Memory

Publishers Weekly

The author of the innovative Limit of Vision (2001) offers another challenging science fantasy. On an artificial world, the people, referred to as players, are reborn time after time, to rediscover their talents (if not their history) from past lives. Their needs are largely provided for by mechanical beetle-like kobolds, which appear out of wells. A silver fog that appears each night constantly reshapes the world. At age 10, Jubilee is devastated when her brother Jolly is taken by the silver, despite the usual protection by kobolds. He had oddly not shown any inherent talents, but in his last words claimed to have called the silver. Jubilee studies the silver assiduously in the ensuing years. The action picks up when she's 17. Her lover, Yaphet, is identified in a faraway town (like talents, mates repeat from former lives), a hauntingly familiar though menacing stranger appears out of the silver asking after Jolly as if Jolly were still alive, and the silver takes Jubilee's father. Jubilee joins her father's younger brother, Liam, on a quest for clues about players who survive the silver. What they learn and do affects the fate of their world. This poignant tale with the bones of hard science is bound to win Nagata new fans. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

VOYA

Although most of Nagata's books are interesting, this latest is the first likely to appeal specifically to young adult readers. Young Jubilee is devastated when her brother, Jolly, is taken by the silver, a mysterious substance that rises from the ground each night to transform the landscape and kill anyone it touches. Years later, just when the local matchmaker has identified Jubilee's predestined mate, a mysterious stranger arrives looking for Jolly, leading Jubilee to believe her brother might still be alive. Nagata's specialty has always been hard science fiction based on nanotechnology, and this book is no exception. It has a mystical feel, however, because the technology behaves like magic, which Jubilee's fellow "players" attribute to the goddess who created their world. In addition, the players experience reincarnation, often discovering unusual talents or knowledge left over from previous lives. In particular, young female readers likely will identify with Jubilee, who is shy about meeting her mate, Yaphet, for the first time in this current life. Jubilee quickly discovers, however, that she, Yaphet, and the mysterious stranger might play integral roles in the ancient history and cycles of their world. In that sense, the novel is reminiscent of some of Christopher Pike's better books, such as The Starlight Crystal (Pocket Books, 1996) and The Eternal Enemy (Simon Pulse, 1993), which also combine science fiction with strange tales of reincarnation or predestination. These compelling elements and the book's inherent yet subtle romance make this novel a natural for young adult readers. VOYA Codes: 4Q 4P S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YAappeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2003, Tor, 416p,
— Amy Sisson

Library Journal

Jubilee and her brother Jolly grow up in the security of their mother's Temple, protected against the inexplicable phenomenon known as "silver", which rises from the ground at night, obliterating anything it touches. When the silver takes Jolly one night, Jubilee mourns her brother until the appearance of a mysterious man named Kaphiri arrives with the knowledge that Jolly might still be alive. Jubilee's voyage in search of her brother and of the hidden history of her civilization form a powerful coming-of-age story set against a world of high technology that seems magical in its manifestation. Nagata's (The Bohr Maker; Limit of Vision) latest novel belongs in most sf collections. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Booklist

"Richly realized... A tale of self-discovery and courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds."

Sally Estes -Booklist

"...Nagata's book conjures up a richly realized world in which a truly eerie landscape serves as the vibrant background of a tale of self-discovery and courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds."

Locus Magazine

"The feel of visionary fantasy mixes with hard SF in this powerful novel of a young woman's quest for a missing brother in a far future world beset by out-of-control technology."