On the planet Mictlan, a small colony of stranded humans struggles to survive despite a diminishing birthrate and a high incidence of physical abnormalities. The cultural conflict engendered by the discovery of the mummified corpse of Mictlan's now extinct former inhabitants forces the human community to reshape its moral principles to accommodate a bold and troubling solution to their breeding problems. Like Ursula Le Guin's gender-challenging speculative fiction, the latest novel by the author of The Bones of God (Avon, 1986. o.p.) calls into question the issues of cultural and sexual stereotypes. Sexually explicit without being prurient, this haunting and thought-provoking story belongs in most sf collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Strange things are happening to the descendants of the starfarers who crashed on the planet Mictlan a century ago. Physical deformities that may or may not be connected to the troubles the colonists have in reproducing are common. Sex is unappealing, but every female is pressured to become pregnant, including the hapless Anais Koda-Levin, who has a sexual deformity. Is the air of Mictlan causing these deformities? The water? Anais explores the petrified corpse of one of Mictlan's original inhabitants and deduces the answer: they had three sexes and required all three to reproduce. Anais has actually become a "midmale," which is what the corpse she examines is. With this discovery, the colony is again able to reproduce. Leigh's intriguing concept, worked out with some harrowing scenes, such as when Anais discovers her true identity while having sex, suffers from too many points of view, all of them introspective, that are not well distinguished. The pace drags accordingly. John Mort
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