The Bones of Time - Hardcover

Goonan, Kathleen Ann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312859163 ISBN 13: 9780312859169

Publisher: Tor Books, 1996

Synopsis

Set in Hawaii and the Far East, The Bones of Time revolves around the secret of the preserved bones of the greatest of the old Hawaiian kings, Kamehameha. Goonan interweaves two story lines, each with its own central character: Cen, a mathematician who falls in love with a girl from the past and works desperately to join her by solving the riddle of time travel; and Linda, a young woman who rescues the only surviving clone of Kamehameha. The key to the solution of both stories is the bones. But each of the stories opens vistas of future history, and of the past, that are dense with meaning and rich with promise.

About this title

Review:

Early next century, the Interspace company, in charge of humanity's first generation starship, has been given extraordinary powers. Cen, descendant of Hawaiian shaman-priests, and a mathematical genius, finds out as an adolescent how ruthless they are in their preparedness to exploit human weakness and brilliance, yet sells his work to them for the leisure to pursue his own plans--the conquest of time and the saving of the long dead princess whom he meets and loves in moments of vision. A decade later, Lynn, geneticist renegade from Interspace's ruling dynasty, rescues from assassination Akamu, clone of Hawaii's legendary unifier, and finds herself, like Cen before her, manipulated by Interspace's Hawaiian nationalist foes. She and Akamu are pursued from Hawaii to Hong-Kong and into the uplands of Tibet. Bristling with intrigue and ideas about Buddhism, wormholes, celestial navigation and quantum theories of intelligence, Goonan's new novel is touching about love and families and a gruelling switchback ride for the intellect. Her first novel Queen City Jazz was impressive in its dreamy portrayal of a world altered by nano-technology; this radical change of place remakes the near future techno-thriller as a set of passionately conceived ethical quandaries. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

Reviews of Queen City Jazz:

‘A dizzying novel that takes full advantage of the creative potential of nanotech’
New York Times

‘Spectacular A novel of startling virtuosity and complexity’
Locus

‘An unforgettable vision of America transfigured’
William Gibson

About this edition

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0312859163
• ISBN 13: 9780312859169
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 382