The Braided World - Kay Kenyon Book Review

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"The Braided World"
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Review Summaries

" Bantam, Feb 2003, 6.99, 416 pp. ISBN 0553583794 Between the deaths caused by the Black Cloud and the resulting demises caused by runaway plagues, Earth is dying. It no longer has a sufficient gene pool capable of creating a viable population. Humanity's only hope lies in a message from a planet thirty light years away stating Earth can reclaim what it has lost. Billionaire Bailey Shaw funds a ship, the Restoration, which takes people to this orb, but what they find there shocks them. The native Dassa look human-like, but do not reproduce the same way. Women that can breed get their tongues cut out and become slaves called hoda. The Dassa is not the ones who sent the message but their creators the Quads did. Nobody alive on the planet knows where the genetic markers that earth desperately needs can be found. Unless someone uncovers the puzzle, the human race will die out. The two races that look almost identical on the surface have very different thought processes and ways of reproducing. Both distrust one another when they first meet. The punishment the Dassa mete out to childbearing women is horrific but the Terrans can do nothing to help them. If the hoda want freedom they must fight for it on their own because the people from earth must concentrate on their prime mission of saving the species. The audience will feel that Dassa society exists and author Kay Kenyon has visited the realm she has written about in her novel THE BRAIDED WORLD, which enable the audience to experience second hand this alien but fascinating orb. Harriet Klausner "
Harriet Klausner, Resident Kay Kenyon Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 40%

Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Plotlets: - generally friendly contact with alien(s) - fighting a disease/illness affecting everyone
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Cultural problems, alien culture Yes
Culture clash- - one human from different culture of other humans
Intense exploration of society's culture? Yes

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - fighter (air/space) pilot
Age: - 20's-30's
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female Alien
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - politician/elected ruler
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Setting
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a contemporary society
Planet outside solar system? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
scientific jargon? (SF only) - a fair amount of scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - significantly more dialog than descript

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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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