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Book Review By Harriet Klausner
Shivering World by Kathy Tyers



Bethany House, March 2004, 12.99, 398 pp.
ISBN 0764226762

Earth is a wasteland because of the hole in the ozone layer allowing in the U.V. Rays. People live in domes and the wealthy live in space habitats. Terraforming of Mars and Venus has not been a complete success. The colonists of Goddard hire the Gaea Consortium to terraform the planet so they and their children will be able to live free of enclosed habitats. Dr. Graysha Brady Phillips works for Gaea because she needs the exorbitant salary to pay off her debts and she has heard rumors that they practice the outlawed science of genetic engineering.

Graysha suffers from Flaherty's Syndrome and will die at the age of fifty as there is no cure. She hopes that the geneticists on Goddard can fix her damaged chromosomes so she can have children that won't be carriers of the disease. Graysha's position is tenuous because her mother, as the head of the Eugenics Board, will carry out the law of irradiation and sterilization if the people of Goddard are practicing outlawed science on human beings. When Goddard is threatened Grayshya does her best to find the solution that will save the place and people she now loves.

This science fiction story is both believable and plausible and readers will find themselves so immersed in the action of the characters that they will finish this book in one sitting. The audiences care deeply for the heroine who knows that she will die at a young age but live each day to its fullest and doesn't feel sorry for herself. Kathy Tyers is a talented writer who is a fantastic world builder in the tradition of Karen Hancock.

Harriet Klausner


Plot & Themes
Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Tech./$$$/Info hunt Yes
Stealing/recovering/destroying
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10 %
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40 %
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20 %

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status:
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
Terrain
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a primitive/fantasy society
Planet outside solar system? Yes

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - significantly more dialog than descript
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