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Marq’ssan Cycle #1
Alanya to Alanya
Seattle, February 2076. The Marq’ssan bring business as usual to a screeching halt all over the world, and Professor Kay Zeldin joins Robert Sedgewick, US Chief of Security Services, in his war against the invaders. Soon Kay is making rather than writing history. But as she goes head-to-head against the Marq’ssan, the long-buried secrets of her past resurface, and her conflicts with Sedgewick and Security Services multiply. She faces terrifying choices. Her worldview—her very grip on reality—is turned inside out. Whose side is she really on? And how far will she go in serving that side? “The coupling of real thoughtfulness and rip-roaring excitement is as rare in science fiction as in any other genre. But here, in Alanya to Alanya , they’re locked together in the most exciting—and certainly the most intelligent!—tale of alien invasion I’ve read in decades. Because it is believable, it’s fascinating. And, in the years that have seen Margaret Thatcher go and Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice arrive, Kay Zeldin is an extraordinarily effective portrait of a political hero.”
—Samuel R. Delany, author of Dhalgren Reviews “The intersection of science fiction and politics has always served an important critical function, from George Orwell’s dystopian 1984 and Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness to Robert Heinlein’s ultra-nationalist Starship Troopers , but until now they have always served as a means of analyzing political structures. With L. Timmel Duchamp’s million-word Marq’ssan novel (broken into five books), anarchy is extrapolated. This is not anarchy in its popular sense, but in its truest sense. It is also feminism at its most fundamental level, and neither can be un-twined from the other.”
—Sean Melican, Ideomancer , March 2007 “ Alanya to Alanya does just what a political sf novel should it leavens its political message with first-rate futuristic extrapolation, chilling dystopianism and a breathless adventure story that keeps you turning the pages. It was a refreshing read and a rare example of deft political storytelling.”
—Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing , July 2006 “Not an easy or comfortable book, but one that rewards a thoughtful reader who is willing to give up simple action plots for a close consideration of political and social ideas. In fact, the closest comparison one might give is to some of Le Guin’s later work—no small recommendation.”
—Peter Heck, Asimov’s , June 2006 “ Alanya to Alanya is an intriguing mixture of SF genres and It has utopian and dystopian elements, a strong splash of the political thriller, a good mystery subplot in Kay’s amnesia, a hint of the sense of discovery that imbues first-contact novels and plenty to say about the current state of the real world.”
— Science Fiction Weekly , June 27, 2005 “[Duchamp’s] political world building has a level of detail and believability that rivals Bruce Sterling at his best, and her pacing is much better than most other books driven so heavily by political concepts, such as Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged or Sheri S. Tepper’s The Gate to Women’s Country .”
— Strange Horizons , November 30, 2005 “ Alanya to Alanya is SF on a broader scale, with The War of the Worlds as one inspiration, but its metaphors apply to a very human tangle of loyalty and betrayal, politics and idealism—Wells and Orwell updated for the end of the 20th century.”
— Locus , June 2005
—Samuel R. Delany, author of Dhalgren Reviews “The intersection of science fiction and politics has always served an important critical function, from George Orwell’s dystopian 1984 and Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness to Robert Heinlein’s ultra-nationalist Starship Troopers , but until now they have always served as a means of analyzing political structures. With L. Timmel Duchamp’s million-word Marq’ssan novel (broken into five books), anarchy is extrapolated. This is not anarchy in its popular sense, but in its truest sense. It is also feminism at its most fundamental level, and neither can be un-twined from the other.”
—Sean Melican, Ideomancer , March 2007 “ Alanya to Alanya does just what a political sf novel should it leavens its political message with first-rate futuristic extrapolation, chilling dystopianism and a breathless adventure story that keeps you turning the pages. It was a refreshing read and a rare example of deft political storytelling.”
—Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing , July 2006 “Not an easy or comfortable book, but one that rewards a thoughtful reader who is willing to give up simple action plots for a close consideration of political and social ideas. In fact, the closest comparison one might give is to some of Le Guin’s later work—no small recommendation.”
—Peter Heck, Asimov’s , June 2006 “ Alanya to Alanya is an intriguing mixture of SF genres and It has utopian and dystopian elements, a strong splash of the political thriller, a good mystery subplot in Kay’s amnesia, a hint of the sense of discovery that imbues first-contact novels and plenty to say about the current state of the real world.”
