Manta's Gift

Over the last six months i have reread Manta's Gift over four times. The book takes place many years in the future in the atmosphere of Jupiter. The plot is nothing amazing as far as Sci-Fi goes, but the potreyal of the characters and situations are beautifuly written. One of the more interesting points of the book is the Culture Clash that takes place between the human mind of Manta and rules that govern an inherent prey race, vs a hunter race like humans. One of the things that set this book apart is Zahn's style of "tricking" you into thinking the book is almost over. Time and time again he brings up situations when most other authors would leave the book off there. But at its heart, the book is a timeless story of culture clashes mixed with despairing romance unlike the happy endings found in most books today. Zahn combines his knowlage of science with an extremely creative imagination to creat a fantastic read, highly recomended

Well at least that's how I see it. And that's my opinion of it in a very short form. Read my review about Angelmass to see why I think they're similar. But then again I don't see a problem with authors using similar concepts from their own books. Isn't that what you kind of half to do when you're pretty widely written? As well some people might find some similarities between them. Similarities between Icarus Hunt and Survivor's Quest were minute, mainly the mystery aboard a starship. But anyway, this book was one of my favorites this summer. Of course I've rediscovered reading books. I first discovered reading books (outside of elementary school assignments) by reading Star Wars: Heir to the Empire (Zahn). Well I read every book until the New Jedi Order, then i picked up reading again with Survivor's Quest (Zahn). So I decided to read any Zahn book I came across and this one will always be a favorite. Why? Becuase of what it does. A person is talked into going into a fairly unfamiliar situation and asked to survive and is given a purpose for doing so. Well this purpose isn't exactly the True reason and this person also eventually ends up having to save this new, unfamiliar place he's been thrust into. (Sounds like Angelmass so far). But this is no Academic Scientist being thrown into enemey territory as a spy to research Angels. This time a paralyzed young man, Raimey, is REBORN as an alien. I may not be widely read but that's a first for me. Then he therefore must live as one, becoming one of them, but at the same time he's essentially human, with many human emotions and ideals. This becomes one of the major conflicts in the book, dealingn with being Qanskan or Human or both at the same time. Eventually, as one would expect, truths are told. But is it in time? There's a Adjutor type character here (Liadof of the Five Hundred) who puts "nation's cause" above all else and can really start to mess things up. Zahn has done a wonderful job of bringing together his very complicated logic and "problem solving" into this book as people try to figure out what is actually going on, especially the character that has this "going on" going on him. It comes down to defining what is truly human, if that can actually be defined. But compared to the Qaskan, this is the difference between survival and death. But this was my opinion...

Thankyou Timothy Zahn for such a wonderful book!One of his most original stories in years, Manta's Gift is about a young man, Matt Raimey (that's the name, right?), who, through an unfortunate skiing accident, becomes paralyzed. He thinks his life is over, until a mysterious man offers him a second chance: be born again as a manta ray-like Qanska. It follows Raimey being born in an alien womb, all through his younger years, and into adulthood, when he finds out that he was really put there by Earth to spy on the Qanska for some reason (I won't give it away). Mr. Zahn has created a unique alien species here, even more than in Conquerors' Heritage. What makes it more difficult is that they are so less advanced, and bear no resemblance to humans at all. He had to invent how they moved, what food they ate, their social structure, and their interdependence with their natural predators. It has nothing to do with technology, and a lot more to do with biology. It all seems amazing to me that he did it at all, let alone make it so interesting. Though slightly longer than I expected (in pages), it is very fast-paced, much more than Angelmass. Although that book had its flaws (few as they were), Manta's Gift comes to near perfection. If I have anything bad to say about this book, it would be that Mr. Zahn left the book open for a possible sequel, then went off to write the Dragonback series (which I am very much looking forward to). Will there ever be a sequel to this excellent book? Even if there isn't, Manta's Gift is a book that should be on any self-respecting sci-fi fan's shelf.

I couldn't put this book down once I started. Timothy Zahn does it again with this great Sci-fi adventure. Once you think you know what's going to happen, Zahn twists the story and you just never know the ending. An unbelievable tale that every sci-fi reader must read.

Timothy Zahn has an amazing ability of bringing readers' imagination a new gift with every book he writes. "Angelmass" (Tor, 2001) was one of my picks for the best in Science Fiction last year, and "Manta's Gift" certainly did not disappoint me. Set primarily in the atmosphere of Jupiter, there are some echoes of Robert K. Forward's "Saturn Rukh" but with science focusing more on the biological rather than physics. The fast paced storyline is part mystery, part adventure, and all science fiction--combined in a highly-accessible style. Highly recommended.