Title: The Margarets
Author: Sheri S. Tepper
Year of publication: 2009 (paperback)
Genre: SF. Technically
My rating: 3 stars or B for story, D- for preachiness

In a near-future world where Earth teeters on the edge of ecological collapse and total destruction because people are stupid (bear with me until I get on to the preachiness of Tepper) and one-dimensional aliens are greedy, a young girl named Margaret is the key to the survival of the human race. As a child on a Mars colony, the lonely Margaret imagined playmates for herself — a queen, a warrior, a healer, a spy, a telepath, a linguist, a shaman. At certain decision-points in her life, these imaginary personas split off into real versions of her, making their lives on far-flung colonies, some as slaves to evil alien races, some in the care of mysterious otherworldly people, one as a woman raising a family, one as a man training as a soldier, and so on. Their purpose, all unknown to them, is to walk seven roads as once to meet the Keeper, as orchestrated by some nice (and yet one-dimensional) aliens and the psychic manifestations of humankind’s desires ie the gods (though technically SF because it’s set on alien worlds and has wormholes and such, this is much more fantasy than SF, and the riddle, resolution and ending are all very fairytale-like).

This is the fourth book I’ve read by Tepper, and it will be last. And it’s not because it’s bad, by any means. The writing is decent, the plot is solid, and most of the various versions of Margaret are interesting to follow, especially as they begin to meet and the story builds up to its climax. I shot through this book in a day and mostly greatly enjoyed reading it. So why wouldn’t I read more?
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