— Science Fiction Weekly , June 27, 2005 “[Duchamp’s] political world building has a level of detail and believability that rivals Bruce Sterling at his best, and her pacing is much better than most other books driven so heavily by political concepts, such as Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged or Sheri S. Tepper’s The Gate to Women’s Country .”
— Strange Horizons , November 30, 2005 “ Alanya to Alanya is SF on a broader scale, with The War of the Worlds as one inspiration, but its metaphors apply to a very human tangle of loyalty and betrayal, politics and idealism—Wells and Orwell updated for the end of the 20th century.”
— Locus , June 2005
448 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2005
About the author
L. Timmel Duchamp
59 books27 followers L. Timmel Duchamp was born in 1950, the first child of three. Duchamp first began writing fiction in a library carrel at the University of Illinois in 1979, for a joke. But the joke took on a life of its own and soon turned into a satirical roman a clef in the form of a murder mystery titled "The Reality Principle." When she finished it, she allowed the novel to circulate via photocopies, and it was a great hit in the academic circles in which she then moved. One night in the fall of 1984 she sat down at her mammoth Sanyo computer with its green phosphorescent screen and began writing Alanya to Alanya.
Duchamp spent the next two years in a fever, writing the Marq'ssan Cycle. When she finshed it, she realized she didn't know how to market it to publishers and decided that publishing some short fiction (which she had never tried to write before) would be helpful for getting her novels taken seriously. Her first effort at a short story was "Welcome, Kid, to the Real World," which she wrote in the summer of 1986. Her next effort, however, turned into a novel. (Getting the hang of the shorter narrative form was a lot harder than she'd anticipated.) So she decided to stick with novels for a while. When in fall 1987 a part-time job disrupted her novel-writing, she took the short stories of Isak Dinesen for her model, tried again, and wrote "Negative Event at Wardell Station, Planet Arriga" and "O's Story." And in 1989 she sold "O's Story" to Susanna J. Sturgis for Memories and Visions, "The Forbidden Words of Margaret A." to Kristine Kathryn Rusch for Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, and "Transcendence" to the shortlived Starshore. Her first pro sale, though, was "Motherhood, Etc." to Bantam for the Full Spectrum anthology series.
After that she wrote a lot of short fiction (mostly at novelette and novella lengths), a good deal of which she sold to Asimov's SF. In the late 1990s Nicola Griffith convinced her to try her hand at writing criticism and reviews. In 2004, Duchamp founded Aqueduct Press; since then editing and publishing books (her own as well as other writers') has claimed the lion's share of her time and effort.
She lives in Seattle.
Duchamp spent the next two years in a fever, writing the Marq'ssan Cycle. When she finshed it, she realized she didn't know how to market it to publishers and decided that publishing some short fiction (which she had never tried to write before) would be helpful for getting her novels taken seriously. Her first effort at a short story was "Welcome, Kid, to the Real World," which she wrote in the summer of 1986. Her next effort, however, turned into a novel. (Getting the hang of the shorter narrative form was a lot harder than she'd anticipated.) So she decided to stick with novels for a while. When in fall 1987 a part-time job disrupted her novel-writing, she took the short stories of Isak Dinesen for her model, tried again, and wrote "Negative Event at Wardell Station, Planet Arriga" and "O's Story." And in 1989 she sold "O's Story" to Susanna J. Sturgis for Memories and Visions, "The Forbidden Words of Margaret A." to Kristine Kathryn Rusch for Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, and "Transcendence" to the shortlived Starshore. Her first pro sale, though, was "Motherhood, Etc." to Bantam for the Full Spectrum anthology series.
After that she wrote a lot of short fiction (mostly at novelette and novella lengths), a good deal of which she sold to Asimov's SF. In the late 1990s Nicola Griffith convinced her to try her hand at writing criticism and reviews. In 2004, Duchamp founded Aqueduct Press; since then editing and publishing books (her own as well as other writers') has claimed the lion's share of her time and effort.
She lives in Seattle.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 26, 2012
(8/10) The Marq'ssan cycle is a project that's impressive but also kind of retro. It reflects not so much the more mystified and slippery style of today's feminist science fiction (what we have of it) but the aggressive, baldly political work of Marge Piercey or Octavia Butler. This may in fact be due to the fact that it was written in the 80s. It's very second wave, and there are good things about that (an intense refusal to accept the status quo) and bad things (some dollops of essentialism, along with complete ignorance of racial issues).
