Customer Reviews

The Waters Rising

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Maybe it's because I am a long time Tepper fan, and own everything she has written that I've given this a 3; I can certainly understand why other reviewers have been more generous, but to me this book is a little repetitive on themes that Tepper has already covered. I also felt a little offended that she was writing off a world that she created in the (superior) Plague of Angels using a theme she introduced in Singer from the Sea. I would recommend that readers seek these out first before reading this. I'm totally behind Tepper's themes of environmental damage, the issues with religion and a patriarchal society, but I just couldn't really warm to this book as a whole - Abasio really only as a walk on role and doesn't need to be there at all, the baddies never really threaten, and the plot wrap up just didn't quite work for me. There are good points to it - Tepper's work is always well written with interesting characters - but it felt a little like treading old ground. Read this certainly, but seek out her other books which are superior.

I know one star is harsh, but this book was truly awful, and I say that as a die-hard Tepper fan. This book started off promising enough, but overall reads like a very rough first draft. I'm frankly amazed that there is an editor out there that allowed this to go to print. At first I thought that the overwrought and extensive explanations of geographical minutiae might serve some later purpose, but they were really just taking up space. The book isn't sure what it really wants to be about, and veers this way and that, without any semblance of focus. Toward the end of the book, Tepper seems to suddenly remember the plot she probably had in mind the whole time, so she shabbily patches up some loose ends, slaps together some long, detailed monologues by characters to take the place of potentially interesting scenes and interaction, and calls it a book. I give this one star because I know that Tepper has the talent to make this idea into a great book, and she really dropped the ball. The writing is downright bad in some places, and there is basically no structure to the story at all. I literally forced myself to finish it, hoping that it might somehow redeem itself in the end. Don't waste your time- read one of her other fine books instead.

Full disclosure: I did not finish _The Waters Rising_. I spent about a month trying to read it, and found it hard to concentrate on it for more than a few pages. I gave up when I realized I was now a month behind on everything else I wanted to read, and that the bookmark I'd placed in _The Waters Rising_ never seemed to move, no matter how much time I spent with the book. I'd never read a Sheri S. Tepper novel before, though I've read the first few pages of Beauty (Spectra special editions) and am intrigued. I think I'll try to forget about _The Waters Rising_, give _Beauty_ a try, and let that be my introduction to Tepper.

The concept is an interesting one. The novel is set in the Earth of the future. We've made a mess of the planet by means of technology, and now there is a further calamity that is flooding areas that escaped the earlier disasters. The male lead, Abasio, comes upon a castle in what we know as the Pacific Northwest and meets the female lead, Xulai, a child who has been selected for a dangerous task.

Unfortunately, the book plods. Part of the problem is that much of the dialogue is stilted and infodump-heavy; it's not uncommon in _The Waters Rising_ to find characters expounding to each other about the geography of the setting. Some of the problem may relate to my own literary preferences. It's rare that I can become engrossed in a book that relies so heavily on traveling-across-the-landscape-with-enemies-in-pursuit as a structure. I think I'm supposed to be gleaning an ecological message from the book; instead I feel like I'm reading an account of a D&D campaign (or maybe Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World, which reminded me of, well, a D&D campaign.)

Then there's the disturbing romance between Abasio and Xulai. A minor spoiler: Xulai is not as young as she looks. However, Abasio becomes strongly attracted to her when he still thinks she's a precocious seven-year-old. This is icky, and it's made even more icky by the fact that Xulai is Tingawan (Chinese), because of the history of fetishization and infantilization of Asian women. Abasio is supposed to be the hero and instead comes off as really skeevy.

I got about halfway through _The Waters Rising_ and threw in the towel. I've decided that this book and I were simply not meant for each other

The Big Kill has left the earth shattered as most life died during the pandemic mass murders by the unseen Slaughterers. However, the survivors of the onslaught have no respite as a second potentially deadly threat has arisen. In places like Norland, the sea is overwhelming land masses with decreasingly safe places to stay.

Young Xulai is a no more than a superfluous gnat in the scheme of those struggling with surviving the rising waters. When she meets an apparent Slaughterer apparition, she flees for her life. However, unlike her species who feels she is a throwaway to disregard, that deadly beast recognizes her potential as the only person who could save mankind. To insure the extinction of humanity this predator goes after Xulai planning to kill her.

Returning to the Plague of Angels realm, The Waters Rising is a clever enjoyable post apocalyptic thriller that deftly uses a Noah like tale to disparage current societies for their disregard and abuse of the planet. The cautionary story line is fast-paced as a frightened heroine arises amidst the shrinking livable land. Readers (except for deniers) will relish Xulai's coming of age escapades as she and her idealistic cohorts simply hope and pray they can save mankind though some of them doubt whether humanity deserves a third chance.

Harriet Klausner

Sheri Tepper is my favourite writer of speculative fiction. I go out of my way to look for her stuff, new and old. I've read everything she's written at least twice.

I honestly didn't think she could write a book this bad.

I like to start out reviews with a brief plot summary. This is practically impossible here, because the book contains several plot threads, all recycled from previous works, none of which is particularly coherent or well developed. The story revolves around Xulai, a "Soul Carrier" from an Island nation called Tingawa, analogous to Japan. Xulai's duty is to carry the soul of a recently deceased princess back to her native land. On her journey, she is pursued by the evil Duchess of Altamont, who inexplicably wants to wipe out all Tingawans. Along the way, Xulai begins to suspect that she is not entirely the girl she believes herself to be. All answers will be had once she reaches her destination.

One of Tepper's strengths is to take myriad characters from different geographical locations and varying cultures and viewpoints and bring them together into a (usually surprising) climax. Because of the linear nature of this story, she does not make use of this talent here. Nor does she apply her brilliant ability to create characters. Everyone in this story is one-dimensional. The evil Duchess is literally interchangeable with Quince Ellel from A Plague of Angels, only less interesting. Even the main character isn't portrayed in enough depth for the reader to care about her.

I suppose the story could have been interesting if Tepper had spent more time on it and less on pages devoted to details like geography (unnecessary, as there was a prominent map) and the workings of abbey kitchen service. Also, if she had decided on one plot point and stuck with it. Instead, she had about five different things going on, to the detriment of all, as none of them got enough attention or development. What came out was a conglomeration of Tepper tropes all kind of mashed together. And every time you thought something affecting was going to happen, it was passed off all too easily to impact the reader in any way.

I think, too, that she did the story a disservice by setting it in the same world as A Plague of Angels. It didn't work for me.

All in all, the reason I gave this book two stars was because it was Tepper, and I felt bad about giving her anything less. If it had been any other author, I wouldn't have made it past the first hundred pages. If you must read it, get it from the library.

THE WATERS RISING is a fantasy novel in sci-fi's clothing. I say this now so readers know what they're getting themselves into. Most of the story reads as one of myth and magic, replete with fiefdoms and talking horses. But at its heart, this is an introspective story about our past and how we can't escape it, and how future generations must take up the mantle of our mistakes.

Further back than anyone cares to discuss, an event called the "Big Kill" ended the era of "ease machines." Since then, humanity has turned its back on all technology and looked inward to provincialism and essentially medieval living. We meet two wanderers, a man and his talking horse, who in turn come upon a young girl named Xulai charged with great responsibility: to carry the sole of her kingdom's princess. As she journeys to carry out her charge, dark forces rise against the travelers in what is revealed to be a conspiracy not just against them, but against every human being and their way of life. Her story is a fantastical journey, but it's also a carefully constructed mystery that reveals its secrets with only the greatest reluctance.

The nagging question for this sci-fi reader unexpectedly launched into a fantasy world was what happened to all the "ease machines." They're couched in the language of worship, and a dark, unseemly past is hinted at throughout the novel. It's a tantalizing secret Sheri S. Tepper refuses to give up without practically exhausting your patience, but it's what makes digging through the extensive dialogue that populates this novel an exciting and worthwhile experience.

Along the way, the novel picks up typical fantasy tropes. A fellowship is formed to protect the young girl; they encounter strange villages with stranger micro-cultures; a great darkness lurks in the background and sends out its agents to attack. But these aren't ideas to take at face value. Tepper plays with identity and social perception on multiple levels with her characters, and it's clear they're not the plucky representatives of good against an onslaught of evil. They're mostly pawns in a game they (or even those great forces of evil) don't understand.

