Sarah Zettel writes classic SF with the classic subjects (space travel, alien worlds, exotic cultures, inventive scientific extrapolation), but infused with a thoroughly modern and socioculturally savvy sensibility. It's no wonder she established herself as a major player in SF with only two novels. Her debut, Reclamation, won the Locus Award for Best First Novel and was a Philip K. Dick Award finalist; her second novel, Fool's War, was a New York Times Notable Book of 1997. Her third novel, Playing God, will win her even more acclaim, with its strong writing, terrific world-building, complex characterizations, and genuinely alien aliens. And its sheer scope. Rarely has a book been more accurately titled than Playing God. The multi-planetary corporation Bioverse hires biotechnologist Lynn Nussbaumer to save the world--namely, the planet All-Cradle, home of the Dedelphi. A genetically engineered bio-weapon has mutated out of control and threatens the entire Dedelphi race with extinction; in desperation, the violently tribal Dedelphi have signed their first planet-wide cease-fire and sought off-world help. But Dr. Nussbaumer's only chance of success requires evacuating and re-creating the whole planet--a plan that breaks the fragile truce among the millennia-old Dedelphi enemies and also divides their human allies, risking the quick destruction of all, in a fast- paced, intricate, masterfully plotted narrative of intrigue and betrayal. --Cynthia Ward


From Publishers Weekly
In the future, the Dedelphi, a race ravaged by eons of warfare, contracts with Earth's Bioverse Corporation to save their planet from ecological disaster. Dr. Lynn Nussbaumer spearheads the massive effort, which involves relocating the planet's entire population to orbiting space cities while Bioverse cleanses the ecosphere with its custom nanotechnology, simultaneously reaping whatever rare organisms and bacteria its workers discover. Meanwhile, Praeis Shin t'Theria, a member of the Dedelphia and a fascinating, credible and humane alien character, has returned with her family from exile to her home planet at the request of the ruling Queens-of-All. The matriarchy suspects that the Bioverse effort may be a trick of their enemy clan, the Getesaph, to kill all t'Theria, and so they command Praeis Shin to shore up whatever support she can for the planet's shaky truce. But despite Nussbaumer's and Praeis Shin's efforts, open fighting erupts, with the Getesaph commandeering one of the space cities. Abduction, corporate betrayal and murder ensue, forcing Nussbaumer to choose between abandoning the Dedelphi to a suicidal fate, enforcing a kind of corporate martial law or opening a dialogue to a truly cooperative effort that would help the Dedelphi save their planet and establish a lasting peace. Readers will embrace this complex, multidimensional saga (Zettel's hardcover debut, and the best of her three novels) not only for its depiction of exotic alien civilization and its action-packed plot but also for its pertinent themes of tribalism, intolerance and ecological disaster. (Nov.) FYI: Zettel's first novel, Reclamation, won the Locus Award for Best First Novel.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
A handful of the all-female Dedelphi, representative of all the Dedelphi families, flees the internecine warfare that plagues their world--and flees an artificial plague, the mutation of the latest nasty weapon, too--to form a peaceful colony among the humans on Mars. Their leader, Praeis Shin of the t'Theria family, hopes to forge an alliance with humans for an enormous project: relocating all Dedelphi to orbiting city ships while humans eradicate the plague and clean up the Dedelphi home planet. Under Praeis and engineer and urban planner Lynn Nussbaumer, it is a hopeful collaboration, especially considering that Dedelphi are so violently allergic to humans that a mere handshake can raise poisonous welts. But Praeis and Lynn are unaware of the seething, vengeful, rebellious factions back in the Dedelphi home world who will stop at nothing to make sure that their respective families not only survive but emerge as rulers. Zettel captures both loving, emotional relationships and the feverish thrill of battle in a fast-paced novel that will satisfy the most demanding sf reader. Roberta Johns


From Kirkus Reviews
Hardcover debut for the author of a couple of well-received science fiction paperbacks (Fool's War, etc.). On planet All-Cradle live the Dedelphi, homicidal humanoid aliens whose numerous clans have been warring for millennia. Humans, however, are toxic to Dedelphi and must wear environmental suits. All active Dedelphi are female, powerfully bonded mother to daughter, sister to sisterexcept that when they grow old, they turn male. Now their technology has reached the nuclear and biological danger level: half the population has died from a mutated plague, and the desperate clans have ceased hostilities so that Dr. Lynn Nussbaumer of Earth's Bioverse corporation can help. In return, Bioverse will be permitted exclusive access to the planet's unexploited biological resources. The natives will be evacuated to huge orbiting city-ships while Bioverse deals with the plague. But Lynn finds that only wise Praeis Shin of the t'Theria clan is willing to negotiate a genuine end to the violence. Lynn, meanwhile, has a personal problem: old college flame Arron Hagopian has been working closely with the Getesaph clan and publishes some inflammatory material about Bioverse's true intentions, claiming that it will sooner destroy the planet than let the clans fight it out. Then Arron discovers the Getesaph are planning a surprise attack on the first city-ship. He tries to warn Lynn but the Getesaph grab them both, along with Praeis's daughter Resaime, who, having been deliberately confined with Lynn and Arron, quickly dies. The Getesaph capture the ship, the t'Theria retaliate, and war explodes across the planet. Even if Lynn can escape, how can she stop the carnage? A taut, thoroughly captivating yarn, with splendid characters, a gratifyingly substantial sociobiological base, and one intractable problem: Armed with nukes and missiles, how did the Dedelphi avoid exterminating themselves long before humans showed up? -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Bioverse Inc. executive Dr. Lynn Nussbaumer has just been handed the project of her career and the challenge of a lifetime: to save an entire planet. After millennia of constant war on All-Cradle, one of the Great Families of the Dedelphi launched a viral weapon that mutated into a universal plague. Desperate, an unprecedented Confederation of Dedelphi leaders asked for Earth's help. The only solution: Evacuate more than a billion Dedelphi to vast orbital enclaves for decades, while Bioverse's environmental engineers cleanse and rebuild All-Cradle's entire ecosphere. The truce declared by the fragile Confederation can't control the tangled mass of Dedelphi feuds and vendettas; factions in each clan fear that relocation is a deadly ploy by their enemies. Still other Dedelphi - panicked by Terran sociologist Arron Hagopian's revelations of past Earth abuses - are convinced the city-ships are internment camps controlled by aliens who have conquered All-Cradle in a bloodless coup.

