Earth Made of Glass (Giraut) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "It was hard to believe that Rufeu had been killed nine years ago..." (more)
Key Phrases: New Tanjavur, Thousand Cultures, Council of Humanity (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In a sequel to A Million Open Doors, John Barnes writes another novel in the universe of the Thousand Cultures. Humanity dwells in colonies (some natural and some artificial) spread over hundreds of planets that lost touch with each other for over a thousand years. Due to the invention of the springer, an instantaneous teleportation device, the worlds are communicating again. But after centuries of isolation, reunification results in intense cultural and economic stress.

Giraut and Margaret, characters from the earlier book, are now a husband and wife diplomatic team for the Council of Humanity. They also do clandestine work for the Office of Special Projects, an undercover organization that deals with serious problems that result when local governments prove intractable. Their next assignment: promote peace and cooperation on Briand, a hellish planet whose physical hostility is matched only by the hatred its two cultures show to each other.

Tamil Mandalam was founded by classical Tamils, and Kintulum was founded by classical Mayans. Tamils believe themselves to be perfect and believe that once the springer does open Briand to humanity, they will show the rest of the universe how to live. The Mayans, when they communicate at all, apparently feel the same way. The magnificence of each culture's accomplishments in art and literature is overshadowed by citizens' bigotry.

A difficult assignment indeed; as if high gravity, high temperatures and ethnic attacks weren't enough, Giraut and Margaret's mission grows even more troublesome because of their marital problems, Margaret's depression, and the bureaucratic thick-headedness of Briand's Ambassador. --Bonnie Bouman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The sequel to A Million Open Doors (1992) begins 12 years later. Giraut and Margaret Leones, now seasoned troubleshooters for the Office of Special Operations of the Council of Humanity, are having marital difficulties. They travel to the planet Briand, where, as if the planet's near lethal environment weren't trouble enough, two of the universe's synthetic Thousand Cultures--Tamil and Maya--are at each other's throats. The Leoneses weave their way through both sides' intrigues and their own superiors' rivalries until the Maya priests create a prophet to bring a message of peace to the world. The message is going over well, when the prophet falls in love with a Tamil woman, and all hell, not to mention riots and antimatter bombs, breaks lose. Barnes writes with his usual intelligence and attention to detail, producing a book that succeeds as a character study of a troubled marriage, an exercise in world building, and an exploration of just how that old sf standby, a future where old cultures are re-created, might work in practice. Highly recommended. Roland Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Tor Science Fiction (March 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812551613
• ISBN-13: 978-0812551617
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #683,405 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars So much potential, such disappointing execution, March 21, 2001

By	Kim Unertl "kimz0519" (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The one thing that you can unequivocally say about John Barnes is that he has exciting ideas. Great, wonderful concepts that if properly executed would form some classic sci fi novels. The disappointing part is that he tends to fall flat on his face when it's time for execution. Especially disappointing are his endings and how he tends to rush through them.

The concepts of A Million Open Doors were very promising. Humanity spreading out and colonizing worlds. Loss of communication between the colony worlds. New technology making instanteous travel possible. Earth Made of Glass is based on these same concepts, with a subplot of a marriage somehow gone wrong tied in. It's with that whole subplot that this story degenerates from an exciting tale of cultural prejudice and how technology is stirring up the pot into a story of how two people can no longer relate to each other. I'm not saying that this doesn't belong in a sci fi story. I'm saying that Barnes' inability to execute that subplot well drags the entire rest of the book down the drain.

I thought the first 100 pages of this book were GREAT! Very exciting, getting to learn about new cultures and how the instantaneous travel technology was affecting their relations. Then, Barnes goes into his standard "I will philosophize them relentlessly and they will understand the world better" mode. For example, three pages of the prophet Ix explaining while it is better to love rather than to hate is a bit much.

I wish that Barnes would collaborate with someone who would teach him to take himself a little less seriously. Also, it would be great if he could get an editor who would correct his grammer and style. My pet peeve, in addition to the grammer gaffs noted in other posts, is that Barnes uses parentheses in the speeches given by characters... how the heck does that make it past an editor? We're not talking about a character whispering an aside to someone during his conversation -- we're talking about an integral part of a speech given by a character!

All in all, the most disappointing part of this novel is the rushed ending. Barnes rolls out all kinds of different technology, revelations about the personal lives of characters, etc, etc in the last few pages to wrap up some dilemmas.

I love that Barnes doesn't take the easy way out for his characters -- not everything is beautiful in their lives at the end of the book. I just wish that he could do a better job in writing about his ideas.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointing sequel to "A Million Open Doors.", June 22, 2001

By A Customer

This one has none of the charm of its predecessor, and the central conceit of the book -- that humans are populating the galaxy with designer cultures concocted by scholarly fanatics -- here seems much less believable. Our heroes, Giraut and Margaret, are assigned to an inhospitable planet to defuse a cultural war, but they mostly just kill time while events take place around them, and their marital problems make a dreary subplot, hinging as they do on a "surprise" that most readers will see coming a long way off.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uneven but great successor to "A Million Open Doors", March 22, 1998

By	Patrick E. Oneil "Patrick E. O'Neil" (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Earth Made of Glass (Hardcover)

This book is a successor to "A Million Open Doors" with continuing characters: Giraut Leones, Margaret Leones, and Shan (chief of their agency which wants to bring together all the 1000 world societies to meet the aliens whose ruins they keep finding). Giraut and Margaret are on a new world, a high-gravity, hot, hostile environment with two cultures who hate each other. There are two major plots going on at once. In the first, one of the societies had put up a Prophet named Ix who preaches peace between the two cultures. I am not easily impressed by such things, but I had tears in my eyes several times as I read about him and things he said. I thought it was as beautiful as some of Christ's parables. The other plot is about the difficult marriage Giraut and Margaret are having. Barnes ABSOLUTELY avoids any easy answers, and I was impressed with the whole work. The uneveness problem arose from a few things: (1) the plot took a while to get interesting, maybe 100 pages; (2) there are frequent non-grammatical constructs of a certain type: "...to Margaret and I...," for example, and it is a little annoying. But the man is a genius in writing a moving story!