Thrillers, High Tech and Hard Science Fiction

The Veiled Web

Name: The Veiled Web
Author: Catherine Asaro
ISBN: 9780553762709

by Catherine Asaro

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Overview

Winner of the Homer Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

Ballerina Lucia del Mar has two great passions: dance, which consumes most of her waking hours, and the World Wide Web, which brings the outside world into her tightly regimented life. Lucia's two passions collide when a White House performance and reception leads to an encounter with handsome Moroccan businessman Rashid al-Jazari, creator of a brilliant technology that has set the Internet rumor mill afire.

A second, seemingly chance meeting with Rashid will plunge Lucia into a deadly world of desire and intrigue. For although his work has implications she cannot foresee, there are those who do understand and would turn its great power to their own destructive purposes. As she is drawn deeper and deeper into Rashid's life and work, cut off from the outside world, she finds herself becoming more attracted to him. But is her seclusion within Rashid's well-guarded Moroccan home intended to ensure her safety...or her silence? And is it already too late to stop the terrible consequences his new technology could unleash?

Synopsis

Winner of the Homer Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

Ballerina Lucia del Mar has two great passions: dance, which consumes most of her waking hours, and the World Wide Web, which brings the outside world into her tightly regimented life. Lucia's two passions collide when a White House performance and reception leads to an encounter with handsome Moroccan businessman Rashid al-Jazari, creator of a brilliant technology that has set the Internet rumor mill afire.

A second, seemingly chance meeting with Rashid will plunge Lucia into a deadly world of desire and intrigue. For although his work has implications she cannot foresee, there are those who do understand and would turn its great power to their own destructive purposes. As she is drawn deeper and deeper into Rashid's life and work, cut off from the outside world, she finds herself becoming more attracted to him. But is her seclusion within Rashid's well-guarded Moroccan home intended to ensure her safety...or her silence? And is it already too late to stop the terrible consequences his new technology could unleash?

Science Fiction Weekly

Readers searching for a book that breaks the usual SF molds without sacrificing science and adventure will find that The Veiled Web is exactly the place to look.

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Editorials

Melinda Helfer

Creating an impeccably realized setting as well as fully nuanced characters, Ms. Asaro fashions a riveting, cutting-edge tale of romance and suspense that may very well reflect the future.
— Romantic Times

Science Fiction Weekly

Readers searching for a book that breaks the usual SF molds without sacrificing science and adventure will find that The Veiled Web is exactly the place to look.

Publishers Weekly

The latest from veteran science fiction writer Asaro (Primary Inversion) is an uneasy blend of cyber-intrigue, exotic lore and romantic clich . In the summer of 2010, Web-surfing ballerina Lucia del Mar meets Rashid al-Jazari, the sexy inventor of a cutting-edge artificial intelligence system. Lucia and Rashid are kidnapped by international terrorists who covet his invention. While they manage to foil the abductors, in order to keep Lucia safe when they land in Morocco, Rashid arranges a hasty marriage. Cloistered in Rashid's traditional Islamic home, Lucia overcomes her loneliness by befriending Zaki, the uncannily human computer program Rashid has designed. When the terrorists strike again, Rashid's AI system is destroyed, but the unlikely marriage survives. Asaro discourses intelligently on millennial issues but leaves the conspirators and their goal--mind control over the known world--far too vague to generate suspense. Nor does the plot convention of a forced marriage that ends in true love provide much sizzle. The book's strengths, instead, are the sensuous and respectful evocation of Islamic culture and the creation of Zaki, the artificial intelligence who comes to life as the tale's most quirky and moving character. (Dec.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

VOYA

Shy and beautiful, young Lucia del Mar is an internationally acclaimed ballerina whose only other passion is surfing the Web. Twice Lucia comes in contact with the handsome Rashid alJazari, the creator of the very sophisticated Web application Lucia uses. During their second encounter, Rashid and Lucia are kidnapped. They escape and marry quickly to avoid disgraceRashid comes from a conventional Moroccan family and backgroundand then try to get to know each other. During Rashid's frequent absences, Lucia learns more about his brilliant inventions, including the artificially intelligent creation named Zaki, who takes Lucia on amazing virtual reality tours. As Lucia tries to adjust to the rigid structure of Islamic life, assert her independence, and explore her growing feelings for Rashid, Lucia and Rashid are kidnapped again. This group of bad guys will stop at nothing to force Rashid to help them rule the world. Do they escape? Will Rashid allow Lucia to continue her dance career? This attempt to combine science fiction and romance along with a taste of Islamic culture and religion is fairly dismal. Even though the artificial intelligence and virtual reality elements are somewhat interesting, the characters are difficult to know and understand, and the plot is as predictableand melodramaticas the ending. VOYA CODES: 2Q 2P S (Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 1999, Bantam, Ages 16 to 18, 355p, $5.99 pb. Reviewer: Bette Ammon