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Joan Slonczewski

The Children Star (Elysium Cycle) Mass Market Paperback – August 15, 1999

by Joan Slonczewski (Author)

4.7 31 ratings

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Joan Slonczewski, author of Daughter of Elysium, and A Door into Ocean, is one of the field's leading writers of biological SF. Her new novel, The Children Star, is an ambitious adventure set on the planet Prokaryon -- a world that is only habitable to humans who have been genetically altered. But disaster is close at hand when a greedy corporation attempts to alter the planet's ecosystem in an attempt to make it habitable for all humans. Spectacular and plausible world-building fun from an SF writer to watch.

Print length

352 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Tor Science Fiction
Publication date

August 15, 1999
Dimensions

4.5 x 1 x 7 inches
ISBN-10

0812568621
ISBN-13

978-0812568622
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The world-building is magnificently detailed; the characters are done with deftness and wit."--Chicago Sun-Times on Daughter of Elysium

"By the time the conflict she introduces in Part One has moved to center stage, you not only know the antagonist intimately, you care passionately about the outcome."--New York Times Book Review on A Door Into Ocean

"Slonczewski, a biologist, effectively describes a scary new world, filled with quaint-talking humans and primitive ways, whose fate is not resolved until a young female embarks on a quest that reveals the true nature of the aliens."--The Wall Street Journal on The Wall Around Eden

From the Publisher

"This novel's fireworks in the final third admirably justify its long, slow fuse." --The New York Times

"Slonszewski, a noted biologist, has written a novel that features enough absorbing material on genetics and planetary ecology to satisfy and aficionado of hard SF. At the same time, she tackles a wide range of moral issues, from overpopulation to ecological responsibility and the ethics of machine intelligence. Remarkably, Slonczewski accomplishes all of this in a story that is not only exciting but also filled with memorable characters, human, alien, and sentient machine." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tor Science Fiction; First Edition (August 15, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0812568621
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0812568622
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.5 x 1 x 7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #6,595,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #13,872 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)
- #248,686 in American Literature (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.7 31 ratings

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Joan Slonczewski

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Joan Lyn Slonczewski is a microbiologist at Kenyon College and a science fiction writer. She is the first since Fred Pohl to earn a second John Campbell award for best science fiction novel, "The Highest Frontier" (2012); her previous winner was "A Door into Ocean" (1987). "The Highest Frontier" invents a college in a space habitat financed by a tribal casino and protected from deadly ultraphytes by Homeworld Security. According to Alan Cheuse at NPR, her book invents "a worldwide communications system called Toy Box that makes the iPhone look like a Model-T Ford."

Slonczewski's classic "A Door into Ocean" depicts an ocean world run by genetic engineers who repel an interstellar invasion using nonviolent methods similar to Tahrir Square. In her book "Brain Plague," intelligent microbes invade human brains and establish microbial cities. She also authors with John W. Foster the leading microbiology textbook, Microbiology: An Evolving Science (W. W. Norton).

Author blog: ultraphyte.com

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

31 global ratings

5 star		70%
4 star		26%
3 star		4%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 31, 2022

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My favorite parts were the snips and barbs between the relatable and very human like robots and the introduction of micro people, some of the sci elements in the background worlds like AI tech. All books in this series read as stand alones yet tie in together. Cerebral and absolutely top quality sci fi.

Helpful

TammyJo Eckhart

Hard Science Meets Social Science With Heart

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 17, 2015

Verified Purchase

Some have described this novel as slow to start then rapid to conclude but I disagree. I think the pace was was excellent, we get enough time to build empathy for Brother Rod and 'jum to care about what happens to them and to pray that they can save the worlds threatened by greed and curiosity.

This is the third book set in Slonczewski's Fold universe after "A Door Into Ocean" and "Daughter of Elysium." This is a universe where the only life is human, perhaps descended from Earth but this is so far in the past but that it is difficult to know, or creatures that humans create... until they go to Prokaryon. Unlike previous colonizations where terraforming was the standard practice, events in "Daughter of Elysium" has made this unacceptable. In order to live on Prokaryon humans must be modified and this process can take years and years as well as a lot of money.

