Rift [Mass Market Paperback]

Kay Kenyon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1999

There is a fine line between transformation and ruin....

Twenty-four-year-old Reeve Calder has spent his life on a high-tech space station, watching as terraforming gradually fails on his home planet of Lithia--a failure that has doomed the colonists stranded there to short, brutish lives. Reeve's dream has always been to rebuild Lithia. But when a mysterious explosion destroys the station, forcing Reeve to crash-land on Lithia's blood-hued soil, he soon learns that the reality of saving a dying planet is quite different from what he imagined. For Gabriel Bonhert, former captain of the space station, has set in motion a world cataclysm, using a fatal probe that will travel down the fiery pathway of a deep mantle plume.

Now, to save the homeland he has never known, Reeve is caught in a race against time to reach Bonhert's base in the Rift Valley, a remote volcanic gateway to the hidden heart of Lithia. His staunchest ally may be a feral girl who alone seems enthralled by what Lithia is becoming, and whose enigmatic past holds the key to startling possibilities. As the old Lithia struggles to be reborn in a tide of toxic red flora creeping across the oxygen-starved planet, Reeve forges onward, coming into conflict with savage enclaves of colonists, a doomsday genemorphing cult, and a mysterious alien race with its own intentions for the planet--intentions that may include humanity's slavery or their terrible transformation....

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[Kenyon's] characters are realistic and complicated, her plots are wondrously detailed and beautifully realized, her vision is unique and dead-on startling."
--Statesman Journal, Salem, OR

Don't miss the other mesmerizing books by Kay Kenyon:

Leap Point:

"An extraordinary genre writing achievement--exciting, involving, chilling, comic, deeply disturbing and altogether enthralling...Leap Point should firmly establish [Kenyon] as among the very finest science fiction writers in the nation."
--Statesman Journal, Salem, OR

"Intricately plotted...The author skillfully blends people and events in an isolated, alfalfa-growing small town with out-of-this-world happenings and galactic beings."
--The Third Age

The Seeds Of Time:

"A fast-moving plot and a memorable heroine. You couldn't ask for a better first novel."
--Mike Resnick

"Kenyon has created a winning heroine, a gripping adventure, and a setting that shows some imaginative thinking on current theories of Earth's ecological ruin and of time travel."
--Publishers Weekly

From the Inside Flap

There is a fine line between transformation and ruin....

Twenty-four-year-old Reeve Calder has spent his life on a high-tech space station, watching as terraforming gradually fails on his home planet of Lithia--a failure that has doomed the colonists stranded there to short, brutish lives. Reeve's dream has always been to rebuild Lithia. But when a mysterious explosion destroys the station, forcing Reeve to crash-land on Lithia's blood-hued soil, he soon learns that the reality of saving a dying planet is quite different from what he imagined. For Gabriel Bonhert, former captain of the space station, has set in motion a world cataclysm, using a fatal probe that will travel down the fiery pathway of a deep mantle plume.

Now, to save the homeland he has never known, Reeve is caught in a race against time to reach Bonhert's base in the Rift Valley, a remote volcanic gateway to the hidden heart of Lithia. His staunchest ally may be a feral girl who alone seems enthralled by what Lithia is becoming, and whose enigmatic past holds the key to startling possibilities. As the old Lithia struggles to be reborn in a tide of toxic red flora creeping across the oxygen-starved planet, Reeve forges onward, coming into conflict with savage enclaves of colonists, a doomsday genemorphing cult, and a mysterious alien race with its own intentions for the planet--intentions that may include humanity's slavery or their terrible transformation....

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Spectra (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055358023X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553580235
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,310,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kay Kenyon has a message for aspiring writers: Never give up! Although she has published 10 science fiction novels, she remembers how tough it was to break in. She'd been working full time to support herself and her son, commuting two hours a day, and stealing time in the evenings to write, and finding only rejections from agents and publishers. Then she wrote The Seeds of Time, and after eight years of work she was an overnight success. Since then her work has been published in French, Spanish, Czech and Russian, and is available in audio versions.

