Shivering World

What a thrilling story! I enjoyed reading about a terraforming planet’s life or death struggle to survive amidst gene manipulation and murder! Grayla has an incurable disease that shortens her life span is sent to Goddard, a planet that is freezing cold most of the time, but it is trying to grow cold - tolerant plants and animals that can withstand cold temperatures.
The colonists who live on Goddard have secrets, some of them can live 120 years or more, they are digging for ore that can run spaceships and their gene manipulation secrets may be able to cure Grayla if she can gain their trust.
But there are people who want the planet of Goddard to fail, they will try to sabotage the terraforming and kill whoever gets in their way.
You will enjoy this thriller!

Finished Shivering World by Kathy Tyers, a good scifi book that is not light and fluffy, this was definitely a book that is more complicated than your average read. Felt it was worth it and I did enjoy it. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for giving me a chance with this book.

Incredible hardcore science fiction tackling topics like genetics, terraforming, and outer-world politics. Tyers has a mastery over the concepts of world building and science that makes reading her work realistic and vibrant.

Fascinating book. Graysha moves to a world being terraformed in hopes of finding a genetic cure for her terminal illness. The snag is that genetic manipulation is illegal with terrible and terminal consequences. I enjoyed the details about terraforming and the biology involved. The characters and their storylines are interesting and believable. I enjoyed the book.

Rarely in Speculative Science Fiction do I find myself so quickly and so completely invested in a main character or her world. This is hard science fiction that focuses on personalities, relationships, politics, and faith while walking the fine lines between entertainment and commentary.

With much of the plot concerned with the danger the settlers are in should the truth of their genetic manipulations, Graysha's rare genetic disorder that has led her to the terraformed world of Goddard, and the eugenics policies that dominate this future, I was immediately reminded of a favorite university course subtitled "Science Fiction and the Future of the Body" where I first learned about the history of eugenics and was fascinated by the frontiers being explored in science fiction.

At 480 pages, this novel is longer than I've typically been reading, but I was left wishing it had been longer. I requested a galley of this book through NetGalley before I was aware that this is a revised reprint, and that the original publication date was 1991. The revisions, adding or enhancing the faith content, appear seamless to a first time reader.

Kathy Tyers manages to tick so many boxes with this novel - including science that is thoroughly researched and related in an understandable way and a very interesting take on a future relationship between feminism and "genegineering." Definitely one I'd like to add to my physical shelves (particularly with Enclave’s fabulous new cover) for future rereading.

This review refers to a NetGalley e-galley read courtesy of the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

Graysha accepts a terraforming position on a hazardous planet with the hope that rumors about illegal genetic research are true. However, Graysha's mother is the head of the Eugenics Board, and getting the locals to trust her is seemingly impossible. Without the research, Graysha's genetic disorder will continue to slowly kill her.

This was a very well developed world with full, rich characters. The story was well paced and kept me reading long into the night. I look forward to reading more from this author. Highly recommended.