But while Alanya to Alanya is a blatantly political novel, it has its nuances. Its women are flawed, and their heroism only comes in uneven spurts -- witness Kay's class prejudice, or Martha's weakness. Its main villain, Sedgewick, is a monster, but he's a fascinating monster, brimming with insecurities and creepy charm. Without a lot of introspection Duchamp is able to sketch out a cast of characters that feel psychologically real.
The bulk of the novel is a strange, inverted first-contact story, with benevolent aliens seeking to destroy a human dystopia. Of course, this raises some issues of imperialism and intervention which are quite uncomfortable in this age of "humanitarian" warfare, and that's never quite resolved, but I think Duchamp intends that ambiguity to be there. There's a lot of thriller-style intruige, with just enough sci-fi stuff to make it enjoyable. What happens here is prologue to a larger story, but it's also a novel that can really stand on its own merits. Sometimes the writing can be clumsy or just plain bad, and the book is very rough around the edges, but there's a lot to like here.
But while Alanya to Alanya is a blatantly political novel, it has its nuances. Its women are flawed, and their heroism only comes in uneven spurts -- witness Kay's class prejudice, or Martha's weakness. Its main villain, Sedgewick, is a monster, but he's a fascinating monster, brimming with insecurities and creepy charm. Without a lot of introspection Duchamp is able to sketch out a cast of characters that feel psychologically real.
The bulk of the novel is a strange, inverted first-contact story, with benevolent aliens seeking to destroy a human dystopia. Of course, this raises some issues of imperialism and intervention which are quite uncomfortable in this age of "humanitarian" warfare, and that's never quite resolved, but I think Duchamp intends that ambiguity to be there. There's a lot of thriller-style intruige, with just enough sci-fi stuff to make it enjoyable. What happens here is prologue to a larger story, but it's also a novel that can really stand on its own merits. Sometimes the writing can be clumsy or just plain bad, and the book is very rough around the edges, but there's a lot to like here.
April 10, 2008
To prevent humans from doing further harm to their planet or to themselves, the Marq ssan render all silicon-based technology useless. To regain the tech that this future society depends on, the Marq ssan demand that each and every country send three female representatives to negotiate. In the US, former spy, current history teacher Kay is tapped for the "honor". She is prepared for any eventuality except the one she finds: that the Marq ssan are truly aliens, and her only allies.
This was a frustrating book. I was excited by the set-up. What would life be like in a city without telephones, transportation, elevators, computers or tv? Would living in a city become untenable? What would take the place of instantaneous communication--runners? bike messengers? What about food--would people start growing their own on rooftops? And leisure activities--without tv or the internet, and with most of the jobs shut down (thanks to no tech), how would people pass the time?
None of these questions are answered.
I did like the aliens. They are as disquieted and disgusted by human biology as humans find them. The aliens that work most closely with the women find themselves changing; they become more active, less concerned with concensus, and more bold. I was glad to see that the situation was hard on the aliens, as well, instead of the usual portrayal of their god-like benevolence.
This was a frustrating book. I was excited by the set-up. What would life be like in a city without telephones, transportation, elevators, computers or tv? Would living in a city become untenable? What would take the place of instantaneous communication--runners? bike messengers? What about food--would people start growing their own on rooftops? And leisure activities--without tv or the internet, and with most of the jobs shut down (thanks to no tech), how would people pass the time?
None of these questions are answered.
I did like the aliens. They are as disquieted and disgusted by human biology as humans find them. The aliens that work most closely with the women find themselves changing; they become more active, less concerned with concensus, and more bold. I was glad to see that the situation was hard on the aliens, as well, instead of the usual portrayal of their god-like benevolence.
March 12, 2015
This is my 2nd read, and this time I'm going in order (originally, I read "Renegade" first, and that colored my impressions of the entire series.) It feels heavy-handed, no doubt about it. I could see how a lot of people would be turned off by it. But it's much more complex than that - and you'll see that in later volumes, which will cause you to see this book in a different light.
It's still a compulsive, highly absorbing read. It's very political, so you must have a fairly high tolerance of polemic. It's a feminist work, but this isn't about women vs. men, not a male-bashing at all (although it seems like it at times in this book). The worst, scariest character is a woman (the most terrifying character I've ever met in literature). It's about power structures, how they perpetuate themselves (in each person, down to the marrow), and what it takes to challenge them. Is real change possible?
