Rating: 
Summary: Drumdik
Review: "Biting the Sun" combines two books written by Tanith Lee over 20 years ago: "Don't Bite the Sun" (1976) and "Drinking Sapphire Wine" (1977). The first story ("Don't Bite the Sun") pretty much illustrates life in Four Bee, the domed city where the nameless protagonist and her circle of Jang (teenage) friends live. (She might have a name, but I don't recall ever seeing it.) Here you can assume any gender or body just by "suiciding". Nothing's taboo in Four Bee--well, almost nothing. Murder, for one, is against the rules--and if it's forbidden, then this daring Jang will certainly find a way of committing it (which results in her banishment from Four Bee in "Drinking Sapphire Wine").There are a few other no-no's besides murder in Four Bee. For starters, you can only kill yourself so many times before you're put on "probation". (Poor Hergal.) Just like in our own society today, teenage pregnancy, casual sex, and even May-December romances are frowned upon. After awhile, Four Bee doesn't seem like such a hedonistic place; it feels more like a prison or a bubbled cage. The sequel, "Drinking Sapphire Wine", isn't as good as the first, basically because the protagonist is stranded in the middle of nowhere with nothing going on except creating a new Garden of Eve while trying to keep out straying desert creatures (similar to the ones in the Unicorn series) and Jang at the same time. I think this last half of the book really put a damper on the whole story. That's mainly why I gave "Biting the Sun" a 3 / 5 score. Perhaps if there were more to her quest than just teenage angst, I would have been won over by "Biting the Sun". However, I thought the whole plot was pointless and slow, and almost as bad as "Heroine of the World". The only other sci fi book I've read so far by Tanith Lee is "The Silver Metal Lover", which is by far a better book than these two combined. After this, I'm sticking with her horror / dark fantasy novels.
Rating:
Summary: A Little Confusing FOR ME!
Review: 1st, please don't make my review a deciding factor on buying this book or not, I just wanted to post my experience with it. This is my 1st Tanith Lee book and I have been told it should not have been. It was very much on the confusing side with the new language and all. Following the story and keeping up with the terminology was challenging and did not hold my interest. I barely made to page 100 and I have a rule that is a book doesn't at least peak my interest by page 100 then I am through with it. It is futuristic and sci-fi all in one, both of which usually don't grasp my attention. All other reviews of it was very good though. Will I try and read other of her books? Yes. Would I try and reread this one again? No!
Rating: 
Summary: This lovely, ghastly mess that is the human condition
Review: A soulless people living in an artificial biosphere in the desert. An advanced civilization turned in upon itself as it reaches levels of hedonism and depravity far surpassing that of the late Roman Empire. A picture of horror disguised as the ultimate beauty and pleasure. Tanith Lee has created a world in which humans are the obsolete masters of a society so advanced that death itself is impossible. Life on the other hand is an endless pursuit of pleasure for plesaure's sake. No material possession, no experience cannot be had by the elite Jang class of citizens (you could even say it was considered their duty to experiment with play). Work is performed entirely by robot automatons so that humans can indulge themselves in whatever way suits their fancies. Want to try a new body? Commit suicide and come back with a different look, a different gender, antennae if you like. Nothing is criminal or forbidden save one thing: murder. The depiction of this world ( called 4-B) and an unusual young heroine who dares to buck the system to find meaning in her life resonated with me. Seeing her exhaust every avenue available to her for true self-discovery was a painful and beautiful thing; eventually, she realized that there was something terribly wrong with a society in which God and morals had no place. Therefore, the only option left was to flee from the protection of the AI overseers and their sheltered paradise to become truly human and mortal at last. Reading this was like watching a soul being born. The author was not exactly covering new territory in her plot line; it became obvious to me halfway through that this was a variation on the popular Biblical tale of the Fall. Whether the Jang caste (perpetual teenagers of a sort) represents Angels or Mankind in a weird state of depraved innocence is vague, but the central characters all became human at some point. Rather than symbolizing a sad end to a good thing, however, the outcast Jang experienced a sort of spiritual and physical awakening, an uplifting if you will. This is truly a tale of redemption where life can bloom in the desert once again. With some of the most lyrical prose ever to be found in SF, Biting the Sun reaches a rare level of literary excellence for the genre. Still, there are moments of pure recognition as the characters have their foibles and stumbles. In all, I loved reading it and could recommend it to anybody who might have the fortitude to witness the casual tragedy of this peculiar dystopian world.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle
Rating:
Summary: This lovely, ghastly mess that is the human condition
Review: A soulless people living in an artificial biosphere in the desert. An advanced civilization turned in upon itself as it reaches levels of hedonism and depravity far surpassing that of the late Roman Empire. A picture of horror disguised as the ultimate beauty and pleasure. Tanith Lee has created a world in which humans are the obsolete masters of a society so advanced that death itself is impossible. Life on the other hand is an endless pursuit of pleasure for plesaure's sake. No material possession, no experience cannot be had by the elite Jang class of citizens (you could even say it was considered their duty to experiment with play). Work is performed entirely by robot automatons so that humans can indulge themselves in whatever way suits their fancies. Want to try a new body? Commit suicide and come back with a different look, a different gender, antennae if you like. Nothing is criminal or forbidden save one thing: murder. The depiction of this world ( called 4-B) and an unusual young heroine who dares to buck the system to find meaning in her life resonated with me. Seeing her exhaust every avenue available to her for true self-discovery was a painful and beautiful thing; eventually, she realized that there was something terribly wrong with a society in which God and morals had no place. Therefore, the only option left was to flee from the protection of the AI overseers and their sheltered paradise to become truly human and mortal at last. Reading this was like watching a soul being born. The author was not exactly covering new territory in her plot line; it became obvious to me halfway through that this was a variation on the popular Biblical tale of the Fall. Whether the Jang caste (perpetual teenagers of a sort) represents Angels or Mankind in a weird state of depraved innocence is vague, but the central characters all became human at some point. Rather than symbolizing a sad end to a good thing, however, the outcast Jang experienced a sort of spiritual and physical awakening, an uplifting if you will. This is truly a tale of redemption where life can bloom in the desert once again. With some of the most lyrical prose ever to be found in SF, Biting the Sun reaches a rare level of literary excellence for the genre. Still, there are moments of pure recognition as the characters have their foibles and stumbles. In all, I loved reading it and could recommend it to anybody who might have the fortitude to witness the casual tragedy of this peculiar dystopian world.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle
Rating:
Summary: A Derisann Reverse Garden of Eden Paradise
Review: Although I am quite a fan of dystopian novels, I believe that this is much more than futuristic speculation. The ideas and symbolism in this book will stay with you long after you tearfully turn the last page, as will the fantastic use of both the english language and jang slang. But aside from a gripping plot and a thoroughly developed and three dimentional (if nameless in a great everyman fight club sort of way) narrator, there are ideas brought about in this book that I think it is important for all the world to contemplate. The ideas of parent/child relationships, of searching for meaning in life, of humans trapping themselves into a superficial paradise of a corner, of the search for truth and beauty, of religion and government are all dealt with splendidly, without any preaching. I also recommend The Silver Metal Lover, as it is a fascinating and completely different look at the future. Lee wrote The Silver Metal Lover after Biting the Sun, and has gained a little more sympathy for the AIs. Let me just add that Lee absolutely knows how to portray a teenage girl. Both Jane and (Eve) change drastically, but I always liked and identified with both of them.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Although I have been a devoted Tanith Lee fan since I discovered her work sometime last year, I had only experienced her science-fiction work with "The Silver Metal Lover." I shamelessly adore that book; thus, when I heard that another of her earlier science-fictions was being reprinted, I both jumped to buy it and worried a bit about what it might be like. I shouldn't have even bothered to worry. "Biting the Sun" is fantastic. The book is really two novels in one. The first, "Don't Bite the Sun," deals with traditional dystopian themes, all written in Lee's brilliant, colorful prose and enacted by a crazy and fascinating set of characters. From the beginning the story throws you off balance and pulls you in: come on, what other novel opens with its narrator committing suicide? In the futuristic city of Four-BEE a strict age-based caste system dictates its inhabitants' lives, particularly the lives of the Jang, whose adolescence seems to last at least fifty years. You can do anything when you're a Jang. Drink, do drugs, marry, have love, kill yourself, all as many times as you like in whatever body you prefer; the only thing you can't do is...stop being a Jang. Thus when the anonymous, mainly-female protagonist decides to rebel against Four-BEE, but it's hard. When nothing is forbidden, what can you protest? Apparently there's something, because the second novel, "Drinking Sapphire Wine," deals with the other half of the story: what happens when the narrator finally ticks off the Powers That Be and is exiled from Four-BEE. Although I understand that the books were originally published as separate works, they mesh seamlessly into one another. In theory one could read "Drinking Sapphire Wine" without reading "Don't Bite the Sun"...but why miss the fun? Lee's Four-BEE is a weird and wild place, where pure hedonism is ultimately revealed to be hollow, but it's a delight to read about. (By the way, I would like to agree wholeheartedly with the prior reviewer: the moment "the pet" entered the action, I thought immediately of Tanaquil's peeve. Those of you who have no clue what we're talking about...read "Black Unicorn" and its sequels and find out!) Having enjoyed immensely both "The Silver Metal Lover" and "Biting the Sun," two very different looks at the future, I will continue look out for more of Lee's science fiction. Meanwhile, those of you that have never read "Biting the Sun," stop wasting your time reading this review, go out and read the book! Not as though the Quasi-Robots will enforce this suggestion, but unless you do so, I doubt the following song will make much sense: "I only want to have love with you, for you are so derisann..."
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Although I have been a devoted Tanith Lee fan since I discovered her work sometime last year, I had only experienced her science-fiction work with "The Silver Metal Lover." I shamelessly adore that book; thus, when I heard that another of her earlier science-fictions was being reprinted, I both jumped to buy it and worried a bit about what it might be like. I shouldn't have even bothered to worry. "Biting the Sun" is fantastic. The book is really two novels in one. The first, "Don't Bite the Sun," deals with traditional dystopian themes, all written in Lee's brilliant, colorful prose and enacted by a crazy and fascinating set of characters. From the beginning the story throws you off balance and pulls you in: come on, what other novel opens with its narrator committing suicide? In the futuristic city of Four-BEE a strict age-based caste system dictates its inhabitants' lives, particularly the lives of the Jang, whose adolescence seems to last at least fifty years. You can do anything when you're a Jang. Drink, do drugs, marry, have love, kill yourself, all as many times as you like in whatever body you prefer; the only thing you can't do is...stop being a Jang. Thus when the anonymous, mainly-female protagonist decides to rebel against Four-BEE, but it's hard. When nothing is forbidden, what can you protest? Apparently there's something, because the second novel, "Drinking Sapphire Wine," deals with the other half of the story: what happens when the narrator finally ticks off the Powers That Be and is exiled from Four-BEE. Although I understand that the books were originally published as separate works, they mesh seamlessly into one another. In theory one could read "Drinking Sapphire Wine" without reading "Don't Bite the Sun"...but why miss the fun? Lee's Four-BEE is a weird and wild place, where pure hedonism is ultimately revealed to be hollow, but it's a delight to read about. (By the way, I would like to agree wholeheartedly with the prior reviewer: the moment "the pet" entered the action, I thought immediately of Tanaquil's peeve. Those of you who have no clue what we're talking about...read "Black Unicorn" and its sequels and find out!) Having enjoyed immensely both "The Silver Metal Lover" and "Biting the Sun," two very different looks at the future, I will continue look out for more of Lee's science fiction. Meanwhile, those of you that have never read "Biting the Sun," stop wasting your time reading this review, go out and read the book! Not as though the Quasi-Robots will enforce this suggestion, but unless you do so, I doubt the following song will make much sense: "I only want to have love with you, for you are so derisann..."
Rating: 
Summary: A Fearsome Look Into A Future Of Pleasure
Review: Amidst a future paradise where pain is virtually obsolete, changing bodies from male to female by request is an everyday occurence, and ambrosia is served sun-up till sundown, why would anyone want to escape such paradise? As I read this story I envied the characters, who seemed to have it all, until I realized I was reading about MY LIFE! Some of us can identify with being protected from pain and reality during childhood to the point it's embarrassing. Others (not me, sigh) can identify with being forced to live "the good life". This book is about all that, being forced to endure pleasure after pleasure, endlessly, and never being allowed to die. I won't describe the plot since other reviews here below have done that. But I will give some observations. I noticed that the reader is never told how this paradise in a bubble came to be, so that the reader is left wondering how and why humans must endure perfection. But it does demonstrate that somewhere in the distant past, humans must have thought that eliminating work, trial and suffering, and shoving all kinds of silly pleasures down people's throats, would be a good idea. Since today humans DO envision such a life of carefree existence, this book is a major warning to what might happen to future generations who would have to endure an underserved heaven without having known anything else. Philosophically this book was quite engaging and interesting. The story though, did sometimes bore me to tears--often I found myself just as bored as those trapped in paradise, lol. But it didn't fail to touch me to the core. I easily became lost in the book's panoramas, and desert wastes, dreaming along with those who dreamed, rebelling with those who rebelled. I liked it...I'd pass it on to a friend.
Rating:
Summary: A GROSHING book!!!
Review: Biting the Sun is actally two books in one. It consists of "Don't Bite the Sun" and its sequel, "Drinking Saphire Wine". Both books really catch your imagination and make you wish that it all were true since it takes place in the future. You never find out who is writing this diary/journal like book. That bugged me but the rest of the book is GREAT. I highly suggest you read this book. Its romantic and fun plus a wonderful adventure!
Rating:
Summary: It's everything a sci-fi novel should be
Review: Biting the Sun is made up of two novels, Don't Bite the Sun and Drinking Sapphire Wine. Don't Bite the Sun familiarizes us with with the young, mostly female protagonist (we never learn her name) and the world in which she lives. In this world you can change bodies and genders as often as you want, all you have to do is kill yourself. You can marry and divorce in the space of an afternoon and there is no such thing as crime. Our protagonist becomes increasingly unhappy with her meaningless life of pleasure and sets out to find something that makes her happy, and in her pursuit she rebels against society. Finally in Drinking Sapphire Whine she commits an act that cannot go unpunished and her life is changed forever. Biting the Sun is one of the best sci-fi novels I've ever read. It's everything a sci-fi novel should be. Tanith Lee creates a world that fascinates you and characters you genuinely care about. The plot is very ambitious and it's successful in that it says something important about the meaning of life. Even if you aren't fond of sci-fi you should give Biting the Sun a chance.
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