Cover & Synopsis: “The Best of All Possible Worlds” by Karen Lord

Posted on September 13, 2012 by John DeNardo in Books // 6 Comments

Check out the cover art and synopsis of the Karen Lord’s next novel The Best of All Possible Worlds.

Cover art shown here. Here’s the synopsis:

When Grace Delarua, civil servant of the government of Cygnus Beta, is assigned to work with Dllenahkh from the new Sadiri settlement, her routine job suddenly becomes very interesting. Formerly the galaxy’s ruling elite, Dllenahkh and his group of Sadiri refugees are the excess males of a decimated population, desperate in their search for stability, security … and wives. Some people would let the Ministry of Family Planning handle the matchmaking duties, but Dllenahkh, conscientious as ever, decides to track down the descendants of previous Sadiri settlers.

Grace gets swept along on a year of travel and discovery that changes her life completely and challenges the very idea of what it means to be Cygnian or Sadiri. The Best of All Possible Worlds is Grace’s journal, and a story about survival and identity on several levels – individual, familial, national, global, and human.

Book info as per Amazon US:

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Del Rey (February 12, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0345534050
ISBN-13: 978-0345534057

Karen Burnham // September 13, 2012 at 7:41 am //

As Karen Lord is my partner in podcasting-crime, she let me get a sneak peek at this book. This is SF in the mode of Ursula K. LeGuin, and really beautiful.

Karen Lord // September 13, 2012 at 9:56 am //

Thanks Karen 🙂

Karen Burnham // September 13, 2012 at 9:57 am //

I see that Random House has an expanded synopsis and more information on their site:

http://www.randomhouse.com/book/217348/the-best-of-all-possible-worlds-by-karen-lord

John DeNardo // September 13, 2012 at 10:13 am //

Cool.

For easy comparison:

Karen Lord’s debut novel, the multiple-award-winning Redemption in Indigo, announced the appearance of a major new talent—a strong, brilliantly innovative voice fusing Caribbean storytelling traditions and speculative fiction with subversive wit and incisive intellect. Compared by critics to such heavyweights as Nalo Hopkinson, China Miéville, and Ursula K. Le Guin, Lord does indeed belong in such select company—yet, like them, she boldly blazes her own trail.

Now Lord returns with a second novel that exceeds the promise of her first. The Best of All Possible Worlds is a stunning science fiction epic that is also a beautifully wrought, deeply moving love story.

A proud and reserved alien society finds its homeland destroyed in an unprovoked act of aggression, and the survivors have no choice but to reach out to the indigenous humanoids of their adopted world, to whom they are distantly related. They wish to preserve their cherished way of life but come to discover that in order to preserve their culture, they may have to change it forever.

Now a man and a woman from these two clashing societies must work together to save this vanishing race—and end up uncovering ancient mysteries with far-reaching ramifications. As their mission hangs in the balance, this unlikely team—one cool and cerebral, the other fiery and impulsive—just may find in each other their own destinies . . . and a force that transcends all.

“This fascinating and thoughtful science fiction novel breaks out of the typical conflict-centered narrative paradigm to examine adaptation, social change, and human relationships. I’ve not read anything quite like it, which it makes that rare beast: a true original.”—Kate Elliot, author of the Crown of Stars series and the Spiritwalker Trilogy