Crucible (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The party was reaching its city-wide crescendo, the speeches would begin soon, and no one could find Alex..." (more)
Key Phrases: blond brave, purple groundcover, defense admin, Mira City, Hope of Heaven, Julian Martin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kress’s idea-packed sequel to Crossfire (2003) carries several leading characters and conflicts some 39 years farther into the future of a distant human colony. To settle the planet Greentrees, Jake Holman, now aged and feeble, has brought diverse groups: the huge Cutler clan, Arabs, Chinese, New Quakers, Cheyennes. The dissident Chinese city Hope of Heaven seethes with antagonism toward Mira City, where Alexandra Cutler as "tray-o," the Technology Resources Allocation officer, serves as one of the executive triumvirate. When a ship arrives from a devastated Earth, Alex falls prey to its charismatic captain, Julian Martin, whose suave exterior cloaks a formidable and ruthless will to power worthy of Rome’s first Caesar. Martin’s Machiavellian manipulation of Mira City’s naïve citizenry, including Alex, soon easily makes him its dictator. Meanwhile, in space on a daring attempt to defuse the aggressive humanoid Furs’ ability to wage war, Karim Mahjoub and Lucy Lasky are captured by the alien plantlike Vines. A highly complex plot, intricately interwoven motivations and a constantly shifting focus detract from the novel’s pace, while characterizations and dialogue occasionally appear superficial or predictable. Nonetheless, Kress’s inventive juxtaposition of cultures and political systems and her sympathetic treatment of minority viewpoints offer much food for thought. FYI: Kress’s short fiction has won Hugo and Nebula awards.
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From Booklist

The second novel about the settlement of the planet Greentrees takes place 50 years after the events of Crossfire [BKL Ja 1 & 15 03]. The interstellar expedition to wage germ warfare against the hostile alien Furs succeeds, but it also uncovers much more than was expected about the supposedly friendly Vines and returns with news of new potential dangers. Meanwhile, militarized refugees from a crumbling Earth appear to constitute a valuable defense against the hostile Furs, though their own agenda is a menace to the utopian society of Greentrees. The last half of this book portrays a multicornered fight between space Furs, planetary Furs, Vines, and a double handful of human factions, resolving many conflicts but setting the stage for more in the final volume of Kress' trilogy. Kress is becoming equally adept with hard science, alien contact, planetary colonization, and action, and at combining those four elements with exceeding, possibly unique flair. A must for sf collections. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1 edition (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765306883
• ISBN-13: 978-0765306883
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,257,053 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific follow-on to "Crossfire", September 17, 2004

By	Scott R. Lucado "I'm the other author named L... (Fort Worth, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Nancy Kress continues her space-colonization story with this novel, a sequel to "Crossfire."

In terms of plot, the book opens as the colonists on Greentrees are still caught between the rock of "Furs" and the hard place of "Vines"--alien races at war with each other. The humans are allied with the Vines, who have a plan to eliminate the Fur threat.

If that weren't enough, a ship of humans arrives from Earth, bringing ambitions and prejudices of their own--and a whole new dimension to the conflict.

Without giving away too much, the story unravels a thorny briar patch of conflicts at many levels--among humans, planets, interstellar species, ecologies, technologies, biologies, relativity, and especially philosophies.

It's a massive undertaking on Ms. Kress's part, and she succeeds brilliantly. One of her strengths as a writer is that she has an appreciation for technology without being seduced by it. Better still, she creates very believable characters--the only other writer I can think of who created characters as convincingly was John D. MacDonald. But more than just a character study, she has an intricate, well-paced plot with a resolution that doesn't let anyone off the hook.

Best of all, there's enough threads to support a third entry in the series.

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Free SF Reader, January 6, 2009

By	Blue Tyson "- http://freesf.blogspot.com" - See all my reviews

Jumping around 40 years into the future Greentrees time, another ship from Earth arrives at the planet, at the same time as Karim and Lucy are winding up their hopefully successful infect the Furs with happiness project.

The only thing the locals know about the new arrivals they are clearly genetically enhanced, and military - 'The Third Alliance' was mentioned in a desperate broadcast 50 years ago.

The newcomers insight proves useful, but their society rapidly changes - and Jake has had problems with strokes being rather old now, and is a bit slow to realise what is gong on. Alex, the current colony leader doesn't have his experience and is also in love with the new bloke.

Throw in the Wild Furs, the Cheyenne society, and, of course, more alien assaults and this book is just as interesting as the first.


3.5 out of 5

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent Space Opera from Nancy Kress, but...., September 11, 2005

By	John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Nancy Kress's "Crucible", the sequel to her novel "Crossfire", is noteworthy mainly since it has more of her excellent world-building featured in her best novels. Alas her characters are not really all that memorable, with the sole exceptions of Alex Cutler and General Julian Martin, but even they are depicted in scenes that seem all too predictable. Here in "Crucible", the human colonists of the planet Greentrees must contend with yet another battle between the alien civilizations of the Vines and Furs, and the unexpected visit of an Earth warship, Crucible, and its charismatic commander, General Julian Martin. Having enjoyed some of Kress's earlier work, I am surprised that her characters and plot aren't nearly as memorable as those from "Beggars in Spain".