David Herter dazzles in his first novel, Ceres Storm, the leadoff of a series. Herter tells a huge and complex space opera in relatively few words, allowing the reader to fill in the blanks without sacrificing narrative integrity. In this age of ever-larger science fiction and fantasy novels, the effect is breathtaking, an ice cube down the genre's back.
Ceres Storm is the story of Daric, a boy whose entire existence has been encompassed by a modest compound on Mars with some orange trees, a lake, his older brother Jonas, and a thinking statue he calls Grandpapa. When Daric is sent on a mysterious errand to the city, he buys a knowledge drink that connects him intimately with the starlines between planets and suns and sets him on a crash course with a startling destiny. For it seems Daric is a clone of the Leader, a conquering hero of yore who ruled the far reaches of space before a vast and powerful nanostorm destroyed much of the inner solar system. A powerful interplanetary cartel, the Kay-Tees, is after Daric's genetic material to reconquer his former empire.
Herter blends biological and mechanical detail in a compelling fashion to give the reader a strong sense of distant time. When Daric travels to Earth, he sees the deadly wonders that the engulfing nanostorm has made:
With each step the castle became clearer; perhaps it was made of birds, the hundreds winging overhead, flecks of ash caught in clear water, drifting down toward the castle, darkening the red and gold into a hue called Tyrian purple, into black etched with silver, the small arches of windows gleaming like inset jewels, thousands of them ranked up the edifice...."See what our infernal machines have done."
Like Gene Wolfe, Jack Vance, and others before him, David Herter has imagined a far future where humanity is both reduced and exalted. Ceres Storm is a thrilling debut and promises even more amazements to come. --Therese Littleton
From Publishers Weekly
Although this first novel deals in modern science fiction tropes such as nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, Herter's style and plot are more heavily influenced by the grand scale and breathless high adventure of Golden Age SF. In the far future, young Daric lives a simple life on terraformed Mars, caring for plants and listening to his ancient grandpapa's stories about the amazing exploits of the long-dead Emperor Darius. Then Daric learns that he and his small family are clones of the Emperor Darius; Daric is the most successful of the batch. Unfortunately, an unscrupulous company run by the Krater-Tromon clan wants to exploit Daric's knowledge by using him to open Darius's long-ago sealed complex on Earth. When Kay-Tee agents kidnap him, the boy must marshal his newfound skills and information to escape and prevent them from taking over the solar system. The first half of the novel is an often confusing setup for the second half, in which Daric attempts to outrun his enemies. The boy's youthful, often clueless, point of view leaves out much that's needed to bring the setting and characters to life. The thin backstory doesn't help much either. Despite all the antic chasing-around, there's never enough detail to make the book particularly convincing or compelling. Readers who crave high-tech pyrotechnics and brisk storytelling over thoughtful characterization and context are most likely to enjoy this debut novel. (Nov. 13)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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