I just finished reading this book, and did something I haven't done in quite
some time: stayed up all night because I could not bear to put it down.
It's wonderful! I remember some of the earlier comments about it falling
through the genre boundaries--maybe critics don't read enough. The book
cover bills it as "alternate history," which is good enough for me except
that I don't generally like alternate histories (especially the ones based
on the Great Man/Battle of History which take on the question of "what would
happen if The Other Guy had won X war) which always struck me as "history
lite." Those books don't spend enough time developing the historical
context and causality which, as my historian friend says, is a lot more
complicated and wide ranging than what guy won what battle. The novel is
obviously a feminist view of "his"-story, and sf. I don't see it as fantasy
because the sea people are not fantasy beings (I like a lot of the urban
fantasy which postulates fantasy creatures living in modern day cities and
so on, but this novel struck me as different from those works). I am amazed
at the amount of historical research necessary to have written this--and
impressed at the deftness of the "speculation" ("what if sea people
existed?"), and the richess and depth of characterization throughout. It
reminds me of the works of two other favorites novelists: Dorothy Dunnett
and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. The novel brings together feminism and science
and history in fantastically readable ways, and makes me want to rush out
and metaphorically beat other people over the head until they read it so I
can talk more about. I especially liked how Marie-Josephe (*sorry if names
are misspelled*) had to learn through a period of intense strain and during
a time while she is suffering from the effects of repression that
Odelette/Haleed and Sherzad are both "human" and have souls and deserving of
their freedom--she struggles with this concept, and has lapses, and has to
deal with all her cultural baggage. Definitely recommended!
Robin
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