The plot: In the near future (mid 21st century), aliens arrive and attempt to force us to change our government and societal structures, using stick (destruction of industrial/military complexes) and carrot (alien technology). They demand 3 women from each government to negotiate - with each other, with anarchist and activist groups. At that point, most of the world is under the Executive system - rule of the elite class - kinda what we have now, but more strictly hierarchical. Kay Zelden, a history professor, is recruited to be one of the representative for the US, but her real mission is to subvert the negotiations.
HIGHLY recommended. Probably the best science fiction series I've read.
It's still a compulsive, highly absorbing read. It's very political, so you must have a fairly high tolerance of polemic. It's a feminist work, but this isn't about women vs. men, not a male-bashing at all (although it seems like it at times in this book). The worst, scariest character is a woman (the most terrifying character I've ever met in literature). It's about power structures, how they perpetuate themselves (in each person, down to the marrow), and what it takes to challenge them. Is real change possible?
The plot: In the near future (mid 21st century), aliens arrive and attempt to force us to change our government and societal structures, using stick (destruction of industrial/military complexes) and carrot (alien technology). They demand 3 women from each government to negotiate - with each other, with anarchist and activist groups. At that point, most of the world is under the Executive system - rule of the elite class - kinda what we have now, but more strictly hierarchical. Kay Zelden, a history professor, is recruited to be one of the representative for the US, but her real mission is to subvert the negotiations.
HIGHLY recommended. Probably the best science fiction series I've read.
August 19, 2009
A feminist SF novel lent to me by Eva, Alanya to Alanya is definitely more of a thought-provoking book than an absorbing one. It's about global politics, the role of activism, the nature of revolution and the role of both government and individuals in systematic oppression. It kept me interested and I do want to read the rest of the series (five books in total) but I'm still not certain whether or not I liked it.
Parts of the world Duchamp built were difficult for me to fully buy into, in part because she never showed or even hinted at how they had come about. An example of this was a systemic, unthinking misogyny (that we were told more than shown existed) in a world where women held positions of power and authority such as professors and executives. Not that I believed it impossible, but it was dissonant enough to, in my mind, deserve more explanation than she provided. The writing style was formal and a bit distant, especially at the beginning, and overall I think the novel would have been served better by just a touch more exposition. There were several places where it felt like she was deliberately withholding information from the reader that the POV characters knew and were actively thinking about, and there was no later payoff or reason to do so. In many places, it tested to the limit my willingness to hold my understanding and judgment of what was happening in abeyance.
That said, Duchamp created an complex and interesting world populated with flawed, sympathetic characters. She mostly resisted the common trap many politically motivated authors fall into, of seeing only one way of looking at a charged issue, and explored the complexity (both in cause and in solution) of the problems she posited in her novel. Her characters had different viewpoints and valid reasons for those viewpoints, and their personal histories and positions added colour and tension to what could easily have become a story too globally sweeping to allow the reader to relate to it.
Parts of the world Duchamp built were difficult for me to fully buy into, in part because she never showed or even hinted at how they had come about. An example of this was a systemic, unthinking misogyny (that we were told more than shown existed) in a world where women held positions of power and authority such as professors and executives. Not that I believed it impossible, but it was dissonant enough to, in my mind, deserve more explanation than she provided. The writing style was formal and a bit distant, especially at the beginning, and overall I think the novel would have been served better by just a touch more exposition. There were several places where it felt like she was deliberately withholding information from the reader that the POV characters knew and were actively thinking about, and there was no later payoff or reason to do so. In many places, it tested to the limit my willingness to hold my understanding and judgment of what was happening in abeyance.
That said, Duchamp created an complex and interesting world populated with flawed, sympathetic characters. She mostly resisted the common trap many politically motivated authors fall into, of seeing only one way of looking at a charged issue, and explored the complexity (both in cause and in solution) of the problems she posited in her novel. Her characters had different viewpoints and valid reasons for those viewpoints, and their personal histories and positions added colour and tension to what could easily have become a story too globally sweeping to allow the reader to relate to it.
March 8, 2023
I'm rounding up to three stars. There was a lot that was interesting and even good in this, but it did have its weaknesses and, ultimately, I didn't really enjoy reading it. I think that the biggest problem for me was that I didn't really believe in either Zeldin or Sedgewick. I also never really came to sympathize with Zeldin, which was a problem since the vast majority of the story was told from her perspective. I kind of liked Magyyt, but Martha was too naive for me and never really felt like a character worth following. I think that if there had been a better perspective for me to follow and it focused less on the Zeldin/Sedgewick dynamic then I'd have enjoyed it a lot more.
