Subject: THE RISING OF THE MOON by Flynn Connolly

From: [email-masked]
Date: 19 Nov 93 00:07:18 GMT

THE RISING OF THE MOON by Flynn Connolly
                Del Rey, ISBN 0-345-38289-7, 1993, US$4.99.
                     A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		      Copyright 1993 Evelyn C. Leeper

     There's a lot that's good in THE RISING OF THE MOON.  Unfortunately,
there's also a lot of extra baggage the story has to carry as well, and this
drags it down a bit.

     Ian McDonald's BROKEN LAND (which I reviewed recently) was basically
the story of Ireland set on an alien planet.  THE RISING OF THE MOON is set
in an Ireland of the future (or of *a* future, at any rate), but the fact
that it is Ireland is almost superfluous.  I say "almost" because it has to
be set somewhere, and it uses the Irish history heritage well.  But if an
author sets a story in Ireland, that puts certain expectations in the
reader's mind, and these are not fulfilled.  One may argue this is a good
thing, rather than a bad, but it is disconcerting.  The fact that in this
future alien contact has been made is a more serious piece of extra baggage;
it serves no purpose except to provide a conveniently emotional ending.

     The story is one of the misogynist dystopia, the future in which the
patriarchy (in the form of the Church) has decided to "put women in their
place."  As such, it is more reminiscent of such books as Margaret Atwood's
HANDMAID'S TALE and Suzette Haden Elgin's NATIVE TONGUE than of books
centering on the current situation in Ireland.  Nuala Dennehy returns to
Ireland after fifteen years of self-imposed exile to discover the true
situation back home.  Only through some extremely unlikely contrivances does
she avoid getting arrested or thrown out within a few hours of her arrival--
or at several other times.  (Things frequently work out too conveniently to
be probable throughout the book.)  This soon develops into what might be
considered the standard "people's uprising" science fiction novel.

     This is a strongly feminist book and one major complaint I have is that
although the government seems to oppress men as well as women (albeit
perhaps not as much), the "revolution" is seen as a strictly female one, and
men's assistance is pretty much rebuffed, which seems to me a serious
tactical error--but I'm not the author.  I also find it unlikely that a
Church-dominated government would be as sanguine about sexual assault by the
police as this one apparently is.  And it's awfully convenient for the story
that the Church officials are as corrupt as they are.

     These criticisms may make me sound more negative on THE RISING OF THE
MOON than I really am.  Certainly it will appeal to fans who have an
interest in Irish history and the real heroes and legends from Ireland,
since this draws heavily on them (and not at all on the Irish Celtic
mythology that one sees so much of in science fiction and fantasy).  And as
political underground science fiction, this is as good as most.

%T      The Rising of the Moon
%A      Flynn Connolly
%C      New York
%D      September 1993
%I      Del Rey
%O      paperback, US$4.99
%G      ISBN 0-345-38289-7
%P      383pp

-- 
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | [email-masked] / [email-masked]