Ian's Reviews > Shivering World

I’ve always wanted to read a Kathy Tyers novel as she is so highly regarded in Christian SciFi circles and is a revered master of the writing craft. Even though I’m not a huge SciFi enthusiast I approached Shivering World with some excitement and even reverence for Tyers.

And I was not disappointed. The story world was brilliantly depicted – 2134 on a new terraformed planet Goddard. We meet Dr Graysha Brady-Phillips, who is fully human escaping her dominant mother who happens to be very influential in this new world while seeking to find a solution to the genetic disorder that will cut her life short.

The colonists on Goddard are genetically enhanced humans, some people including Graysha’s mom regard them as abominations and believe them to be abhorrent to God. However, one of the main characters soon to become of particular interest to Graysha is Lindon who is a gorgeous creation but has a solid faith in God.

Tyers challenges the reader to consider the question of can humanity play God in significantly enhancing the human body enabling it to live for all intents and purposes for an indefinite lifetime. And what should non-gene-enhanced people respond to those gene-enhanced ones? As is often the case, people react out of fear when confronted with ‘differences’ in race and we see this portrayed in this story.

We also see the power of the Corporation in the future of mankind. We’re all very away of it now and in Tyers future represented here we see Gaea Foundation’s power and influence over the Goddard colonists, one that could easily mean the difference between life and death. Scary stuff.

I liked how she developed Graysha and Lindon plus a couple of the other minor characters such as Trev LZalle but it’s Tyers story world and the ease with which she brings it and all its complexities alive in the readers imagination that makes this a compelling read.

The story ends a little sluggishly which made me wonder if there is a sequel planned but I understand this was originally written many years ago so I’m not sure a sequel is forthcoming.

If you enjoy SciFi you should give this one a read. I think you’ll find it both fascinating and challenging in some of the questions it challenges you to consider.