to live forever naturally resent the deathless more than somewhat, and the deathless themselves resent the entrepreneur, Lucius Sterling, who holds the patents, and who is protected by his deathless bodyguard, Alexa Dubois.

Then, trouble starts. Somebody has found a way to destroy the nanotechnically grown glittering new cities of the future (fear not, Art Deco fans, this time when New York goes, the Chrysler Building stays), and for reasons you'll learn, only Lucius's heir Jack, aided of course by Alexa, can save the day.

The tale is well written and moves swiftly--so swiftly in fact that you'll probably enjoy the read (you can have fun along the way figuring out where John W. Campbell would have placed the "continued next month" break when he serialized it in "Analog" before publication) and willingly suspend your disbelief.

Count me in for the next volume when it appears.