11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love is Hate, but the Flower Knows, February 9, 2003
Anthony arrived on the science fiction scene with quite a bang with this novel. So much of a bang that it was nominated for the 1968 Hugo award, losing out on the award itself only to another truly brilliant work, Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light.
Anthony introduces a multitude of ideas in this work: a flower that shows whether or not your significant other truly loves you, a galaxy-spanning `message' that kills humans in its path by hypothermia, a naturally formed inorganic based consciousness, a type of grub that quite literally eats absolutely everything. But the most significant idea is a genetically modified type of human, the minionettes, all physically identical and the very picture of absolute female perfection, who have their emotional circuits inverted, where the kindest thing you can do to them is hate, abuse, deride, and punish them.
Anton Five, knowing nothing of her true nature, has the misfortune to fall in love with one of these minionettes, a love that is an obsession, a mixture of real love and conflicted hate, as the object of his emotions, after only three brief encounters, goes to space. It becomes his mission in life to track her down, even at the expense of his farm and a rejection of freely offered true love by a daughter of the family of Four. And due to this obsession, he eventually is sent to the prison planet Chthon, where the prison is the naturally formed caves and tubes formed by ancient volcanic action and that no one has ever escaped from. Within this prison are real monsters, truly horrifying and very unique, many of which are seen only from offstage or half-seen, and the very indistinctness this lends to these creatures adds to their effect. Some of the images of this section gave me nightmares for years after the first time I read this book.
Anton is a fully delineated character, not very likeable - in fact he's amoral, selfish, a loner, single-minded, and at least something of a psychotic. But there are occasional glimpses of a different man hiding inside, one capable of giving and receiving love, who knows pity and can empathize with other's misfortunes. The story, outside of all the fantastic ideas so casually tossed around, is really about his development into a fully rational human who can allow his emotions full sway when appropriate.
The story construction is rather unique, using both flash-backs and flash-forwards from his time in prison. This is deliberately done, as there are a set of parallels/contrasts between the actions in the prison and the actions at other times in Anton's life, which help illustrate the man and his changes. This construction has the disadvantage of lessening the suspense, but the added meaning given by this structure more than compensates for this. At least part of this book can be viewed as an allegory for the travels of a man through the stages of life, and Anthony buries quite a bit of symbolism inside his creations.
The power of this book resides in the changes Anton goes through and its tremendous imagery coupled with some truly different and unique ideas. Be prepared to put as much effort into reading and comprehending this book as it would take for a classic 'literary' novel - this book is a far cry from the grade-B space-operas of yesteryear.
--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shiva is his heart, Minionette is her love, April 19, 2009
Aton five finds himself in a prison. Not just any prison, but sentenced to a planet, in hot dark tunnels. He must work as a underground gem slave to earn his daily bread. He must escape. Badly. And he doesn't care how many slaves he must lure to take part of his plan; to become his sacrifice. He is Chaos. This is a story of Aton 5, son of a wealthy world where Hvee flowers -- who flourish only in virtue -- are grown. At age of 7 he had heard siren's melody in the woods. An fairy sitting in a hillock. So beautiful, that her hair is firing black and red. She kissed him telling: he would not find anyone as beautiful as her. At age of 14, after agonizing 7 year waiting, Aton found him again. Now matured, starting to understanding his emotions, the fairy returned with his melody. And she kissed him once again. And now she's gone. And Aton is lost. But the melody won't stop. He had to find her. And for his love he was sentenced to Chthon, the prison.
This is a dark novel. About dangerous love whose subject is alluring Minionette. About forbidden love that is not allowed to spread in galaxy. The planet of the Minionette race is a buried secret. Swept out of the galactic navigation archives so that nobody would ever get lured. The emotions of Aton, the search for his Minionette turns the skies upside down when he understands the truth. Not just about the Minionette but himself too. He is incurable; the madness of Chthon, the prison, was already living in him. The rest of the series are
Phthor (1975),
Plasm (1987; by Charles Platt) and
Soma (1988; by Charles Platt).
Five (5) stars. Written in 1967, the is no other novel like it even today. The destruction, inverse emotion telepathy, pain and pleasure is is quite well realized. The sheer capacity needed to ascertain every little metaphorical and ever single sub-based plot in the novel is mind digging. The dark abyss of the Minionette can't be understood in one reading. No wonder the book took 7 years to write. After reading, you want to start all over again to see if you captured it all.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book, February 15, 2005
If you're looking for just another book by Anthony, that's the wrong address! Anthony`s books usually are light read, without any comlexities of caracters or plot. This one is nothing like this! It's really a mature book (altough first one?). Just great read! I highly reccomend it...
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