The Silver Ship and the Sea
Encyclopedia
The Silver Ship and the Sea is a young-adult science-fiction novel
by Brenda Cooper
, published in 2007. In 2008, it won the
Endeavour Award
,
and was also one of Booklist
's Adult Books for Young Adults Winners.
The Silver Ship and the Sea is the first book in a series
. The other two books are Reading the Wind
and Wings of Creation. Critical response to The Silver Ship and the Sea was generally positive. Writing in Analog, Richard Foss criticized the pacing of the next book, "Reading the Wind".
The book is about six genetically altered children who have been left on the planet Fremont after a war.
They were often mistreated because they descended from the altered who fought against the humans. These altered were stronger and faster, with better reflexes and sharper senses than the normal humans of Fremont.
The book starts with Chelo narrating, telling how her brother Joseph, and her friend Kayleen, could hold "data streams" and could fix data networks. Joseph, especially, could use the data networks to sense people and predators in remote places, and see events such as crashing meteors. Chelo and Joseph's adoptive parents were out hunting with others when they were killed by an earthquake. The earthquake also caused much damage to Artistos. After this experience, Joseph was weak and shaken, and unable to do what he used to.
Soon the East and West bands met in Artistos. Liam was treated better than anyone else, but Alicia had been accused of murder by Ruth, the East Band's leader. Judgment was reserved, and while Liam left with his adoptive father (and band's leader) Akashi, Alicia stayed. Bryan, who possessed enormous strength, was kept in Artistos. Tom and Paloma (2 people in Artistos sympathetic to the altered) took Joseph, Chelo, Kayleen and Alicia out of Artistos in an attempt to heal Joseph. Jenna, an altered adult who was left on Fremont, showed the four children around the battle headquarters of the altered. Joseph was completely healed with a help of "reading thread", and much more powerful than before. Jenna revealed to them their genemods (what they were altered to specialize in). Liam and Akashi soon joined them. They learned that Bryan had been severely hurt in a fight at Artistos, and was locked up. Joseph (who had learned that he could fly a ship) along with Jenna, Alicia, and Bryan (who was returned after Alicia threatened the people of Artistos with altered weaponry) left on the silver spaceship the New Making, while Chelo, Liam and Kayleen stayed behind. Chelo joined Liam in the West Band, and Kayleen remained with Paloma in Artistos.
. The beginning of the second Iraq War, which the author did not support, was a major influence in the development of the novel. The author Larry Niven
also had a direct impact on Cooper's work.
Largely concerned with ethics
, major thematic elements of the novel are war
and new technology
, such as genetic engineering
, nanotechnology
and artificial intelligence
.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Brenda Cooper
Brenda Cooper
Brenda Cooper is an author who resides in Kirkland, Washington, where she is the Chief Information Officer of the city of Kirkland. She has co-written various short stories with Larry Niven and has written four novels.-Solo work:...
, published in 2007. In 2008, it won the
Endeavour Award
Endeavour Award
The Endeavour Award, announced annually at OryCon in Portland, Oregon, is awarded to a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book written by a Pacific Northwest author or authors and published in the previous year....
,
and was also one of Booklist
Booklist
Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...
's Adult Books for Young Adults Winners.
The Silver Ship and the Sea is the first book in a series
Book series
A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publisher....
. The other two books are Reading the Wind
and Wings of Creation. Critical response to The Silver Ship and the Sea was generally positive. Writing in Analog, Richard Foss criticized the pacing of the next book, "Reading the Wind".
The book is about six genetically altered children who have been left on the planet Fremont after a war.
They were often mistreated because they descended from the altered who fought against the humans. These altered were stronger and faster, with better reflexes and sharper senses than the normal humans of Fremont.
Synopsis
In The Silver Ship and the Sea, there are six altered children: Chelo Lee, her brother Joseph, Kayleen, Bryan, Alicia, and Liam. Fremont had a single town, Artistos, where most of the people lived. There were also two bands of "Roamers": the east band and the west band. These travel around studying plants and animals. Chelo and Joseph lived with Artistos' leaders while Kayleen and Bryan lived with other families in the town. Liam went to the West Band, while Alicia was sent with the East Band.The book starts with Chelo narrating, telling how her brother Joseph, and her friend Kayleen, could hold "data streams" and could fix data networks. Joseph, especially, could use the data networks to sense people and predators in remote places, and see events such as crashing meteors. Chelo and Joseph's adoptive parents were out hunting with others when they were killed by an earthquake. The earthquake also caused much damage to Artistos. After this experience, Joseph was weak and shaken, and unable to do what he used to.
