In The Shapes of Their Hearts, a computer tape of the brain of a religious prophet has been allowed to merge with an AI; the result is both a religious icon on the planet Idun and a powerful terrorist. Anton Tso must come up with a way to stop the terrorism without killing God.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
John W. Campbell and Lambda Literary Award-winner Melissa Scott exhibits the hip-tech sensibilities of cyberpunk and the mind-blowing complexity of Samuel Delaney in The Shapes of Their Hearts. This intricate novel introduces the god (or is that God?) of the planet Idun (read "Eden"), who was formed when the brain of a prophet was uploaded into the machinery of an artificial intelligence. The machine can copy itself, and each copy contains self-will. Now the god's avatars are leaving Idun, and beginning a campaign to extinguish those parts of humanity it deems "impure"--clones, replicants, and others with sullied DNA.
Anton Tso, a clone, is hired to steal a copy of the AI (known as the Memoriant), but first, he must get past the faithfully fanatic Children of Idun and deal with rampant cyberspace personalities gone mad. Scott's descriptions of the complex world she's created are extremely detailed and atmospheric. Her characters are perfectly conceived and innately mysterious--whether man or machine, ultimately human. This complex but razor-sharp tale will please fans of William Gibson and Samuel Delaney alike. --Therese Littleton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Taped from the fanatic brain of the prophet Gabril Aurik and melded into an artificial intelligence on the blockaded planet Eden, a wiseacre CyberGod called the Memoriant threatens to wreck the interstellar cybernetwork knitting Scott's latest far-future civilization together. Aurik's loathing for human cloning and the DNA-warping FTL drive bars his cold-eyed Children from leaving Eden, but they smuggle out copies of the Memoriant to spread their inquisitional faith. When Anton Tso, a cloned scion of a powerful criminal family on nearby Jericho, sets out to pirate a copy, the local Theologians trap him in virtual space, necessitating a lengthy conventional rescue involving Eden rebels led by Tso's bodyguard, clone Renhi DaSilva, a high-tech Emma Peel. Scott's colorful setting is Eden's grungy Freeport, where hyperrock Steel musicians scarf greasy fries and Auxiliary policemen ham-handedly juggle conflicting moral obligations. Less compelling are Tso's interminable attempts to escape his virtual prison and Scott's frustratingly awkward character names. No matter how glitzy, virtual reality just can't vivify Scott's provocative vision, a future where a human-made God sets out to make humanity's other creations irrelevant.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
God in a Box: Shapes of Their Computers,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Shapes of Their Hearts (Hardcover)
This book is a curious mix. Melissa Scott has created an interesting world of Eden. She's very good at creating suspense, mystery, and keeping you wanting to turn the next page to find out the next wrinkle or revelation in the story. The themes she raises are significant, although they appear to overwhelm her as an author -- she's bitten off a bit more than she can chew. For centuries man has tried to put God in a box, contain Him within theologies and doctrines which are later outgrown. From the old testament God of wrath to the new testament God of love, we have seen how mankind's perspective of God has grown. To accept this novel, one must have a decidedly old testament view of Deity, because the God of Love is not evident. Much like the fundamentalist view of God today who believe any non-Christian or gay are condemned to the fires of hell, the "Children" of this science fiction world believe that clones have no souls and genetically mutated beings called "Scatterlings" are pollution rather than simply different people. This could have been the framework of a tremendously interesting allegory about intolerance, and perhaps this is an angle a potential screenwriter could latch onto. Just like men of the past have tried to put God in a box, the people of this future have put the mind of God in a computer program. To buy the story, you must accept this premise. This is the inherent weakness of the book because rather than a clash of views of faith, we are reduced to a spy-like intrigue of the persecutors and the pursued. Even the spy chase seems to get drowned in the character Anton Tso's mind battle within the computer program with about a quarter of the book being his battle to find the right computer icon to let his mind out of the program and back into his body. Thus, rather than calling this book "The Shapes of Their Hearts," it would be much more appropriate a title "The Shapes of Their Computers." The conclusion of the book happened all too quickly with the events set up in the first several chapters being dismissed with a page's worth of outcomes. All in all, I was glad to have read it. It is a page turner. There are a number of characters who had they been fleshed out a bit more could have been even more interesting. If you're more into computers than into God, this book could be Eden for you!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
oh, come on, it wasn't *that* bad...,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Shapes of their Hearts (Paperback)
I was surfing to see what's new from Scott when I saw how few stars this book got, and felt I should drop in an alternate viewpoint... I have to admit, I didn't take a stand on theology or sci-fi genres before delving into it, I took it instead as a good fast read-- and really liked it for that! I thought it moved well, I got involved with the characters, & found the plot idea intriguing. Good entertainment value for the money...
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Free SF Reader,
By Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Shapes of their Hearts (Paperback)
My least favorite Melissa Scott effort, it was not holding my attention much at all.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