Kay's best known work is The Entire and The Rose series. She is very grateful for the reception of these books, beginning with Bright of the Sky--named one of the best books of 2007 by Publishers Weekly--and ending with Prince of Storms. Also, she has been buoyed by the incredible artwork on these covers, the work of the phenomenal Stephan Martiniere. (Authors love all their books, but when you get an ugly cover, you just have to hold your head up and act proud!)

Kay is hard at work on a new novel, believing--as writers usually do--that it is her best yet. You can catch up with her latest work at www.kaykenyon.com, where she often blogs on the craft of writing and trends in the industry. You can also follow her on Face Book.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent SF adventure with intelligence, December 30, 1999

By 

Sue Krinard/[e-mail] (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rift (Mass Market Paperback)

Contrary to one reviewer, I find the writing in this book to be quite good . . . something I don't often find, as I am a published writer myself (with 7 books under my belt) and a long time reader of SF. It's rare that I'm able to look forward to returning to a book just for pleasure. I'm utterly caught up in the many-layered stories of the several characters, and have no trouble keeping them separate in my mind. I'm quite envious of the author's grasp of any number of concepts, and the sheer scope of this book. I look forward to reading her other books as well.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a masterpiece, but great characters and suspense, January 22, 2002

By 

Dana - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rift (Mass Market Paperback)

Lithia is a planet which humans have tried to terraform but have failed; it is now reverting to its original state. What's left of the colonists live now in 'claves' (enclaves) who are slowly drifting towards primitivism and are consumed by illnesses; only a small number have remained on the former space station, not losing the scientific knowledge. A spaceship is coming to Lithia, interested in reterraforming it, only the colonists still on the space station only want to escape the planet and thus devise a plan to geologically 'attack' Lithia so the ship will not stay. Add to this a strange decadent alien race, the orthong, who have also chosen Lithia as their home.

The book follows the treks of several characters.

First, a young man, Reeve Calder, together with a middle-aged woman named Marie, leave the space station in order to try to stop the plan to destroy Lithia. On the way, they meet a courageous claver named Spar with a no-nonsense attitude who is accompanying a strange girl named Loon. This girl seems to be adapting to Lithia in ways nobody understands and may hold the key to the survival of humanity.

Second, we see the team that plans to destroy the planet at work, through the eyes of a young boy who doesn't quite know what's happening around him. (This is the least interesting part of the book.)

And third, we follow a claver woman named Nerys who seeks the help of the orthong in order to survive. This story did not start quite so engaging, but looking back on it I think it was the most interesting of all. She slowly learns to communicate with the orthong (a very secretive race who think humans are a lower species) and even struggingly becomes friends with one of them, rising from her position as a child-bearer to that of a quasi-adviser.

There are not so many original ideas in this book, certainly nothing that would come as a breakthrough; but still, the story is told nicely, with a good rhythm, and is well put together. I followed the adventures of all characters with much interest; I cannot say I was unable to put down the book, though.

What I enjoyed most were the characters. They are all very distinct and complex personalities, and you can sympathize with each of them, understand what motivates and drives them. There is not one unjustified action or thought on their part, even when the decisions they make are not always for the best. They are all very human...

This book was pretty different in style from 'The Seeds Of Time'. That book had great SF ideas, but the writing style and the characters were not so good. This is the writing of an author who has evolved and is more sure about herself. I will certainly continue to read her books.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, September 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rift (Mass Market Paperback)

I wish people would recognise how great a writer kay kenyon is,i voted for her in the locus poll for one of the best authors of the 90s despite only having 3 books out,along with kay kenyon give a try to amy thomson and julie czernada .you have to try these new authors they are putting out fantastic books that dont get the press of the older well known authors that are putting out books that are not as good-as these-KAY KENYON is the best but try AMY THOMSON and JULIE CZERNADA also -you wont be sorry