Alien Influences
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
On the sun-scorched planet Bountiful, human colonists live peacefully alongside natives known as Dancers until an unspeakable disaster devastates the colony. Six children found dead, their bodies marked in a bizarre parody of a Dancer ritual. The crime's solution makes the situation worse, sending ripples throughout the sector, shattering lives.
One man tries to heal those lives. But can he heal everyone involved, and still save himself? A finalist for the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke award, Alien Influences shows the talents that make Kristine Kathryn Rusch one of the most popular authors working in science fiction today.
"A well-conceived, well-executed novel."
—The New York Times Book Review
Rusch isn't here on this Earth to hand out easy answers. Alien Influences is, like all her work, memorable, enthralling, and just a touch frustrating; there are always more questions after the final page.
—SF Site
[Rusch]'s examination of the heights and depths of the human spirit is what engages and ultimately satisfies.
—Publisher's Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The brutal murders of a group of children on the remote Earth colony of Bountiful in the distant future is the catalyzing event in this latest novel by Rusch that questions the definition of humanity. Although the perpetrators are children themselves, they are denounced for having excessive contract with the Dancers, Bountiful's only indigenous life-form, who teach the children to communicate empathically. Of course, the real motive for the murders rests with the colony's executive, who wants the Dancers eradicated, but it takes John, the only surviving member of the "Dancer Eight," nearly a lifetime to uncover the truth and finally find peace. While Rusch's narrative suffers from an excessively serpentine web of intrigue and exposition, her examination of the heights and depths of the human spirit is what engages and ultimately satisfies.
