Merro Tree (Del Rey Discovery) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Katie Waitman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
In the far reaches of our galaxy, the artist will face the ultimate censorship.

Mikk of Vyzania, the galaxy's greatest performance master, commanded stages on all the myriad worlds. His sublime, ethereal performances were unforgettable, drawing on the most treasured traditions of every culture, every people, throughout inhabited space. His crowning achievement, and his obsession: the Somalite song dance, an art form that transcends both song and movement to become something greater and more spectacular . . . almost divine.

When tragic events caused performance of the song dance to be proscribed, Mikk was devastated . . . until his strong sense of justice forced him to defy the ban. His trial will be the most sensational in the recent history of the galaxy; the sentence he faces is death.

Now the greatest performance master must hope to become the greatest escape artist. Somehow Mikk must break the stranglehold of censorship and change the law . . . or die trying!

From the Publisher
When Katie Waitman's agent sent me this manuscript, he told me that I had to make this book the Del Rey Discovery of the Year. He also told me that the book included a same sex love affair with a snake. Needless to say, I was a bit taken aback. But I read the manuscript, and I was taken with two things: 1) that snake affair wasn't exactly the way the agent described it!!! And 2) this was one of the absolute best-written first novels I had read in many, many years. I had to buy it. I still love it. I even like the snake!
                        --Shelly Shapiro, Executive Editor

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 437 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (August 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345414365
• ISBN-13: 978-0345414366
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #798,891 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant work, December 5, 1999

By	J. Lindsay (Albany, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This work is simply marvelous. I intended to read it for one hour last night, but instead stayed up almost the whole night, making me a bit of wreck today, but it was quite worth it. Thank you Ms. Waitman!

Addressing a couple of comments others reviewers made. The only person I saw that disliked the book complains that its sci fi is not complete, that it is more fantasy than sci fi. Well, shucks, mate, if the story is incredible and the characters are deeper than deep, I don't really care if we aren't subjected to long treatises of speculative science. I like hard sci fi, but to castigate the book for *not* being hard sci fi is like castigating classical music because it isn't jazz. And anyway, I don't agree with the criticism, the sci fi is more anthropological, a la LeGuin, with completely believable worlds and races.

Someone else asks to *please* tell us what other books touched us like this one, other than Dune. Here is my little list, in no particular order: Songmaster (Card), Ender's Game (Card), Kindred (Butler), Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein), The Dispossessed (LeGuin), Beggars in Spain (Kress), The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien), Childhood's End (Arthur C. Clarke), The Mote in God's Eye (Larry Niven)

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sf romance, April 7, 2005

By	Furio (Genova - Italy) - See all my reviews

i read all the reviews about this book and i decided to add mine because nobody seems to catch what in my opinion is the point of this novel.

this work has undoubtedly a sf background: alien worlds and races, spaceships, etc.
it deals with important issues such as the value of art, censorship, the tendency of people to create sort of dictatorial institutions they must afterwards fight against, same sex and interracial relationships.

still one has to admit this is not really pure sf, because ms waitman seems to have decided to use such a (interesting and detailed) background to express her views on some topics. she manages to do it with little inconsistencies and very few slow pages, which is remarkable for a first novel.
this is a bildungsroman (sorry, i do not know the english word) such as goethe's but it is not half as boring or selfindulgent: ms waitman writing might not be spotless but the plot structure is complex, intriguing and achieves a lot of tension.

what one would not expect is that this novel is basically an enthralling if a little exotic love story: the two main characters share a growing, developing, intimate affection depicted in a simple but moving way. one of them is humanoid, the other a sort of giant snake, both are males (and the author is not, one should remember) but disbelief is easily suspended and ms waitman manages to give us a very effective idea of their PHYSICAL desire for each other too. the only point i feel i have to complain about is the idea of both being basically heterosexuals who share love out of a kind of predestination. i found this rather unbelievable; but this is sf, so i imagine her idea is legitimate.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the four best books I've ever read. Ever., April 10, 1998

By	Jade ([e-mail]) "avalon568" (USA) - See all my reviews

I guess I come at whatever I read from a different angle, because I'm an English major. At one level, I loved _The_Merro_Tree_ because it's a good story. It's complex, but easy to follow. The attention to detail is amazing, but it doesn't slow down the plot.

At another level, Waitman's done something very special, beyond just a good story, here. One of my lit teachers refers to it as the balance of profit and prophet: storytelling and preaching. She's managed to create a balance where preaching doesn't interfere with storytelling--but if you're looking for a message, you'll find one, and if even if you analyze literature as well as read it, you won't find anything to complain about.

This is one of the best books I've ever read, hands down. And the others are _Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land_, _The_Summer_Queen_, and _Nineteen_Eight-Four_, if that means anything to you.