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Orthe #1
Golden Witchbreed
Orthe - half-civilized, half-barbaric, home to human-like beings who live and die by the code of the sword. Earth envoy Lynne Christie has been sent here to establish contact and to determine whether this is a world worth developing. But first Christie must come to understand that human-like is not and never can be human, and that not even Orthe's leaders can stop the spread of rumors about her, dark whisperings that could cost Christie her life.
And on a goodwill tour to the outlying provinces, these evil rumors turn to deadly accusations. Christie is no offworlder, Church officials charge: she is a treacherous and cunning descendant of Orthe's legendary Golden Witchbreed - the cruel, ruthless race that once enslaved the whole planet. Suddenly, Christie finds herself a hunted fugitive on an alien world, where friend and foe alike may prove her executioners. And her only chance of survival lies in saving Orthe from a menace older than time...
And on a goodwill tour to the outlying provinces, these evil rumors turn to deadly accusations. Christie is no offworlder, Church officials charge: she is a treacherous and cunning descendant of Orthe's legendary Golden Witchbreed - the cruel, ruthless race that once enslaved the whole planet. Suddenly, Christie finds herself a hunted fugitive on an alien world, where friend and foe alike may prove her executioners. And her only chance of survival lies in saving Orthe from a menace older than time...
499 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
35 people are currently reading
1255 people want to read
About the author
Mary Gentle
44 books204 followersThis author also writes under the pseudonym of Roxanne Morgan
Excerpted from Wikipedia:
Mary Gentle's first published novel was Hawk in Silver (1977), a young-adult fantasy. She came to prominence with the Orthe duology, which consists of Golden Witchbreed (1983) and Ancient Light (1987).
The novels Rats and Gargoyles (1990), The Architecture of Desire (1991), and Left to His Own Devices (1994), together with several short stories, form a loosely linked series (collected in White Crow in 2003). As with Michael Moorcock's series about his anti-heroic Jerry Cornelius, Gentle's sequence retains some basic facts about her two protagonists Valentine (also known as the White Crow) and Casaubon while changing much else about them, including what world they inhabit. Several take place in an alternate-history version of 17th century and later England, where a form of Renaissance Hermetic magic has taken over the role of science. Another, Left To His Own Devices, takes place in a cyberpunk-tinged version of our own near future. The sequence is informed by historically existing ideas about esotericism and alchemy and is rife with obscure allusions to real history and literature.
Grunts! (1992) is a grand guignol parody of mass-market high fantasy novels, with orcs as heroes, murderous halflings, and racist elves.
Excerpted from Wikipedia:
Mary Gentle's first published novel was Hawk in Silver (1977), a young-adult fantasy. She came to prominence with the Orthe duology, which consists of Golden Witchbreed (1983) and Ancient Light (1987).
The novels Rats and Gargoyles (1990), The Architecture of Desire (1991), and Left to His Own Devices (1994), together with several short stories, form a loosely linked series (collected in White Crow in 2003). As with Michael Moorcock's series about his anti-heroic Jerry Cornelius, Gentle's sequence retains some basic facts about her two protagonists Valentine (also known as the White Crow) and Casaubon while changing much else about them, including what world they inhabit. Several take place in an alternate-history version of 17th century and later England, where a form of Renaissance Hermetic magic has taken over the role of science. Another, Left To His Own Devices, takes place in a cyberpunk-tinged version of our own near future. The sequence is informed by historically existing ideas about esotericism and alchemy and is rife with obscure allusions to real history and literature.
Grunts! (1992) is a grand guignol parody of mass-market high fantasy novels, with orcs as heroes, murderous halflings, and racist elves.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
April 24, 2017
I read this many years ago. It was all I remembered and more. I was able to immerse myself in the world and it's people. This wasn't a story full of action and heroics. More it was a story of people, politics and what is the right thing to do. We should not judge what we do not know or understand. I was sad to leave this world.
August 7, 2014
Not many of the escapist fantasies from my childhood have stood the test of time. Golden WItchbreed only got better now that I'm older and wiser and can tune into a layer of adult cynicism about the nature of relationships, between individuals and between states that underlies the tone of swashbuckling wonder.
All around good book. Intriguing well fleshed out characters that have complex, believable relationships and dialogue; a well paced plot that is original and unpredictable; a fully fleshed out world; and, all the elements you love from fantasy without the cringeworthy simplicity so often found in the genre. Golden Witchbreed manages to be both fantastic and firmly routed in the reality of the human (and non-human~) experience.
All around good book. Intriguing well fleshed out characters that have complex, believable relationships and dialogue; a well paced plot that is original and unpredictable; a fully fleshed out world; and, all the elements you love from fantasy without the cringeworthy simplicity so often found in the genre. Golden Witchbreed manages to be both fantastic and firmly routed in the reality of the human (and non-human~) experience.
November 22, 2020
Earth has mastered FTL travel, and diplomats and xeno-teams are being sent all over the galaxy to establish relations with our neighbours. Lynne Christie - relatively inexperienced, but with 2 primitive planets under her belt already - is sent to Orthe / Carrick V after the previous envoy died in part, she realises, because she is expendable. Close to androgynous, subtle and close enough to human for boundaries to slip, the Ortheans have a deep-seated fear of high technology based on legends of past holocaust under the Golden Witchbreed, but their ruler recognises the opportunities offered by trade with Earth. Sent out to the provinces to convince the tribes that Earth isn't to be feared, Christie soon realises how very little she truly understands about Orthe - and how much danger she is actually in.
