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Isis #4
Winged Isis
The sky offered no second chances. The women of Isis had to save their world now. Or never.
They live in a world divided: in Elysium, on one side of the electro-magnetic Border, reign the Procurators and Reverends, descendants of early 21st Century power elites and those who aped them; on the other live the Freelanders, whose democratic city-colonies, including the lesbian settlement Isis, have established a safe haven for social progress. Now, as the satellites that maintain the Border threaten to fail, all of Freeland is menaced by war with Elysium.
The women of Isis refuse to wait idly for slaughter. Led by Tomyris Whitaker and her chief of staff--and former lover--Loy Chen, they are attempting to launch a mission to replace the deteriorating satellites that protect the Border. But General Medusa is convinced that a civilian task force cannot succeed in this critical mission and challenges their control. As Whitaker and Medusa play politics, sparks fly between the rival women they have each chosen to pilot the shuttle, Loy Chin and Major Mika Reno. But the crumbling Border satellites cannot wait for the orderly process of the Council, nor the disorderly love affairs as the women cling to what may be their last taste of freedom.
On the ground, Whit's partner, Kali Tyler, works frantically to restore the Border by revising the computer programs her mother created years ago to protect Freeland. As Whitaker and Kali leave one another, they are fired by memories of their own mothers' deaths in the previous attack on Isis, and by the desire to live in a free world where they can raise the child that Kali is carrying.
As love and duty become one, the lesbians of Isis risk their lives in a battle of wits and courage that will determine whether women will live free or die enslaved.
They live in a world divided: in Elysium, on one side of the electro-magnetic Border, reign the Procurators and Reverends, descendants of early 21st Century power elites and those who aped them; on the other live the Freelanders, whose democratic city-colonies, including the lesbian settlement Isis, have established a safe haven for social progress. Now, as the satellites that maintain the Border threaten to fail, all of Freeland is menaced by war with Elysium.
The women of Isis refuse to wait idly for slaughter. Led by Tomyris Whitaker and her chief of staff--and former lover--Loy Chen, they are attempting to launch a mission to replace the deteriorating satellites that protect the Border. But General Medusa is convinced that a civilian task force cannot succeed in this critical mission and challenges their control. As Whitaker and Medusa play politics, sparks fly between the rival women they have each chosen to pilot the shuttle, Loy Chin and Major Mika Reno. But the crumbling Border satellites cannot wait for the orderly process of the Council, nor the disorderly love affairs as the women cling to what may be their last taste of freedom.
On the ground, Whit's partner, Kali Tyler, works frantically to restore the Border by revising the computer programs her mother created years ago to protect Freeland. As Whitaker and Kali leave one another, they are fired by memories of their own mothers' deaths in the previous attack on Isis, and by the desire to live in a free world where they can raise the child that Kali is carrying.
As love and duty become one, the lesbians of Isis risk their lives in a battle of wits and courage that will determine whether women will live free or die enslaved.
240 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2001
59 people want to read
About the author
Jean Stewart
10 books16 followersLibrarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Jean Stewart was born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She loves books, music, movies, dogs, and people who laugh. She was a teacher and a coach for a while, but now she writes. She lives near Seattle with her partner, Susie, two badly behaved dogs, and a reclusive Maine Coon cat named Emily Dickinson.
Jean Stewart was born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She loves books, music, movies, dogs, and people who laugh. She was a teacher and a coach for a while, but now she writes. She lives near Seattle with her partner, Susie, two badly behaved dogs, and a reclusive Maine Coon cat named Emily Dickinson.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 13, 2008
Love the Isis series. I found Stewarts of a Science Fiction series with lesbian heroines is rich with imagery and plot that seems real. It has been an inspiration for my own writing.
June 22, 2014
love this series
February 15, 2017
Even though this is not strictly a stand-alone you can read it without reading the others, and there is a section explaining stuff if you want it. It's a utopia constructed in the midst of a dystopian future (the first few books would have been about constructing it), most of it is peopled by radical separatist lesbians (although we get told other types of people exist we don't see them). Their world is under threat from the corrupt world they have escaped from. It's all about technology and heroics, and if you can accept the extremes in the book (I can) the premise is fun.
But then:
There was way too much sex in this book. Waaaaaay too much. It's not so graphic that you could call it porn but on every page someone is having sex or thinking about having sex or checking out people in a faintly objectifying way. They never glance at each other they smoulder. They don't talk unless their voice is husky with desire...you know the sort of thing. I like female/female romance in a book and I was set to deal with the no male characters bit too but this was crazy. The conflict was a bit two dimensional. I think the space travel and dogfights were pretty well researched (at least to a novice like me) and that was the best part.
It seemed strange that in this idealised futuristic world no mention was made of the environment and sustainability (I checked when the book was written: 2001, this should have already been a concern) also that in a book peppered with wiccan's calling on goddesses (and Gaia in particular) there are no mentions of animals or plants, even food is sort of a background concern except when it is a pill. The love for all sorts of technology and invention I get, but really I think the only plants were some trees a plane crashed into and there were no animals at all. I like heroics and super-nerds but the technological/commodified aspect bothered me.
The bad guys are bad, no grey area, the conflicts between good guys all end in apologies and reconciliations: it's sort of Utopian but that was what I loved about the first Isis story which I read as a naive 20-something year old. I wasn't keen on the Reno pick-up of Loy with no conversation...I thought that was tacky as hell but another person might find it sexy I suppose.
Basically if you like technology and lesbians and especially if you like Ace pilots dogfighting (and who doesn't?) then this book is pretty fun. The romance is over the top but don't I always say that?
But then:
There was way too much sex in this book. Waaaaaay too much. It's not so graphic that you could call it porn but on every page someone is having sex or thinking about having sex or checking out people in a faintly objectifying way. They never glance at each other they smoulder. They don't talk unless their voice is husky with desire...you know the sort of thing. I like female/female romance in a book and I was set to deal with the no male characters bit too but this was crazy. The conflict was a bit two dimensional. I think the space travel and dogfights were pretty well researched (at least to a novice like me) and that was the best part.
It seemed strange that in this idealised futuristic world no mention was made of the environment and sustainability (I checked when the book was written: 2001, this should have already been a concern) also that in a book peppered with wiccan's calling on goddesses (and Gaia in particular) there are no mentions of animals or plants, even food is sort of a background concern except when it is a pill. The love for all sorts of technology and invention I get, but really I think the only plants were some trees a plane crashed into and there were no animals at all. I like heroics and super-nerds but the technological/commodified aspect bothered me.
The bad guys are bad, no grey area, the conflicts between good guys all end in apologies and reconciliations: it's sort of Utopian but that was what I loved about the first Isis story which I read as a naive 20-something year old. I wasn't keen on the Reno pick-up of Loy with no conversation...I thought that was tacky as hell but another person might find it sexy I suppose.
Basically if you like technology and lesbians and especially if you like Ace pilots dogfighting (and who doesn't?) then this book is pretty fun. The romance is over the top but don't I always say that?
April 15, 2017
A true time capsule... full of social commentary and stereotypes.
Good fun.
Good fun.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews