The Margarets: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Sheri S. Tepper (Author)
Key Phrases: least overlord, seven roads, colony planet, Ella May, Lady Badness, Lou Ellen (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Full of fascinating characters and beautifully detailed settings, Tepper's complex and multifaceted far-future SF novel follows the many selves of Mars colonist Margaret Bain on a mission to save the human race from annihilation. Long ago, hairless bipeds earned the eternal hatred of the foul-tempered Quaatar after some prehumans stowed away on a Quaatar survey ship. Now humankind is at the brink of self-destruction through overpopulation and ecological collapse. The farsighted Gentherans have taken up the human cause within the Interstellar Trade Organization, but as Earthgov struggles to conform to ISTO's enforced sterilization laws while trading excess children for offworld water, the Quaatar continue plotting to destroy humanity. Only Margaret, a secret organization called the Third Order of the Siblinghood and the truth behind an old Gentheran folktale can stop the genocide and give humanity a future. As always, Locus Award–winner Tepper (The Companions) wields grand science fiction themes with skill, vision and a twist of black humor. (June)
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From Booklist
In her sprawling seventeenth novel, Tepper envisions humanity's existence in a crowded league with alien races as tentative. More-advanced yet ill-tempered extraterrestrials, such as the Quaatar, would rather rescue a perfectly good planet like Earth from its environmentally toxic parasites. To forestall humanity's wholesale extinction, Earthgov cuts a deal with the Interstellar Trade Organization by selling off 90 percent of its citizens as slaves and pets. One of the contract's unwitting victims is Margaret Bain, who, as the only child on the sparsely populated Martian moon Phobos, finds companionship by creating imaginary versions of herself as, for example, a queen, a warrior, even a boy. Each time Margaret faces a crisis, the other Margarets split off and grow to adulthood on other worlds. In the end, however, the separate Margarets must reunite, skills and experiences intact, to save Earth from ultimate destruction. Tepper's multiple worlds and story lines offer a broad canvas for penetrating cultural observations and for a spectrum of colorful characters, who enliven one of her most inventive novels to date. Hays, Carl

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Eos (May 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061170658
• ISBN-13: 978-0061170652
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #515,249 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fair to Middlin', June 12, 2007

By	Mary L Wagner (Fayetteville, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As ever, Sheri Tepper starts with a very interesting concept. But her execution is becoming formulaic. The "magical aliens who save the human race, but we have to prove ourselves worthy" story, is becoming overused.
Each Margaret, in her individual world, could have been an interesting character, but since there are seven Margarets, no one gets enough time to develop. Tepper builds fascinating worlds, but with seven of them, there isn't enough time to explore.
The Margarets lacks the grandeur of Grass or Beauty, the immediacy of Gibbon's Decline and Fall, the surprise twists of Family Tree, and the humor of The Fresco. Those are the things that I read Sheri Tepper for, and I missed them here.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The Margarets" -- the future of humanity, July 15, 2007

By	R. L. Greenwood (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"The Margarets" is a complicated book and it is necessary (and enjoyable) to pay close attention to all of the storylines while reading it. The close attention is certainly worth the trouble: no less than the future of the human race is dependent on single bored child, Margaret Bain.

"The Margarets" are creations of the mind of Margaret Bain is the only child on the Mars station, Phobos. The six Margarets that she invents have their own complex, and very different, personalities. As Margaret gets older, the invented Margarets split off from her, leaving only the original Margaret behind. This book tells the stories of all 7 Margarets in alternating chapters with that Margaret speaking in that chapter in the first person.

While I was expecting part the ending of the book, the more I read, the more possibilities presented themselves. The entire culmination of "The Margarets" was unexpected -- and completely unsuspected (at least by me)!

I really enjoyed this book and am going to read it again shortly so I can pick up anything I could have missed the first time around. I may even take notes! The story feels so real -- Sheri Tepper's novels are like that -- and rereading them is a joy. I always find something new in them, even when I reread them more than once.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never Disappoints, June 18, 2007

By	Teresa G. Whyte - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Sheri Tepper has an amazing ability to take you to new places that not only facinate but make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I have been reading SF for over 45 years and she has the ability to surprise me by taking me to new places, new ideas, new thoughts while so many others have become predicable. She enlightens while she entertains. My only complaint is that she can't write faster. Her books are of the kind that you want to rush through because you can't put them down, but you also want to make them last. She is a gourmet chef of literary achievments.