From Publishers Weekly
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Loosely related to her earlier books Grass and
Raising the Stones, Tepper's newest big novel questions the
desirability of further evolution. A sentient fungus has infested
most of the galaxy, reworking the life forms it inhabits to
enhance their physical and spiritual comfort. The people of the
planet Elsewhere, however, see the fungus's contented hosts as
slaves; to preserve free will on Elsewhere, the rulers have
imposed absolute cultural relativity within which pleasant and
unsavory societies coexist, their integrity rigidly maintained by
Enforcers. But powers have arisen to challenge the status quo:
creatures resembling dragons are reported in unexplored regions,
and evil entities in the computer network are manifesting
themselves in a deadly way. The planetary provost, Boarmus, sends
a crew of three Enforcers with an assortment of misfits to
investigate the dragons, while he tries to thwart the net-beings.
The pointlessly complicated plot veers off into long digressions
that add only pages to the main story, and though Tepper tries to
raise the stakes with debates over current issues such as
isolationism and sexism, she fails to grapple with the complex
implications of these concerns. After her last book, Beauty ,
this one is a disappointment.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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From Library Journal
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The world of Tolerance, where each province governs
itself without interference from its neighbors, suffers from a
ness at its core, and only a small group of misfits and alien
travelers can find the key to the world's survival. This final
volume in the triptych that includes Grass ( LJ 9/15/89) and
Raising the Stones ( LJ 8/90) begins slowly, as the author
painstakingly introduces her characters to the complexity of the
plot, but ultimately Tepper's imaginative vision holds forth and
delivers one of her most challenging works to date. Libraries
interested in acquiring significant sf should consider this
rewarding but difficult title.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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From Kirkus Reviews
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Bulging, indistinct sociological fantasy, the third
part of a cycle that includes Grass (1989) and Raising the Stones
(1990). In a vastly overcomplicated scenario, planet Tolerance is
the last human world free of (supposed) enslavement by the Hobbs
Land Gods. Founded a millennium ago by academics, the Brannigans,
the planet is dedicated to preserving hundreds of diverse social
systems, all secure against interference by its neighbors, thanks
to the Enforcers employed by the ruling Council. But the various
societies are growing steadily more bloodthirsty, sadistic, and
intolerant: Reports indicate that malign godlike beings are
manifesting themselves to influence human affairs. So old
Boarmus, the Council president, sends his Enforcers to
investigate: wise old Zasper, strong young Dannivon, and
beautiful but damaged Fringe are soon joined by a mysterious,
ancient woman, Jory, who knows more than she's telling.
Eventually, after a thousand convolutions, it emerges that the
Brannigans had their mentalities preserved in an impregnable
underground vault; they have gone mad and, able to project
godlike selves into the outside world via billions of tiny
machines, desire only to degrade and torment humans. Possibly
they can be stopped by the Hobbs Land Gods--actually an alien
Arbai multi-component empathy machine. Jory turns out to be a
once-human manifestation of the Arbai device. And, tagging along
for no discernible reason, are Nela and Bertran, Siamese twins
from Earth who stumble through an Arbai Gate and end up,
thousands of years later, on Tolerance. An often astonishing work
of bold imagination and sharp if rather conspicuous satire,
marred by a recondite discursiveness that frequently degenerates
into sheer flab. The workaday prose and dialogue don't help. --
Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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