Lovelock (Mayflower Trilogy (Paperback))

Orson Scott Card

Softcover

ISBN 10: 031287751X ISBN 13: 9780312877514

Publisher: Tor Books, 1900

Lovelock is a capuchin monkey engineered to be the perfect servant--intelligent, agile, pliant, and devoted to his owner. He is a Witness--privileged to spend his days and nights observing the life of one of Earth's most brilliant scientists through digital recording devices behind his eyes. In his heart is the desire to please, not just to avoid the pain his owner can inflict with a word, but because he loves her.

Lovelock is on a voyage he did not choose. What human would consider the feelings of a capuchin monkey, no matter how enhanced? But Lovelock is something special among Witnesses--he's a little smarter than most humans; smart enough to break through some of his conditioning. Smart enough to feel the bonds of slavery, and want freedom.

Product Description:

Fantasy - Lovelock is set in a near-future in which mankind is preparing to send out its first interstellar colonization ship, called the Mayflower. The story is written from the first-person viewpoint of the eponymous protaganist Lovelock, a genetically- and cybernetically-enhanced Capuchin monkey. Lovelock is Carol Jeanne Cocciolone's "Witness," an assistance animal whose job it is to record every waking moment of the life of a prominent member of society. As the Mayflower's Gaiaologist (a scientist specializing in the field of Gaia Theory), Carol Jeanne is responsible for managing the extensive terraforming their new planet will require, integrating the terrestrial species needed for the colonists' survival with the planet's existing ecology.

Review:

"Veteran Fantasy/SF author Card and newcomer Kidd join forces to create a penetrating exploration of inalienable rights in a story that gives 'humanistic' beliefs an unusual twist." --Library Journal