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Growing up ain’t easy, even in a post-human utopia. That seems to be the snide message of Don’t Bite the Sun. There seems to have been an apocalyptic event that reduced most of the Earth to a desert. But humans survived and thrived. The cities are inhabited by an indulged youth culture called Jang. They are cared for by efficient machines. New bodies are easily obtained in whatever gender you prefer for the moment. Sexual ethics are handled by verbal contracts for marriages that may last for periods as brief as the couple likes. The Jang have their own slang, their own ephemeral styles, and fluid social groups. But not everyone is happy. Our unnamed narrator wants to apply for adulthood early, and her best friend is so emo that he show more (male when we first meet him) chooses body types so ugly that he believes no one will want to have sex with him. Adults have long-lived android bodies that gradually become more and more robotic and divorced from human experience. Work, in this society, exists only as hobbies. As our narrator explores the adult world, she (when we first meet her) discovers that she is not ready for adulthood and that the adult world is not ready for her. Don’t Bite the Sun reminds me of Logan’s Run (1967), but it is more nuanced. show less
This is just soaking in glam, but that is really the surface layer. Beneath all that, we get glimpses of what is really going on, with our protagonist figuring it out a little after we do. In this first book, we only get hints of what underlies the endless fun and dedicated decadence.
Tanith Lee found her forever home in fantasy, but I'm a little sad we don't have more science fiction from her, because this is so well executed—laying on the glam like a heavy layer of pancake makeup, then small glimpses of the machine underneath.
Wisely, the next book takes a different storytelling approach. This could get to be too much, pretty quickly. But you can put on Ziggy Stardust and enjoy this book for what it is and when it was written.
Tanith Lee found her forever home in fantasy, but I'm a little sad we don't have more science fiction from her, because this is so well executed—laying on the glam like a heavy layer of pancake makeup, then small glimpses of the machine underneath.
Wisely, the next book takes a different storytelling approach. This could get to be too much, pretty quickly. But you can put on Ziggy Stardust and enjoy this book for what it is and when it was written.
I first read and loved this in my teens. Tanith Lee writes so lyrically with such evocative prose of this loopy dystopic utopia in a far away post-apocalyptic future. And yes, this domed city of Four Bee is both. What do you do in a hedonistic world where everything can be and is done for you by android servants? You can even change bodies and genders. Eternal vacation--or eternal childhood. The (mostly) female protagonist of this first person coming of age narrative bumps into social walls in her search for a purpose to her life beyond the pursuit of pleasure. If that sounds ponderous, well the book isn't. This is told with a lot of wit and humor--Lee even creates her own slang. It's a blast to read and ultimately moving and show more thought-provoking. There's a sequel Drinking Sapphire Wine that picks up the narrative where this leaves off and recently a book combining both short novels was released as Biting the Sun. show less
My rating for Don't Bite the Sun is boosted a half star because you need to read this short novel in preparation for the much better Drinking Sapphire Wine. There's nothing wrong with Don't Bite the Sun, but there's nothing particularly interesting about it either. Told in Clockwork Orange style by an adolescent in a future where adolescence runs much longer, this is a far future mixed utopia/dystopia where essentially all real work and governing is done by androids (called quasi-robots or QRs). Like the Eloi, people spend their days as hedonistically as can be imagined, with constant eating and sex. (Note: while sex is referred to quite often, this is a PG-rated book, barring some four letter words.) When you get bored, you change into show more a new body. If you can't wait for the official time to change, you just commit suicide and the QRs will find your body and resurrect you in a newly grown shell of your choice. Eventually you transition to a slightly more sedate Older Ones, but little is shown about these people. They don't seem to be any wiser. The QRs, like Dick's androids and robots, are quite human but not totally on our side -- and given how most people behave, it's hard to blame them. The main weakness of the book is that the main character is so shallow, that it's hard to are much about her quest for happiness. She serves mostly to provide a tour of this future world, albeit through a very limited lens. Only one section really worked for me, when she leaves her domed city to work on a desert research expedition. Fortunately, this section is the template for Drinking Sapphire Wine. Recommended as a prelude to that second novel. show less
This is certainly a book that has an interestung and ambitious premise.
A world where you can change your apperance and gender as easily as buying new clothes,where young people are encouraged to be irresponsible and devote themselves to extreme pleasureseeking.
This is one of those books that hard to define properly.
