The Sky So Big and Black

by John Barnes

Book Overview

Terpichore Murray is growing up on Mars. She wants to quit school and become an eco-prospector like her father. He has other ideas; not only does he want her to stay in school, he wants her along on... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765303035
• ISBN13: 9780765303035
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 315 Pages
• Weight: 1.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Immersive, Compelling Story-Telling

The Sky So Big and Black draws you in, much like its namesake. Even as one laying on his back staring at the stars may feel vertigo, so reading this story could convince you to fall into the world it paints. It immerses you. You will not be able to stop turning the pages. Well I think most of John Barnes' stuff is sub-par. But this book moved me. Let it move you.

Good stuff in the Heinlein tradition

I've enjoyed John Barnes's novels for a while now. This novel takes place in the future laid out in the previous novels Kaleidoscope Century and Candle. In this future, the concept of Memes that can control the human mind are central to the story. They aren't memes like an idea that spreads across the internet and becomes part of the culture. We are talking about the concept of a method by which a Meme can take over and control a human mind.In Barnes's future, the Earth is completely taken over by the Meme called One True. The rest of humanity, spread out in space on the Moon and on Mars try to make do without the Earth.This story takes place on Mars with a group of ecospectors, ecological prospectors. Rather than hunting for valuable minerals, they hunt for ways to terraform Mars by releasing water or identifying other organic resources.Mars is cast in the light of the seminal Heinlein Libertarian society. Few laws, much personable responsibility, and a huge focus on trust and reputation. It very much harks back to ideas from Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.Without giving out any spoilers, the Martians face a tragedy are must make choices between their lifestyle and dealing with One True for help. Barnes looks at how the libertarian world (Mars) and the socialist world (Earth) can interact and what price are the libertarians willing to pay to keep their way of life.I recommend the book. It's a fast read and has plenty of neat technical ideas interspersed with the storyline.

First rate novel of terraforming Mars and disaster

The Sky So Big and Black is a first-rate novel, clearly a Hugo contender in my view. It's scary at times, sweet at times, it presents a fascinating social structure, and some excellent SFnal speculation about terraforming Mars. And it features one of the scariest SFnal ideas since Vernor Vinge's "Focus" (in A Deepness in the Sky).It is very well structured, presented as a psychologist listening to a series of interviews he did with Teri-Mel Murray, a young woman on Mars who was working with her father as an "ecospector". It's clear from the start that something terrible happened, and indeed that the psychologist was forced to erase Teri-Mel's memory. It's also clear that he likes her a lot, and is really torn up by what has happened, and worried that he may have to treat her again, for some mysterious reason that takes a long time to become clear. The interviews tell of Teri and her father travelling across the lightly terraformed planet to a "Gather" of the "rounditachis", people who live more or less in the open on Mars, working to help advance the terraforming. Teri is hoping that she will be certified a "Full Adult" at the Gather, and be free to marry her boyfriend. Her father wants her to go back to school for one more year, because he's not convinced that ecospecting will remain a good living. As they travel, they plan to make one more attempt at a big "scorehole". And Teri is starting to worry about her boyfriend. All the above is cute stuff, and interleaved with neat SFnal details about the terraforming of Mars. In the background lurk details about the future history up to this point, especially the takeover of ecologically ravaged Earth by a "meme" called "One True", or "Resuna", which more or less has turned Earth's population into a hive mind. Also we learn bits and pieces about the psychologist's feelings, which give us hints about the disaster which has clearly occurred. So it's a scary book, as we learn to like Teri more and more, while we just know that she's going to get hurt real real bad. And when the crisis comes, it's exciting, and terribly sad, and even scarier than I had first expected. The resolution is moving, real, and and open-ended.Barnes' future is on the one hand full of hope, and of cool SFnal stuff, and on the other had it is very very scary, and much of it dominated by something purely evil, yet not sneeringly evil. I should note that this is a sequel to three earlier novels: Orbital Resonance, Kaleidoscope Century, and Candle. But it reads just fine alone.

Compelling story-telling and world building. Excellent

With earth controlled by the One True meme (an engineered computer virus that infects and controls human minds), Mars and the planets struggle to survive. Distance prevents a direct takeover, but Mars defense forces must constantly resist earth-sent attacks. Meanwhile, the continuing terraforming of Mars continues. Rounders like Teri Murray search for water, carbon dioxide, and methane hidden beneath Mars's surface in the battle to make Mars habitable without all the equipment that keeps Teri alive. THE SKY SO BIG AND BLACK follows Teri and her father during the last days before 'Sunburst' as they discover a methane dome so large that it makes them rich, then deal with teen angst about Teri's fiance, and the complexities of a Rounder gather. The story is told largely in Teri's words as she details her recent history to a police psychologist. Although this method of narration normally distances the reader from the story, author John Barnes makes Teri's story completely compelling. Like Heinlein at his strongest, Barnes develops a complete and logical society, language, and way of life. As Teri 'roos' her way across Mars, the reader is drawn into the story, the endangered planet, and the people who are battling to make it habitable--and to keep it free of Earth's disease. In itself, the concept of a computer-style virus that attacks the human mind is interesting but not the center of this story. Rather, it is Barnes's powerful writing, his world/society-building, and his believable characters that make THE SKY SO BIG AND BLACK completely compelling.

Barnes' best so far

This book continues both the Meme Wars arc from Candle, and the off-Earth arc from Orbital Resonance. We follow young Teri Murray and her father around on Mars, as ecological prospectors. The characters are wonderful and the setting is gorgeous.Most other Barnes books include at least one instance of utter personal brutality, and I was pleased to see that this one doesn't. They are all good books, but Mother of Storms and Kaleidoscope Century both made me want to throw up.