Home Fires

November 22, 2010
Against a backdrop of science fictional elements such as time dilation through space travel, cyborgs, and brain downloads, Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductee Wolfe (The Sorcerer's House) builds a romance and a mystery. Successful lawyer Skip Grison wants to find a wonderful gift for his contracted paramour, Chelle Blue, now 20 years his junior after an interstellar military tour. After reuniting Chelle with her estranged mother, Vanessa, whose consciousness has been downloaded into a new body, Skip takes Chelle on a round-the-world cruise that turns into an almost screwball comedy of hijackings and chaos as shadowy people may be trying to get to Skip, Chelle, Vanessa, or someone else entirely. Red herrings and unknown, mistaken, or confused identities saturate the novel, making this well suited for readers, especially mystery readers, who don't often read science fiction.

Starred review from November 1, 2010

Complex, enigmatic science fiction about war and the damage it inflicts, both visible and invisible, from the celebrated author.

In this future, Earth is so energy-depleted that natural forces and the power of human muscle must be used to accomplish work; simultaneously—a paradox Wolfe never explicates—starships prospect the galaxy for desirable real estate, bringing humanity into conflict with the alien Os, who have similar designs. Thanks to highly detailed brain scans, personalities can be downloaded and stored electronically. Students Skip Grison and Chelle ("shell") Blue met in college and married, but soldier Chelle soon departed to fight the Os on distant planets. Due to time-dilation effects, when Chelle returns she's only a few months older, while Skip is now a hugely successful middle-aged lawyer. They are still in love, or so it seems, and arrange to go on a leisurely Caribbean cruise aboard a colossal wind-powered liner. But Chelle's body and perhaps brain were severely injured—her hands are now different sizes, Skip observes. She tends to jump into bed with practically anybody (after Skip's long affair with his secretary, he's in no position to censure or complain) and leaves a cryptic note claiming to be another person altogether. With complications involving spies, murderers, cyborgs and pirates, Wolfe cross-examines his characters with a subtle, intelligent series of psychological and logical challenges.

A somber, almost brooding tone permeates this compelling work from one of the genre's grandmasters.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2010

Now a successful defense attorney, Skip eagerly awaits the return of his wife, Chelle, from her tour of duty fighting a war in space against hostile aliens--and realizes that the months of service have translated into years. While Skip is now in his forties, his wife is still in her twenties, and their attempts to re-create a life together devolve rapidly into a series of ever more bizarre confrontations that hint at dark doings beneath the surface of normality. Though known primarily for his groundbreaking "Book of the New Sun" series and its spin-offs, Wolfe also excels at infusing seemingly everyday stories with layers of complexity while never losing track of his characters' individual dramas. VERDICT Part cyber-thriller, part love story, part sf adventure, Wolfe's latest novel should appeal to his many fans as well as to general readers.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2011
In a future North America not quite crumbling but somewhat less than utopian, Skip and Chelle meet and marry in college. But Chelle has to do her term of military service against aliens many light-years away. Twenty-five years later, thanks to the time-dilation effect, she is a still-young but convalescent combat veteran. Skip is a wealthy businessman. And they are still in love. Unfortunately, when they take a Caribbean cruise to celebrate, they run into pirates, politics, aliens, and Murphys Law running wild. The ending may not please readers who have come to care for the couple, as over the years it has been easy to care for most of Wolfes characters. But they will be pleased by this latest display of all the gifts of one of sfs authentic all-time masters, including original and balanced characterization, masterly world building, and an ethical sensibility of the highest degree.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)