I *really* enjoyed this. It's well-written, with charismatic characters and fabulous world-building - we discover Orthe alongside Christie, and there's enough detail stashed away here for the world to feel convincing and larger than we see (and for this to be tantalising - I want to know what's on the far side of the world, and how the barbarian tribes of the Barrens work, and whether the deserts south of Kel Harantish really are empty).
With an anti-tech population in the Southland, where the main action takes place, this has a strong flavour of fantasy about it - there's no magic, but a mythic past and a violent, Byzantine present with no technology never quite feels like pure SF either. I didn't feel this was a problem, although I would have liked more insight into Earth - the clues seeded in the text hint at entirely predictable problems (population explosion; climate change; resource exhaustion) being replaced by an interesting new one - not being able to cope with the rate of (territorial) expansion and change fuelled by FTL travel. There's a whole other set of novels embedded in that context that were never written that I find I'd also love to read.
Highly recommended.
Full review.
I *really* enjoyed this. It's well-written, with charismatic characters and fabulous world-building - we discover Orthe alongside Christie, and there's enough detail stashed away here for the world to feel convincing and larger than we see (and for this to be tantalising - I want to know what's on the far side of the world, and how the barbarian tribes of the Barrens work, and whether the deserts south of Kel Harantish really are empty).
With an anti-tech population in the Southland, where the main action takes place, this has a strong flavour of fantasy about it - there's no magic, but a mythic past and a violent, Byzantine present with no technology never quite feels like pure SF either. I didn't feel this was a problem, although I would have liked more insight into Earth - the clues seeded in the text hint at entirely predictable problems (population explosion; climate change; resource exhaustion) being replaced by an interesting new one - not being able to cope with the rate of (territorial) expansion and change fuelled by FTL travel. There's a whole other set of novels embedded in that context that were never written that I find I'd also love to read.
Highly recommended.
Full review.
April 17, 2024
There's a lot to love but also some things that didn't entirely work for me. I liked following an envoy getting to know the planet and its inhabitants, Orthe is a fascinating and diverse place that actually feels like a whole world and Christie builds meaningful and interesting relationships with some of its inhabitants. However, too many little things prevented me to fully immerse myself. The application of the fantasy language didn't feel that natural to me, there was a plotpoint in the later parts of the book that felt kinda out of place, in general, going from one story element to the next didn't always feel like one coherant narrative and the scenes could vary heavily in how much they peaked my interest. It's a worthwhile reading experience, especially for world building and alien culture enthusiasts, but not a highlight.
January 25, 2023
Old booklog notes: 1996, first read: "A+", outstanding, reread sometime. "A" on reread (2016), grown-up Andre Norton, descendants of alien Forerunners, post-technological. Well-done, ambiguous ending. Aliens with complex politics.
The review here to read is Clare O'Beara's: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
"Golden Witchbreed is astonishingly good. ..."
Ayup. An easy 5-star, and I don't give out many of those.
OK, 4.5 on RR, but still . . .
The review here to read is Clare O'Beara's: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
"Golden Witchbreed is astonishingly good. ..."
Ayup. An easy 5-star, and I don't give out many of those.
OK, 4.5 on RR, but still . . .
September 12, 2012
(6/10) Sci-fi and fantasy fans can get kind of obsessive about worldbuilding. And when it's done right, it's a remarkable feat -- creating a world so interesting and appealing that people dedicate massive wikis to describing every facet of it. There are certainly "realistic" novels that provoke a similar feeling and succeed at creating an entire world, but only for SFF does this often seem to be a main goal. Mary Gentle is going for that kind of world here. The Orthean society she develops is complex, multifaceted, and fundamentally alien -- the way any sci-fi world should be.
But of course a great world doesn't equate to a great novel, and that's essentially the issue here. The reader is immediately dumped into an unfamiliar setting with an unfamiliar langauge, and even though the central character -- an ambassador -- should provide a more familiar viewpoint there's still a lot of language to get used to, including the dreaded apostrophe soup. The plot itself seems like mainly an excuse to shunt this ambassador to every corner of the globe and learn about everything under the sun. She's usually very passive, always fleeing from some betrayal or scheme to destroy her, which isn't a problem in itself but after a while you lose track of the double-crosses and things just start getting repetitive.
This reminds me quite a bit of The Left Hand of Darkness, with its sociological focus, the "human ambassador to a strange land" plot and the occasional play with gender. It's an obvious inspiration for Gentle, but she stretches the basic format of LeGuin's novel to its breaking point through a proliferation of factions and locations. It's a wonderfully realized world, and that's an accomplishment in itself. But perhaps it's not a particularly literary one.
But of course a great world doesn't equate to a great novel, and that's essentially the issue here. The reader is immediately dumped into an unfamiliar setting with an unfamiliar langauge, and even though the central character -- an ambassador -- should provide a more familiar viewpoint there's still a lot of language to get used to, including the dreaded apostrophe soup. The plot itself seems like mainly an excuse to shunt this ambassador to every corner of the globe and learn about everything under the sun. She's usually very passive, always fleeing from some betrayal or scheme to destroy her, which isn't a problem in itself but after a while you lose track of the double-crosses and things just start getting repetitive.