I am used to reading books where you get to know the world through the main characters eyes but since its already familiar to the main character we dont quite get a clear understanding of the world wich in it takes place. Is it the future? Is it an alternative reality? I kept wondering.
There are certain moments when you really connect with the main character and understand her/him/its? feelings but it gets buried in the show more needlessly strange phrasing and the narrative is full of terms that we can only guess at what they mean.
There is a dictionary at the end(wich I didnt realize until I had finished)but unless you read it first you will be as confused as I was when I read it.
Its not a book I can say I love but it raises some interesting question about gender roles and how people are percieved by others based on their appearance and also explores the need humans have to struggle to really be content with their lives. show less
A world where you can change your apperance and gender as easily as buying new clothes,where young people are encouraged to be irresponsible and devote themselves to extreme pleasureseeking.
This is one of those books that hard to define properly.
I am used to reading books where you get to know the world through the main characters eyes but since its already familiar to the main character we dont quite get a clear understanding of the world wich in it takes place. Is it the future? Is it an alternative reality? I kept wondering.
There are certain moments when you really connect with the main character and understand her/him/its? feelings but it gets buried in the show more needlessly strange phrasing and the narrative is full of terms that we can only guess at what they mean.
There is a dictionary at the end(wich I didnt realize until I had finished)but unless you read it first you will be as confused as I was when I read it.
Its not a book I can say I love but it raises some interesting question about gender roles and how people are percieved by others based on their appearance and also explores the need humans have to struggle to really be content with their lives. show less
Meh. It took me months to get into this book. At first, I was put off by the highly creative language, and then I was bored by the "Logan's Run cum Barbarella plus malaise" plot. Now that I've finished it, I can also complain about the ridiculous bio-techno-babble and the deus-ex-left-field ending. I think the reason I started reading this was to prove that Tanith Lee doesn't only write Gothic High Fantasy. Well… this isn't Gothic, but um, immortal people who can wear wings any time they want to? In glittering cities? Bah. This might've been less boring back in 1976, I suppose.
*note to self. Copy from A.
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Author Information
322+ Works 29,789 Members
Tanith Lee, September 19, 1947 - May 24, 2015 Tanith Lee was born on September 19, 1947 in London, England, the daughter of ballroom dancers. She attended various primary schools and had a variety of jobs, from file clerk and assistant librarian to shop assistant and waitress. Lee attended an art college for one year, but felt she would be better show more writing her ideas than painting them. Her first professional sale was "Eustace," a 90 page vignette which appeared in The Ninth Pan Book of Horror Stories in 1968. While Lee was working as an assistant librarian, she wrote a children's story that was accepted for publication. Others of her stories were also bought but never published. In 1971, Macmillan published "The Dragon Hoard," another children's book, which was followed by "Animal Castle" and "Princess Hynchatti and Other Stories" in 1972. Lee was looking for a British publisher for her book "The Birthgrave," but was denied at every House she went. She then wrote to American publisher DAW, known for it's fantasy and horror selections, who immediately accepted her manuscript and published the book in 1975. Thus began a partnership between the two that lasted till 1989 and resulted in 28 books. After the publication of her third book by DAW, Lee quit her job and became a full-time freelance writer. Lee has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, the August Derleth Award and the Nebula. She has had more than 40 novels published, along with over 200 short stories. Lee died peacefully in her sleep after a long illness on May 24, 2015. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Don't Bite the Sun
- Original title
- Don't Bite the Sun
- Original publication date
- 1976
- People/Characters*
- Hergal; Hatta; Kley; Danor; Thinta; Lorun (show all 8); Sarl; Glar Assule
- Important places*
- Vier-BEE
- First words
- Mein Freund Hergal hatte sich wieder einmal umgebracht.
My friend Hergal had killed himself again. - Quotations*
- Versuche nicht in die Sonne zu beißen, Reisender, du wirst dir den Mund verbrennen.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Ich gehörte in das Dämmerlicht, das mich hervorgebracht hatte. Oder nicht? Oder nicht?
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Or do I? - Publisher's editor*
- Alpers, Hans Joachim
- Blurbers
- Bradley, Marion Zimmer
- Original language*
- Englisch
- Disambiguation notice
- Don't Bite the Sun is the first of two novels in Tanith Lee's Series, "four-BEE" (also known in French as "Le bain des limbes"). It also appears together with the second volume, Drinking Sapphire Wine, under bo... (show all)th this second novel's title and as Biting the Sun.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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