Customer Reviews

Shivering World (Tyers, Kathy)

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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!

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.

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

Graysha Brady-Phillips knows she will die young, thanks to Flaherty's Syndrome. Most humans now live in vast habitats, and Flaherty's is just one of many mutations due to increased radiation exposure. Unfortunately for Graysha, the science that could heal her cannot be used to do so because of the Eugenics Board - an arm of government that enforces draconian laws against any and all genetic manipulation involving humans. When the recently divorced microbiologist goes to work for Gaea, a terraforming company engaged to alter the planet Goddard into a suitable home for humans, she quickly realizes that she is unwelcome to both groups with whom she must work: her fellow Gaea scientists, and the Goddard colonists. The reason for that presents no mystery. Graysha is the daughter of Eugenics Board head Novia Brady-Phillips, an overbearing woman whose power to destroy lives frightens even those who agree with the laws her agency enforces.

From the day she arrives on Goddard, someone keeps trying to kill Graysha. That does not stop her from doing her job, nor does it stop her from going out of her way to get acquainted with the colonists - a supposed religious community looking for a place to practice their faith, unwelcome in the mainstream of habitat communities, in peace. As she gets to know some of the colonists, Graysha learns that they may know how to help her. But can she ask for that, when she knows what Novia will do to them if they are caught? And will Goddard lose the progress already made toward terraforming, instead of continuing that process, thanks to a mysterious problem with its atmosphere?

This book features wonderfully realized characters and a meticulously built, intriguing future universe. It explores the nature of being human, and familiar tensions between science and faith, with honesty that I found downright appealing. I am surprised, now, to learn that it is a "rewritten for the Evangelical market" version of a novel previously published without the religious elements, because those elements work seamlessly. That is a fine testament to its author's skill. It's also a great read.

--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of 2005 science fiction EPPIE winner REGS

"Shivering World" is a Christian sci-fi novel set on the distant colony Goddard, a world being "terraformed" by the Gaea Corporation to make it a habitable, earth-like planet. Graysha Brady-Phillips is a newly-arrived scientist who has been drawn to Goddard hoping that the illegal human genetics research conducted there will help her Flaherty's Syndrome, an inherited disease that will eventually lead to her death. Unfortunately, the colonists suspect that she's a spy because her mother, Novia, is head of the Eugenics Board, an agency devoted to stopping all manipulation of human genes.

Two things stand out about this novel. First, the characterization is excellent. All the major characters are believable, and their dialogue, behavior, and motivations are very realistic. Graysha is an especially well-drawn and sympathetic character, one that the reader can easily feel for and root for.

Second, Kathy Tyers' creative worldbuilding makes the harsh and forbidding planet Goddard feel like a real place. She does an excellent job of explaining the political and religious dynamics of this futuristic society. There is advanced technology in the story, but it's not so advanced that it borders on magical; instead, it seems like something that scientists could actually come up with in the future. You may have to suspend disbelief a bit to buy into the concept of terraforming, but Tyers gives us just enough scientific detail about the process to make it plausible without bogging down the plot. I guess that's why they call it SCIENCE fiction!

There are some weak spots in the novel. The plot is somewhat slow-moving, although the tension definitely picks up toward the end. In other words, it's not the type of story that will keep you up till the wee hours because you just HAVE to see what happens next. I would describe the plot as interesting rather than compelling. I did really care what happened to the characters, though, which made it bit disappointing that the story ends on something of a mini-cliffhanger. It's almost as if this were meant to be the first book in a series because the fate of the colonists is still uncertain as the story ends.

As is common in Christian novels nowadays, the Gospel was fairly weak, though I thought that the spiritual themes of the novel were woven into the story quite smoothly (although it's only toward the end that the religious element becomes more pronounced).

Anyone looking for well-written science fiction should check out "Shivering World". Believable characters in a memorable setting make this a good read.

I didn't dislike this story. I read it through but there was nothing new or interesting enough to draw me in that much. I would say I enjoyed the characterization. Call me cazy. I even liked her Gribbin. Not a page turner for me but not a bad read.