This reminds me quite a bit of The Left Hand of Darkness, with its sociological focus, the "human ambassador to a strange land" plot and the occasional play with gender. It's an obvious inspiration for Gentle, but she stretches the basic format of LeGuin's novel to its breaking point through a proliferation of factions and locations. It's a wonderfully realized world, and that's an accomplishment in itself. But perhaps it's not a particularly literary one.
February 9, 2014
Golden Witchbreed is astonishingly good. You should first read Ursula LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness, the archetypal SF novel of an ambassador to an alien world where the people seem like us, but are not.
The ambassador from Earth here is female and her blonde hair is enough to make the superstitious dark-haired people she meets suspect that she is one of the previous ruling class, the golden witchbreed as they are now known. These aliens are derived from reptiles and still reproduce by laying an egg which the male incubates in a pouch, though the delicate nature of her mission means that the ambassador is afraid to ask right out about reproduction or other personal matters.
Instead she travels from place to place around the world of Orthe, observing, experiencing the climate and culture until, like LeGuin's ambassador, she finds herself receiving unfriendly attentions.
The planet is very well described and we really feel what the characters do and fear for their lives. Read it.
The second book Ancient Light is also good but ends unhappily, I warn you. The two are bundled in a book called Orthe.
I have never taken to any of Gentle's other works so if you didn't get on with another book of hers you should try this one.
The ambassador from Earth here is female and her blonde hair is enough to make the superstitious dark-haired people she meets suspect that she is one of the previous ruling class, the golden witchbreed as they are now known. These aliens are derived from reptiles and still reproduce by laying an egg which the male incubates in a pouch, though the delicate nature of her mission means that the ambassador is afraid to ask right out about reproduction or other personal matters.
Instead she travels from place to place around the world of Orthe, observing, experiencing the climate and culture until, like LeGuin's ambassador, she finds herself receiving unfriendly attentions.
The planet is very well described and we really feel what the characters do and fear for their lives. Read it.
The second book Ancient Light is also good but ends unhappily, I warn you. The two are bundled in a book called Orthe.
I have never taken to any of Gentle's other works so if you didn't get on with another book of hers you should try this one.
January 17, 2024
Science-Fantasy.
Christie ist junge Botschafterin der Erde auf dem rückständigen Planeten Orthe. Sie soll erreichen, dass die Erdenwisschenschaftler endlich die Stadt verlassen dürfen, um den Planeten zu erforschen. Doch erstmal erhält nur sie die Erlaubnis zu reisen.
Schon hochwertig und interessant. Die fremde Kultur ist in allen Einzelheiten beschrieben. Die Sätze sind durchwirkt mit ET-Wörtern, die man nur durch ein Glossar versteht. Aber eigentlich sind die ETs nicht wirklich fremd. Wohl nicht fremder als ein irdisches Eingeborenenvolk, was wohl für die Handlung nötig ist, da sich die Botschafterin so intensiv mit den Fremdweltlern einlässt. Trotzdem etwas unbefriedigend. Ich finde echt fremde ETs viel interessanter.
Weiterhin ist schade, dass das Buch viel zu lang ist mit 600 Seiten. Nach ca. 400 hatte ich mal wieder genug und quälte mich bis zum Ende. Es passiert einfach ein isschen zu wenig, um die Dicke zu rechtfertigen. Ich schätze, die Autorin war zu verliebt in ihre Welt, um sie zu verlassen.
Und dann gibt es ja noch eine Fortsetzung
Christie ist junge Botschafterin der Erde auf dem rückständigen Planeten Orthe. Sie soll erreichen, dass die Erdenwisschenschaftler endlich die Stadt verlassen dürfen, um den Planeten zu erforschen. Doch erstmal erhält nur sie die Erlaubnis zu reisen.
Schon hochwertig und interessant. Die fremde Kultur ist in allen Einzelheiten beschrieben. Die Sätze sind durchwirkt mit ET-Wörtern, die man nur durch ein Glossar versteht. Aber eigentlich sind die ETs nicht wirklich fremd. Wohl nicht fremder als ein irdisches Eingeborenenvolk, was wohl für die Handlung nötig ist, da sich die Botschafterin so intensiv mit den Fremdweltlern einlässt. Trotzdem etwas unbefriedigend. Ich finde echt fremde ETs viel interessanter.
Weiterhin ist schade, dass das Buch viel zu lang ist mit 600 Seiten. Nach ca. 400 hatte ich mal wieder genug und quälte mich bis zum Ende. Es passiert einfach ein isschen zu wenig, um die Dicke zu rechtfertigen. Ich schätze, die Autorin war zu verliebt in ihre Welt, um sie zu verlassen.
Und dann gibt es ja noch eine Fortsetzung
April 2, 2010
This is one of my very favorite books of all. Mary Gentle creates a thoroughgoing alien culture that is entirely compelling. I read it about once a year. You should, too!
July 31, 2012
Originally published on my blog here& in July 2000.