FROM THE CRITICS

Gerald Jonas - New York Times Book Review

[The author] focuses on the fate of a single planet and, paradoxically, loses her way....I never got a clear picture of the aliens or their society. Even worse, I did not much care what happened to the humans...

Publishers Weekly

In the future, the Dedelphi, a race ravaged by eons of warfare, contracts with Earth's Bioverse Corporation to save their planet from ecological disaster. Dr. Lynn Nussbaumer spearheads the massive effort, which involves relocating the planet's entire population to orbiting space cities while Bioverse cleanses the ecosphere with its custom nanotechnology, simultaneously reaping whatever rare organisms and bacteria its workers discover. Meanwhile, Praeis Shin t'Theria, a member of the Dedelphia and a fascinating, credible and humane alien character, has returned with her family from exile to her home planet at the request of the ruling Queens-of-All. The matriarchy suspects that the Bioverse effort may be a trick of their enemy clan, the Getesaph, to kill all t'Theria, and so they command Praeis Shin to shore up whatever support she can for the planet's shaky truce. But despite Nussbaumer's and Praeis Shin's efforts, open fighting erupts, with the Getesaph commandeering one of the space cities. Abduction, corporate betrayal and murder ensue, forcing Nussbaumer to choose between abandoning the Dedelphi to a suicidal fate, enforcing a kind of corporate martial law or opening a dialogue to a truly cooperative effort that would help the Dedelphi save their planet and establish a lasting peace. Readers will embrace this complex, multidimensional saga (Zettel's hardcover debut, and the best of her three novels) not only for its depiction of exotic alien civilization and its action-packed plot but also for its pertinent themes of tribalism, intolerance and ecological disaster. (Nov.) FYI: Zettel's first novel, Reclamation, won the Locus Award for Best First Novel.

VOYA - Vicky Burkholder

Given the chance to stop a world war, would you be willing to play god? That is the decision Lynn Nussbaum must make. The Dedelphi have been in a state of civil war for eons-it is inbred in their culture and their blood. In their zeal to prevail, one of the factions uses a biological weapon that goes out of control and unleashes a plague on the planet. Lynn is hired by Bioverse to come in and convince the Dedelphi that they can help. Bioverse will clean up the entire world in exchange for the mutated microbes (for study). What Lynn does not know is that Bioverse plans to take over the world no matter what, and when she finds out, it is almost too late.

Lynn needs to stop the wars and stop Bioverse. She does so by playing god, creating situations where everyone has to play by her rules. It is only when an old friend points out that what Lynn is doing is worse than everything else that she realizes what she has been doing. To atone, she gives one of the warring factions proof of Bioverse's deception. This serves to unite the factions and set up a round of talks that lead to peace. Zettel has the knack of not only telling a good story, but of making it believable. She is a master craftsman and this book is no exception; it is a good buy for any science fiction collection.

VOYA Codes: 5Q 4P S A/YA (Hard to imagine it being better written, Broad general YA appeal, Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12 and adults).

Gerald Jonas

[The author] focuses on the fate of a single planet and, paradoxically, loses her way....I never got a clear picture of the aliens or their society. Even worse, I did not much care what happened to the humans... -- The New York Times Book Review

Kirkus Reviews

Hardcover debut for the author of a couple of well-received science fiction paperbacks (Fool's War). On planet All-Cradle live the Dedelphi, homicidal humanoid aliens whose numerous clans have been warring for millennia. Humans, however, are toxic to Dedelphi and must wear environmental suits. All active Dedelphi are female, powerfully bonded mother to daughter, sister to sister—-except that when they grow old, they turn male. Now their technology has reached the nuclear and biological danger level: half the population has died from a mutated plague, and the desperate clans have ceased hostilities so that Dr. Lynn Nussbaumer of Earth's Bioverse corporation can help. In return, Bioverse will be permitted exclusive access to the planet's unexploited biological resources. The natives will be evacuated to huge orbiting city-ships while Bioverse deals with the plague. But Lynn finds that only wise Praeis Shin of the t'Theria clan is willing to negotiate a genuine end to the violence. Lynn, meanwhile, has a personal problem: old college flame Arron Hagopian has been working closely with the Getesaph clan and publishes some inflammatory material about Bioverse's true intentions, claiming that it will sooner destroy the planet than let the clans fight it out. Then Arron discovers the Getesaph are planning a surprise attack on the first city-ship. He tries to warn Lynn but the Getesaph grab them both, along with Praeis's daughter Resaime, who, having been deliberately confined with Lynn and Arron, quickly dies. The Getesaph capture the ship, the t'Theria retaliate, and war explodes across the planet. Even if Lynn can escape, how can she stop the carnage? A taut, thoroughlycaptivating yarn, with splendid characters, a gratifyingly substantial sociobiological base, and one intractable problem: Armed with nukes and missiles, how did the Dedelphi avoid exterminating themselves long before humans showed up?