15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An unflinching examination of gender, power and violence, November 26, 2000
This review is from: The Slave and The Free: Books 1 and 2 of 'The Holdfast Chronicles': 'Walk to the End of the World' and 'Motherlines' (Paperback)
This volume is a reprint of the first two novels of Charnas's Holdfast series, *Walk to the End of the World* and *Motherlines*. Together, these two novels were awarded a Retrospective Tiptree Award in 1996 and at last they are back in print.
Charnas writes in a spare, calm style that sets off the strangeness of the plot and setting to great effect. All of the Holdfast books (the series is now complete after four volumes) take place in an indeterminately distant future after the world ecosystem has collapsed and nearly all humans have died, along with most large species of animals. The residents of the Holdfast are descendants of the lucky few who were able to hide out underground in secret government shelters and who emerged after "the Wasting" to found a new society. The men of the Holdfast think they know what caused the collapse of civilization: the influence of women. Now known as 'fems', women are drudges and breeders and are beaten or killed for the flimsiest of reasons or no reason at all.
The first book recounts the journey of three men and a fem to find the father of one of the men. The plot twists are completely unpredictable and harrowing. It left me shaken, but giddy with all that the author had attempted and succeeded at. The second book follows the fem out into the wilderness beyond the Holdfast, where she discovers an undreamt of society of women who breed horses and reproduce without need of men. She also discovers a group of escaped fems like herself. And all is not sweetness and light. These are wonderful books that address power relationships with a psychological realism and depth of thought that I haven't often seen. And they are founding texts of feminist sf.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A future world, plausible, very 70's feminism, February 23, 2001
This review is from: The Slave and The Free: Books 1 and 2 of 'The Holdfast Chronicles': 'Walk to the End of the World' and 'Motherlines' (Paperback)
This is another of those seredipitous finds in the unsavory neighborhood's secondhand bookshops. Charnas, the writer, goes into meticulous detail on the characters, daily life, food, clothing, and problems of an earth after the great "Wasting", when the Ancients destroyed and polluted our planet, save in certain small strongholds, such as Holdfast. In the environs of Holdfast, girls and boys are raised separately, as kits and cubs. The cubs are brought up in the Boyhouse, not knowing mother or father, since the threat to the older men is that the younger men will rise up and try to cease power from their fathers. The girls are bred in kitpits, fighting for the measly portions of seaweed-derived food, and prepared to be slaves to the men. They speak their own "femspeech", soft and slurred and always deferring to the men, with such phrases as "please-you-master" thrown in at the end of all sentences and strict avoidance of the word "I". Our heroine Alldera manages to escape to the forbidden wild hinterlands, and stumbles about pregnant through uninhabited valleys and forests, until discovered by a band of women called the Riders, who live from their horses and grains. There she is rescued, gives birth to a girl, and becomes a rider herself, until conflicts arise in her loyalties. She ventures off to find the 'Free Fems", those slaves who escaped and who live banded together elsewhere in the hinterlands. She finds herself ill at ease there, too, and not accepted for her detached discomfort.
More I will not tell, but for a reader like me, who at heart knows we are all lonely souls passing through the universe, there is something addictively seductive in a story of a loner who flees from one trap of slavery to the next, thinking and analyzing as she goes, trying to decide what she really wants. Many good scifi books are in this vein of an explorer of strange civilizations not understanding how to find his/her own "happiness", how to fit in.
What makes it all more pertinent to us now in 2001 is that the book was written 25 years ago, at the height of the women's movement in the USA, and reeks of an antipathy towards men because of their power over women. Since another generation has been born since then without that chip on their shoulder (theoreti8cally!!!), it's almost historic to read this now. You can think later, how far have women come, really? Are things different than then? I think so, but that's another subject.
Excellent story, with only one caveat - odd names and many of them make the plot sometimes hard to follow. The author also has the traditional mindset to let the reader know if a woman is "goodlooking" or not, regardless if it's relevant to the story.
Amazing how the beauty question will never be laid to rest. Women will always have it tough in this regard, as aging Michael Douglas can lure young actresses to bed, wed them and breed 'em.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You need to understand what they're really about..., March 12, 2008
This review is from: The Slave and The Free: Books 1 and 2 of 'The Holdfast Chronicles': 'Walk to the End of the World' and 'Motherlines' (Paperback)
For people who say these books are too violent, too male hating or feminist you're really not picking up what these books are about.
That's not the premise for the story, it's the background. What the book is about are the characters that struggle in this world, struggle with the rules society has given them on how to deal with each other - struggle with how to change it and learning how to forgive, or at least give others a chance to forgive. You need to continue the series all the way through to get that full affect.
But you can't just skim through this book and get that full affect, at first glance is seems that Charnas is creating a world where men are slaveholders and evil, and women are strong and good.
Charnas is very subtle in her writing though, probably most people aren't picking up how she shows her characters fighting their boundaries (men and women, or "fems") and how they are fighting to define what's right and what's wrong.
She portrayed many men as strong, good guy characters, and many women as weak and vindictive. She favors neither men or women here.
She chose slavery as a setting, and worked her way through to a world that was free for everyone. Read the next couple and see. ;)
I recommend this book 100%. It's one of my favourites of all time.
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