The Broken God: Book Two of the Neverness Cycle

by David Zindell

Overview

Book One of David Zindell’s epic trilogy set in Neverness, legendary City of Light, where inner space and outer space meet … where the god program is up and running.

Into its maze of color-coded streets of ice a wild boy stumbles, starving, frostbitten and grieving, a spear in his hand: Danlo the Wild, a messenger from the deep past of man. Brought up from Neverness by the Alaloi people, Neanderthal cave-dwellers, Danlo alone of his tribe has survived a plague –- because he is not, as he thought, a misshaped Neanderthal, but human with immunity engineered into his genes. He learns that the disease was created by the sinister Architects of the Universal Cybernetic Church. The Architects possess a cure which can save other Alaloi tribes. But the Architects have migrated to the region of space known as the Vild, and there they are killing stars.

All of civilization has converged on Neverness through the manifold of space travel. Beyond science, beyond decadence, sects and disciplines multiply there. Danlo, his mind shaped by the primitive man, brings to Neverness a single long-lost memory that will change them all.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940154551080
Publisher:	David Zindell
Publication date:	09/13/2017
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

After majoring in, at various times, philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, and physics, I graduated in 1984 from the University of Colorado with a degree in mathematics. An early story, “Shanidar,” won first prize in the Writers of the Future contest, and I was nominated for a Hugo award for best new writer of the year. My bestselling Neverness was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clark award for the best science fiction novel published in the United Kingdom. A successor trilogy, A Requiem For Homo Sapiens, came next, followed by the four book Ea Cycle, which is a Grail quest to end all Grail quests. I live in Denver, Colorado.

Editorial Reviews

Zindell's ( Neverness ) tale is a futuristic epic, but readers will recognize in it the archetypal myth of the hero. Young Danlo must leave the land of his birth when his tribe, the Alaloi, is wiped out by disease. Braving arctic cold and near-starvation, Danlo journeys to Neverness, the ``City of Light,'' to fulfill his dream of piloting starships. He is sponsored for an interstellar academy by Old Father, a gentle alien tutor who has educated the teenager in the ways of the city. At the college Danlo meets Hanuman li Tosh, whom he views as a soul brother despite Hanu's dark side--later Hanu will murder a pimply-faced, mean-spirited upperclassman named Pedar. Danlo eventually confronts his destiny when he learns he is the offspring of incest between Mallory Ringess--a dead and renowned interstellar pilot--and his sister. This is no surprise, however, as references to mysteries surrounding his birth (such as his lack of resemblance to other members of the Alaloi) are dropped early on. Though the narrative is gorily replete with burst pustules and jets of vomit, Zindell's world is lively and credible. A final confrontation between Danlo and Hanu delivers a surprise ending. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In the follow-up to his critically acclaimed "Neverness" (1988), Zindell returns to the planet Icefall in a captivating and complex saga that showcases a breathtaking gift for conceiving entire cultures and their native philosophies. Zindell follows the growth and adventures of Danlo, a Caucasian teenager living among an isolated, Eskimo-like tribe until a fatal epidemic leaves only Danlo alive to seek a new home. After a death-defying journey across the ice, Danlo arrives in the city of Neverness, where he is taken under the charitable wing of Old Father, a wizened, alien philosopher-guru, and discovers an ambition to pilot starships. With Old Father's help and instruction, Danlo explores the ways and beliefs of Neverness' many immigrant cultures, trains for an elite order of pilots, and learns the fate of his true father, Mallory Ringess, a missing pilot of legendary renown. Zindell draws on sources as diverse as Eastern mysticism, Eskimo culture, and linguistics for a novel of unusual depth and scope. An impressive achievement.

Carl Hays