As to the general plot and the world, the book is heavy-handed, but that doesn't bug me that much. What does, though, is that it doesn't explain its world that well. The result for me was a world coming across as functionally too simplistic but with a sociopolitical structure that seems like it's actually fairly complex that doesn't get enough of an explanation. It's also way too US-centric while also more or less explicitly criticizing itself for being so, making it pretty much impossible to ignore. And there was some mild hints of people who weren't white folks descended from western Christendom, but they didn't play a particularly large role. In fact, the only character whom I might have actually wanted to follow was a Black activist named Jo Josepha, who is introduced like she's a big deal in the beginning but later just fades away. There are other issues, in terms of believability, but considering that it's basically a allegorical polemic, I can shrug off a lot of that. Overall, I'm interested in where the world is going later in the series, but can't bring myself to read on.
As to the general plot and the world, the book is heavy-handed, but that doesn't bug me that much. What does, though, is that it doesn't explain its world that well. The result for me was a world coming across as functionally too simplistic but with a sociopolitical structure that seems like it's actually fairly complex that doesn't get enough of an explanation. It's also way too US-centric while also more or less explicitly criticizing itself for being so, making it pretty much impossible to ignore. And there was some mild hints of people who weren't white folks descended from western Christendom, but they didn't play a particularly large role. In fact, the only character whom I might have actually wanted to follow was a Black activist named Jo Josepha, who is introduced like she's a big deal in the beginning but later just fades away. There are other issues, in terms of believability, but considering that it's basically a allegorical polemic, I can shrug off a lot of that. Overall, I'm interested in where the world is going later in the series, but can't bring myself to read on.
May 7, 2018
Interesting concepts, but frustratingly patchy style and pacing. Definitely good enough that I’ll read the next book in the series though
May 11, 2020
Tiptree longlist 2005
January 10, 2021
What a book. Deserves to be so much better-known. If you're looking for a near-future optimistic dystopia with great aliens and great characters, this is your book.
September 25, 2008
I'm only two-thirds through at this point, but I find this book extremely thought-provoking and stimulating so far. That's not necessarily a good thing - it stimulates stress and negative associations and gross memories, among other things.
It's like watching a movie of all your more subtly humiliating moments of contemptible treatment at the loving or indifferent hands of the men in your life, articulated in such a precise way as to allow you to recognize it for what it was, yourself. That's an amazing gift to give, when our society depends on women believing that these subtle humiliations and degradations are either all in our own over-sensitive minds or, if that isn't bought, brought on by our own innate inferiority in relation to man (and thereby justified).
The main female character's complicity in her own degradation and unquestioning acceptance of it are the most difficult parts to read. It brings up instances of my own complicity, and enrages me.
All this, wrapped up in a tense, interesting sci-fi plot. The fact that the story takes place in the not-too-distant future in a recognizable splinter of possible realities is just so chilling.
It's like watching a movie of all your more subtly humiliating moments of contemptible treatment at the loving or indifferent hands of the men in your life, articulated in such a precise way as to allow you to recognize it for what it was, yourself. That's an amazing gift to give, when our society depends on women believing that these subtle humiliations and degradations are either all in our own over-sensitive minds or, if that isn't bought, brought on by our own innate inferiority in relation to man (and thereby justified).
The main female character's complicity in her own degradation and unquestioning acceptance of it are the most difficult parts to read. It brings up instances of my own complicity, and enrages me.
All this, wrapped up in a tense, interesting sci-fi plot. The fact that the story takes place in the not-too-distant future in a recognizable splinter of possible realities is just so chilling.
September 5, 2015
Feminist science fiction from the mid-80s. Feminist space aliens show up to a 2076 globe oppressed by rigid class domination. Better than many other similarly-plotted 70s classics (think Daughters of a Choral Dawn, one of my cheesy favorites. It's sophisticated, well-written, with a gripping, complex protagonist. But its race politics are non-existent (pathetic) and it doesn't really measure up to the brilliance and sophistication of L. Timmel Duchamp's brilliant, more contemporary short stories (Love's Body, Dancing in Time). In the end, the protagonist's transformation to an anti-capitalist feminist is utterly predictable; the only surprise is she doesn't become a lesbian. Perhaps that's the second of the series.
Overall, it was definitely readable. For those who expect to love the random feminist science fiction, I'd recommend it.
