Do people change their ways? The Visitor explores this question on a number of levels in a postapocalyptic setting. Centuries after a catastrophic asteroid strike on Earth, survivors have rebuilt a society of religious conservatism and repression. Past technology is remembered as magic, and violent sorcery is a common political tool. Young Dismé Latimer is only concerned with surviving her abusive childhood until she discovers the journal of ancestor Nell Latimer, a scientist chosen to survive the asteroid and preserve as much human knowledge as possible. As the forces of good and evil, of science and magic, begin to converge and conflict, Dismé learns the truth about the world that came before and begins to understand that she, like Nell, has a role to play in the current preservation of Earth.

Tepper's writing is always skillful and eminently readable, and she's not afraid to tackle big ideas as well as individual stories of growth and change. Although the novel loses some focus toward the end, it paints a compelling picture of a society on the point of disintegration and graphically demonstrates how humans who are unaware of their own history are in fact likely to repeat it. --Roz Genessee


From Publishers Weekly
Known for her thoughtful and sensitive exploration of such subjects as religion, politics and familial relationships, Tepper (The Fresco) here weaves two stories into an intriguing, and frequently chilling, vision of the future. After the mysterious deaths of her brother, her father and her stepmother, Dism‚ Latimer is left to the disdainful care of her ambitious older stepsister, Rashel. In a world where the ruling Regime regards questioning authority as un-Regimic, the government trades with demons for precious technology. Admitting to the existence of magic can get you "bottled" in a living death. Dism‚ must tread lightly particularly after Rashel gains a high post as conservator of the famed Faience Museum, once home to one of the last practitioners of magic. Magic disappeared, history says, during the Happening, a cataclysm so lost in time that no one knows exactly what happened no one except astronomer Nell Latimer, Dism‚'s many-times-great-grandmother, and a handful of hidden survivors who strive to keep science and learning from being lost forever. As Dism‚ strives to understand and disguise her growing magical abilities from Rashel and the Regime, Nell and her colleagues prepare for the worst: the Visitor who caused the global wreckage of the Happening is on the move again, getting closer to their hidden redoubt every day, threatening to finish the job it started millennia ago. Once again Tepper has created a mesmerizing story full of intriguing characters, resonant images and powerful themes. (Apr. 1)awards.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Disme Latimer is an orphan, tyrannized by an evil stepmother and stepsister who deprive her of her heritage. Her rigid, corrupt society is ruled by a bureaucracy that keeps its people in line through a systematic and legally sanctioned use of torture, as its leaders pursue the black arts in their quest for power. Disme secretly possesses a forbidden book, the memoir of her ancestor, Nell Latimer, who was a scientist at the time of The Happening. A thousand years earlier, an asteroid (the "Visitor") hit Earth, nearly wiping out the human race and causing huge changes in geography and climate. Disme's world is a dark universe complete with magic, spirits, and portents, while Nell's is our own civilization, in which the truths of science still vie with humanity's preference for superstition. The interesting question of how Nell's world evolved into Disme's-and how the two come together, finally, in an apocalyptic confrontation of good and evil-is gradually answered, but not without some serious challenges to readers. There are disconcerting shifts between Disme's horror story and Nell's science-fiction tale; the future universe is teeming with complexities, and the story itself presents several new puzzles for each revelation. Tepper puts readers through a harrowing catalog of human evils, but this is the point-to name these evils, examine them, and discover how to overcome them. Disme, Nell, and their friends are resourceful and appealing heroes and their world is peopled with a very believable mix of ethically complicated beings.Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VACopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
The premise of Tepper's latest is nothing too outre--just an asteroid strike on Earth in the twenty-first century. The impact sends civilization into a centuries-long eclipse. Disme Latimer, born nearly a thousand years later into a world changed beyond recognition, owns a book written by her ancestor, Nell Latimer, during the months the asteroid approached Earth. The book reveals the origins of changes visible in Disme's time and broaches the tantalizing possibility that Nell may still be alive. Most of the novel limns Disme and her world, revealing only slowly the extent of the evil and the strangeness of the truth in her world that Disme must face. This is one of Tepper's stronger books, with characters and a story possessing a strength quite independent of the author's unsubtle but well-integrated message about fundamentalisms of all kinds. Moreover, Tepper blends magic and science well this time, fits the moral into the story rather than forcing the story to fit the moral, and finishes with a startling and hopeful ending. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Sheri S. Tepper's The Visitor takes place on Earth centuries after an asteroid has turned the planet into a wasteland. Sure it sounds familiar, it's been done countless times before, but this is so much more than an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it novel. As usual with all Tepper stories, this is packed with deep, consciousness-raising material. After reading The Visitor, you will never look at religion, spirituality, or prayer the same way again.

