Shivering World

by Kathy Tyers Narrated by Nicole Parnell

Overview

Microbiologist Graysha Brady-Phillips accepts an offer to assist in terraforming the planet Goddard for two reasons: she needs the hazardous duty pay, and she hopes the planet's colonists can provide a cure for the genetic disorder that is slowly killing her.

But such genetic engineering has been banned for decades by the powerful Eugenics Board, and Graysha is that board's high commissioner's daughter. When the colonists discover this, she isn't surprised that they ostracize her, for the penalties for conducting their radical research could include death. Graysha continues her work and tries to befriend the colonists, but soon she is dodging attempts on her life.

Even as Graysha questions whether her hope is worth the peril, she realizes she has grown attached to her new world. But that world is threatened, and Graysha must decide what she is willing to sacrifice: her security and professional hopes, or her new faith and even newer love.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

General market sci-fi author Tyers, who revamped Firebird for a Christian audience, now tries her hand at rewriting Shivering World (1991) with stronger faith themes. The results are competent. In the year 2134, Dr. Graysha Brady-Phillips comes to Goddard, humanity's newest habitable world. An inherited genetic disorder promises that she will die an early death, and although her stated purpose on Goddard is to work as a soils microbiology specialist, Graysha's secret goal is to seek out the reported gene-healers known as the Lwuites for assistance. But human gene tampering is illegal, and her search for healing is soon twisted by those who would prosecute the Lwuites. As she searches for health for her body, Graysha becomes romantically involved with a Christian on the planet, who has "revectored the orbit of her heart" and helped her find healing for her soul. Someone wants Graysha dead, however, and the planet itself is in danger of destruction. The conclusion of the novel is open-ended. Casual sci-fi fans will find this no simple read; Tyers has a degree in microbiology, and her affinity for it shows ("Streptomycetes, almost all of them, were notorious antibiotic synthesizers"). She handles the expansion of the faith content with a light but sure touch. The detailed world she crafts on Goddard is an oft-complicated but also absorbing one. Evangelical Christians are famously a hard sell for science fiction, but Karen Hancock's Arena has helped pave the way for offerings such as this, which are sorely needed. (Mar.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

R.J. Sullivan

"Smooth pacing and fully-developed characters . . . Fun, scientific mystery in the tradition of Asimov." — R.J. Sullivan, The Reluctant Famulus

Booklist

"A woman scientist, Graysha Brady-Phillips, migrates to a cold space colony called Goddard, where colonists have managed to extend the average lifespan to 150. Like Earth itself, Graysha is dying, but the cure offered by Goddard scientists may be worse than the disease, at least in ethical terms." — Booklist

Romantic Times

"The characters are gripping, the plot arresting, the storytelling impeccable." — Romantic Times

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177456171
Publisher:	Oasis Audio
Publication date:	02/16/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged

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