Glory Season

By: David Brin

Narrated by: Claire Christie

Length: 25 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Hugo and Nebula award-winning author David Brin is one of the most eloquent, imaginative voices in science fiction. Now he returns with a new novel rich in texture, universal in theme, monumental in scope--pushing the genre to new heights.

Young Maia is fast approaching a turning point in her life. As a half-caste var, she must leave the clan home of her privileged half-sisters and seek her fortune in the world. With her twin sister, Leie, she searches the docks of Port Sanger for an apprenticeship aboard the vessels that sail the trade routes of the Stratoin oceans. On her far-reaching, perilous journey of discovery, Maia will endure hardship and hunger, imprisonment and loneliness, bloody battles with pirates and separation from her twin. And along the way, she will meet a traveler who has come an unimaginable distance--and who threatens the delicate balance of the Stratoins' carefully maintained, perfect society.

Both exciting and insightful, Glory Season is a major novel, a transcendent saga of the human spirit.

©1993 David Brin (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"One of the most important SF novels of the year." (The Washington Post Book World)

"A rousing adventure story...brimming with surprises both wonderful and harrowing." (The San Diego Union-Tribune)

"Tremendously hard-working, impressive in scope, and cleverly diagrammed....(Kirkus Reviews)

Humans as an aphid colony

David Brin’s Glory Season offers an interesting variation on human reproduction. In this universe, set in the far future, many worlds have been settled by Earth. On one such world, the founder wanted a more pastoral society and so engineered the settlers along aphids which can reproduce both sexually as well as parthenogenesis. The idea behind this arrangement is that when conditions are good, clones are fine, but when conditions become adverse, sexual reproduction can offer more adaptable versions. Over the centuries, society has evolved to a three-tiered caste systems where female clones are the top spot, males, who have been engineered to be more docile and are still necessary to stimulate clone births as well as sexual births are next in line, and last are the ‘vars,’ the female offspring of male/female births. The story follows a var as she and her twin attempt to make their way in this world from the bottom rung of society. At the same time, a spaceman from the rest of humanity arrives to reconnect with this long lost world and creates a political upheaval that sends the var on a series of adventures.

Brin does an admirable job of attempting to recapitulate the aphid reproductive strategy onto humans with all the human foibles still intact. The story can be viewed as either a feminine utopia or a dystopia, depending on perceptions about the vars. The space envoy was a bit naïve and unprepared in his approach. Finally, the designation of ‘Perkinite’ as the radical splinter sect was nice touch.

The narration is quite good with solid character distinction. Pacing is smooth and a bit brisk at times.

loved it but...

the ending was too soon. the story didn't feel like it was resolved.. it felt like there should be more books (I'll double check) in a series instead of a stand alone. but I really enjoyed this one.

Not bad, but definitely not Brin at his best.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

I did not particularly care for this narrator. She frequently mispronounced words (e.g., "KWAY" for quay, "di-MIN-yoo-uh-tiv" for diminutive, and many others). She routinely put pauses and emphasis in the wrong places in sentences. Her voices for several major characters were cloying and inappropriate to the character's personality. And her narration was often stiff, creaky, and un-fluid. I definitely would have enjoyed this book more if it had been read by a better narrator.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I sometimes even found myself turning off the book in the middle of my commute, either because my mind would drift or because the narrator was annoying me.

Any additional comments?

While Brin's formidable imagination is definitely in evidence in this book, it is far from his best work. The two Uplift trilogies are among my favorite science fiction books, and I've enjoyed many other Brin books, from The Practice Effect to Earth. While he vividly paints the world of Stratos and Stratoan society, the story that takes place within this world often plods along without much happening. It often seems as though Brin is more interested in constructing his world than in telling a story. ¶The main character, Maia, is kind of bland and anodyne, while her twin sister, Leie, is bratty and insufferable. Maia is clearly highly intelligent, but at the same time is often utterly clueless. Brin overuses the trope of the heroine misreading the situation and misinterpreting people's motives, resulting in crises that could have (and should have) been avoidable. I rapidly went from sympathizing with Maia for her misfortunes to rolling my eyes at how thick-headed she could be. ¶While my comments about this book have mainly been critical, I don't want to leave the impression that this was a bad book. It wasn't. It held my interest adequately most of the time, and in plenty of places the story was even riveting. But it was uneven. If you're a Brin fan, then I don't think you'll be dissatisfied overall. The reader wasn't particularly good, but I've heard much worse.

I am a David Brin fan and this was exceptional!

Any additional comments?

The timing could not have been better for me to stumble on a book that dealt with a matriarchal society. I needed to be reminded that a matriarchal society is no better than a patriarchal society. Balance is what is needed.

One of my favorite books!

I am shocked at some of the negative reviews. I read this book in my late teens over 20 years ago, and loved it. I thought I would give the audiobook a try at this point in my life, and I loved it even more! such a creative, thought-provoking, and wonderful world, and I am so in love with the main character. Highly highly recommend!

Semi-literate narrator

Poor plot and concept development. Narrator mispronounced so many words it was quite painful listening to her. She also seemed less than enthusiastic about the story. Where have all the good editors and proof-listeners gone?
I have tried to return the book using the Audible book return link, with no success.