The Face of the Waters - Hardcover

Silverberg, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0246137185 ISBN 13: 9780246137180

Publisher: Bantam, 1991

Synopsis

On the waterworld planet of Hydros, the human colonists are exiled by the amphibious natives from the few habitable land masses and set off in a desperate search for refuge in the shadowy mystical land of the Face of the Waters

About this title

About the Author

Robert Silverberg is one of science fiction s most beloved writers, and the author of such contemporary classics as"Dying Inside", "Downward to the Earth, "and"Lord Valentine s Castle". He is a past president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the winner of five Nebula Awards and five Hugo Awards. In 2004 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America presented him with the Grand Master Award. Silverberg is one of twenty-nine writers to have received that distinction.

From Kirkus Reviews

After the sun goes nova and destroys the Earth, humans survive only in small groups on far-flung planets like Hydros, a world with no land masses at all; here, humans are permitted to share the floating islands built by the Gillies, one of several intelligent native species. But when ambitious capitalist Nid Delagard of Sorve Island accidentally kills some intelligent ``divers'' in the course of his operations, the Gillies somehow know--and order the humans off Sorve. Led by doctor Valben Lawler, in ships provided by Delagard, they sail off in pursuit of a distant uninhabited island. On the voyage, storms, tides, and deadly sea creatures take their toll of ships and people; then Lawler discovers that Delagard really intends to seek out the Face of the Waters, a fabulous, mysterious island avoided by the Gillies. At last, a handful of survivors reach the island, only to learn that the Face of the Waters is the focus of a planetary consciousness embracing all Hydran life--and they, isolated, orphaned humans, are being invited to join. This far-from-original idea raises other questions, not least the problem of a food chain whose components share a consciousness, that Silverberg declines even to acknowledge, let alone confront. So: a mediocre ocean-world odyssey--comparisons with Jack Vance's superior The Blue World are inevitable--from the veteran writer/editor, professionally turned but disappointingly superficial. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0246137185
• ISBN 13: 9780246137180
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320