Customer Reviews

Pock's World

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Pock's World examines the human tendency, or temptation, to play God. Five men and women, each of them influential in very different ways (political, moneyed, media-sleaze, corporate, and religious) are sent to evaluate whether the population of an entire planet needs to be "sterilized" to eliminate an "alien" influence from taking hold. But just how alien are they, really? The so-called Diallelon abominations are nothing other than extensively genetically modified synthetic hominins - "supermen" - deemed heretical by the Catholic Church, and feared by colonists. The question is, are they feared for themselves, or for the repercussion of sterilization that is visited upon planets infected by hubris incarnate? Or is the Church simply looking for an excuse to get rid of a planetary population that enjoys a heretical, happy freedom of its own? Theoretically, by sending five investigators, only one of whom is a priest, an objective and fair assessment will be made. Hmmm.
Five different agendas - more, when you factor in the citizens of Pock's World and the diallelons - jostle for pre-eminence in this story, and the reader gets to make up his or her own mind as which has the ring of truth, or if all of them are variations on a theme of self-deception.
The cover art is designed to appeal to the young adult market, but there is YA and YA. Pock's World is in Golden Compass territory, not to be confused with teen angst or Heinleinian chest-thumping.

Pock's World (2010) is a standalone SF novel. It is set on the planets Ayne and Pock's World in the Ayne Sector. Both world were settled via Stellar Transport and Research Section entanglement portals. Settlers were genetically modified for adaptation to local conditions.

When the genetic changes exceed approved limits, STARS declares these modifications to be a Dialleon abomination. Such outbreaks are usually removed by sterilizing the planet with asteroids dropped from orbit.

Pock's World had originally been a part of the Canaster Sector, settled from Malacostraca. The records show that an interstellar dust cloud had broken the entanglement link. Rumors say that Malacostraca had been sterilized by STARS.

In this novel, Andre is a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He had been Father Jame Mangold before becoming a Franciscan monk.

Ratty Turnsole is a professional reporter.

Anna Fimble is a Senator on the planet of Ayne.

Millie Backet is a bureaucrat, Director of Health and Population Studies for the Sector Council.

Linn Lazuline is the richest man in the Ayne Sector.

Joy is an incarnation of the Mother, the triple goddess of Pock's World.

In this story, STARS, Inc., has quarantined Pock's World. Brother Andre had spent 500 days on the planet fifty years before. The new Pope asks Brother Andre to visit Pock's World and review evidence of a Dialleon abomination.

Brother Andre agrees, but isn't sure that STARS will accept evidence to the contrary. STARS contacts him about transportation to the spaceport and he insists on a thirty minute delay on the pickup. Andre spends the time in prayer.

Athena is meeting with potential supporters for a presidential bid. After the meeting, Linn calls her and pledges twenty million if she will go to bed with him. She thinks about it for a short while and then declines.

Shortly thereafter, Athena is invited to join the delegation going to Pock's World. She accepts this offer. The next morning, an aircar comes to transport her to the spaceport.

Athena finds Brother Andre, Ratty and Millie already there. Each is called to a med station for a gene changing tonic and then allowed to board a shuttle. The trip to Ayne 3 takes approximately twenty-three minutes.

On Ayne 3, they are met by Linn, but no attendants are on the station. They then travel by entanglement to Climatal and Pyrus. The Climatal station is also unpopulated, but they are welcomed by an STARS employee at Pyrus. They find that a huge storm makes it temporarily impossible to take a shuttle down to Pock's World.

The language on Pock's is very different from any spoken elsewhere in the Ayne Sector. They are provided with mechanical translators. After a break in the storm, they take a lifeboat to the surface.

The lifeboat sets down in Eastern Landing because of the storm. They run through pounding rain to shelter. They find themselves in a large bare room.

They are welcomed and then taken in an animal-drawn wagon to an inn and fed a meal. Brother Andre advises them to taste everything, but not to ask about its origins until later. Ratty insists on asking what talion is made from and then doesn't want to taste it.

Then a government representative greets them. He recognizes Ratty from his works. He tells them that their arrival point was unexpected and that officials are coming to Eastern Landing.

