Shivering World [Mass Market Paperback]

Kathy Tyers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1991

Dr. Graysha Brady-Phillips is suffering from a genetic disease that causes weakness and early death. When she is offered a position on planet Goddard, where the average life span exceeds 150 years, she leaps at the chance. The colonists' radical-and illegal-science just might be her only hope for a cure. Graysha must convince a group of paranoid rebel scientists to trust the daughter of their worst enemy, her mother.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Shivering World is Tyers' rewrite for the evangelical market of her mainstream sf novel of the same title, published in 1991 with Bantam. A woman scientist, Graysha Brady-Phillips, migrates to a cold space colony called Goddard, where colonists have managed to extend the average lifespan to 150. Like Earth itself, Graysha is dying, but the cure offered by Goddard scientists may be worse than the disease, at least in ethical terms. John Mort
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"The characters are gripping, the plot arresting, the storytelling impeccable. TOP PICK, 4.5 stars" -- Romantic Times

"smooth pacing and fully-developed characters...fun, scientific mystery in the tradition of Asimov." -- R.J. Sullivan, The Reluctant Famulus, a science fiction newsletter --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Spectra; First Edition edition (May 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553290517
• ISBN-13: 978-0553290516
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,693,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kathy Tyers (née Moore) was born and raised in Long Beach, California. She obtained a degree in microbiology from Montana State University, where she met her future husband Mark Tyers.

Tyers sold her first novel Firebird to Bantam Spectra in 1986. She subsequently sold Fusion Fire (1988; a sequel to Firebird), Crystal Witness (1989) and Shivering World (1991). During this period she also authored a nonfiction travel book and, with her husband, released two CDs of folk music, Leave Her, Johnny and The Very Best Dreams on which she played flute and Irish harp. In 1991, while working on another speculative fiction novel, she was approached with an opportunity to write a novel in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Her novel The Truce at Bakura (1993) reached the New York Times bestseller list.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kathy's best so far, June 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Shivering World (Mass Market Paperback)

I recently finished Shivering World, and this book is guaranteed to make you think, laugh and cry. Grasha Brady-Phillip's life since she decided to go to the human colony planet Goddard is both intriguing and suspenseful. The back cover states "The colonists think Graysha's a spy. Graysha thinks the colonists are trying to kill her. They're both right..." Read about Graysha's struggle to gain their trust, all for the sake of finding a cure for the disease that is eating her away at the cellular level. A must read!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complex, colorful, and compelling, September 24, 2004

By 

Camy Tang "Romance novels with a kick of wasabi" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shivering World (Tyers, Kathy) (Paperback)

Others have detailed the plot, so I won't do so here. I thought this was a terrific story. I'm very satisfied with the way Kathy Tyers rewrote her original "Shivering World." She writes so intelligently, I have to--I WANT to--read slowly to absorb and follow what's going on. She has SUCH an incredible grasp of sociology and politics and power struggles, it blows my mind. It makes the characters, their actions, and the storyline emminently believable. I'm also a biologist, so following how she imagines biological science will "evolve" in the future is intriguing to me.

Her novels are always incredibly deep and colorful and complex. The characters in this rewrite of the original story are rich and varied--each has something important to win or lose, which drives their actions. No one is two-dimensional. Well, except for the research technician with the three-sentence role. :-) The book ends on a satisfying note, but it also ends in a way that could segue into a sequel or a series like her Firebird trilogy. I hope that's in the works, I'd be totally excited. The characters she has created in this book have enough conflicts and chemistry to pull that off, I believe.

I'd buy this book for any science-fiction lover. The author has created a sweeping canvas with infinite possibilities in this fictional world and its characters. I am hoping she's writing more in this setting.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super science fiction, February 18, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Shivering World (Mass Market Paperback)

Earth is a wasteland because of the hole in the ozone layer allowing in the U.V. Rays. People live in domes and the wealthy live in space habitats. Terraforming of Mars and Venus has not been a complete success. The colonists of Goddard hire the Gaea Consortium to terraform the planet so they and their children will be able to live free of enclosed habitats. Dr. Graysha Brady Phillips works for Gaea because she needs the exorbitant salary to pay off her debts and she has heard rumors that they practice the outlawed science of genetic engineering.

Graysha suffers from Flaherty's Syndrome and will die at the age of fifty as there is no cure. She hopes that the geneticists on Goddard can fix her damaged chromosomes so she can have children that won't be carriers of the disease. Graysha's position is tenuous because her mother, as the head of the Eugenics Board, will carry out the law of irradiation and sterilization if the people of Goddard are practicing outlawed science on human beings. When Goddard is threatened Grayshya does her best to find the solution that will save the place and people she now loves.

This science fiction story is both believable and plausible and readers will find themselves so immersed in the action of the characters that they will finish this book in one sitting. The audiences care deeply for the heroine who knows that she will die at a young age but live each day to its fullest and doesn't feel sorry for herself. Kathy Tyers is a talented writer who is a fantastic world builder in the tradition of Karen Hancock.

Harriet Klausner