Lynne de Lisle Christie is a diplomatic envoy, sent out to newly discovered inhabited worlds to decide what level of contact is appropriate between them and the rest of the galaxy. Though not of great experience, she is sent to the pre-industrial planet Carrick V. This world is not, however, what it seems: it is in fact post-industrial, having rejected the technology used to enslave the now dominant Orthean race by those known as the Golden Witchbreed.
There is a prophecy that the Witchbreed will return, and this, with the golden colour of (white) human skin tanned by the strong sun of Carrick V, leads the more superstitious Ortheans to believe that the humans landing on the planet are not from space but a plot by the Witchbreed. Naturally, this makes Christie's job far harder, as does the Orthean addiction to deceptive political manoeuvring.
While there is nothing particularly original about Golden Witchbreed, being a variation on the first contact theme, the strength of Gentle's writing commands attention. The feeling that we are experiencing a truly alien culture is particularly strong, and this is one of the most difficult things to do in writing science fiction.
Lynne de Lisle Christie is a diplomatic envoy, sent out to newly discovered inhabited worlds to decide what level of contact is appropriate between them and the rest of the galaxy. Though not of great experience, she is sent to the pre-industrial planet Carrick V. This world is not, however, what it seems: it is in fact post-industrial, having rejected the technology used to enslave the now dominant Orthean race by those known as the Golden Witchbreed.
There is a prophecy that the Witchbreed will return, and this, with the golden colour of (white) human skin tanned by the strong sun of Carrick V, leads the more superstitious Ortheans to believe that the humans landing on the planet are not from space but a plot by the Witchbreed. Naturally, this makes Christie's job far harder, as does the Orthean addiction to deceptive political manoeuvring.
While there is nothing particularly original about Golden Witchbreed, being a variation on the first contact theme, the strength of Gentle's writing commands attention. The feeling that we are experiencing a truly alien culture is particularly strong, and this is one of the most difficult things to do in writing science fiction.
December 22, 2008
Golden witchbreed is classic first contact science fiction where earth is learning about another planet's civilization. I agree with the reviewer downpage who said that the book reminded them of Left Hand of Darkness because it had the same sort of depth and roundedness to the world building. Golden Witchbreed is the story of the earth envoy to Orthe, a post-holocaust society on a planet badly damaged by a previous hi-tech civilization. Lynne Christie the earth envoy is cautiously welcomed by some of the native Ortheans and feared and threatened by others. The political element to this book is very well done, these people may have a low-tech civilization, but they are politically sophisticated.
All in all Golden Witchbreed is a wonderful, moving, clever and well written book. One empathises with Christie, but also with the Orthean people too. I highly recommend this book
All in all Golden Witchbreed is a wonderful, moving, clever and well written book. One empathises with Christie, but also with the Orthean people too. I highly recommend this book
June 5, 2010
I thought I would like this from the title, but I didn't. It was boring and ho-hum, with a lackluster world as background. Later on I figured out I just do not like Mary Gentle's work, once I'd read Rats and Gargoyles, which was truly awful.
May 14, 2019
Double review: This one and its sequel.
Golden Witchbreed is the first not-Ash book by Mary Gentle I've read. I adore the Ash chronicles, so much so that for years I feared they would be ruined for me if Gentle's other books didn't enrapture me as much.
These books do not, in fact, meet the Ash standard, but that's okay. I enjoyed them. Gentle's created world is very real, the characters varied and well-developed, the culture and natural environment richly imagined. Golden Witchbreed is the story of human Lynne Christie, envoy from Earth to the post-holocaust, post-tech planet Orthe, where advanced technology is considered suspicious because of the super-tech once wielded by the now-extinct (or are they...?) and evil Golden Witchbreed. As Christie shares the skin tone of the 'Breed and has advanced tech in her possession, her first-contact job is exponentially more difficult, and she quickly finds herself ensnared in political intrigue, fighting for her life.
The only issue I had was with the rather elaborate character names (examples are Sulis n'ri n'suth SuBannasen and Gur'an Alahamu-to O'he-Oramu-te; those are only two people) used interchangeably with the characters' titles, so that combined with the sheer volume of them made it difficult to remember who was who. There's a Cast of Characters in the front of the book, but I got tired of flipping back and forth. I'm lazy that way.
I liked the first book well enough that I bought the sequel, Ancient Light. My biggest gripe with that one was toward the end, it was draaaaaaging out soooooooo baaaaaad. I considered not finishing it several times - we'll have a meeting here, now I'll take a shuttle over here and have a meeting, while you take another shuttle over there and have a meeting, and Whosis can take a third shuttle for a meeting in that other place - on and on and on and on. But I'd invested almost a month reading these two books, and I had to find out what I happened, and I stuck with it. A great many other reviewers were angered by the ending, but it made sense to me. This is colonialism. This is what happens when other lands (or worlds) are befriended for what we can get from them, with no thought for the existing balance and culture that we erode and destroy. Sorry, I guess that was kind of a spoiler...? Kind of.
Neither book has a lot of action and both are heavy on descriptive passages, but the world-building is phenomenal and they're worth reading just for that.
So I liked these well enough, I'm not so much a Mary Gentle fan as I am a Super Huge Fan of the Ash books that happen to be written by Mary Gentle.