Then Joy appears with an escort and meets Ratty. They get to talking and Ratty flies off with Joy on an insectile looking flying machine. He doesn't bother telling anyone else in the party where he is going.

This tale presents the party with a puzzle. An interstellar probe has come from Malacostraca with genetic deviants aboard. One mutant has been captured by the authorities. STARS has already decided to sterilize the planet.

If this reminds you of Slan, you would be partly correct. Yet this story is a morality tale, asking how much change is allowable. You might also want to look at Falling Free and Crown of Slaves.

Recommended for Duncan fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of foreign cultures, genetic mutants, and a bit of romance. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

I thought Pock's World was yet another excellent story from a master story teller. I am a huge fan of Dave Duncan's work and have no hesitation in recommending this book. For those who are already familiar with his writing it will come as no surprise that the only thing predictable is the quality of a well told story. His characters and their circumstances are never tired or stale and the themes are always engaging. In Pock's World the events unfold amidst the influence of such factors as the manipulation and abuse of power, corporate deceit, the dogmatic authority of institutions, bigotry and distrust, but also love and sacrifice. After maybe a slower start than I was expecting I was enthralled to the very end. Keep up the great work Dave!

The news is grim. Space trading corporation STARS has discovered evidence of a post-human invasion of Pock's World. These aliens, dubbed "cuckoos" are genetically designed to outcompete and outperform natural humans. If they're not exterminated, they will spread, and ordinary humans will soon have no place in the galaxy. The Catholic Church has no doubts--cuckoos were created by man, not God. They're abominations that must be eliminated. For politicians from the more advanced planet of Ayne, it's all just a little too convenient--the planets had just begun the process of stripping STARS of its power when STARS uncovers a supposed invasion. STARS convenes a commission consisting of a priest, a newsman, a bureaucrat, a businessman and a politician to investigate, to report back on their findings. What STARS refuses to do, though, is agree to let the commission make any binding decisions. The cuckoos must be eliminated, even if that means the complete destruction of all life on Pock's World.

Newsman Ratty Turnsole is thinking about how to use the commission to improve his ratings when he's swept off his feet by the beautiful Pock's World woman, Joy. Joy is part of a priesthood celebrating the planet to which Pock's World is a moon as mother of life and she needs a mate. That hadn't been Ratty's plan, but he is unable to help himself--even as he learns that the STARS report was true, that cuckoos actually have been definitively identified and that STARS has launched a planet busting probe. A rational man would head back to Ayne. Believing that some miracle will save Pock's World, that the sacrifice of one of Joy's priesthood will divert the planet-destroyer simply doesn't make sense.

Author Dave Duncan creates an interesting future universe. As mankind has settled planets not designed for human occupation, it's been necessary to tinker with genes, but the Church has demanded limits. Crossing those limits, and certainly including DNA from alien lifeforms, is forbidden. I thought that Duncan could have tightened the first half. When Ratty took center stage, the story worked. When other point of view characters took over, the story slowed way down. The conclusion is exciting as the planet-busting probe hurles toward Pock's World and Duty attempts to self-sacrifice, and as Ratty turns detective to uncover the truth behind miracles.

This science fiction adventure story is set on a planet facing a dire future. As usual, nothing is as it appears.

Pock's World, long settled by humans, has been infected by humanoid aliens. STARS, the consortium that "runs" the star sector, takes this very seriously. Pock's has been quarantined, and may have to be sterilized, which would mean the murder of over 650 million inhabitants. In the past, STARS has done this to other planets.

A group of people are sent to Pock's to examine the evidence. Father Andre has a wide ruthless streak, and visited Pock's a long time in the past. Ratty Turnsole is a muckraking reoprter. Millie Backet is a bureaucrat who, somehow, manages to turn this into the Backet Commission. Athena Fimble is an ambitious politician, and sleazy tycoon Linn Lazuline has a physical relationship going with Fimble. Of course, they all have their own agendas.

