The Bridge

By Janine Ellen Young

Book Overview

An alien greeting has spread a terrible virus throughout the world's population, and now the survivors are wary of any further contact with the off-worlders. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446607991
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Aspect
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.8" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

A great writer.

Full of rich analogies, metaphors, and deep congruences... a great story, almost-real characters, and a poetic yet unpretentious prose style. Good science fiction, and good literature.

Definitely recommend this book

This is a beautifully written book, well-thought out and developed characters, and beautifully described surroundings - you'll think you actually are in India in a couple of the scenes. The plot is nicely developed, from a pandemnic that wipes out most of the world population, to the rebuilt society. I particularly enjoyed the character development throughout the novel, where the people started, where they were after the pandemic, and where they ended up. Fascinating from a psychological point of view! A nice, satisfying read, and not one that's so complicated you'll need a degree in astronomy or computer sciences to figure out.

Provoking

I was startled to see the bad reviews for this book. I read it six months ago, and the ideas are still with me. Maybe it's because I read a much wider variety of books than sci-fi, but I didn't find the book slow at all. It does focus more on relationships and spiritual matters, but in a very interesting and haunting way. I believe the concept is well explored and the book well written. This is the kind of book I love to pass on to friends.

Solid hard sf with a great cast of characters

This is a fine read, a deftly plotted story, and a fresh look at first contact. Young's science is convincing and her hand with technology is sure, but mostly, this is a story about people who matter. A fine novel for anyone who enjoys hard sf and character-based fiction.

Absorbing read

When the pandemic virus struck the earth, no one knew its origin. All everyone understood was death and mutation. The extraterrestrial Kasaran had sent their friendly hello in a microscopic genetic package throughout the universe in search of intelligent life. When the probe reached earth, it took a wicked twist that its creators could not have envisioned: it had murdered billions without rhyme or reason. When the plague finally ended its devastating run, two humanoid geneses contend for planetary superiority. One group consisted of those former home sapiens that the virus transformed into an alien populace clamoring for contact with the mother species. The other group is the surviving members of Homo Sapiens who somehow contained a natural immunity to the virus and remain human. After the debacle of the first contact, they prefer nothing to with the Kasaran killing machine. The Bridge is an excellent science fiction thriller that centers on complex actions and reactions. The story line is crisp, fast-paced, and thought provoking as the reader realizes that even in the innocence of knowledge-seeking and friendships, death even holocausts, can occur. Anyone who enjoys classic Star Trek will fully relish Janine Ellen Young's awesome first contact tale and seek her debut novel, Cinderblock. Harriet Klausner