North Wind [Import] [Paperback]

Gwyneth Jones (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz; First Thus edition (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575059206
• ISBN-13: 978-0575059207
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Gwyneth Jones, born in Manchester UK, 14th February 1952, is the author of many novels for teenagers, fantasy, horror and thrillers, using the name Ann Halam, and several highly regarded sf and fantasy novels for adults. Her critical essays and reviews are collected in Deconstructing The Starships, 1999 and Imagination/Space 2009. Among other honours she's won two World Fantasy awards, the Children of the Night award, the Philip K Dick award, the BSFA award and the Pilgrim award for Science Fiction criticism. Several of her novels have been nominated for the Arthur C Clarke award, the latest being Spirit, 2009; she won the award for Bold As Love in 2002. She lives in Brighton, UK, with her husband and son, some goldfish and two cats called Ginger and Milo; likes old movies, practices yoga & has done some extreme tourism in her time. Hobbies include gardening and cooking, and playing with her websites.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best SF books this century, October 1, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: North Wind (Paperback)

Fascinating exploration of gender, self, difference and all facets of identity. This book is a sequel to "White Queen", but I don't think the order you read them in matters. Set on earth in a future of poverty, virtual reality and a "gender" war between traditionalists and reformists. Two hundred years of a limited alien presence on earth has not improved communications or relations - the humans think the aliens can read their minds - the aliens regard science and human technology as mysticism and magic and are equally paranoid. Their is a temporary ceasefire and a massacre of the aliens, and a disabled librarian survives with a human guide who may not be trustworthy....

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hermaphroditic aliens in a war-torn world, August 19, 2004

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: North Wind (Hardcover)

This sequel to the award-winning "White Queen" takes place some years later on an earth torn by the Gender Wars or the Traditionalists versus the Reformers. Earth still accommodates the Aleutians, hermaphroditic aliens who have been lost in space aboard a huge ship-world for countless generations and have now made earth their home.

The Aleutians, whose absolute belief in reincarnation makes them immortal, at least in their own eyes, do not understand earthlings' concern with individual death, which gives them an amusingly skewed vision of war, pollution and disease.

Aleutians communicate almost telepathically through wanderers, bits of themselves which wander from one to another like lice, carrying information. Their technology is also life-based - tools created from their own cells - and they have no interest in earth technology or "dead" matter. They cannot comprehend, for instance, the earthlings attachment to the Himalayas, which the Aleutians would like to level in the interests of climate control.

The protagonists are Sidney Carton, a consciously literary fellow, who may or may not be the Aleutian ally he pretends to be, and Bella, the "isolate" Aleutian crippled among her/his own kind by a lack of wanderers and sought by all sides for reasons she does not understand. Rescued from human attack by Sidney, Bella discovers health and strength in adversity and a surprising talent for human virtual reality games.

The book's adventures through war-torn cities and cultural factions are at times confusing - Jones makes it purposely difficult to determine the sides, and their search for the secret human discovery of faster-than-light travel seems an afterthought - but Jones' vision of alien culture keeps its quirky allure, being both thought-provoking and humorous.

0 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Artistic garbage given form (I'd give 0 stars if I could), September 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: North Wind (Paperback)

Truely this has to be one of the worst books I have ever read. While i'm sure the gender references would have been interesting and insightful if it wasn't for the fact that a good explanation reveals itself. The main characters where poorly written but that could excusably be called a blessing to mask the fact that the settings where rather abstract. However, I understand that there is a book before this in the series. Perhaps if you had read that beforehand you might not come away so disgusted by this book. If I ever see anyone buy this book i'll slap em' on the wrists and tell them "I'm sorry, you want a book written by someone good"