From rec.arts.sf.written Thu Sep 3 16:12:43 1992 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!decwrl!csus.edu!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: Doris Egan: Guilt-Edged Ivory Message-ID: Date: Thu, 03 Sep 92 07:20:03 GMT Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Lines: 18 I had fun reading this book. This is the third book in the adventures of an outlander trying to adapt to a society where it's good manners to eat some of a guest's food -- to show that you haven't poisoned it. The best thing about the book, as with its predecessors, is the droll and engaging narration. I consider Egan's first book "Gate of Ivory", to be her best, but "Guilt-Edged Ivory" is almost as good. It's worth giving one of them a try. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com 'T is with our judgements as our watches, none Go alike, yet each believes his own --Alexander Pope rec/arts/sf/written From /tmp/sf.4258 Tue Feb 1 04:20:10 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!uunet!news!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: lpb@flora.ccs.neu.edu (Lauren P. Burka) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Women in Space: "The Gate of Ivory" by Doris Egan Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <9309092238.AA20762@flora.ccs.northeastern.edu> Date: 10 Sep 93 02:47:17 GMT Lines: 70 It's been about 50 years since the heroine Eowyn had to disguise herself in men's armor to join Frodo Baggins in fighting the armies of Sauron. Since then heroines have often had an easier time being heroic. The female readership of science fiction has increased, as had the number of quality female writers. Heroines get wider roles than screaming and getting rescued, or flaunting gravity-defying tits on the covers. Or at least we can hope so. Thus begins a haphazard series of reviews of books and their heroines. I'll be picking over the standard review nits, and I'll also examine the suitability of each book or series for young woman readers who want to grow up to be astronauts, or anyone who enjoys seeing women in action roles. "The Gate of Ivory" is the first book of a trilogy by Doris Egan. The other two books are "Two-Bit Heroes" and "Guilt-Edged Ivory." The first one is the best. The other two display far less imagination and almost no character development. Theodora of Pyrene is an anthropology student with a speciality in folk tales residing on planet Athena. While on an interplanetary jaunt to Ivory, she is mugged and misses her return trip. Months later, Theodora (or Teddy) is making a bare living reading cards in the marketplace. There she encounters a handsome (all Ivorans are handsome), dashing and devious son of a wealthy house, who hires her to read a cursed deck of cards. Doris Egan's Ivory is a planet of aristocrats who murder for sport, magic that really works (even better if you have a computer to calculate the variables), rampant bribery, emperors, twisted loyalties, honorable rogues, ghosts, poisons, and absolutely no chairs. If you want lots of detailed background on how an Earth-derived civilization evolved into Ivory, don't hold your breath. Egan wanted to write a sort of "Arabian Nights Goes to Outer Space," and she's not going to let background material or continuity distract her from her story. Egan dedicates many pages to encounters, plot devices, and characters that never appear again. The books are episodic and lax about plot resolution. As Teddy will remind the reader, real life doesn't have neat endings. Except, this isn't real life. It's a book. So, how does Theodora measure up as a heroine? She's a short, redheaded, cute-in-an-asexual-sort-of-way woman in a society of of tall, dark people, where the further up in society one travels, the less freedom women have. Nevertheless, she manages to achieve most of her desires, including good sex (implied rather than detailed). The author gives her many chances to initiate action rather than simply scream and get rescued. Praise to Egan for developing a character who has quirks and problems without being either psychotic or a whiner. Theodora's outsider, anthropologist point of view is a neat way to tell a story, even if it doesn't hold up for three books. For those of you who are into numbers, I'll give "The Gate of Ivory" a 6 out of 10 (i reread it), but the other books 4's. Theodora herself gets a 7. %A Egan, Doris %T The Gate of Ivory %I DAW %C New York, NY %D 1989 %P 319 pages %G ISBN 0-88677-328-8 %O First of a trilogy ____________________________________________________________________ parsley, sage, rosemary, and strychnine