Finally reaching Pock's, a place with a barely tolerable climate, the group meets the humanoid alien prisoner. He has been tortured by the guards, but is able to handle pain better than humans. He also claims to be able to impregante men and women pretty easily. Coming from a planet in another sector, if he should be killed, there are millions more where he came from. Think "the next stage in human evolution." Turnsole falls for, and becomes the consort of, Joy, one of the four human incarnations of Mother, the planet's goddess. It seems like it might be pretty easy to build a religion involving a gas giant planet that takes up one-sixth of your sky every day.

The group is stunned to learn that STARS has intentionally disabled an orbiting probe and sent it into a decaying orbit. It will hit and destroy Pock's in four days, and was disabled before the group ever reached Pock's World. It is a geologically unstable world, with earthquakes and volcanoes everywhere. The probe doesn't have to actually destroy the planet; all it has to do is punch a big enough hole in the crust, and the planet's geological instability will do the rest. Another of Mother's human incarnations assures the people that nothing is going to happen. Do all of the members of the group leave Pock's World in time? Do all of them even want to leave?

This is a strong, well-done piece of storytelling. Duncan, a prolific writer, does a very good job with the characters and the society-building.

Pock's World is a wonderful story with good science, but the other reviews address that. I want to praise its characterization.

I have read a lot (thousands) of sci-fi and fantasy stories over the years, and the characters in Pock's World can stand up to those in any of them.

Each major character was well drawn and crafted, with bright dialogue and revealing narrative asides. More than that, though, each drew me in and made me understand and care about them, appreciate their problems, and hope for a happy ending. I cared and cared deeply for them all: the clergyman with steely gentleness and unyielding morals, the not-for-sale-at-any-price politician struggling when both the bidding and the stakes reach unimaginable heights, and the jaded amoral one suddenly blindsided by morality, to name just three. Even the minor characters are not stinted, in that they are not one-dimensional props for the others. Instead, they feel solid and real and cast off sparks and shadows of their own.

Lastly, if you read it, watch for the phrase "fiercely ambivalent." When I read that, I laughed aloud in surprise. I know that person! Dave Duncan and I obviously have a mutual acquaintance!

Frankly, this book exceeded my expectations. I found myself engrossed and unable to put it down. I thought about it at night and got back up to finish up the chapter. The science was fantastic, the ethics an excellent shade of grey, and everyone just a bit selfish and self-absorbed.

Some questions remained unanswered, which is a near requirement for any Canadian-published book. After all, we have a literary reputation to uphold. But, in all seriousness, I love this book. Simply outstanding. Thrilled me for hours.

An excellent book with Duncan's characteristic traits of high imagnation, good characterization, and a plot that keeps you guessing untill the last page. Duncan's earlier book "Hero" dealt with some of the same issues (Space travel, genetic modification) in a totally different way, however if you liked one book you will like the other, or indeed anything by Duncan. An outstanding book by an exceptional author.

what a great mind for stories, for situations, for world-building, for comedy and for drama dave duncan has. his books never fail to absorb and delight me. this one keeps you guessing and ends on a note that's satisfying and provocative. by the last page we know the fates of our main characters in broadly defined terms. yet the specifics tantalize: will athena give up her political bid and devote herself to family? will STARS continue to flourish? how will the children of the future transform Pock's World? will joy, love et al begin to have children in the conventional way?

as always with dave duncan, the writing is sharp and smart. deeper themes about ethics, faith, biology and morality can be pondered by those who enjoy pondering, and a fast paced runaway train of a plot can be thrilled to for those who enjoy adrenaline.

every time dave duncan creates a new world - or in this case, universe - i want to see more of it.

a great read.

I thought Pock's World was very good, with strong characterization and an entertaining and not easily predictable plot. Also morally serious.

I did have a few minor problems--if you haven't read the book and don't like even mild spoilers, you might want to stop here. They include:

1. Umandral's behavior when being interrogated. He seems to be trying to antagonize unnecessarily, and if there is an explanation in the plot, I missed it.

2. Talk about splicing alien DNA into human DNA. Unless there is an unstated assumption that the (hypothetical) aliens have common ancestry with humans via some connection in the very distant past, this strikes me as obviously wrong. There is no obvious reason to expect a species that evolved independently to have DNA, let alone DNA using the same coding system.

That said, I think I can still recommend the book without reservations.