Golden Witchbreed is the first not-Ash book by Mary Gentle I've read. I adore the Ash chronicles, so much so that for years I feared they would be ruined for me if Gentle's other books didn't enrapture me as much.
These books do not, in fact, meet the Ash standard, but that's okay. I enjoyed them. Gentle's created world is very real, the characters varied and well-developed, the culture and natural environment richly imagined. Golden Witchbreed is the story of human Lynne Christie, envoy from Earth to the post-holocaust, post-tech planet Orthe, where advanced technology is considered suspicious because of the super-tech once wielded by the now-extinct (or are they...?) and evil Golden Witchbreed. As Christie shares the skin tone of the 'Breed and has advanced tech in her possession, her first-contact job is exponentially more difficult, and she quickly finds herself ensnared in political intrigue, fighting for her life.
The only issue I had was with the rather elaborate character names (examples are Sulis n'ri n'suth SuBannasen and Gur'an Alahamu-to O'he-Oramu-te; those are only two people) used interchangeably with the characters' titles, so that combined with the sheer volume of them made it difficult to remember who was who. There's a Cast of Characters in the front of the book, but I got tired of flipping back and forth. I'm lazy that way.
I liked the first book well enough that I bought the sequel, Ancient Light. My biggest gripe with that one was toward the end, it was draaaaaaging out soooooooo baaaaaad. I considered not finishing it several times - we'll have a meeting here, now I'll take a shuttle over here and have a meeting, while you take another shuttle over there and have a meeting, and Whosis can take a third shuttle for a meeting in that other place - on and on and on and on. But I'd invested almost a month reading these two books, and I had to find out what I happened, and I stuck with it. A great many other reviewers were angered by the ending, but it made sense to me. This is colonialism. This is what happens when other lands (or worlds) are befriended for what we can get from them, with no thought for the existing balance and culture that we erode and destroy. Sorry, I guess that was kind of a spoiler...? Kind of.
Neither book has a lot of action and both are heavy on descriptive passages, but the world-building is phenomenal and they're worth reading just for that.
So I liked these well enough, I'm not so much a Mary Gentle fan as I am a Super Huge Fan of the Ash books that happen to be written by Mary Gentle.
March 8, 2017
3.5*
Mary Gentle’s work is always full of promise, yet somehow manages to fail to satisfy in the end. This book, a kind of budget version of the “Left Hand of Darkness,” is no exception. Lynne de Lisle Christie, an Earth idi...envoy is sent to the planet Carrick V to establish contact with the primitive humanoid aliens who live there. Instead she ends up riding, hiking, and sailing all over the world while assassins and other unpleasant people are trying to inflict various sorts of nasty things upon her person. The various natives who befriend her, or, alternatively, try to kill her (or both!) aren’t badly done, but Lynne herself is a blank slate, endlessly reactive and seemingly uninterested in anything beyond whatever predicament she finds herself in at the moment. She is, in short, a decent approximation of a human pinball. There is one memorable relationship, but, unfortunately for this book, I’ve seen a far superior version of it earlier this year in “The Traitor Baru Cormorant.”
The world, like every other product of Mary Gentle’s mind is meticulously detailed, rigorous in worldbuilding, and completely uninspired. The Ortheans are aliens who don’t undergo sex differentiation until puberty (so all their children are genderless), ride unicorns, and live in communities that are thought to be different and alien, but are actually a pretty close approximation of an early modern English parish. An Ursula Le Guin, she is not, but quality worldbuilding that is both original and rigorous is rare enough to make Carrick V part of the elite of the genre. Yes, there is a glossary and an appendix.
It’s not a bad book, all things considered, if your standards are not as high as mine. So, 3.5* it is.
Mary Gentle’s work is always full of promise, yet somehow manages to fail to satisfy in the end. This book, a kind of budget version of the “Left Hand of Darkness,” is no exception. Lynne de Lisle Christie, an Earth idi...envoy is sent to the planet Carrick V to establish contact with the primitive humanoid aliens who live there. Instead she ends up riding, hiking, and sailing all over the world while assassins and other unpleasant people are trying to inflict various sorts of nasty things upon her person. The various natives who befriend her, or, alternatively, try to kill her (or both!) aren’t badly done, but Lynne herself is a blank slate, endlessly reactive and seemingly uninterested in anything beyond whatever predicament she finds herself in at the moment. She is, in short, a decent approximation of a human pinball. There is one memorable relationship, but, unfortunately for this book, I’ve seen a far superior version of it earlier this year in “The Traitor Baru Cormorant.”
The world, like every other product of Mary Gentle’s mind is meticulously detailed, rigorous in worldbuilding, and completely uninspired. The Ortheans are aliens who don’t undergo sex differentiation until puberty (so all their children are genderless), ride unicorns, and live in communities that are thought to be different and alien, but are actually a pretty close approximation of an early modern English parish. An Ursula Le Guin, she is not, but quality worldbuilding that is both original and rigorous is rare enough to make Carrick V part of the elite of the genre. Yes, there is a glossary and an appendix.
It’s not a bad book, all things considered, if your standards are not as high as mine. So, 3.5* it is.
