Search - The Companions

Tepper has done it again! Would you believe an intergalactic mystery combined with an interpersonal pheremones, various interweaving combinations of baddies of competing species and planets--with betrayal at every level? Hold on to your hats, because it is a real page-turner.
Three planets in deep space were named by their human discoverers to reflect their environments: lush but forbidding Jungle, which swallowed up an exploratory team; Stone, phenomenally rich in gemstones and rare ores; and Moss, the most enigmatic--and dangerous--of the trio.
Joining her half-brother Paul, the famed linguist, on a two-person scientific expedition, Jewel Delis has come to Moss to observe the phenomenon of dancing light and to help decipher the strange musical "language" that accompanies it. But there are other mysteries alive on this exotic world covered in ever-shifting vegetation--and something more than illuminations has enticed her away from a disastrously overpopulated homeworld to seek answers at the universe's unexplored edge. For Jewel herself is a question mark with a radical agenda that will put her at perilous odds with her planet's ruling powers--and with the inscrutable alien races she encounters--as she risks all for justice for the endangered beasts of the Earth.

Sherri Tepper is wonderful. I highly recommend anything by her. Right up there with Asimov and Heinlein, in my book!

Good, enjoyable science fiction without a bunch of technical description of ships, weapons, etc., and very little romance. I have nothing against romance, I just get tired of it overwhelming a good plot. I really liked the description of the alien races in this book.

Wonderful! Another great book by Tepper!

This book had a little bit of everything - satire (quite funny at that), drama, action, romance, and quite a bit of philosophy/ethics peppered in between. It reads so well, and quite quickly at that. I read it in less than 2 days. I kept trying to force myself to slow down, to really absorb all the ideas and questions in here ... but, I was way too eager to get to the end! It's definitely a book I will be re-reading just so I can fully absorb all the philosophical and ethical opinions/viewpoints shown. Definitely a book that makes you think. But, also, just a wonderful story in and of itself.

Would recommend this to others for sure.

Sheri S. Tepper is one of the best science fiction writers today; in fact, she is one of the best writers today. The Companions is a variation on one of her common themes, the lack of repect for the earth and for the other beings with whom we share it, and the interrelatedness of all things from the planetary to the galactic level. In the 23rd century, earth is overcrowded and many politicians are calling for getting rid of all life except humans. The protagonist, Jewel, is involved in an effort to save dogs from extinction, which eventually brings her to the planet Moss and to the Splendor. THe relationships between humans and dogs is lovingly explored and mined for a plot twist. Highly recommended.