Strength of Stones

Rather than a collection of short stories concentrated on one subject matter, these three stories are sequential. All take place upon the planet God-Does-Battle where empty cities the size of mountains crawl across the landscape. The first, and the original, takes place after all the giant, rolling cities have banished all the citizens of its hold. One man is banished from his hometown and finds entry into one of these forbidden cities where he finds self-truth. The second story unfolds well after the first. A poor woman finds her way into a city after being injured. She becomes a caretaker for the city, yet an army have similar ideas in mind. She wants to care for sick children while the army wishes to conquer the planet. The last story combines both story lines, in which the past comes to the future so that a saviour can bring good to the planet which had honest beginnings yet has waned in its goal. Can the partnership be strong enough to bring peace and prosperity? Overall, an orignal idea well carried out with Greg Bear's character driven plot and novel thoughts about future technology, speech and customs.

On the planet God-Does-Battle, colonists from Earth settled more than 1300 years ago. The colonists were all religious refugees, escaping from the chaotic and politically inhospitable Earth to their new-found home amongst the stars. To support these colonists, more than a hundred highly sophisticated cities were constructed under the auspices of architect Robert Kahn. These cities were designed with every possible comfort...and then some. From advanced medical and educational facilities to legions of robotic servants tending to every citizen's beck and call. The cities were even capable of breaking themselves down and moving to entirely new locations. But, a mere century after God-Does-Battle's colonization, the cities revolted, the artificial minds that oversaw the cities kicked its citizens out, forcing them to eke out a meager existence in makeshift villages called expolises. The reasoning behind this banishment, and how to correct it, provides the central story arc in Bear's novel. Having read some of Bear's work in the past, the author's "fingerprint" is clear. A novel full of strong chracterizations that come in a very close second to the hard science background of the story. Combined, these two components compose a rather fine novel that is easy to read and keeps things moving...until a weaker than expected, and somewhat confusing, ending. However, the ending is still solid enough to make this story worth reading.

Greg Bear's "Strength of Stones" focuses on the development of planet God-Does-Battle, the self-elected exile of Christians, Muslims and Jews from a secularised earth. The planet's habitats are living, sentient, mobile cities designed as a paradise of coalition between the world religions, but they slowly grow disgusted by human sin and cast out all their inhabitants to fend for themselves on a more primitive level. The novel charts what follows as the plot develops, on both philosophical and individual levels, with the backdrop of the cities supporting a spare, but engaging set of characters. In some ways, this is just another planetary-development novel, but it is written and structured well and provides enough surprises to lift it clearly above the throng. To me, Bear's "Blood Music" remains the most enjoyable, original and unusual of his novels, but "Strength of Stones" is well worth a read nonetheless.

In my experience, Bear is a great writer if you want to be made to think. This is the only novel of his that I have read, and I find it quite up to his standard. More personal than his signature short story "Blood Music" (later expanded into a novel), _Strength of Stones_ examines several very human issues, primarily religion. If you're ready to be made to think, this is an excellent book.

Divided into 3 books, each basically a story in itself, Strength of Stones is about a planet colonised by humans that built cities that are themselves practically living entities. Unfortunately the cities judged the humans unfit and chucked them out. Strength of stones is set many years after this happened....I love these kind of stories that let my imagination run free with new ideas during and after I've read it.I had already read Queen of Angels and read Songs of Earth and power afterwards without realising they were by the same author. Strength of Stones was definitely much easier for me to read than the other two (which is not to say I didn't like them!) and I can thouroughly recommend it.