Soon the East and West bands met in Artistos. Liam was treated better than anyone else, but Alicia had been accused of murder by Ruth, the East Band's leader. Judgment was reserved, and while Liam left with his adoptive father (and band's leader) Akashi, Alicia stayed. Bryan, who possessed enormous strength, was kept in Artistos. Tom and Paloma (2 people in Artistos sympathetic to the altered) took Joseph, Chelo, Kayleen and Alicia out of Artistos in an attempt to heal Joseph. Jenna, an altered adult who was left on Fremont, showed the four children around the battle headquarters of the altered. Joseph was completely healed with a help of "reading thread", and much more powerful than before. Jenna revealed to them their genemods (what they were altered to specialize in). Liam and Akashi soon joined them. They learned that Bryan had been severely hurt in a fight at Artistos, and was locked up. Joseph (who had learned that he could fly a ship) along with Jenna, Alicia, and Bryan (who was returned after Alicia threatened the people of Artistos with altered weaponry) left on the silver spaceship the New Making, while Chelo, Liam and Kayleen stayed behind. Chelo joined Liam in the West Band, and Kayleen remained with Paloma in Artistos.
Development and Themes
The Silver Ship and the Sea is Cooper's second novel. Cooper began writing the novel shortly after the September 11 attacks upon the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The beginning of the second Iraq War, which the author did not support, was a major influence in the development of the novel. The author Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
also had a direct impact on Cooper's work.
Largely concerned with ethics
Ethics of technology
Ethics in technology is a subfield of ethics addressing the ethical questions specific to the Technology Age. Some prominent works of philosopher Hans Jonas are devoted to ethics of technology. It is often held that technology itself is incapable of possessing moral or ethical qualities, since...
, major thematic elements of the novel are war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
and new technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, such as genetic engineering
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
, nanotechnology
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
and artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
.
Characters
The following are major characters within the series:- Chelo Lee: 17-year-old altered girl with genetic modifications (genemods) as a caretaker, planner, and strategist.
- Joseph Lee: 14-year-old altered boy with genemods to hold "data streams" and a spaceship flyer.
- Kayleen: 15-year-old altered girl with genemods to hold "data streams", and an exceptional runner.
- Bryan: 15-year-old altered boy with genemods as a warrior/fighter, with enormous strength.
- Liam: 16-year-old altered boy with genemods as a leader and strategist, and a quick learner.
- Alicia: 16-year-old altered girl with genemods as a risk-taker and (in a way) a fighter.
- Jenna: a crippled (but agile and strong) altered adult left behind on Fremont, who trained the children.
- Akashi: West Band leader, adoptive father of Liam, kind to altered.
- Paloma: Artistos resident, adoptive mother of Kayleen, kind to altered.
- Tom: Artistos resident, caretaker of Chelo and Joseph after the earthquake, kind to altered.
- Nava: Leader of Artistos after the earthquake, unkind to altered.
- Ruth: Leader of the East Band, unkind to altered.
Other books in the series
There are currently two other books in the series, Reading the Wind and Wings of Creation. A fourth book The Making War is coming soon. According to an interview by MilSciFi.com, the author did not originally plan to make the first book into a series.Reading the Wind
Kayleen takes Liam and Chelo to the other continent Islandia, where they discover the mercenaries that have been hired to wipe out Fremont. Meanwhile, Joseph (who was an extremely powerful wind reader) and the others reach Silver's Home, and he is trained by someone called Marcus. When they find out about the mercenaries, they return to help battle them.Wings of Creation
This book was released in November 2009. The protagonists in the novel are working to avert an interplanetary war.The Making War
This book is planned to be released in 2010 or 2011.External links
- DC library page showing four short reviews of Wings of Creation.