Publisher: EOS
Format: Mass market paperback, 549 pages.
ISBN 10: 0060538228
ISBN 13: 978-0060538224
Reviewer: Victoria
Copy: Purchased on-line.
On the Back of the Book. . .
Three planets in deep space were named by their human discoverers to reflect their environments: lush and foreboding Jungle, which swallowed up an exploratory team; Stone, phenomenally rich in rare ore; and Moss, the most enigmatic - and dangerous - of the trio.
Joining her half-brother Paul, the famed linguist, on a two-person scientific expedition, Jewel Delis has come to Moss to observe the phenomenon of dancing light and to help decipher the strange musical "language" that accompanies it. But there are other mysteries alive on this exotic world covered in ever-shifting vegetation - and something more than illumninations has enticed her away from a disastrously overpopulated homeworld to seek answers at the universe's unexplored edge. For Jewel herself is a question mark with a radical agenda that will put her at perilous odds with her planet's ruling powers - and with the inscrutable alien races she encounters - as she risks all for the justice of the endangered beasts of the Earth.
Sheri S. Tepper has a wonderful way with prose. It's efficient, lucid and beautiful. Her world-building is superb, and in The Companions she provides us with a dead future Earth, social disintergration, and a glimspe of what what we as a species can become if we continue certain practices which singlemindedly harm our planet.
Jewel lives on a Earth that contains only algae farms and humans. Three hundred storied towers coat the surface of the planet, and in them, humans struggle for space to live in and air to breathe in. In public, Jewel dons the robe and veil that all humans wear on Earth. This getup is to keep everyone anonymous and safe, and to keep aggression and violence to a minimum.
Jewel, originally brought up on Mars with her artist parents, struggles to eke out an existence by working at a shelter for dogs run by the secretive group called the Arkists. The Arkists are a political group who firmly believe in preserving native flora and fauna that haven't been driven to extinction. Opposing them, however, is the majority, who, out of an instinctual bid for life, believe all other life should be exterminated so that there is more air for humans. Humans were made in God's image, they say. Not dogs. Not cats, nor any other form of animal.
Another major theme of the novel is language. Tepper explores the subtlties of language and the very basic building blocks that form language and words. Colours, scent and movement are all aspects of language which she plays with.
The first three-quarters of the book were intoxicating. I soaked in every word. The ending, however, felt flat for me. It was a little too deus ex machina for my liking. The use of dimensional shifts and planes felt a little too contrived.
All in all, it was an enjoyable book, the worlds Jewel visited were well fleshed out and real. Her characterization was consistent and her style is to die for. The ending got a little too mushy and convaluted for my tastes, but if you like 'softer' science in your fiction, you should be fine.
Plot: 7 (It's this low because of the ending. It would have been higher if it weren't for that.)
Characterization: 9
Style: 9
Overall Rating: 8
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