Andreas Eschbach
The Carpet Makers (1995)
Author: Andreas Eschbach
Genre: Science Fiction (Storyteller Focus)
Plot Summary:
Carpetmakers have always made carpets. The carpets are made for the emperor's palace out of the hair of a man's wives and daughters. It is his life work, his living, and his every reason to go on. Life has always been like that until rumors start circulating about the overthrow of the god-like emperor. If the Emperor is gone, what do the carpetmakers have left to live for? SPOILER: The emperor is actually dead and the rebels are running all the planets the emperor previously had control over. It is their job to tell everyone the emperor is dead and let them know they need to find another purpose in life.
Geographic Setting: Mainly on the planet Yahannochia in a far away galaxy.
Time Period: Non-specific time. Different than our own, but human characteristics are the same.
Appeal Characteristics:
Eschbach's story is fast paced and has detailed yet understandable explanations for everything that is going on. The characters are not the main point of the story. The slightly dark universe the story takes place in is more like the main character than anyone else. As Eschbach describes people's lives, the purpose is to gain a greater sense of how that universe works and how the emperor controlled it. The book is translated from German. The translation is excellent and the story moves along quite well without any noticeable distractions with language.
Read-alikes: Trial of Flowers by Jay Lake also provides a good story about a crumbling society and the human nature revealed in the process. Jason and his two friends find out the dark secrets of the Imperishable city. The Last Colony by John Scalzi is the story of John Perry who has found peace in a crumbling universe. He soon finds out that nothing in his universe is what it seems, but all part of a more elaborate scheme. Starfish by Peter Watts is a science fiction adventure about a group of maintenance workers learn the price of providing power to the surface. Instead of being on another planet, this book is set underneath our own. Readers who prefer plot and intrigue over character appeal should consider this book. Orson Scott Card was the author who helped discover Eschebach and get his works translated from English to German. If you have not read Ender's Game, the story of Ender Wiggen who saves earth from alien buggers, you may want to check out the author introduced The Carpet Makers to us. If you have read Ender's Game You may want to check out either Ender's Shadow another side of the same story of Ender or the sequel to Ender's Game titled Speaker for the Dead both by Orson Scott Card.
Red Flags: There are a few references to sex and violence, but no actual scenes.
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