Tepper once again returns to the theme that humans have seriously f'd up the world and it needs to be set right, somehow. Set in the same world as Plague of Angels, but you really don't need to have read it for this book. Abasio and Blue the horse return is about all, some years later. Parts of this are so similar to PoA - the same sadistic, vengeful female with plans to rule the world, although this one has a mother. Xulai is sort of interesting I guess...but frankly I didn't find the attraction between her and Abasio believable. It's rather slow-paced, with most of the book a journey to safety with a couple stops along the way; I liked most of that. But then the ending turns into the ridiculously weird. So...not even close to being my favorite. Tepper's last book, Fish Tails, is supposed to also be in this world.
From Publishers Weekly
The Earth of this futuristic fable is still scarred by the "Big Kill," the disastrous crescendo of our civilization that all but obliterated terrestrial life. Now a new threat has appeared in the form of rising sea levels, a process that appears unbounded by such petty concerns as a plausible source for all that water. Xulai, initially an unimportant and expendable young girl, encounters a specter from the days of Big Kill, an entity bent on preventing Xulai from realizing her potential role in the salvation of humanity. "Ecofeminist" Tepper (The Margarets) balances pointed criticisms of our era with a calamity that appears to owe far more to Genesis than to science, but the writing is slick and carefully crafted, Xulai has plenty of pluck, and her companions possess a nearly ideal mixture of virtues, flaws, and enthusiasm for redemptive sacrifice.
The Earth of this futuristic fable is still scarred by the "Big Kill," the disastrous crescendo of our civilization that all but obliterated terrestrial life. Now a new threat has appeared in the form of rising sea levels, a process that appears unbounded by such petty concerns as a plausible source for all that water. Xulai, initially an unimportant and expendable young girl, encounters a specter from the days of Big Kill, an entity bent on preventing Xulai from realizing her potential role in the salvation of humanity. "Ecofeminist" Tepper (The Margarets) balances pointed criticisms of our era with a calamity that appears to owe far more to Genesis than to science, but the writing is slick and carefully crafted, Xulai has plenty of pluck, and her companions possess a nearly ideal mixture of virtues, flaws, and enthusiasm for redemptive sacrifice.