October 3, 2019
I've been reading sci fi since my mid-teens so that's well over fifty years now, and I believe that Orthe is one of the most vividly realised alien worlds I've ever encountered. Don't be misled by the title, there's no sorcery and magic in this epic tale, but quite a lot of mystery and misunderstanding, unexpected friendships, fierce loyalty and devastating treachery. Lynne Christie is a young woman sent to be envoy to the world of Orthe. It's not quite a first contact situation, a science team has preceded her but has not been allowed contact with the general population. Christie's job is to travel, compile reports that will help Earth authorities to classify this world and to tell the natives about Earth and it's people.
The Orthean natives don't look too different from us on the surface, but as Christie gradually learns, there are many differences in their biology, their domestic lives, their beliefs and their politics. All too soon she gets caught up in some very devious politick-ing which leads her into great danger. Bit by bit, you learn a great deal about this fascinating world - the author skillfully brings into the story the variations of scenery and landscape, the different ways of living in different regions of this world and the differences between individuals. It is, to my mind, a great story, a book that's very hard to put down.
I have read this before in paperback shortly after it came out. I was pleased to find a kindle version but somewhat disappointed to discover it really needs to be proof read again. There were numerous small typos, especially with alien names. Do read the book, but maybe on paper if you can find it!
The Orthean natives don't look too different from us on the surface, but as Christie gradually learns, there are many differences in their biology, their domestic lives, their beliefs and their politics. All too soon she gets caught up in some very devious politick-ing which leads her into great danger. Bit by bit, you learn a great deal about this fascinating world - the author skillfully brings into the story the variations of scenery and landscape, the different ways of living in different regions of this world and the differences between individuals. It is, to my mind, a great story, a book that's very hard to put down.
I have read this before in paperback shortly after it came out. I was pleased to find a kindle version but somewhat disappointed to discover it really needs to be proof read again. There were numerous small typos, especially with alien names. Do read the book, but maybe on paper if you can find it!
May 16, 2021
This book is really...good. Yeah, good; 3.5 out of 5 good, but it doesn't blossom into excellent, using all aspects of storytelling to wow you.
Gentle has done a brilliant job of world-building here. Orthe's sentient races, it's history, geography, and biosphere are rich and cleverly presented; this is one of the best creations in SFF. If it isn't already, this would be a fantastic RPG setting.
However, the story rapidly becomes a cat-and-mouse chase across one continent and onto a second, nearly as predictable in its progression as in its minor characters. Way too much ink is spent on stage setting (entire paragraphs describing visuals, such as the minutiae of roadside vegetation), and not enough on originality of story: all the time-worn tropes are here, tossed in with the kitchen sink.
Troubling for me was the main character who, while mostly relatable, reacts far more than acts for most of the book. It's finally on p.290 when she tells her hired goon, 'No, I'M going there; YOU'RE going somewhere else.' More problematic in the long term, though, is that she acts less "innocent" than "idiotic." Look, contrary to Lynn Christie's behavior in GB there are some good SFF rules to live by:
1) unless your name is James Kirk, DO NOT have sex with alien nobility during a first contact,
2) if an individual tries to kill you more than once in the same book, KILL HIM,
3) DON'T be surprised that the angry religious zealots are xenophobic, and
4) if everyone else present is armed, maybe YOU should be as well.
Gentle has done a brilliant job of world-building here. Orthe's sentient races, it's history, geography, and biosphere are rich and cleverly presented; this is one of the best creations in SFF. If it isn't already, this would be a fantastic RPG setting.
However, the story rapidly becomes a cat-and-mouse chase across one continent and onto a second, nearly as predictable in its progression as in its minor characters. Way too much ink is spent on stage setting (entire paragraphs describing visuals, such as the minutiae of roadside vegetation), and not enough on originality of story: all the time-worn tropes are here, tossed in with the kitchen sink.
Troubling for me was the main character who, while mostly relatable, reacts far more than acts for most of the book. It's finally on p.290 when she tells her hired goon, 'No, I'M going there; YOU'RE going somewhere else.' More problematic in the long term, though, is that she acts less "innocent" than "idiotic." Look, contrary to Lynn Christie's behavior in GB there are some good SFF rules to live by:
1) unless your name is James Kirk, DO NOT have sex with alien nobility during a first contact,
2) if an individual tries to kill you more than once in the same book, KILL HIM,
3) DON'T be surprised that the angry religious zealots are xenophobic, and
4) if everyone else present is armed, maybe YOU should be as well.
December 5, 2013
This book was set in a highly creative and well-thought out world. This is both a strength and a weakness. The world is very detailed and the author clearly spent a lot of time figuring out language, customs, history and geography.
However, I felt the plot wasn't given enough attention. At over 100 pages (~20%) in there hasn't really been much happening with the story - an ambassador from a different planet arrives, finds that their presence is controversial and is encouraged to travel in order to show the general population that off worlders aren't the bogeyman from the natives history. Oh, and people apparently keep trying to kill her for some reason. I almost forget that because the narrator brushes the incidents off in favor of focusing on how shocking it was that a woman gave birth in a room full of people and everyone thought it was normal or other things she learns about the natives.
It took a little while to get into the book. The names were difficult for me to keep straight, especially when so many things are different enough from Earth creatures and items that the author has to use the native words for them. It's a bit much to take in at the beginning, though by page 100 I was starting to feel comfortable in the world. However, without anything interesting happening in the plot, the world wasn't enough to hold my attention and I stopped reading.