January 4, 2016
A very interesting idea - aliens come to Earth, offering technological wonders, but requiring humans to change their society to one that is more egalitarian and based on negotiation and compromise. They start by requiring each nation to provide three female negotiators.
Unfortunately, the story and character development do not live up to the premise. The main characters, Kay Zeldin and Robert Sedgewick, do not really change or grow significantly, and the two plot "twists" are telegraphed so far in advance that they don't even count.
One thing that set the story apart from other alien-invasion or first-contact stories is that many of the people in charge of governments and countries on Earth do not believe that it is even an alien invasion. I thought much more could have been done with this idea.
Unfortunately, the story and character development do not live up to the premise. The main characters, Kay Zeldin and Robert Sedgewick, do not really change or grow significantly, and the two plot "twists" are telegraphed so far in advance that they don't even count.
One thing that set the story apart from other alien-invasion or first-contact stories is that many of the people in charge of governments and countries on Earth do not believe that it is even an alien invasion. I thought much more could have been done with this idea.
April 12, 2008
I force fed myself this book in 2 days when I realized Think Galactic was sneaking up on me. At first it pulled me in, but as John aptly pointed out, this book has an "idiot plot" - i.e. the plot's direction is dictated entirely by idiotic actions taken by the characters.
The main characters were all frustrating, the author ignored a lot of interesting topics she only hinted at, and it was very 2nd Wave Feminism. Every male character was evil. That, and way too many female characters actually *fulfilled* the hysterical/emotional/not logical stereotype.
The main characters were all frustrating, the author ignored a lot of interesting topics she only hinted at, and it was very 2nd Wave Feminism. Every male character was evil. That, and way too many female characters actually *fulfilled* the hysterical/emotional/not logical stereotype.
May 14, 2009
Aliens arrive on Earth and issue the ultimatum that all nations must send two women to negotiate better political systems or the aliens will starting blowing up property. This novel begins as a simplistic women-are-oppressed dystopia, but somewhere after the 200-page mark it begins to show signs of deeper thought. It seems to be gearing up to be more about the corrupting effects of power than how bad men are. While the ending tempts me to continue with this five-book series to see where Duchamp is heading, the brutality and heavy-handedness of the beginning gives me pause.
May 2, 2008
I finally just gave up on this book, which was ultimately just too political for me, as a novel. I felt like I was reading some text on political theory or a history book. That, and I either hated or was completely disinterested in all the characters, who kept treating each other fairly horribly without any explanation.
Think Galactic selection for April.
Think Galactic selection for April.
April 2, 2009
I am so happy that this is the first book in a series, and that I have four more books ahead to read. I am not sure how this Marq'ssan tale slipped under my radar in 1985, but it is a treat to have a well-written, feminist science-fiction to savor in 2009. It is thought-provoking, page-turning, adventurous story-telling and I'm completely hooked.
November 27, 2015
This book had a truly awful villain. I hated him so much! It made it a natural page-turner, anxiously awaiting his comeuppance.
I liked the heroine too, and how believably she changes over the course of the story. It was satisfying to have her grow stronger. And the aliens are nicely alien. Will be seeking out the sequels!
I liked the heroine too, and how believably she changes over the course of the story. It was satisfying to have her grow stronger. And the aliens are nicely alien. Will be seeking out the sequels!
May 29, 2008
I really really wanted to like this book more than i did. I mean, i was drawn in quickly, but in the end frustrated by the emphasis she chose and the lack of depth and sometimes unbelievability of the characters.
August 9, 2021
More of a feminist political novel than science fiction. Takes place 80 years in the future but technology is remarkably the same as today. Some interesting ideas with a few aliens thrown in but way too many references to a liter and a half of bottled water.
March 26, 2016
I read about half of the novel but couldn't finish it. It's not a poorly written book, but it is very, very dated. Google "gaslighting," and that tells you most of what you need to know about the protagonist's relationships with the males around her.
April 29, 2009
SF as fantasy of political agency, my word. I do like a good old-school feminist SF novel, but this was oddly paced.
wishlist
February 17, 2010Alanya to Alanya by L. Timmel Duchamp (2005)
March 2, 2011
Feminist Sci-fi. Author's message is almost impossible to discern. Boring. Really bad dialogue
March 12, 2015
Aliens come to earth and stage a feminist consciousness raising? OF COURSE this is great.
July 28, 2013
Feminist sci fi. Ok, although the title was never explained and neither were the aliens.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews