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Black Wine
Winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, Crawford Award, and Prix Aurora Award.
An old woman hangs in a cage; a young woman slaves on a rich lord's estate. How does a woman discover and assert her identity in a primeval, barbaric world? From slave dense to merchant cities to isolated mountains, Candas Jane Dorsey's novel is a powerful exploration of gender, identity, and freedom.
"Fantasy or a remote future, it doesn't really the careful braiding of self, places, and times insidiously pulls you in, up to the point where you realize you don't know anything anymore, and then on the other side, you suddenly see the story, the words, and even the genres, more inside out. That's Candas Jane Dorsey's rare gift as a writer. She makes you wiser, and never cheats." -Elisabeth Vonarburg
"In terms of technique alone, Black Wine is one of the most sophisticated literary SF novels of the year....Black Wine lives in its passionate prose and startling imagery....A rewarding and moving novel." –Locus
"As brilliant as William Gibson, as complex as Gene Wolfe, with a humanity and passion all her own. Candas Jane Dorsey isn't just a comer, she's a winner." -Ursula K. Le Guin
"Dorsey's writing is unflinching and powerful, weaving a complex story about personal freedom and individuality. Fans of Joanna Russ and Ursula K. Le Guin, in particular, will find much to admire here." - Middlesex News (Framingham, Mass.)
"Like its title, Black Wine is rare and darkly glowing with iridescence. A taut, spare, wonderful creation, it is justly deserving of consideration for the awards for which it will certainly be nominated." -The Edmonton Journal
An old woman hangs in a cage; a young woman slaves on a rich lord's estate. How does a woman discover and assert her identity in a primeval, barbaric world? From slave dense to merchant cities to isolated mountains, Candas Jane Dorsey's novel is a powerful exploration of gender, identity, and freedom.
"Fantasy or a remote future, it doesn't really the careful braiding of self, places, and times insidiously pulls you in, up to the point where you realize you don't know anything anymore, and then on the other side, you suddenly see the story, the words, and even the genres, more inside out. That's Candas Jane Dorsey's rare gift as a writer. She makes you wiser, and never cheats." -Elisabeth Vonarburg
"In terms of technique alone, Black Wine is one of the most sophisticated literary SF novels of the year....Black Wine lives in its passionate prose and startling imagery....A rewarding and moving novel." –Locus
"As brilliant as William Gibson, as complex as Gene Wolfe, with a humanity and passion all her own. Candas Jane Dorsey isn't just a comer, she's a winner." -Ursula K. Le Guin
"Dorsey's writing is unflinching and powerful, weaving a complex story about personal freedom and individuality. Fans of Joanna Russ and Ursula K. Le Guin, in particular, will find much to admire here." - Middlesex News (Framingham, Mass.)
"Like its title, Black Wine is rare and darkly glowing with iridescence. A taut, spare, wonderful creation, it is justly deserving of consideration for the awards for which it will certainly be nominated." -The Edmonton Journal
292 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1996
8 people are currently reading
990 people want to read
About the author
Candas Jane Dorsey
45 books49 followersCandas Jane Dorsey (born November 16, 1952) is a Canadian poet and science fiction novelist.
Born and still living in Edmonton, Alberta, Dorsey became a writer from an early age, and a freelance writer since 1980. She writes across genre boundaries, writing poetry, fiction, mainstream and speculative, short and long form, arts journalism and arts advocacy. Dorsey has also written television and stage scripts, magazine and newspaper articles, and reviews.
Dorsey currently teaches, does workshops and readings. She has served on the executive board of the Writers' Guild of Alberta and is a founder of SF Canada. In 1988, Dorsey received the Aurora, Canadian science fiction and fantasy award.
Dorsey was editor-in-chief of The Books Collective (River, Slipstream and Tesseract Books) from 1992 through 2005.
- Source: Wikipedia
Born and still living in Edmonton, Alberta, Dorsey became a writer from an early age, and a freelance writer since 1980. She writes across genre boundaries, writing poetry, fiction, mainstream and speculative, short and long form, arts journalism and arts advocacy. Dorsey has also written television and stage scripts, magazine and newspaper articles, and reviews.
