Double Nocturne (Daw science fiction) [Paperback]

Cynthia Felice (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 1987 | Series: Daw science fiction

On the beautiful planet called Islands, the colony's Artificial Intelligence failed generations before, and with all contact to the Home Government cut off, a hostile feudal society arose in which men were used only for manual labor and sex. When Tom Hark and his crew arrive, they are immediately imprisoned and only through the princess Sellia can they be rescued. .

Product Details

• Paperback: 330 pages
• Publisher: DAW (July 7, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0886772117
• ISBN-13: 978-0886772116
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,229,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast moving, readable SF adventure about a stranded pilot, September 18, 2008

By 

J. Higgins (Jessup MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Double Nocturne (Daw science fiction) (Paperback)

In the aftermath of a long and exhausting interstellar war, the polity of the Homeworld begins to re-establish communications with outer colonies that have been neglected for as long as 75 years. Space pilot Tom Hark is dispatched on a mission to the planet `Islands' to replace a computer (`AI') that serves as the world's primary dispenser of political, technological, and sociological guidance. Upon arrival his landing craft is confiscated, and Hark is imprisoned, by representatives of Fox, one of the city-states constituting the planet's scattered civilizations.

Hark learns that societies on Islands have evolved (if that's the right word) into matriarchies in which women are at the apex of the social pyramid. Men, however virile, are regarded as simplistic, emotion-driven brutes. They may not own property, they must be represented in legal and civil affairs by a female Guardian, and they are given only rudimentary educations before maturity shunts them to careers of hard labor. After nearly a century of neglect, the prospect of renewed contact with the Homeworlds is not universally embraced by the inhabitants of Fox, or its rival city-states.

The first few chapters move rather slowly as the author takes some time in orienting the reader to the unusual structure of Fox's society; Hark's stubborn insistence in refusing to `Do as Romans Do' generates the (rather mild) drama here. Once the action moves to the unsettled territories outside Fox the story become more engaging, as Hark quickly learns his hot-shot piloting abilities are of little help when confronting homicidal outcasts and hazardous animal life. Howevermuch it humiliates him, Hark realizes he must temper his prickly ego in order to survive encounters with the unforgiving strictures of Islands societies.

Much of the suspense in the novel's latter half revolves around Hark's quest to regain control of his spacecraft, without being enslaved (or executed) by the apprehensive Queens of the Islands matriarchies.

[I should hasten to point out that `Gor' fanboys seeking titillation from scenarios involving oversexed, D-cupped Amazons, sporting thongs and wielding whips and clothespins, will be disappointed by `Nocturne'.]

`Nocturne' is first and foremost a quite readable SF adventure. The novel does have its weaknesses; the third quarter tends to lose momentum, and a plot device involving identical twin sisters, who rotate ownership of a city-state's Queenship, makes for unnecessary confusion. I found myself wishing that some of the emotional intrigue that tends to clog this portion of the narrative had been jettisoned in order to expand on the role of Captain Dace, commander of the Homeworlds spaceship, and who, as a woman with some authority, may have provided an intriguing counterpoint to Hark's forced dependency on the whims of the planet's female overseers.

Overall, I found that the matriarchal culture served as an interesting backstory to the actions of the main characters. But the author took care not to burden her narrative with `heavy' speculations on the nature of gender roles and female emancipation; `Nocturne' is not a polemic or treatise masquerading as an SF novel.

On a closing note, the book's cover illustration, by Richard Hescox, is very well done. It evokes a Maxfield Parrish / Bros. Hildebrandt vibe that makes it stand out among the rather generic covers that appear on so many SF novels.