Synopsis
Within a future world where pilots are launched on giant kites to watch the skies for demonic monsters, two great religions are on the verge of battle for the souls of the realm
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Reviews
This remarkable book of linked stories by one of the best prose stylists in SF is set in a future England that has become a tight little island in a destroyed, postholocaust world. Powerful churches have long kept their grip on the people with a theology of fear that makes formidable demons out of the poor, weak mutants of the surrounding badlands. To ward off these specters, an elaborate, tradition-encrusted system of kites with hex signs or armed observers fly over the realm. The men of this Kite Corps, performing hazardous duty to sustain a myth, are driven to find a separate peace, to transform, if they can, disillusionment into enlightenment, to move forward from an assumption of guilt to an assumption of responsibility. These obdurate moral and intellectual questions, together with a pastoral vision of a working, Constable-esque countryside, and the appealing characters whose lives open up to reveal the web of their society are all part of the debt Roberts owes George Eliot, as he acknowledges by naming a key city Middlemarch. Structurally, however, Roberts is so expansive and indirect that he challenges the reader to put the pieces together and some individual sequences are reticent to the point of obscurity. There is also a strong streak of Victorian, paternalistic fantasy in the repeated rescue of waifs. If it is slow and demanding, this is still a rich, complex work that marks a considerable advance in maturity and skill over Roberts's early stories.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Kiteworld
Seller: St Vincent de Paul of Lane County, Eugene, OR, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. hardcover 100% of proceeds go to charity! Good condition with all pages in tact. Item shows signs of use and may have cosmetic defects. Seller Inventory # H-02-4549
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Kiteworld
Published by
Arbor House, 1986
ISBN 10: 0877957908
ISBN 13: 9780877957904
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: ThriftBooksVintage, Tukwila, WA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Dust jacket in very good condition. First edition THUS, first printing. Minor shelf and handling wear, overall a clean solid copy with minimal signs of use. Dust jacket protected in mylar. Pages are clean. Binding is tight. Secure packaging for safe delivery. Seller Inventory # 1752477596
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Kiteworld
Published by
New York Arbor House C1985., 1986
ISBN 10: 0877957908
ISBN 13: 9780877957904
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Ann Wendell, Bookseller, Oroville, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
vg/vg, lgt edgewear. Bookclub edition. Binding is hc. Seller Inventory # 000400
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Kiteworld
Published by
Arbor House, New York, 1986
ISBN 10: 0877957908
ISBN 13: 9780877957904
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Aladdin Books, Fullerton, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First American Edition. Very good with slight dust soiling to page edges. In very good dust jacket with some scuffing but no chips or tears and not price-clipped. No previous owner markings or bookplates. No remainder mark. Seller Inventory # 126853
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Kiteworld
Seller: Always Superior Books, Marietta, GA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardback. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First Editiion. Book. Seller Inventory # 046363
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Kiteworld
Seller: Book Lover's Warehouse, Johnson City, TN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. This is an ex-library book with the usual stamps and markings. Jacket has creases, scratches and edge wear. Cover has bumped corners, a small piece of paper attached to one edge and the top edge is faded. Inside cover is torn. See photos. The binding is in good shape. The boards are in good, sturdy condition. The pages of this book are clean and unmarked. FAST SHIPPING & FREE TRACKING! Seller Inventory # 227364
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Kiteworld.
Published by
Arbor House.1986., 1986
ISBN 10: 0877957908
ISBN 13: 9780877957904
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Tacoma Book Center, Tacoma, WA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
ISBN 0-87795-790-8. Hardback. First Printing. Very Good condition book in a Very Good condition dustjacket with minor rubs and creases around its edges. Tight sound unmarked copy. $15.95 original price is present and unclipped on front flap of dustjacket. Seller Inventory # 113128
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Kiteworld // The Photos in this listing are of the book that is offered for sale
Published by
Arbor House, New York, 1986
ISBN 10: 0877957908
ISBN 13: 9780877957904
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: biblioboy, North Providence, RI, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First Edition Thus. New York: Arbor House . 1986. Hardcover. 0877957908 . First US edition. 288 pages. Fantasy Novel A Near Fine Book with light dust soiling top page edges in Fine jacket. See Photos cel. Seller Inventory # 868431
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KITEWORLD
Published by
Arbor House, 1985
ISBN 10: 0877957908
ISBN 13: 9780877957904
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Columbia Books, ABAA/ILAB, MWABA, Columbia, MO, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: fine. NY: Arbor House, c1985. 1st printing, 288pp., 8vo., Fine bright looks unread hardcover, fine unblemished d/j. Seller Inventory # 27336
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KITEWORLD: A FANTASY NOVEL
Published by
Arbor House, 1986
ISBN 10: 0877957908
ISBN 13: 9780877957904
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Top Shelf Books, Santa Rosa, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. Versandi, Jill Bauman (illustrator). First Edition. Hardcover first edition, first printing and first US edition. (Preceded by the UK edition published in 1985.) Fine (unread) copy in fine jacket. Not a book club, remainder or ex-library copy. Uncommon to find copies in fine condition. Award History: 1985 British Science Fiction Award Nominee (lost to Helliconia Winter by Brian W. Aldiss); 1986 John W. Campbell Award Nominee (lost to The Postman by David Brin); 1986 Locus Poll Award Nominee (lost to The Postman by David Brin). Barron (ed), Anatomy of Wonder 4 (1995) 4-359. Book. Seller Inventory # 004122