Gateway to Xanadu

Diana Santee, Spaceways Agent #2

by Sharon Green

Diana and Val head back to her Federation, hoping to be able to take up the chase of the slaver again. They do have the chance, but along the way they run into a few problems...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy

377 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 3, 1985

About the author

Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Attended New York University and graduated with a B.A. in 1963. Married in 1963, had three sons, divorced in 1976. Raised the sons, Andy, Brian and Curtis, alone in New Jersey. Worked for AT&T as a shareowner correspondent, then as an all-around assistant in a construction company, then sold bar steel for an import firm. Left that job as assistant sales manager. I've been writing full time since 1984.

Hobbies: knitting, crocheting, Tae Kwon Do, fencing, archery, shooting, jigsaw puzzles, logic problems, math problems, not cooking.

Don't do my own research, since if I did I'd stay with that and never get any writing done. I usually can finish a novel of about 120,000 words in about three months.

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay but.. the hero and heroine spent the whole book arguing. Too much like my everyday existence. I am throwing this one back into the pond.

[Kessily Lewel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this entire series more times than I can count. Most people will only be aware of the first two books because they were published by a standard Sci-fi publisher, later she continued the series with a publisher that focuses on certain aspects of the books. (You can also download the series from the author's own website I believe.)

This is quite honestly an incredible book if you're a fan of D/s, spanking, and Male dominant books. Diana is feisty, skilled, and one of the best special agents around. At no time would she ever think of herself as a submissive, but when she falls in love with a man from another planet, a planet where men rule in all things, she finds herself being forced into obedience.

Added to that is the fact that in the first book Diana received an appearance change with some alien technology that gave her the look of an extremely beautiful girl, the problem is that girl registers as a minor to her own people's equipment. Between her new much younger look, and the fact that scanners register her as minor lead to her being forced to obey her new boyfriend. Her status as an agent should mean she's exempt from being treated like a minor however..Her boss agent, who has always struggled to control her, jumps on this as a chance to get her inline, and gives her credentials to her boyfriend, not her. So she has to obey.

It's a role she isn't suited for and there is a lot of fighting back and forth, as well as punishment when she acts up. He seems to enjoy treating her like a child because in his society he can get away with doing that to women, but Diana isn't any woman, she's a space agent and only the fact that she loves him keeps her from totally kicking his ass.

Personally I like it. I like the ageplay aspects in the series, I love the spanking, and I like male dominants and even a little unfair punishment. I expect it was a bit much for a mainstream publisher, and people wanting mainstream sci-fi could have been put off by it, especially as the series progresses.

[Glyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is no denying that this is a book with pretty grim subject matter Because of that, there should be some warning about it.

The plot concerns the efforts of two Special Agents with a very much love0hate relationship to hunt down and execute a Death Warrant on a particularly reprehensible slaver who has previous with the central heroine character. The mission takes them to a perverse pleasure planet where it all gets even darker in tone.

This makes it sound relentlessly grim which it isn't. The relationship between the two heroes does work. The heroine has a rather acidic sense of humour, prone to making some rather morally questionable practical jokes on her partner, but she just about remains likeable while her partner is a calming influence if occasionally patronising to her.

Sharon Green has gone on record as saying she wrote many of her books as a deliberate counter to John Norman's incredibly long running Gor series. This may well have influenced how she wrote her heroines but it does not prevent her indulging in long winded and occasionally verbose syntax that is closer to the Gor Chronicles than she would be happy to admit. That being said, the grimmer elements are not so blatant as to make it unreadable and I had little difficulty in reading the book.