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Loading... Stewards of the Flameby Sylvia Engdahl
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  erinclark | Dec 7, 2009 |   This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways. First and foremost, I am not a fan of science fiction. Those who like that genre will love this book. I found it long-winded and it did not capture my interests. It took everything in me just to read it. I don't mean to be a stick in the mud about it & I know everybody else loved it, not me! (  ) lg4154 | Nov 23, 2009 | This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways. Sylvia Engdahl's "Stewards of the Flame" is an incredible mutli-dimensional tale which nothing I read with respect to the book had prepared me for. My expectation for entertainment was so far surpassed that I'm still reeling from the vortex.The thought provoking complexity of the story would have been more than enough to earn my respect, but the spine tingling, hair raising terror of the ideas, especially when some of the concepts are really not that far from reality, leaves me seriously horrified about the implications of what fanatical health consciousness could lead to. (  ) Caillech | Oct 2, 2009 | This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways. Fleet Captain Jesse Saunders wakes up in a hospital without any memory of how or why he is there. So begins Sylvia Engdahl’s science fiction novel, Stewards of the Flame, centered on a small colony world where everyone is wealthy and healthy…or else. Jesse quickly learns that the medical community on this planet is the only authority, acting as both judge and jury in the lives of everyone. Crimes and illness are considered one in the same and they are very aggressively diagnosed and treated with mind-altering drugs. Even death is illegal. Bodies are kept alive in stasis forever by a society that believes the body is the essence of existence. However, not everyone agrees, and Jesse’s new friends – Peter and Carla – have dedicated themselves to creating a much different kind of life for their covert dissident group. When his new companions manage to engineer his ‘legal’ escape, Jesse is confronted with a life both frightening and intriguing – a life where the human mind’s potential is revealed and relationships he has never experienced become possible. However, the future is uncertain, as discovery of any one member of the group could mean a certain end for them all.The book begins well, building tension and providing plenty of twist and turns as Jesse tries to understand what is going on around him and who he can trust. When he becomes free of the Meds – Jesse begins to learn about the powers of his mind and the abilities of the people he has quickly come to trust, even while he recognizes that they are keeping something from him. This is where this clipper of a story – which had been zipping right along – suddenly lost all its wind and parked in the doldrums. The nature of the story required a certain amount of setup along the way, but the dialog felt like I was reading a transcript of a graduate school parapsychology class – for 300 hundred pages! It became a long-winded, back-and-forth conversation that laid out everything you could have ever wanted to know about what the mind may or may not be capable of. If there was anything left for the reader to figure out themselves, I don’t know what it could have been. In the meantime, the plot languished. Even as the action picked up in the final scenes of the story, it still took a backseat to the ongoing moral and theoretical conversations of the characters. However, the story is not all bad. Engdahl’s writing is simple and engaging. The characters are well developed and the romance between Jesse and Carla feels real and is quite well done. Also, the question of when medical decision-making should belong to the patient or to the state makes for an interesting and timely debate. Unfortunately, the story itself offers little tension and the ending is predictable long before the last page. If you have a keen interest in parapsychology and medical ethics, you may find this an interesting addition to the discussion. But if you are looking for an engaging story from beginning to end, you will probably be disappointed. ( ) csayban | Sep 23, 2009 | This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways. The first part of the book was rather slow, but the second part definitely sucked me in, as I saw more reasons to care about the characters and their medical plight. Testing character is important, as in most of her books. She focuses on nature and freedom in lieu of bureaucracy and confinement. (  ) infiniteletters | May 13, 2009 |
