From Front & Back Flaps Severna Park is acclaimed as a brilliant new voice in compelling, provocative science fiction. Now, in her third novel, she has excelled again, creating an unnerving yet mesmerising future in a bold, impassioned tale of first contact and human evolution. In a dark, brutal new age, humans have crossed vast stretches of space and incorporated new levels of technology into their very beings. Yet they still struggle with the bloody instincts that have tormented humanity since time immemorial. ThreeSys is a triangle of stars with eleven planets each, where people are divided into three classes - Meshed, Jacked, and Jackless - a caste system of technological access. "Mesh" has emerged as the universe's single greatest power: a tiny elite of meshed humans can access unsurpassed knowledge, enter another dimension, and manipulate lesser mortals' reality. But three of these gifted humans - Eve, Corey, and Annmarie - have harnessed this power for their own evil ends. Traveling throughout ThreeSys, the trio devotes their extraordinary abilities to selling what they claim is an end to all wars and aggression. What they're actually selling is Staze, an opium like, instantly addictive drug that wraps the user in dreams and lethargy. Yet some Jacked and Jackless have retaliated against this and other abuses of power, mercilessly hunting down and killing Meshed humans. Time is running out for the three, even as ebony-hued Eve falls in love with lower caste Naverdi, who's Jacked, a supplier of a key Staze ingredient, and an addict herself. The only answer is on Paradise, the first ThreeSys planet where humans ever set foot. Paradise hadn't survived it's first brush with human habitation, and was blasted from it's orbit into another solar system millennia ago. Now it's the only place where the Mesh is intact - the old Mesh, the original Mesh, the real one. The Annunciate - the first person to step off the first ship - still lives in Paradise's myths and legends. All Meshed where the Annunciate's medal, her mysterious, enigmatic image etched at the gates of Paradise, offering the elusive promise of a new world clean of sin and violence. But a far more dangerous presence awaits Eve, Naverdi, Annmarie, and Corey on the abandoned planet. A sinister being of overpowering sexuality unfettered by the four dimensions, has broken down all barriers between virtual and real, blending Jack and Staze and Mesh into one coherent vision. It has stolen Annmarie's weapon and used it against her, and now it has chosen Eve's lover Naverdi to bear it's newborn into the world. As Eve tries to save Naverdi, she grapples with the awesome entity which threatens to encompass the physical, spiritual, and virtual. Only Eve can decide: is Nav carrying true salvation, the Annunciate's legendary Unknown Child...or an alien predator bent on annihilation?

Comment This is a hardcover edition published in 1999. This edition contains 294 pages. This is an ex-library book.

I'm finding this book very difficult to describe or compartmentalise. At times, I felt I was really enjoying it, at other times I was not. At times I knew exactly what was going on, at other times I was completely lost. Some parts were reminiscent of The Matrix, others of religious mania. About the only thing I can say for certain, is that you will be left pondering the nature of good and evil and the fine line between salvation and damnation.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:



Happy Smile Day!

Thankyou for the book and the bag of surprises.

In a dark new age, technologically advanced humans have crossed vast stretches of space-yet have remained brutally, imperfectly human.
In the star system ThreeSys, three members of the elite human "Meshed" caste have used their great gifts for evil purposes -- enslaving the lower orders in the addictive dreams of a powerful narcotic. Now hunted by those seeking bloody retribution, Corey, Annmarie, and Eve-along with Eve's lower caste lover, Naverdi -- must flee to Paradise, the first world in ThreeSys to know the curse of human habitation. But something is waiting for them on the now abandoned planet -- a sinister being that can turn their own powers against them, an entity that has broken down all barriers between virtual and real; a creature that has chosen Naverdi to bear its offspring into the world.

Fast paced, thought-provoking and at times dark.

Different....but good, if difficult to describe.

A book baggie swap

I received this book from AmberC in a book baggie along with a collection of others to read. I can't wait to read this one.

To the finder of this book:

Welcome to bookcrossing!

This book is a gift, no strings attached. You may keep it forever, pass it along to a friend, or release it into the wild to be found by someone else, but please leave a journal entry to let me know that the book is safe. You can do this anonymously, or you can choose to join Bookcrossing - it's free and it's a lot of fun.

Enjoy the book and hopefully the Bookcrossing website and community!

Just love it when I catch a wild one, caught at Melbourne Central Little Library today.

On to the shelves.

To the finder of this book -
Please let me know it is in safe hands by journalling that you have caught it, you are under no obligation to read it and Bookcrossing is completely anonymous.

Rescued from QSR which is now permanently closed having fallen victim to the lockdown.

To the finder of this book -
Please let me know it is in safe hands by journalling that you have caught it, you are under no obligation to read it and Bookcrossing is completely anonymous.

Found at Fat Cup Cafe in Blackburn

Sent along with a wishlist tag because I thought you might appreciate how well travelled it is.

Thanks for this extra book :)

Just finished the first chapter and loving it so far.
Picked the book up in Garden of Eden Caravan Park.