This is a book that seems weirdly current. We have a character that changes gender in his/her sleep. We get homosexual characters. We have different races and shapes of people that try to survive in a world where this religious organization is trying to separate everyone by appearance. Our group of heroes becomes all outsiders in one way or another.

The story seems very typical. Each hero is following a quest, looking for a certain artifact. Believe me, it's not going to be typical.

I really loved the world-building. It goes quite deep for a standalone. Besides the separation of religion, we have local religions and beliefs. And quite a bit of history that plays a big part in the book.

It might not be a strong book in all its length, but it has brought up some questions that made me think.

The ending made me a bit mad at first, but in the end, I found it fitting.

This book is hard to rate. 3.5 going to 4 because it's something I will carry with me for a while and because I feel like I could get more out of it on re-read. ( )

Fantasy is not my favourite genre but I make an exception for Sheri S. Tepper. This is only the third book she had published but her books The Gate to Women's Country and Singer from the Sea were very good. I liked this book but not as much as these other two.

In this book Jaer, sometimes male, sometimes female, leads a band of people on a quest. Jaer's entire life and certainly the quest was prophesied years ago. It so happens that his/her quest is taking place as the world is being overtaken by the Gahls who are very evil. Jaer and his/her companions have to split up so that some can help people to safety and bring armed help while Jaer continues east. In the end...well, you'll have to read the book yourself. Of the companions, the women were certainly better characterized than the men but then Tepper is known as a feminist author so that isn't surprising. I really liked Jasmine, the actress and dancer, whose child was kept by the nuns who had been looking after her. Jasmine and Thewson form the romantic interest of the book and I thought that was an good subplot.

I would recommend this book to fantasy lovers. ( )

Such a great book. I had it on my shelf since it was first published, and kept getting stymied by the shortness of the chapters and the gender-changing of the main character. Now I've read it in full and find that the strength of this book is in the strength of its multiple characters' stories. That sort of multi-character-ness adds to the Every life is a story" idea. Where the book fell apart was at the end, where the explanation of how the current evil came into the world was written, as so happens with the early works of good authors. But the vastness of the world Ms. Tepper creates, the independence of the women, their vast range of experience from mother to huntress to betrayer, is well-crafted. The androgyny of the main Jaer/Jaera is also quite unique even in fantasy literature, and when s/he goes through a trauma, s/he gains back its personhood by listening to the stories of her friends and the Priestesses at the sanctuary where s/he is healing. Quite a worthwhile read." ( )

Well, it's better than Kings Blood Four (Tepper's first novel) - it shows the promise that is realized with her more recent works, but is still not as polished.

It's an interesting riff on the quest novel - discussing the reasons for quests (mostly, that someone wants to get rid of you) - and the fact that each person values most what someone else is bound to dismiss, or simply fail to recognize as a thing of value...

The characters (the usual motley assortment that become a Company) are interesting and varied, but I was left with the feeling that I would have liked to explore them further - especially the "bad guys" - the reasons for their turning to evil were never really mentioned at all...

The flow of the plot was also slightly awkward - as far as balancing the points of view of different characters, and when elements of the story were hidden or revealed...

Overall, worth reading for a Tepper fan - but I feel that she could do a much better job with the story if she were writing it now! ( )

Tepper has become pretty formulaic these days - though her eco-apocalyptic feminism is a formula I appreciate. But she used to write really, really weird books. Strange characters, bizarre landscapes, weird turns of phrase. This is the weirdest Tepper I've read yet, full of genuinely skin-crawling menace, and I loved it. ( )