Probability Moon

July 3, 2000
Best known for novels that carefully extrapolate near-future medical and social trends, Kress (Stinger) here tells a tale of interplanetary adventure centered in anthropology and physics. Humanity has begun to explore the stars using "space tunnels" created by an unknown alien race. Life turns out to be common on other planets, but surprisingly, most of it is related to us, the products of an experiment carried out by the race that built the tunnels. Only one truly alien species, the Fallers, has been discovered, and they are implacably hostile to humanity. As the novel opens, Earth has sent a starship to a planet whose inhabitants call it World. The expedition's ostensible purpose is anthropological, to study the natives' unique psychic "shared reality," a complex net of mutual understandings that makes lying and large-scale violence virtually impossible. In actuality, however, the expedition has a darker purpose. Earth's military forces have discovered that one of World's moons is an artifact apparently left by the creators of the tunnels, and they think it may be a powerful weapon to use against the Fallers. As the military probe the artifact, the anthropologists on the planet begin to realize the trouble they'll be in if they can't convince the usually peaceful natives that both groups share the same reality. Kress does a good job of working out the ramifications of her shared-reality society, but her human characters lack the depth of those in her best work, the Beggars trilogy; her military figures in particular are thinly drawn. And the physics, although interesting, is introduced in large, sometimes indigestible chunks that slow the plot to a crawl. This is solid SF, but Kress has written better.

June 15, 2000
To avoid violating the global phenomenon of "shared reality" experienced by the people of the planet World, a scientific research team must tread a delicate path between truth and lies. When the knowledge of a secret military mission involving one of the World's seven moons becomes public information, the scientists find themselves trapped on a planet suddenly turned hostile. The author of Maximum Light blends a taut story of survival and culture shock with a thoughtful exploration of the nature of human consciousness in a novel that belongs in most sf collections.

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2000
Kress' new novel may not be as magisterial as her Beggars trilogy, yet in its own way, it is as successful and definitely a new departure for her, too. In the far future, humanity is capable of interstellar travel, thanks to the discovery of devices left behind by a long-vanished alien race. Now humans discover that they share the cosmos with at least two living alien races, one fiercely warlike and uncommunicative, the other apparently humanoid and truthful. Scientists sent to make contact with the truth tellers discover that they are actually on a covert intelligence mission charged with investigating a possibly vital artifact of the vanished aliens; to wit, an artificial moon of the truth tellers' planet. And then the hostile aliens appear. The climax of the book is a four-way conflict among the scientists, the two alien races, and the scientists' military superiors, each charging from a different corner, so to speak. Kress' characterizations are as sound as ever, but many will be agreeably surprised at her proficiency with military hardware and action scenes. Very impressive. ((Reviewed April 15, 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)