Shelter (Palwick novel)

Shelter is a 2007 science fiction novel by Susan Palwick. It was first published by Tor Books.

Shelter follows three characters — Meredith Walford, Roberta Danton, and an artificial intelligence called "House" — through a twenty-year interval as the world is affected by climate change, mind uploading, pandemic-induced depopulation, and the pathologizing of altruism.

Publishers Weekly called the book "inflated" and "sprawling", with "stereotypical" characters and a plot that "sputters and fizzles".^[1]

Jo Walton lauded it as "a shining example of what science fiction can be when it tries" and "very well worth [a reader's] attention", with "solidly drawn characters" and a "world [that] feels very real"; however, she faulted the novel for depicting Gaianism as having replaced Christianity as the dominant religion in the United States, which she found "weird and unconvincing".^[2]

Conversely, James Nicoll stated that he "didn't even like" the novel, despite praising Palwick's skill as a writer, and being intrigued by the concept of an America where "excessive altruism is considered the sort of medical condition that justifies involuntary treatment". Nicoll particularly criticized Palwick's description of a post-pandemic Africa as a "ghost continent". As well, he felt that, given the number of characters who are substantially worse off for having interacted with Meredith, the world may have been a better place had she not survived the pandemic; he did, however, concede that Meredith "actually understands and feels quite guilty about the fact that she has badly hurt a lot of people."^[3]

• Shelter title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database