A pristine world called Pandora with the ruling class living in villages protected with electric fences, and nature outside the fence that can kill. Sounds like James Cameron read this book. The plot is interesting: Helice Trust and her daughters, with all resources diminished, are forced to immigrate with the promise of a job for mom, and education for the girls. The conflict simmering in the background is an interplanetary disease called the Diversity Crisis. The stellar power entities - Called and Authority want Pandora's wilderness to populate. Pandora's ruling Family denies any landings because Old Earth's settlers in the galaxy continue the nuts they were in destroying Old Earth, and Pandora must be protected. So far, good. The Pandoran family has been studying the place for 2000 years, with results we don't ever discover. Pandora must be protected. Fine. The rest of the galaxy can just learn how to behave better, and stop chewing up their environments, or all die. The Family is connected in interesting ways, including with a city-mind named Aleph who convocates with other city minds, except for siblings who have a purposefully underdeveloped connector. The premise is solid, but the layers are flimsy. We aren't given to know why the Called and the Authority have only one planet to coerce into solving their problem, or why with evidence of superior weaponry, neither can come up with another alternative, or why Pandora is given 20 years to come up with a cure. Plot elements feel convenient rather than thought through. Perhaps it's part of all coming of age novels to have irritating characters, but the sisters Chena and Teal, knowing what is in store for them if they don't hunker down and figure out how to keep living, can't stop being stupidly petty. I was 30 pages away from dropping the whole thing if Chena bit her lip just one more time. There are other ways to express anxiety when being hunted down by organ harvesting cyborgs. I liked the story enough to want to read something else Zettel has written. Something shorter perhaps.
Kingdom of Cages is a unique coming of age story set in a challenging future with strong female heroines. It takes place in humanity’s distant future, where colonists have spread out among the habitable planets. After rendering Earth practically uninhabitable by raping it of all natural resources, colonists fail to learn their lesson and treat the new planets with the same disrespect. Because of this, entire populations are dying from a disease called the Diversity Crisis on all colonies except Pandora. Pandora’s extreme example of planet preservation may be it’s key to keeping its population safe from the Diversity Crisis. At least that’s what the Authority thinks when they force the planet to find a cure. Pandora’s scientists are no closer to a solution after 10 years of trying and humanity is becoming desperate enough to converge upon “safe” Pandora at any time, not aware that Pandora is prepared to keep them away at all costs. Rebellious teenager Chena Trust, her mother, Helice and little sister, Teal have just arrived on Pandora, refugees from the orbiting Athena Station where overcrowding and lack of credits have forced them into debt so deep they can no longer afford air. When they arrive on Pandora, initial screenings indicate that Mother Trust has a genetic code that could very well contribute to a cure for the Diversity Crisis. When Mother Trust refuses to become an experiment, life becomes tougher & tougher for them until they are forced to comply. Chena’s mother is made pregnant and when she is near term she is murdered and her fetus stolen. Now Chena & her sister Teal are on a mission to stay out of trouble just long enough to see if they can solve this mystery without becoming experiments themselves. This is a reprint (prior to edits) of my original review in the Aug/Sep 2002 issue of Explorations.
What do You think about Kingdom Of Cages (2002)?
My first foray into a new author and I greatly enjoyed the romp. Originally, I picked it up because the dust jacket mentioned she was similar to C.J. Cherryh, who is one of my favorite authors. While she isn't entirely like her, I suppose the world building might be considered similar enough to suffice. But Sarah Zettel has a style all her own. Sure, there were a few rough spots here and there-- the names, for one thing, sounded like she'd plucked them out of a hat. And the copy editor missed a few typos and grammatical problems. But nothing's perfect.This story was riveting and I plowed right through it. I had to find out what was going to happen to the characters- not so much Dionte, because I didn't care much for her or Tam. But I greatly cared about Chena and Teal, not to mention Nan Elle, and I would like to see another book with them in it. Our time together was far too short.Zettel wove the story together in such a way that it fell right into place, while leaving a few loose ends. We never do find out what caused the Diversity Crisis, nor do we discover whether Eden will actually serve his purpose. And if this was the solution, then why wasn't it implemented earlier?Still, minor quibbles. The book holds together nicely, with good pacing and well developed main characters. I'll be keeping an eye out for Sarah Zettel.
—Beverly
I think that people have been quick to compare Kingdom of Cages to C.J. Cherryh and Joan D. Vinge because they are well-known female sci-fi authors (as though there was a "girls style" or a "guys style" to write in). At least the comparison isn't an unfavourable one. Kingdom was published in 2000, but it feels a lot older to me. It reminds me of Larry Niven and David Brin and a bunch of other people who write a lot about alien worlds, although there are no aliens.In the world of this story, humans have colonized a thousand worlds, but they are all falling apart; all except one. This world is Pandora, a place where scientists religiously study the world and keep anyone from messing with it. It's a bit like the Prime Directive in Star Trek, except these people actually follow it. And they have these little computers in their minds to keep track of what they do and make them follow the rules.The story mainly follows the Trust family, a group of immigrants to Pandora who are trying to adjust to the rules. Of course, it's not nearly as simple as that. Kingdom of Cages read fairly slow in its first half, where a lot of time is spent setting things up, as well as spiralling further and further into trouble. Just to explain the title, there is neither an actual kingdom nor literal cages, but it's certainly a good analogy for the stifled life that Pandora offers.I definitely enjoyed the second half of the book more, where the characters (particularly Chena Trust) actually come into their own. For a while, I was worried that Zettel wouldn't be able to offer up an ending to the story worthy of all that came before, but I was both surprised by and satisfied with the final solution. I would recommend Kingdom of Cages to anyone who likes their sci-fi with a classic feel.
—Keith Ross
I liked this book. It's technically a sci-fi, but the sci-fi is just the background story. The real story is individuals vs the government vs the other government. Centered mostly on one family.Up until the middle of the book, you know who you're supposed to root for, but it's hard when you see several sides to the story. After the first half, the good guys & bad guys are getting clearer.I didn't consider it to be young fiction, but it's pretty easy reading and I think it's something young people would enjoy.
—• Tom •
