Found Wanting

Found Wanting

Cover from first edition
Author	Lin Carter
Cover artist	Tim Jacobus
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction
Publisher	DAW Books
Publication date	1985
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (paperback)
Pages	220
ISBN	0-88677-050-5
OCLC	12176261
Dewey Decimal	813.54
LC Class	PS3553.A7823

Found Wanting is a science fiction novel by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in June 1985, and reissued in hardcover and trade paperback by Wildside Press in February 2008. An ebook edition was issued by Gateway/Orion in March 2020. ^[1]

Plot summary

Kyon, an amnesiac gardener, wanders through the future domed city of Urbs in search of identity and purpose, experiencing it and its androgynous, pre-pubescent inhabitants as a series of wonders and terrors. Ultimately, Urbs is revealed as the last refuge of humanity on an environmentally devastated Earth, curated and maintained in a sort of stasis by benevolent reptilian aliens until the planet has been made habitable again. In a replay of the Garden of Eden story, Kyon and another of the inhabitants have been tested for worthiness and selected to achieve adulthood and begin the process of repopulating the regenerated Earth.

To indicate the androgyny of Urb's inhabitants, the author avoids the use of gendered pronouns throughout the novel, aside from a few slip-ups; the cover blurbs of the original edition spoils the conceit by referring to the main character as male. ^[2]

Reception

Robert M. Price feels the book "seems to wander pointlessly for much of its length, recounting mildly interesting oddities like a gallery of 3-D pictures in which several people have taken up residence ... most of [which] seems to misfire." He finds that "the final tour-de-force is quite clever and explains ... the tone of the book up to that point, [but is] not sure it justifies it." ^[2]

References

1. Found Wanting title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
2. Price, Robert. Lin Carter: A Look Behind His Imaginary Worlds, pp. 44-45.