Before the mysterious asteroid hits Earth, a group of scientists hide in impregnable shelters deep underground and goes into suspended animation. Centuries later, the scientists awaken and try to offer guidance to their descendants in the form of the mythical Guardian Council.

Tepper continues to amaze me with her work. Her writing is so vivid and fluid it's almost poetic, yet at the same time philosophical and thought provoking. And if you enjoy this novel -- which I'm sure you will -- I highly recommend her earlier works Raising the Stones, Gibbon's Decline and Fall, and The Family Tree. (Paul Goat Allen)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"When an asteroid crashed into the Earth hundreds of years ago in the twenty-first century, much of what was considered civilization was obliterated. All that remains of that time are paltry fragmented memories of science and life colored by myth and superstition. The "magic" that once was America died horribly, along with most of the planet's inhabitants. But a wasted world is coming back alive - despite the tyranny and cruel punishments that the repressive ruling order inflicts daily on a greatly reduced populace." "Disme Latimer's entire family was lost forever, though not as a result of global cataclysm. Rather, much more recent and mysterious circumstances made Disme an orphan, leaving the gentle, troubled young woman at the mercy of a cruel stepmother, an abusive stepsister ... and a book." A sacred, unsettling tome written by an ancestor - the courageous scientist Nell Latimer, who left a husband and family behind in her attempt to salvage something of the post-castastrophe world - Disme's book contains disturbing ideas and revelations that are compelling a shy youth to take bold and dangerous action. But common "wisdom" and lore warn of malevolent entities out in the world, and advise would-be adventurers to stay where they are. Yet other myths suggest that the selfless band of planet-repairing scientists - including Disme's brave forebear - have somehow, miraculously, survived to this day. And Disme Latimer will uncover the truth and reclaim a lost world, whatever and wherever it might be.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Known for her thoughtful and sensitive exploration of such subjects as religion, politics and familial relationships, Tepper (The Fresco) here weaves two stories into an intriguing, and frequently chilling, vision of the future. After the mysterious deaths of her brother, her father and her stepmother, Dism Latimer is left to the disdainful care of her ambitious older stepsister, Rashel. In a world where the ruling Regime regards questioning authority as un-Regimic, the government trades with demons for precious technology. Admitting to the existence of magic can get you "bottled" in a living death. Dism must tread lightly particularly after Rashel gains a high post as conservator of the famed Faience Museum, once home to one of the last practitioners of magic. Magic disappeared, history says, during the Happening, a cataclysm so lost in time that no one knows exactly what happened no one except astronomer Nell Latimer, Dism 's many-times-great-grandmother, and a handful of hidden survivors who strive to keep science and learning from being lost forever. As Dism strives to understand and disguise her growing magical abilities from Rashel and the Regime, Nell and her colleagues prepare for the worst: the Visitor who caused the global wreckage of the Happening is on the move again, getting closer to their hidden redoubt every day, threatening to finish the job it started millennia ago. Once again Tepper has created a mesmerizing story full of intriguing characters, resonant images and powerful themes. (Apr. 1) FYI: Tepper's work has been nominated for both Hugo and Edgar awards. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Disme Latimer is an orphan, tyrannized by an evil stepmother and stepsister who deprive her of her heritage. Her rigid, corrupt society is ruled by a bureaucracy that keeps its people in line through a systematic and legally sanctioned use of torture, as its leaders pursue the black arts in their quest for power. Disme secretly possesses a forbidden book, the memoir of her ancestor, Nell Latimer, who was a scientist at the time of The Happening. A thousand years earlier, an asteroid (the "Visitor") hit Earth, nearly wiping out the human race and causing huge changes in geography and climate. Disme's world is a dark universe complete with magic, spirits, and portents, while Nell's is our own civilization, in which the truths of science still vie with humanity's preference for superstition. The interesting question of how Nell's world evolved into Disme's-and how the two come together, finally, in an apocalyptic confrontation of good and evil-is gradually answered, but not without some serious challenges to readers. There are disconcerting shifts between Disme's horror story and Nell's science-fiction tale; the future universe is teeming with complexities, and the story itself presents several new puzzles for each revelation. Tepper puts readers through a harrowing catalog of human evils, but this is the point-to name these evils, examine them, and discover how to overcome them. Disme, Nell, and their friends are resourceful and appealing heroes and their world is peopled with a very believable mix of ethically complicated beings.-Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews