This is connected with her Raising the Stones novel about the Hobb gods, and also late on features a character from 'Grass', both of which I've read earlier.

Sadly, about halfway through, she piles too many impossible things on top of each other and the book collapses for me. ( )

[Sideshow] is the last of the Arbai trilogy. It opens with one of those leading statements that reveals the destination, and then the story leads the reader to that point before moving beyond: "Humanity was saved from certain destruction when, on their wedding night, Lek Korsyzczy informed his wife that their first child was to be a son." This starting point and the book's title derive from the conjoined (Siamese) fraternal twins Nela and Bertran and their career on Old Earth before being catapulted through time and space via a newly materialized Arbai gate.

From their origin story, the narrative moves to the origin of Elsewhere, a remote planet colonized by humans fleeing the perceived enslavement of the Hobbs Land Gods introduced in [Raising the Stones]. This colony is a living manifestation of the amoral paradox of tolerance (indeed, the capitol is called Tolerance), the population divided into 1003 individual provinces governed by a noninterference pact--each province could do whatever the hell it wants with its people who cannot leave, and thus the planet becomes a millenium-long museum exhibit of human cultural/religious/governance diversity: authoritarian society based on extensive child sacrifice (Molock) or racial enslavement (Derbeck), extreme misogynist patriarchy dedicated to female enslavement and suffering (Thrasis), across the river from extreme misandrist matriarchy in which dependent men can only travel with their "mothers" (Beanfields), extreme caste differences (Enarae), military autocracy (Frick), extreme bureaucracy (New Athens), legal system based on mutilation and death penalties (Sandylwaith), society based on musical contributions (Choire), cyborg "dinks" created from deconstructed human parts to pursue either a life of the mind or of simplified bodily sensations (City Fifteen), and on and on. You see how many of these reflect extremism?

Elsewhere's founders were university professors from Brannigan Galaxity, and the premise for the colony's arrangement is a literal living lab to manifest the answer to the existential question "What is the ultimate destiny of man?" Tolerance is built atop the mysterious Core, where puzzling and scary manifestations are happening. Dragons have been reported in the mysterious and unexplored center of the continent. The Provost of Tolerance keeps receiving the message "The people of Elsewhere are respectfully requested to rethink their position with respect to the rest of the universe" in various increasingly improbably ways. So many interlinked mysteries! And thus a quest gets underway, traveling through the provinces and seeking the source. What is the nature of God? What is freedom/free will? What is the ultimate destiny of humanity? What is good/moral/just? Will our heroes survive? And how do the Arbai fit into all this?

I haven't even mentioned the other main characters: Council Enforcers Zasper Ertigon, Danivon Luze, Fringe Owldark, and Curvis; Provost Boarmus of the Council Advisory; Jory, Asner, and Great Dragon, plus an assortment of minor characters who help carry the plot forward. It's an interesting story generally well told. I just didn't love it. And once again, I am sympathetic with many of Tepper's points and appreciated her storytelling, but I don't agree with her final conclusions. I also noticed a bit of a gendered double standard. Whereas Sam in [Raising the Stones] is recklessly and foolishly yearning for heroic greatness and something beyond the quotidian, Fringe Owldark's similar seeking for something more is shows her exceptionalism and leads to transcendence. Hmmm. In the end, I am ambivalent about these stories and unsure whether I want to keep the trilogy. ( )

This is one of the best closing books for a trilogy that i've ever read ( )

I jumped directly from "Grass" to this novel for some odd reason, but I was able to pick up the characters from the previous book.

The world-building and anthropological details in Tepper's novels continue to astound me. They are not easy reads, but are works of speculative genius. ( )

This book is an excellent example of how science fiction can examine diversity, (non)intervention, and transcendence. Asking questions about when to intervene and when to respect cultural differences on imaginary worlds offers the reader more perspectives than asking these questions in a realistic setting--the mind is not limited to known worlds, but is free to explore new paths. Also, having a female main character (one of a strong ensemble) who is not interested in marriage and love is important for female readers; women are far more than their romantic relationships, and literature should reflect this. That being said, Tepper does have a couple passages that beautifully describe an experience of love. And there were wonderful connections to her previous novel, Grass.