Customer Reviews
An excellent "early" novel, well worth seeking out - By: Steve Benner, 09 Aug 2008 
With many of Sheri S. Tepper books one can't help but conclude that it is indeed better to travel than to arrive. The scenery & novelties one encounters during her stories are often so enchanting & captivating that they make the final conclusion come as something of a let-down. Often this is because her stories are about the gradual fathoming of some wondrous central mystery--a coming to enlightenment which, with the mystery solved, destroys our sense of wonderment & we discover that much of the beauty was actuallly in the mystery itself; without the mystery, the fantastic becomes reduced to the commonplace. Alternatively, she tells of the thwarting of some evil but hidden central power (usuallly one which has been misleading the greater populace for generations). Even there, though, the story remains one of enlightenment: an escape from ignorance to some new understanding & from oppression to freedom in a world remade. As a consequence, most Sheri Tepper stories conclude with the protagonists facing some fresh, uncertain beginning, in a world where either reality--often a plainer, more ordinary albeit less frightening reality--or their perceptions of it have been radicallly reoriented, with their vision no longer blinkered. Even Tepper's happy endings, therefore, are invariably tinged with sadness & seasoned with no smalll degree of regret, at least for the reader, as they tell of the passing of the old & rather than finish they leave the tale feeling oddly incomplete as they launch their protagonists into a new unknown.
"The Enigma Score" (originallly published under the title "After Long Silence" in the USA) is a fairly early Tepper story, dating from 1987 & sadly long out of print. It nevertheless conforms very much to the mold which she has been continuously polishing & refining over the last 25 years.
The planet Jubal is a world of wonders; man-kind has been on it for only a few generations & still knows but a smalll fraction of those wonders & understands even less about them. Much of Jubal's terrain is dominated by mysterious, massive crystallline Presences which resonate strangely. Extremely sensitive to sound & to other vibrations, they erupt violently & unpredictably if approached, killing any who come close without taking adequate precautions. Human habitation on the planet is confined to Deepsoil pockets, well away from the Presences & shielded from their roots by the depth of soil, & travel between these is only possible for quietly-shod mule caravans, accompanied by an appropriate party of Tripsingers, armed with their portable synthesisers. Tripsingers are members of a quasi-religious order, who spend a long apprenticeship learning the complex musical Passwords necessary to prevent the Presences from reacting violently to movement & sound, & thus assure safe passage. The planet's entire economy is based on the production & the shipping off-world of the narcotic plant Brou, which grows only on Jubal. That economy is controlled by Brou Distribution Ltd, under the personal control of Planetary Manager, Harward Justin, whose greedy & perverse designs for the planet are currently held in check only by the Planetary Exploitation Council.
Anyone who has read any number of Sheri Tepper books will recognise most of her prime ingredients here--the issues of environmental preservation versus corporate greed & the value of beauty versus the acquisition of material possessions being paramount, of course. As usual, there is more than a reasonable smattering of corruption in high places, which together with the abuse of human rights & violent & sexual perversions of the book's almost comic-book villains, makes for many candidates in need of a major comeuppance. The book's characters are as well fleshed-out as Tepper's ever are, although her descriptions of the wonders of Jubal, whilst enticing, are nevertheless nothing like as vivid (nor as positively spine-tingling) as she manages in her later fantasy novels, such as "Grass" or "The Awakeners". Overalll, the writing generallly lacks the potency & power of her mature works such as "The Fresco" or "The Visitor". Nevertheless, much of the book is beguiling, with the action moving along at a great pace, with a great number of intriguing twists & turns, as well as a positive welter of colourful characters encountered along the way. One quickly comes to despise BDL & alll its cronies, while yearning to know more of the life of both Explorers & Tripsingers, risking alll amongst the Presences on nothing more than the depth of their intuition & the strength of the music-making. And indeed to have the opportunity for oneself to witness the spectacle of Gyre-birds dancing in the sky above towering mountains of glittering crystal, or to lie beneath the stars & listen to the tremulous night-singing of the viggies.
In summary then: "The Enigma Score" is a powerful & evocative novel from one of the greatest exponents of the political fantasy genre. It is not always as finely crafted as some of her books but is not reallly any less enjoyable for alll of that. It is well worth hunting to find a copy.