"The story is compelling, and drew me in from the first few pages. . . . Stewards of the Flame is a thought provoking novel that may make you question the authority and direction of modern Western medical practices. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading genre fiction with some substance to it." "A brilliant twist on dystopianism, taking that which most people see as humanitarian and proper--the care and well-being of fellow human beings--and pushing the logic to the extreme. . . . The book builds just the right amount of tension, and shows the stark reality of benevolent tyranny, one that any so-called democracy could creep towards quite easily." "Inspires a lot of thought-provoking 'what-if' questions. . . . An excellent novel to read just for pure enjoyment, however, I would highly recommend Stewards of the Flame to bioethics classes. It will certainly lead to some stimulating conversations." "The story is original and interesting. . . . A good SF yarn." Belongs to SeriesThe Founders of Maclairn (Book 1) Awards
Crime is considered illness, untreated illness is crime; ambulances crews are the only police. Dead bodies stay on "life support" forever. Can anyone gain freedom?When burned-out starship captain Jesse Sanders is seized by a dictatorial medical regime and detained on the colony planet Undine, he has no idea that he is about to be plunged into a bewildering new life that will involve ordeals and joys beyond anything he has ever imagined, as well as the love of a woman with powers that seem superhuman. Still less does he suspect that he must soon take responsibility for the lives of people he has come to care about and the preservation of their hopes for the future of humankind.Winner of a bronze medal in the Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards, this controversial novel deals with government-imposed health care, end-of-life issues, and the so-called paranormal powers of the human mind. Despite being set in the distant future on another world, it appeals not only to science fiction readers but to others who question the dominant medical philosophy of today's society, or who value personal freedom of choice.From the reviews:"The story is compelling, and drew me in from the first few pages. . . . I recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading genre fiction with some substance to it." --Blogcritics"A suspenseful and thought-provoking novel that seems so plausible that it sends chills up my spine . . . truly a masterpiece of parapsychological science fiction." --Rebecca "s Reads"A chilling look at what extreme socialized medicine could become in the hands of a dictatorial medical regime. . . Would make an excellent discussion topic for a book club." --MyShelf.com"A brilliant twist on dystopianism. . . . The book builds just the right amount of tension, and shows the stark reality of benevolent tyranny, one that any so-called democracy could creep towards quite easily." --Prometheus"Grips the attention with the raw immediacy of the problems. . . . It asks the sort of questions only SF can pose, and paints a vivid picture of where failing to answer those questions might lead. . . . Stewards is the kind of SF I've been craving!" --Jacqueline Lichtenberg (author of the Sime/Gen series)"Stewards of the Flame is a brave book, and the numbers of those holding to the sentiments it conveys are growing. While the novel portrays extreme measures taken to prolong life to reductio ad absurdum lengths, it can't be faulted for challenging our comfort zone, when after all, that is one sure measure of worthwhile fiction." --ScifiDimensions"A taut, well-paced science fiction work . . . that transcends the genre's traditional subdivisions and leads us into a world as relevant as today but as enthralling as tomorrow." --Paul H. Smith (author of Reading the Enemy "s Mind: Inside Star Gate ”America "s Psychic Espionage Program)"Inspires a lot of thought-provoking 'what-if' questions. . . . An excellent novel to read just for pure enjoyment, however, I would highly recommend Stewards of the Flame to bioethics classes. It will certainly lead to some stimulating conversations." --Midwest Book Review's MBR Bookwatch"Expository sections . . . are more than made up for by Engdahl's unmatched ability to combine intellectual speculation, moral forthrightness, and narrative suspense. . . . The end is both exciting and searingly moving. Readers who enjoy the more adult works of Robert A. Heinlein or C. S. Lewis should enjoy this novel. . . [It] is eminently readable, indeed hard to put down. . . . It also has the potential to bring this undervalued author the wide reading public her talent merits." --Nicholas Birns (author ofUnderstanding Anthony Powell)The author:Sylvia Engdahl is the author of the Newbery Honor book Enchantress from the Stars and other Young Adult novels. Stewards of the Flame and its sequel Promise of the Flame are her first novels for adults. No library descriptions found. 
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LibraryThing AuthorSylvia Engdahl is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing. Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
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Wikipedia in English
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This is one of the most well thought out novels on the future of our actual American medical health situation right now and beyond. And it's about a lot more than that, telepathy, mind control, pain control etc. Extremely thought provoking. Recommended. (