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Warner, Sep 2001, 24.95, 496 pp.
ISBN: 0446524913
Though humanity has colonized much of the heavens, man's reign seems through, as disease and environmental disaster has become common. The only colony still thriving is Pandora where the obsession to keep the ecosystem pure has saved its citizens. However, the other worlds threaten to destroy Pandora if the scientists fail to stop the universally pandemic spread of the Diversity crisis.
Feeling the same desperate sense of urgency with little hope, the Pandorans may have found the answer in the DNA of the Trust family, residents of a nearby-overcrowded space station. After their mother dies, the two daughters, Chena and Teal, become the center of attention of a planet and a universe. As the two sisters flee, everyone wants a piece of their genes and even the good guys will kill to obtain a strand or two.
Award winning Sarah Zettel has written her most compelling novel to date with the stirring KINGDOM OF CAGES. The story line occasionally slows down in order to allow readers to understand the apocalypse now gripping everyone while also furnishing her audience with an insightful look at Pandora's social system. The two siblings are engaging characters whose coming of age is speeded up by a despairing populace willing to do anything for a strand of their genes. Anyone who has read THE QUIET INVASION or PLAYING GOD will already know how good Ms Zettel is. However, this tale is by far her most thought provoking as the Ayn Rand question of the good of society vs. the rights of the individual is played out on a galactic scale.
Harriet Klausner
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Plot
Composition of Book Descript. of chases or violence - 10% planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40% Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 10%
Tone of book
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?
- science fiction story
Tech./$$$/Info hunt
Yes
Stealing/recovering/destroying
- cure/disease/bioweapon
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Cultural problems, alien culture
Yes
Culture clash-
- one culture tries to impose its culture on another group
Intense exploration of society's culture?
Yes
Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- a teen
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- very athletic
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
- an entire race
Age:
- long-lived adults
Profession/status:
- bureaucrat
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
- a substantial amount
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Terrain
- Jungle
- Desert
- Water
- Mountains
- Forests
- Domed/Underground City
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body:
- humans in a futuristic society
- very controlled society
Planet outside solar system?
Yes
Style
Person?
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
- moderately detailed references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only)
- a moderate amount of scientific explanation
- a fair amount of scientific explanation
How much dialogue?
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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