Adiamante

This is one of my favorite books. Not just because it's a good sci-fi story, but because there's a pervasive idea throughout about taking care of the environment and wastefulness.

There's this great story about the cybs coming back to Earth after generations to kind of get their own back from the home of their ancestors, so they show up with twelve adiamante hulled ships. The demis on Earth scramble around to try and figure out how to stop them without being the ones to make the first aggressive move.

The demis welcome the cybs, show them around, and try to warn them without warning them. And the way they do it, and the imagery that's presented, really starts getting you to think about how wasteful we are and how much we affect the show more environment around us with the things we do.

This book basically turned me off of the idea of CDs. It made me think about how wiping out one species affects the life of another. It made me want to bake my own bread and install solar paneling. The fact that it did all that while being an interesting story and not preaching at me is why this is one of the books that has a permanent place on my bookshelf. show less

This book is set fairly far in the future on Earth. Humanity has divided into 3 distinct types, cyborgs, normal humans and 'demis'. Demis have fully embraced a society that's fully connected/networked, without machinery, while the cybs depend heavily on machinery and machine based thought. The cybs have returned to Earth to take revenge for being forced off the planet in the past. I found this vision of a future Earth very interesting and plausible, though it could have used additional detail. The cybs also could have used additional detail, it wasn't very clear how they were very different from the demis. The story is told from the point of view of one particular demi who becomes the planetary Coordinator when the cybs appear, sort of show more a future crisis manager. The book is well written, the small cast of characters are good, and I enjoyed the plot. show less

In the far future, Earth is a backwater with a small population struggling to heal the scars man has created. Descendants of Earth, a race of cyborgs, return to exact some revenge for a defeat centuries before. The populace tries to show them what happened, the consequences of their philosophy, without engaging in conflict, but the cyborgs don't get the message. Frankly, I wouldn't have either. It was too subtle for the type of people they were. I don't think he did a great job of balancing his 'reality' against the message being sent.Again, typical of many of his books, is a message of responsibility both with power & resources. The hero is very typical (actually the same) as most of his books & while his view of Earth's possible show more future is interesting, it didn't grab me as well as some of his others have. It wasn't a bad book, by any means. It was entertaining & gave some food for thought, but it isn't one of my favorite of his. It's quick to read & interesting. show less

Another novel I couldn't put down. A good story with thought-provoking undertones.

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