Shadow's End

I think I'm the only one I know who loves this book--so I have to stick up for it. OK, I would have given it 4 1/2 stars, if that had been an option, because I don't think Tepper has ever quite come back up to the standard she set in "Grass," "Raising the Stones," "After a Long Silence," and "Gate to Women's Country" (although "Fresco" comes close, and "Gate" has had trouble holding up over time). The theme of "Shadows End" is invisibility. What (and whom) do we see and not see in our worlds? What stops us from recognizing what's there? Tepper returns to this question in a myriad of ways, both directly and obliquely (visibly and in shadows). It spoke to me deeply. And in such remarkably lovely, deft prose! The end of the book (stop here if you don't want a real hint) breaks all the rules of writing--it's exactly what your English teachers told you never to do. It's absurd and a little unbelievable, but it also left me in awe at the author's deliberate violation of all conventions. Wow!

Pretty great, abit slow at first, with an unbelievable ending that didn't seem complete. BUt still worth buying and reading. An altogether interesting, facinating experience!

Like all of Tepper's work, this novel is a brilliant demonstration of her skill at world-crafting. Tepper constructs the most beautiful and bizarre societies I have found in speculative fiction, which are all the more real for their strangeness. In this masterpiece, as in Raising the Stones and Singer from the Sea, she evokes a powerful religious paradigm rich with myth and archetypical significance. the end is haunting, compelling as the story itself. it is impossible to forget; these are books that can change the world you live in if you let them. Tepper also has interesting arguments to add to the dialogue on feminism, ecology, and technological advancement; these, too, are impossible to forget, and will keep you thinking and turning new sides of the issues around for a long time. I enthusiastically recommend this novel, and all of Tepper's work, to every intelligent SF reader.

Every time I read a Sheri S. Tepper novel I finish with that shivery feeling that comes from reading a great story -- one that is equal parts uplifting and disturbing. "Shadow's End" is no different; once again, Tepper has taken the archetypes of speculative fiction and given them new life, making them her own.On the surface, this is a quest story; the quest of a group of people for the salvation of the human colonial enterprise across the stars. But what they find is far from what they expected, and in the climax and stunning denouement, Tepper has incorporated some important commentary on motherhood, patriarchy, and both individual and communal responsibility, without once resorting to preachiness or moralizing. A VERY impressive book.