Brenda Cooper, The Silver Ship and the Sea

The Silver Ship and the Sea

Brenda Cooper

Tor, Mar 2007, $25.95

ISBN: 0765315971

The planet Fremont was considered a dangerous place for colonization due to its odd lethal flora and fauna as much as from the meteorites that crash on its surface and its volcanic and quake activity. However, in spite of a need to cooperate, twelve years ago war exploded between the original human settlers and the second group bioengineered to fit the orb.

Near Artistos, the only town on the planet, is the deadly Grass Plains and in its center lays the single silver spaceship that humans fear. Six altered children left orphaned by the hostilities and unwanted by the purebreds except as slaves, dream of freedom. Abetting their hopes is the last altered adult Jenna the crazy woman as Chelo Lee leads the other five on a quest to find either escape from the planet via the abandoned ship or establish a new home where they can live free.

This coming-of-age science fiction is a fun, lighthearted read. The storyline focuses on the children as they seek their own way in hostile environs made worse by rampant prejudice towards their kind. However, though fun to follow their exploits in search of freedom, Chelo and her comrades fail to show the impact of being raised by people who fear them while wanting to use (and abuse) their altered gifts. Still this is a fine tale of six courageous youths on a quest for freedom.

Harriet Klausner