However, I felt the plot wasn't given enough attention. At over 100 pages (~20%) in there hasn't really been much happening with the story - an ambassador from a different planet arrives, finds that their presence is controversial and is encouraged to travel in order to show the general population that off worlders aren't the bogeyman from the natives history. Oh, and people apparently keep trying to kill her for some reason. I almost forget that because the narrator brushes the incidents off in favor of focusing on how shocking it was that a woman gave birth in a room full of people and everyone thought it was normal or other things she learns about the natives.
It took a little while to get into the book. The names were difficult for me to keep straight, especially when so many things are different enough from Earth creatures and items that the author has to use the native words for them. It's a bit much to take in at the beginning, though by page 100 I was starting to feel comfortable in the world. However, without anything interesting happening in the plot, the world wasn't enough to hold my attention and I stopped reading.
July 27, 2020
Golden Witchbreed is a brilliant story set in a fascinating post-technology world. Earth envoy Lynne Christie arrives on the post-technological world of Carrick V to find a world that, for the most part at least, is suspicious and not at all welcoming. This leads to her having more of an adventure than she bargained for, visiting swamps, hiding out in ancient cities and witnessing first hand the power of the cursed Witchbreed technology.
The world of Carrick V is wonderfully detailed not just in the flora and fauna but also culturally and I found the tension between the different factions gripping throughout. The author must have spent an awful lot of time world building and it has really paid off in making the story feel like it is taking place on a living breathing world.
The characters are varied and deep and none are archetypes or one-dimensonal goodies or baddies. Each have their own motivations which again, make them feel deep and well-realised and I can't wait to see where they go in the second book.
The world of Carrick V is wonderfully detailed not just in the flora and fauna but also culturally and I found the tension between the different factions gripping throughout. The author must have spent an awful lot of time world building and it has really paid off in making the story feel like it is taking place on a living breathing world.
The characters are varied and deep and none are archetypes or one-dimensonal goodies or baddies. Each have their own motivations which again, make them feel deep and well-realised and I can't wait to see where they go in the second book.
August 4, 2012
This was one of the first novels I read off the sci-fi rack at the school library as a teenager. It was an interesting story, but I'm not sure I was the right audience for it. The story dragged on for a very long time with not a lot of action or movement. This book could have been one-third its final length and have been a more engaging novel. I found it dull, and I only kept reading it because I was curious why the book was so danged thick. I figured if I stuck with it, something might happen that would make it more interesting. That ended up not happening, things only got interesting just as the book was ending. This was a total "meh" to me. I reread it years later to see if it was as terrible as I had remembered. Yep.
March 22, 2025
A really solid planetary romance (in the sense of grand adventures on an alien planet), in which a human lands among aliens and must negotiate politics and culture and history and intrigue. It's one of those 1980s SF books that dived deep into lots of weird names with decorative punctuation to higlight the alienness, but it's free from a lot of the misogynistic bullshit that tends to be part and parcel of books from that era. Some thoughtful meditations on gender, some queernorm references, but mostly it's focused on telling a tale. It reminds me of nothing so much as CJ Cherryh's Foreigner books, although the commentary on integration and assimilating with aliens is not quite as sophisticated.
July 9, 2016
I liked it enough to finish it, but it was a bit laborious to read. I liked the world and the discoveries, but it was too descriptive for me. Ok, we´re on an alien world, so I´m ok with some descriptions of what is different, but I don´t want to know what every single plant and animal looks like, most certainly not if you´re then going to move to a different part of the world where everything looks different again. I felt a bit the same about the storyline; did she really have to be twice?
I did like the relationships, the way the natives were different and the history of the world.
I did like the relationships, the way the natives were different and the history of the world.
May 8, 2011
I liked this more for the nostalgia of "old school" sci-fi than any great writing or original sf themes. LeGuin did it more deeply with "Left Hand..." and Cherryh more enjoyably with the Chanur Saga, Faded Sun trilogy, and then later, the Invader series. Still, there is charm in reading pre-Internet, pre-Hubble, pre-Singularity sf that simply enjoys the concept of exploring an alien civilization and all that says about who we are as humans. It is what I grew up reading, and so still have quite the soft-spot for it.
March 18, 2017
This was an interesting read, feeling more like fantasy than science fiction for the most part as there was very little emphasis on the technology aspects to the world. The little discussed witchbreed, their history, and technology was for me an unscratched itch throughout the book, as it really sets the back drop to the plot rather than being what the book is about. As the back of the book says, this is really an alien political intrigue /human nature story, with a bit of violence, made complicated by difficult alien names and words. Definitely readable, but lacking tension and pace.
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January 1, 2016A rather lovely story of interplanetary anthropology which explores how humanoid is not the same as human, and the act of observing changes the observer. I liked it, and am looking forward to reading the sequel.
September 27, 2020
I first read this in the 1980s, when it came out in paperback. The cover blurb didn't do it any favours, since it's described as Fantasy, which it definitely is not. Still don't understand why my then wife bought it for me, since she knew I dislike Fantasy, but I'm glad she did.
Anyhow, it's a very well and confidently written book, which reminds me in many ways of Dune, even though it's really nothing like it.