Money, power, and population pressures are sadly still the driving forces of humanity in this universe. If you have not read "Daughter of Elysium' you will not understand this book, some of the characters are the same and the background of political and social changes makes sense if you have read the previous book. It isn't as necessary to have read "A Door Into Ocean" but you'll understand the world better if you do.

I can't wait to read "Brain Plague" next.

One person found this helpful

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Renee

Great science oriented book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 7, 2015

Verified Purchase

My son had to read this book for a summer program called Upward Bound Math and Science and he really enjoyed it and found it quite intriguing. He said you don't even need to read the first book in the series for it to make sense. He and some of his other friends from the program actually read a couple other books in the series because they love how it is so science oriented.

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M. A Michaud

Inventive science, difficult fiction

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 2, 2002

Verified Purchase

This science fiction novel, written by a biologist, gives us an unusually thorough description of an alternate biology. The flora and fauna of the imaginary world Prokaryon are intriguing, particularly when they begin to reveal a hidden intelligence. The visitors to Prokaryon are diverse, including different sorts of humans and intelligent machines, all communicating effortlessly with each other. Medical nanotechnology sends microscopic probes through bodies to remove unwanted organisms. Less inventive is the ubiquitous nanoplast, a substance that shapes and reshapes according to need but is never explained. Neutrinograms allow faster than light communication, another version of an old science fiction device. The densely written story, involving a large number of human and non-human characters, is laborious to read. Only dedicated science fiction fans will make it all the way through.

One person found this helpful

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Jens H. Petersen

splendid

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 27, 2014

Verified Purchase

A super continuation of the elysium Universe with the introduktion of the micros which will be the gamechanger in her last fantastic elysium-book The Brian plague.

One person found this helpful

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Jack

At first it seems confusing but later it all comes together very well

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 3, 2016

Verified Purchase

The author creates a universe with startlingly different cultures on various planets. Each have a detailed biological and cultural basis. Extremely good series.

One person found this helpful

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Andrea Frankel

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 1, 2016

Verified Purchase

A wonderful entry in the Elysium cycle. Definitely read this before you read "Brain Plague" by the same author.

One person found this helpful

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ManicPanic

Morality and Biology on Prokaryon

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 5, 2007

The Children Star tells the story of newly discovered planet from a both a biological and political perspective. The plot itself is surely one any sci-fi reader has read before, but its perspective and characters are original and thought-provoking, written with an eye for both the beautiful and ugly aspects of humanity.

Slonczewski portrays aspects of modern society as species of the "Fold", cleverly having them play out a modern day drama in the discovery of the new planet Prokaryon. The immortal Elysiums (the wealthy) in cahoots with the profit minded Proteus Corp. (big business) combine to find a new home for the overpopulated L'li that doesn't involve the refugees cluttering up the home world of the rich and powerful. These pathetic L'ils, like poverty stricken populations of our third world country, even take desperate treks through space on overcrowded starships to crash land on planets where they have no home, no money and no hope for survival. The fact that Prokaryon is already teeming with inhabitants, perhaps intelligence ones, does little to hinder the Fold's plan to create a new colony for the sick and poor. Money and influence quickly win and a tense struggle to save the indigenous species ensues.

This story unfolds around a religious colony struggling to co-exist with the planet, where young orphans live off the land, taken care of by sentient machines who have found their calling in the "Spirit". The author's play of species off species, including sentient machines that earn their freedom through consciousness and work furlough, was fascinating. While I just skimmed through the biology lecture sections of the book, I didn't feel that took away anything from the story, and some may find it enhances it for them. I haven't read the other books in the Elysium Cycle (Door into Ocean and Brain Plague) but I plan to now. I'm hoping they have less bizarre alien physiology and more inter-galactic policy.

2 people found this helpful

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