Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages
English language
Published Feb. 15, 2000 by Tor Science Fiction.
Civilization rests on the backs of its outcasts.
So when civilization needs someone to run generating stations three kilometers below the surface of the Pacific, it seeks out a special sort of person for its Rifters program. It recruits those whose histories have preadapted them to dangerous environments, people so used to broken bodies and chronic stress that life on the edge of an undersea volcano would actually be a step up. Nobody worries too much about job satisfaction; if you haven't spent a lifetime learning the futility of fighting back, you wouldn't be a rifter in the first place. It's a small price to keep the lights going, back on shore.
But there are things among the cliffs and trenches of the Juan de Fuca Ridge that no one expected to find, and enough pressure can forge the most obedient career-victim into something made of iron. At first, not …
Civilization rests on the backs of its outcasts.
So when civilization needs someone to run generating stations three kilometers below the surface of the Pacific, it seeks out a special sort of person for its Rifters program. It recruits those whose histories have preadapted them to dangerous environments, people so used to broken bodies and chronic stress that life on the edge of an undersea volcano would actually be a step up. Nobody worries too much about job satisfaction; if you haven't spent a lifetime learning the futility of fighting back, you wouldn't be a rifter in the first place. It's a small price to keep the lights going, back on shore.
But there are things among the cliffs and trenches of the Juan de Fuca Ridge that no one expected to find, and enough pressure can forge the most obedient career-victim into something made of iron. At first, not even the rifters know what they have in them―and by the time anyone else finds out, the outcast and the downtrodden have their hands on a kill switch for the whole damn planet...
Not sure the edgy stuff is worth the effort, even if there is good stuff in here. I will try the next book to confirm this. Blindsight/Echopraxia are a cut above this one.
Phenomenal story. I'm a sucker for anything in the deep ocean, and this book sure delivers! You've got hard science, fucked up characters, deep sea monstrosities and corporate shady dealings (with a dash of apocalyptic microbes and rogue AI, please!) what more could you ask for? Superbly written, I was not taken out of the story once while reading it. This one is going on the bookshelf, and I've got #2 read to go!
Engaging, although I find the setting and themes of his other stuff (Blindsight, Freeze Frame Revolution, The Things (!)) have more immediate appeal for me.
Starfish tells the story of the rifters, a group of misfits surgically altered and equipped to work deep undersea on a geothermal power plant. It takes a special breed to cope with the psychological extremes of such a habitat, and it turns out that those best suited to the environment are abuse survivors and sociopaths. The Juan de Fuca Ridge station ends up populated by an unusual crew that includes an incest victim, a wife beater, and even a serial child molester.
While the plot is fairly low-key for the first three quarters of the book, the setting and characters were so compelling that I raced through this book. Already set apart from the bulk of humanity by their violent and traumatic pasts, it was interesting to watch how the rifters, altered by both their implants and their living conditions, gradually became post-human. While some may find the characters unsympathetic …
Starfish tells the story of the rifters, a group of misfits surgically altered and equipped to work deep undersea on a geothermal power plant. It takes a special breed to cope with the psychological extremes of such a habitat, and it turns out that those best suited to the environment are abuse survivors and sociopaths. The Juan de Fuca Ridge station ends up populated by an unusual crew that includes an incest victim, a wife beater, and even a serial child molester.
While the plot is fairly low-key for the first three quarters of the book, the setting and characters were so compelling that I raced through this book. Already set apart from the bulk of humanity by their violent and traumatic pasts, it was interesting to watch how the rifters, altered by both their implants and their living conditions, gradually became post-human. While some may find the characters unsympathetic and hard to relate to, those readers would be missing the point. They start off damaged humans and end up even more alien.
The climax was exciting and interesting, if a little cryptic in parts. This is the first book of a trilogy, and while I'm excited to see what happens next, I hope that even with the drastic changes introduced at the end of Starfish the series continues to stick with the deep sea setting.
A tough read if you need a character to identify with.
But the first half or so is still great. The submerged world really came to life.
short review in ukrainian:
http://www.tivasyk.info/2010/08/blog-post_17.html
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трилогія rifters того ж таки вотса — в дещо іншому жанрі: три частини складаються у пост-апокаліптичний роман-катастрофу, але з елементами кібер-панка, детектива, місцями психологічного трилера, і з елементами фантастики. читається повільно, тому місцями важкувато, але в цілому — цікаво.
* starfish
* maelstrom
* behemoth
трилогія доступна на сайті rifters.com в різних форматах (див. сторінки кожної частини), а сам веб-сайт теж є джерелом додаткової інформації про пост-апокаліптичний світ роману.