The story is basically about Earth contact with an alien civilization on a far distant planet. The way it's handled is very different from many (most?) contact books, and is all the better for it. I'm not going to write any spoilers, so you'll have to read it for yourself. A few words of advice, though... if you're expecting lots of high tech action, robots, cutsie aliens and mystical nonsense, you'll be hugely disappointed. If, however, you want a different and very well crafted take on what could happen, read on with pleasure.
Anyhow, it's a very well and confidently written book, which reminds me in many ways of Dune, even though it's really nothing like it.
The story is basically about Earth contact with an alien civilization on a far distant planet. The way it's handled is very different from many (most?) contact books, and is all the better for it. I'm not going to write any spoilers, so you'll have to read it for yourself. A few words of advice, though... if you're expecting lots of high tech action, robots, cutsie aliens and mystical nonsense, you'll be hugely disappointed. If, however, you want a different and very well crafted take on what could happen, read on with pleasure.
March 6, 2019
An envoy from earth is sent to explore Orthe with the intention of setting up potential trade links, gets involved in political machinations and various Ortheans attempt to assassinate her. This novel had lots of promise, the wordlbuilding was very well done yet it felt as if the plot was just an excuse for the envoy to travel around to different places endlessly - cue descriptions and interactions with different races and houses on different continents.
Nicely written but ultimately fell a bit flat. Ursula le Guin writes this kind of novel with far more shrewdness and a far smaller word count. The names of the characters whilst alien enough became quickly confusing and at times hard to remember who is who. Disappointing as it had a lot of promise, but ultimately went nowhere.
Do yourself a favour and read Le Guin's 'The Left Hand of Darkness' instead.
Nicely written but ultimately fell a bit flat. Ursula le Guin writes this kind of novel with far more shrewdness and a far smaller word count. The names of the characters whilst alien enough became quickly confusing and at times hard to remember who is who. Disappointing as it had a lot of promise, but ultimately went nowhere.
Do yourself a favour and read Le Guin's 'The Left Hand of Darkness' instead.
April 20, 2020
Mary Gentle's Golden Witchbreed succeeds in walking a very fine line between being incomprehensible, and trusting her reader to figure it out in their own. She accomplishes this by telling the story through the eyes of her main character, who is a new comer to the world of Orthe, and whom is possessed of seriously incomplete knowledge of the planet, people, culture, and politics.
This conceit almost failed within the first one hundred pages because, though the world was interesting, so much of the beginning of the book was the main character adjusting to culture shock that I almost didn't keep reading. If you find yourself in this position, persevere, because it totally becomes worth it by the end. This gradual adjustment to an alien culture pulls off a really neat trick on the reader in that gradually you comprehend Orthean civilization as well as the main character, who is, by the conclusion, an expert.
My final compliment for Golden Witchbreed is the manner in which Gentle manipulates the standard plot arc. I will admit, toward the end of the book, I found myself looking for the big climax, but it never came. There is a twist, and a big reveal, both of which refreshingly lack the blockbuster luster that has come to be standard fare in modern Sci-Fi. In my opinion, this quieter ending not only works really well, but due to the magic of conclusion bias finishes, the book perfectly, and very cleanly sets up the sequel.
As you can tell I really liked this one and thoroughly recommend it.
This conceit almost failed within the first one hundred pages because, though the world was interesting, so much of the beginning of the book was the main character adjusting to culture shock that I almost didn't keep reading. If you find yourself in this position, persevere, because it totally becomes worth it by the end. This gradual adjustment to an alien culture pulls off a really neat trick on the reader in that gradually you comprehend Orthean civilization as well as the main character, who is, by the conclusion, an expert.
My final compliment for Golden Witchbreed is the manner in which Gentle manipulates the standard plot arc. I will admit, toward the end of the book, I found myself looking for the big climax, but it never came. There is a twist, and a big reveal, both of which refreshingly lack the blockbuster luster that has come to be standard fare in modern Sci-Fi. In my opinion, this quieter ending not only works really well, but due to the magic of conclusion bias finishes, the book perfectly, and very cleanly sets up the sequel.
As you can tell I really liked this one and thoroughly recommend it.
October 21, 2020
Gorgeous travel SF with interesting aliens. The Earth envoy narrator travels across the planet and she is changed by her growing understanding and empathy as the journey progresses. Reminded me vividly of long trips to new places with new people - a portrait of how the same situation can be seen differently by different cultures. Pleasantly dreamy narration style but also action packed, successfully keeping my interest. The aliens do not distinguish between male and female roles while children are gender neutral. All strong female leads.
August 23, 2017
I really wanted to like this book. I really did.
There's alien and then there's *alien* - and this was SO alien that it rendered me rather uninterested in the plight of these strange nearly emotionless creatures.
I also wanted to like the main character, but she was so stiff and weird, it made her really unlikable.
The world building was magnificent, the culture fascinating, but I just couldn't warm up to any of the characters in this book. In the end I was rather frustrated.
There's alien and then there's *alien* - and this was SO alien that it rendered me rather uninterested in the plight of these strange nearly emotionless creatures.
I also wanted to like the main character, but she was so stiff and weird, it made her really unlikable.
The world building was magnificent, the culture fascinating, but I just couldn't warm up to any of the characters in this book. In the end I was rather frustrated.
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