Haze

By L.E. Modesitt Jr.

Book Overview

Sent by the Chinese-dominated Federation that rules Earth and its colony planets to infiltrate the satellite-shrouded planet Haze, Maj. Keir Roget discovers a culture both familiar and disturbingly... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765362902
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.9" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

A fairly misunderstood but very good read.

This review contains some spoilers. This review also contains a paragraph arguing against what some others have posed about the author (which I figure is fair to do, since others have brought it up first), but it mostly pertains to this particular book. Haze was, to me, an intriguing read. I had read a lot of the comments (both positive and negative) before I read the book, and a friend of mine had also given me rating of it as well. Perhaps that is why I was attentive to the subtle details of the writing from the beginning. One way or another, this book packs a punch for those who can place themselves into a completely different way of life. We have the benefit of living in a country that is not as utterly controlling as the society Roget comes from in Haze. However, that might lead some of us to ask why it was such a big deal for the events to unfold as they did. It's easy, in that light, to belittle Roget's own revelations, but that would be a mistake as a reader, as Roget's societal background is incredibly strict and damning. He comes from a culture that might deem him mentally unstable if anyone heard him musing out loud over a picture of a dog in an otherwise empty room (which, by the way, is one of the subtle cues that some people have apparently missed). So often, readers claim they want the cliched, "Show me, don't tell me!" And yet when they're given a book with details most of which need to be inferred, some of these same readers throw it down as nonsensical, boring garbage. Some important points need to be made about this book, I feel. Haze is not a utopian society, as some have claimed. It is actually far from it. Haze keeps order through very strict, uncompromising policies made by a governing body that border on small-group dictatorship. While they allow some freedoms that we do not, they clamp down on a lot of things that would make us scoff. Their saving grace is that their intent is for the betterment of society and the world that they live in, and that their treatment of those who defy their rules is different from our society's and different from Earth's (in the book). Dubiety's (Haze's) society doesn't agree with killing, but their actions still ultimately result in the deaths of some (even though they didn't directly kill them). They remove slanderous and harmful false reporting in media and in society as a whole, but with it they remove everyone's (well, our society's so-called) freedom of speech to accomplish it. They benefit those in society that put a lot of effort into honing their talents for the arts, musical performance, and that sort of thing, but they remove public freelance or interpretive talent that's less than the best. This world provides a lot, sure, but it takes and demands a lot. It is most definitely not utopian. However, I mean to only state observations here, and I am not saying Dubiety isn't a better society than the Federation. Another thing I'd like to point out is that Modesitt is not taking sid

Haze in the Mind

Haze is a subtle novel. The agent is sent to a mysterious planet. He continuously questions what he experiences: it is real or some sort of mind-implant experience? Answers shimmer and fade away. He notices that flowers have no scent and a few days later, flowers have scent. Nothing is what it seems to be. Is Haze the name of the planet or the name of what he is experiencing? Two stories weave in and out. Which one is real? The painting of the dog turns into a real dog? How did the painting get from Haze to Earth? Which happened first? Things get hazy. This is not your dad's science fiction. Science fiction relies too often on special effects: lasers and rockets and monsters. Take that away and you're left with very little story. In contrast, literature explores the condition of the mind. This may be Modesitt's best novel.

Haze is layered, complex, satisfying, and, like all Modesitt's works, thought provoking.

Haze by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. is a utopia/disutopia novel embedded in a rousing good story. The protagonist our hero Keir Roget is an agent sent to dig out the secrets of a Thomist (named after Doubting Thomas) colony who millenia ago left the all-powerful Earth Federation. In a clever interweaving series of chapters, we experience several of Keir's missions back on earth, eradicating troublemakers, and his current mission on the planet Haze aka Dubiety. Keir finds himself troubled by the Federation vs. Thomist approaches to dealing with dissent and freedom. Haze is layered, complex, satisfying, and, like all Modesitt's works, thought provoking.

Use your brain, and think!

This book is not filled with explosions and people running around shooting at each other. This is a book that was placed in front of its reader to provoke thought and discussion. It is allegorical in every way, following themes in our current reality and other Modesitt realities. Ultimately the underlying theme is that we as a civilization have forgotten what it is to question and to use the intelligence that has been gifted to us. If you enjoyed Parafaith War and Gravity Dreams, you will like this book. If you prefer the Recluse series, you may not. I happened to have enjoyed this book very much and appreciate the discussions it has led to with my friends and family. I think Modesitt went out on a limb writing this book, and I hope it will be followed by others that are out of the current assembly line literature modality that we have been fed recently.

Great Book

I must open by saying I am a huge Modesitt fan but I haven't enjoyed his more recent science fiction as much as his past works. I found they were filled with jargon that wasn't explained well and were difficult to follow. This book is much simpler in that there is a single main character and the chapters alternate between an assignment in the present and an assignment in the past. This novel is short and to the point, but I definitely enjoyed it. It reminded me of Adiamante, another book by Modesitt that explores the rift between two disparate groups of people with similar origins. However, Adiamante was written from the perspective of the people on the ground, trying to convince the seemingly overwhelming forces of the invaders that it would not be a good idea to attack. Haze is written from the point of view of the invaders; they find it difficult to believe that it may be a bad idea to attack this seemingly weak society that focuses on ecology and the real cost of goods rather than military might. There are a number of recurring themes from Modesitt's past novels and blog entries: the true cost of goods, energy, and consumption, excellence and knowledge vs. the opinionated masses, and comments about the arts and education system. It's not as preachy as other novels which is refreshing but I do enjoy a bit of relevant social commentary (even if/when I don't agree with it).