But for all its magic, mystery and tantalizing excitement, THE WATERS RISING can be a tedious read. It's a long tale, and most of the page is taken up by dialogue sometimes blatantly expository and other times seemingly pointless. This isn't damning in and of itself, but it does detract from the central mystery of the novel. The specter of this world's past (our future) would have been better explored by dynamic action than almost constant conversation.

However unbalanced THE WATERS RISING may be, it's an intriguing play on both fantasy and sci-fi dramas. It toys with the tropes that define the genres and questions their mutual exclusivity. As a novel of ideas and as a conceptual experiment, this is a world worth exploring.

--- Reviewed by Max Falkowitz

The biggest problem with Tepper's "The Waters Rising" is that the writing is about as subtle as a two-by-four across the head. For instance, in the first chapter, the protagonist runs into the antagonist and we get to read six pages of soliloquy where the antagonist spells out her evil plans, actions and methods. What ever happened to discovering these things through actions as part of the plot? We're treated to similar blunt trauma with most of the other characters and even the world, itself. Plus, this brute force method isn't limited to just background information. It's also used in character development. Essentially, there's no linear growth of the characters as they interact with each other and the world. Instead, they "grow" via a step function. IOW, new character traits, thought processes, and emotional attachments just spring out of the ground overnight.

The second biggest problem with the book is that Tepper seems to be so proud of her universe that she spends huge amounts of text describing it in agonizingly boring detail. As an example, fairly early in the book, the main characters ask for directions to an abbey. They get a three page answer. And then we get a 50 page travelogue describing their actual trek. Now, there are actual plot activities that occur during this segment. But, those 50 pages could have been whittled down to something far smaller. This type of clutter is so prevalent that it slows the plot's progress down to a crawl. Because of this, I have to rate the book at a Pretty Bad 2 stars out of 5 and wonder why this book is so different from Tepper's other works.

As a long time Tepper fan, I looked forward to this latest book, despite reading very mixed reviews here.

I left it with mixed feelings of my own. I am used to Tepper writing long, dense stories, with interwoven characters and plots that only reveal themselves slowly unless you read diligently and think closely about what is happening, with her strong feminist and environmental themes as part of the story and background.

Here, you get some of the same, but it is the weakest of all her works I have read, including her early works, rather than being the scintillating read I am used to. It is 500 pages long, which is actually short for Tepper, but was painfully slow in places, and felt like it was padded to meet an arbitrary page count; it would have made a good 350-400 page book instead. Themes and plotting are more linear and the characters shallower than I am used to. The first 300 pages were often hard going; the end gets tighter, with a few of the usual surprises, and almost makes up for what has gone before.

Despite this I give it three stars as a general read by any author; but by Tepper's usual high standards it would deserve two.

I've really liked every book by Sheri S. Tepper that I've read before this, so I picked this one up without even bothering to read the summary. Not that reading the summary would have turned me off of it, but I feel like I should've done my homework better before reading. This is, by miles and miles, the worst Tepper novel I've read. I cannot recommend it.

It's set on a post-apocalyptic Earth. The apocalypse was environmental in nature, although this is largely irrelevant to the story. So, too, are the rising waters of the title. There are a surprising number of irrelevant details to the story, which is difficult for a tale that has so many different moving parts.

The main story is that of Xulai, a Soul Carrier from Tingawa (read: Japan). She is tasked with carrying the soul of a Tingawese princess back to the princess's native land. Along the way, she outsmarts the enemies who want to keep her from accomplishing her task, comes of age, learns the truth about herself, and sets events in motion that could eventually heal the Earth.

The major problem with the story is that there is no subtlety to it at all. Every single action of every single person in the story is laid out in minute detail, which means that the story moves along at a snail's pace. Every character is painted in the broadest of strokes. They're either Good (that is, they're on Xulai's side) or they're Evil (and they're trying to stop her). I only finished this book through sheer force of will.

I haven't read every Tepper novel out there. I hope that this one is an outlier. Of the ones that I've read before this, I especially liked The Margarets and Gibbon's Decline and Fall. But don't start here if you haven't read her novels before.

I have been a Sheri Tepper fan for many years. Her books have opened new ways of thought for me and I have embraced much of it. Apart from the philosophical, she tells a superb story and writes as though we have brains! Unhappily, the latest book simply expounds on themes she has written much of in the past, and the story is simplistic--not up to her usual standards. Nevertheless, it's Sheri Tepper who is incapable of writing poorly. Read it and add it to your collection.