Putting Up Roots: A Jupiter Novel - Hardcover

Sheffield, Charles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312862415 ISBN 13: 9780312862411

Publisher: Tor Books, 1997

Synopsis

When Josh and his autistic cousin Dawn are sent to the planet Solferino, they join a group of kids already working for an interplanetary conglomerate stationed there. Assured by the bosses that no intelligent life exists on Solferino, Josh and Dawn come to suspect otherwise. Especially when Dawn makes contact with one of the creatures, a creature with whom she shares a mysterious ability to communicate.

With the corporation pressuring them, Josh and Dawn are drawn into a battle to save the creatures. And, it turns out, to save themselves.

About this title

About the Author

Charles Sheffield is a mathematician and theoretical physicist by training. His doctoral work was on Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. Currently Dr. Sheffield works as chief scientist for the Earth Satellite Corporation, a Washington, D.C.–based firm that specializes in the analysis of data gathered from space.

The author of thirty previous science fiction novels, including Cold as Ice and The Ganymede Club from Tor, Sheffield lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife, author Nancy Kress.

Reviews

This third book of the Jupiter novels (following Higher Education, LJ 4/15/96 and The Billion Dollar Boy, LJ 12/96, both with Jerry Pournell) finds teenagers at odds with Earth society shipped off to a distant planet. On Solferino, Josh Kerrigan and other trainees search for usable plant life for the Foodlines conglomerate. Supposedly uninhabited by intelligent life, Solferino holds many surprises for and raises questions from the trainees. Sheffield expertly condemns corporate greed in a story that parallels the destruction of the rainforests and dehumanization of the natives. Recommended.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The third of Sheffield's Jupiter novels (after Higher Education [1995] and The Billion Dollar Boy ) starts with teenager Josh Kerrigan being deserted by his mother, then, along with a number of other unwanted children, fobbed off by his uncle on an interstellar exploration team. The team stops on the planet Solferino, which looks like a farming paradise but is actually the object of a deadly duel between two gigantic corporations. Thanks to the street smarts of the youngsters plus the unsuspected presence of an undercover cop, the bad guys are somewhat messily foiled. In the process, it is discovered that Solferino has intelligent native life, which puts it permanently off-limits for the dueling corporations. Once again the plot of a Jupiter novel includes some serious implausibilities; yet its pace is brisk, its technical detail is flawless, and its protagonists, Josh and his autistic cousin, Dawn, are the best drawn of any in the series so far. Roland Green

Edition details

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312862415
• ISBN 13: 9780312862411
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256