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by David Haxton Carswell Read
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by John Monaghan
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by Adam Kennedy
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by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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(Larger Image)
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Courtship Rite (A Timescape Book)
by Donald Kingsbury
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Pocket (1983-09-01)
ISBN: 0671460897
EAN: 9780671460891
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Paperback: 409 pages
SKU: mon0000047445
Condition: Good
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Customer Reviews
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The best SF Novel of it's Year
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-11-19
When this book was written, it was recognized as one of the six best of the year, but it lost the Hugo Award when Isaac Asimov starting adding to his Foundation Trilogy. Nominated that year were books by Heinlein, Clarke, Cherryh, and Wolfe (they knew it was a great year for SF- usually, only 5 books are nominated!). 25 years later, I can still say Kingsbury above any of these other giants of the field, was ROBBED. This book is one I reread every few years, and it stands the test of time. This is the best SF novel of the era, and I only wish that Kingsbury wrote more stories of this world and society, because I found it completely engrossing, and I thought the ending cried out for more.
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One of my favorites
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-02-25
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
One of my favorite SF books for its richly-detailed world, which is almost a fantasy setting. (Just who are the Mankre time wizards?)
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Not nearly as good as I had hoped
Rating  (3)
Date: 2007-12-20
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I came into this book with the best of intentions. First, I read the other reviews for this book, which are effusive in their praise. Second, I've read "To Bring In the Steel," which is one of the absolute finest pieces of romantic science fiction ever written. But I can't prostitute my opinion for anybody, even Kingsbury.
First, I thought the world Kingsbury created was illogical. Common sense, based on human experience, says that complicated genetic and mechanical manipulations are capable only at the highest levels of human interaction, efficiency and wealth. They certainly wouldn't come in a world where peoples' main preoccupations were humping and eating each other, with only 200 million people and subject to constant famine.
Second, I'm tired of the pseudo philosophical commentary found at the beginning of each chapter. We've seen enough of that, as someone pointed out, in Dune and other books. Mr. Kingsbury, don't tell us -- show us!
Third, a pet peeve of mine is America bashing in any context where's it's undeserved. It certainly was in this case. Really, to compare the U.S. withdrawal of forces from Vietnam to the starvation and executions of millions in the Leninist and Stalinist purges is so completely ridiculous only a historical simpleton or rabid America hater could make such an analogy.
I don't know, maybe I'm expecting too much. Maybe I'm pining away for a full length book written by Kingsbury that's as good as "To Bring In the Steel." One thing's for sure: I haven't found it yet.
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Not nearly as good as I had hoped
Rating (3)
Date: 2007-12-20
1 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I came into this book with the best of intentions. First, I read the other reviews for this book, which are effusive in their praise. Second, I've read "To Bring In the Steel," which is one of the absolute finest pieces of romantic science fiction ever written. But I can't prostitute my opinion for anybody, even Kingsbury.
First, I thought the world Kingsbury created was illogical. Common sense, based on human experience, says that complicated genetic and mechanical manipulations are capable only at the highest levels of human interaction, efficiency and wealth. They certainly wouldn't come in a world where peoples' main preoccupations were humping and eating each other, with only 200 million people and subject to constant famine.
Second, I'm tired of the pseudo philosophical commentary found at the beginning of each chapter. We've seen enough of that, as someone pointed out, in Dune and other books. Mr. Kingsbury, don't tell us -- show us!
Third, a pet peeve of mine is America bashing in any context where's it's undeserved. It certainly was in this case. Really, to compare the U.S. withdrawal of forces from Vietnam to the starvation and executions of millions in the Leninist and Stalinist purges is so completely ridiculous only a historical simpleton or rabid America hater could make such an analogy.
I don't know, maybe I'm expecting too much. Maybe I'm pining away for a full length book written by Kingsbury that's as good as "To Bring In the Steel." One thing's for sure: I haven't found it yet.
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Terrific tale
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-06-02
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I've read and re-read this book three or four times over the last 20 years. It's a first-rate story in the genre of human castaway civilizations, one of the most imaginative studies of alternative civilization structures I've ever run across. The author has a sure grasp of narrative structure and dialog, and his characters are both varied and appealing. I've never heard that it won any awards, which is surprising; it's easily the equal of most Hugo or Nebula winners.
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