The Silver Metal Lover [Mass Market Paperback]

Tanith Lee (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 4, 1999

Love is made of more than mere flesh and blood....

Tanith Lee is one of the most thought-provoking and imaginative authors of our time. In this unforgettably poignant novel, Lee has created a classic tale--a beautiful, tragic, erotic, and ultimately triumphant love story of the future.

For sixteen-year-old Jane, life is a mystery she despairs of ever mastering. She and her friends are the idle, pampered children of the privileged class, living in luxury on an Earth remade by natural disaster. Until Jane's life is changed forever by a chance encounter with a robot minstrel with auburn hair and silver skin, whose songs ignite in her a desperate and inexplicable passion.

Jane is certain that Silver is more than just a machine built to please. And she will give up everything to prove it. So she escapes into the city's violent, decaying slums to embrace a love bordering on madness. Or is it something more? Has Jane glimpsed in Silver something no one else has dared to see--not even the robot or his creators? A love so perfect it must be destroyed, for no human could ever compete?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Silver Metal Lover is a classic tale of transforming love. It's a keeper, a book that gets reread 'til it falls apart. Fans petitioned to get it reprinted, and after 10 years of waiting, here it is. Oddly, the book is seldom mentioned when Tanith Lee's work is discussed, perhaps because Lee's usual milieu is horror, and The Silver Metal Lover is a poignant romance requiring at least two hankies before the end.

Robots have replaced human labor on earth, causing massive unemployment in a world devastated by pollution and natural disasters. Then Electronic Metals releases a new line: performing artists and sexual companions designed to entertain human partners. Jane, a rich, lonely, and insecure 16-year-old, meets one, the minstrel Silver, and falls passionately in love, despite revulsion at the idea of preferring a mechanical man to a human. She gives up everything she has known for him, and discovers herself. Silver becomes more and more "human" in loving her--a clever illusion created by his programming. Or is it? This unstable society can't afford any evidence that some robots might be indistinguishable from humans. Tragedy is inevitable. Read it and weep--and don't forget to put it on the keeper shelf. --Nona Vero

Review

Praise for The Silver Metal Lover:

"Deftly written, moving, funny, totally convincing...this is quite simply the best sci-fi romance I've read in ages."
--Daily News, New York

"Tanith Lee has another winner in The Silver Metal Lover. It's an aluminum soufflé that's both amusing and touching."
--Asimov's Science Fiction

"The strengths of [The Silver Metal Lover] lie in the vivid vision of [Lee's] world--exotic and a little frightening, but quite believable....One of Lee's most fully realized creations."
--Publishers Weekly

"Lee continues to distinguish herself with her ability to bring flesh and blood to the worlds of the future. For those who like emotion and feeling in their SF, The Silver Metal Lover is highly recommended."
--Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Spectra (May 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553581279
• ISBN-13: 978-0553581270
• Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 0.8 x 7.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (115 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow October 26, 1999

By Jessica ([e-mail])

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Tanith Lee really, really shines in this novel. I don't think her writing was ever so good as in this book. Her character, Jane (Jain) is exceptionally written, superbly realistic, heartbreakingly wise. Her lover, Silver, at first infuriated me with his cold, non-human perfection -how can a robot love you, and does he really love you if he is programmed to love everyone else just as much?- but as the story grows, Silver skyrockets into a real, true character, as human as they come.

This is a beautiful love story, and it's definitely withstood one test; it's being reprinted!!!! Most books, once out of print, stay that way, sadly (the book Fire and Hemlock by D.W.Jones comes quickly to mind). Also, I must say The Silver Metal Lover passed another test; so far, all (twenty-five) reviews already up here are five-stars. Does this ever happen?

To anyone who hasn't read the book; Go directly to your nearest bookstore and buy a copy! Then, sit down somewhere comfortable and with access to lots of food and tissues, because you won't be getting back up for a long time, and when you do, you'll be drenched in tears. When I read it the first time, I could NOT put it down, and I had classes the next day (I ended up reading till dawn)!

This book truly is timeless, beautiful, heartbreaking. Highest recommendation!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If you haven't read this book yet, DO IT NOW!!! October 31, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I first dicovered Tanith Lee with the book Sabella when I was in 6th grade, many many years ago. I was immediately a devotee for life. The Silver Metal Lover is the only book I've ever reread more than 3 times. I still have my original copy of this book & I'm glad to see it's back in print. This is simply the most incredible & wonderful book I've ever read, but you really do need a whole box of kleenex for this one too. This is simply the most touching book I've ever read: you end up hanging on every word, feeling everything that Jane feels. Yes, you will end up in love with Silver & you will put this book down a changed person. The most moving book I've ever read. EVER. Get a copy, NOW. There is a reason that this book has so many reviews and it's still a five star rating. Good books are like good friends: you never tire of them. This book will be one of your best friends for life.

Tanith Lee, like no other writer I've ever read, can make you feel just what it's like to walk in the shoes of her characters. They come completely alive for you. No one else has such a command of the english language- how to make words on a page paint such a vivid picture. Get The Silver Metal Lover. And any other novel by Tanith Lee you can get your hands on. You won't be sorry.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A true work of art! August 20, 2005

By M. A. Bechaz

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This was more like a work of art than just a mere book...although not as perfectly, flawlessly rendered as a Da Vinci, it was at least as interesting and thought provoking as a Picasso. At times its lines were a little blurred and not entirely pretty, but it was so powerful and compelling and confronting, I just couldn't look away. I was drawn into it, and when I reached the end of the book, I had to admit that it was a masterpiece, and one ahead of its time for that matter.

I don't know what I can say about this book that hasn't already been said by the other reviewers, but I'll try. It's amazing, it's brilliant, it's ultra-realistic (you'll swear the world that Jane and Silver inhabit really exists), it's a heart-wrenching love story, it's an insightful commentary on life and personal relationships, and at the end of it, unless you have a heart of stone, you'll have used up a box of tissues crying and feel like a changed person. There's not many books that make me FEEL the way this one did...it even affected my sleep the night after I read it. I just couldn't get it out of my head. Some books simply entertain. But this one got under my skin and stayed there.

To the author's credit, this book hasn't dated in the quarter of a century since it was written, but still feels fresh and contemporary, as if it were written quite recently. It's a timeless story, and in this case, that's not just a cliche. At the time this book was written, modern gadgets like computers and ATMs were just coming on the scene and a lot of people were worried that machines would take over the jobs and even the lives of people. This book reflects what was a real fear at that time, and perhaps still is today, what with the current trend towards large-scale industrial automation and voice-recognition phone systems et al. It's an ongoing dilemma...can machines really replace people? And as this book asks, can they replace people even in our hearts? I've seen people who are so in love with their computers and the internet that they no longer seem to live in the real world or communicate with real people, so maybe the character of Jane in this book, who falls in love with a robot, isn't such an anomaly after all.

This is the first Tanith Lee book I've read, but I nonetheless have a feeling that this is the beginning of a great love affair between myself and her books...