Fish Tails

1.5 stars - Metaphorosis Reviews

With the world slowly flooding, Abasio, his wife Xulai, and their two amphibian children travel the world promoting preparation for eventual submersion. They encounter both enemies and friends from unexpected places - including another Tepper series.

Fish Tails comes with an Author's Note, to be read after digesting the 600+ pages of the book. It's a mildly interesting Note, in that it clearly delineates the sequence and links between the True Game and Plague of Angels series. What surprised me most about the Note, though, is what it doesn't do, which is to give any indication at all that this book was written by someone other than Sheri Tepper. By page 300, I'd have put money on that idea.

I'm a big fan of Tepper's work. She's heavy-handed with her philosophy, and monotonous in her politics, but I agree with a lot of what she says, and the rest is at least interesting. Her books are low on humor, but intelligent. She's such a good writer that, despite their drawbacks, the books are usually very good - The Revenants and the Awakener series are exceptions. Sadly, the entire Plague of Angels series has been another exception, and this book tops (bottoms?) the lot.

First, this is one of Tepper's most unabashedly message-driven books. For the uninitiated, here's a primer on the Tepperian outlook:

1. Humans are screwing up the world very badly because they are foolish and lack foresight.


2. Religion is foolish.


3. a. Men are inherently violent and led by their genitals , but can be redeemed.


4. b. Women are inherently gentle and thoughtful, but can be corrupted.

Plague of Angels

raison d'etre

The Gate to Women's Country

A Plague of Angels

Plague

Fish Tails

new

True Game