Golden Witchbreed [Hardcover]

Mary Gentle (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing; First Edition edition (May 13, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517639726
• ISBN-13: 978-0517639726
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,326,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Golden, April 11, 2001

By 

Ron Gullon (Redlands, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Golden Witchbreed (Hardcover)

This is the story of Lynne de Lisle Christie, the first of Earth's envoys to Oerthe, a primitive world on a planet half a galaxy from Earth. Presenting herself at the court of the Crown of the South, Christie's life quickly teeters into the hands of those motivated by beliefs, assumptions and thoughts alien and unknown. Factions in the Southland would rather that she were dead, or defamed never to return. Others feel that now that Earth has visited Oerthe, there is no way that the clock can be turned back. But all are quite wary of Earth and its technologies, and a current of hostility runs deep. As events unfold, at one point Christie finds herself among the ruins of Oerthes anchient civilization and realizes that Earth has made a very, very large mistake.

This is a fun, engaging story. And to one of the readers who posted earlier, there IS a sequel to this book. It is called "Ancient Light", and was published in 1987 by Arrow Books, from London, England. I didn't see it listed at all on Amazon, though....

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Startlingly original, January 6, 2002

By 

A. Frazer (Exeter, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Golden Witchbreed (Hardcover)

I've loved this book ever since it first appeared back in the 1980s. Mary Gentle keeps the suspense going well and her level of control is startling for a (then) tyro writer. At the time of its publication serious xeno-anthropological SF was unusual - we now have C J Cherryh's 'Foreigner' series and others - and even today the book stands out as one of the best of its kind. The sequel (Ancient Light), unusually, is spectacularly good, and is a remarkable deconstruction of all that was built up in Golden Witchbreed. I've been disappointed by several other books by Mary Gentle, but the recent novel "Ash " is a return to form.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Golden Witchbreed, A Great Book, October 22, 2003

By 

usmcpsycho "usmcpsycho" (Denison, Iowa USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Golden Witchbreed (Hardcover)

I absolutely love this book. It's the kind of book that will suck you right in as soon as you start reading. Golden Witchbreed is complex in its construction, but easy to follow because of how information is doled out one piece at a time. The planet on which the story takes place seems to come to life in front of the reader. The author did an excellent job in that respect. Irregularities in grammar from the standard American English (as well as British English) crop up on a regular basis in this book, but in general they don't interfere with the reading. The front flap says something comparing Golden Witchbreed to Frank Herbert's Dune, but it's not a valid comparison because the world of Mary Gentle's book is so much more complex and vividly described than Dune ever was. A wonderful book for any Sci Fi fan, or anybody else, no matter what they generally read. The book pulled me in and I couldn't put it down. I think everyone else who takes the time to find Golden Witchbreed will have the same experience.