Dorsey currently teaches, does workshops and readings. She has served on the executive board of the Writers' Guild of Alberta and is a founder of SF Canada. In 1988, Dorsey received the Aurora, Canadian science fiction and fantasy award.
Dorsey was editor-in-chief of The Books Collective (River, Slipstream and Tesseract Books) from 1992 through 2005.
- Source: Wikipedia
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February 7, 2022"Women who transgress. Who don't take from others and be slaves for it. Who stand up and say no.""
Cw for sexual violence, slavery and incest.
So What’s It About?
Why is there an old woman, in a hanging cage for punishment, keeping a journal written in blood? Candas Jane Dorsey has written an ambitious, feminist novel about women coming to terms with their identity in a barbarous fantasy world. Dorsey's women travel across the world, from the slave dens to the merchant cities, across seas by ship and by dirigible, to isolated mountain villages and back again. There is a woman exiled from her family, a mother who has abandoned her daughter, an old woman in a cage, a young women slave on a lord's estate who does not remember her past. How many of them are the same woman?
What I Thought
This is an extremely unique one. I’ve never read anything quite like it, and I don’t expect to read anything very similar ever again. It’s probably one of the darkest books I’ve read in a long time, but I think that darkness is put to good use in creating something truly bold and original.
Each perspective in Black Wine is utterly unique, but they end up forming a greater whole that is truly magnificent. You know how there’s that massive reveal in The Fifth Season regarding the identities of the three narrators? Well, this book has awesome reveals like that several times over -the realization that the enslaved waif is Essa, the realization that the journal perspective is Ea’s, and then that the old woman in the cage is Ea. It was really fun gradually piecing things together and seeing the story threads weave into a pattern that made sense.
The story’s world is also really interesting - some places have electricity, gene mapping and neurosurgery while we also have people living in isolated villages and executing transgressors by hanging. Each place has its own culture and customs, with the main focus being the customs about touch, formality and sexuality. There’s a scene where several women from different places are summoned by the Carrier of the Dead and speak about what they consider perversity, each with a drastically different idea. There is no conceptualization of rape or consent in the Dark Isles. There are little touches of difference like the tradition of handfasting polycules or the universal use of the name Minh with different pronunciations and emphases.
Another central theme is language and how it connects us - sharing a tongue binds the waif to the old woman in the cage, and the waif learns about the liberatory power of language for the enslaved from a slave whose name she interprets as Escape-from-bondage. Language is what sets off revolution in the Dark Isles.
This is also a story about how we live on through brutality in different ways, especially in the case of women who transgress. The waif and Escapes-from-bondage decide that consensual sex is a “slave rebellion,” to put it in the waif’s terms. XX (Escapes-from-bondage) ultimately finds that he has to return to the Dark Isles at the end of the story because his work there is incomplete; Ea ultimately just wanders off, mind broken by what she has experienced, and Essa realizes that she never really got her mother back in a really bittersweet turn of events. Black Wine also makes it clear that the fight against brutality can simply lead to more violence in turn - the revolution in the Dark Isles leads to despotism on the part of the new government, which leads to utter decimation in another rebellion.
On this theme of living on through brutality in different ways, one of my favorite bits of the book is the conversation between XX and Essa at the end of the book, where they talk about the way she tried to sleep with him when they were both still in the Dark Isles. Essa’s privilege and naivety led to her presuming upon him; she couldn’t understand how different his experience of the world was, the power she held over him, and the way that their relationship changed when she stopped being the waif. Even though she had no bad intentions, she still hurt him with her presumption.
If it isn’t clear from everything I’ve talked about so far, this book is extremely brutal. While I could generally deal with it, there were a few places where it became a bit much for me; everything to do with Ea’s monstrous grandmother is just A Lot, especially with her treatment of the slaves that she tortures to death and lobotomizes etc. There are a couple of things that aren’t necessarily too brutal but just didn’t work for me at all, like the part where the sisters with the incestuous relationship were painting on each other with menstrual blood and the bit about white people being discriminated against. There are also lots of relationships that develop very quickly and get dropped and lots of coincidences, like Essa ending up where Ea is in the cage and them finding each other later while walking down the road. Finally, I just do not understand what happened at the very ending of the book at all!!
I can’t remember how I first heard about this book but I think it might have been in an r/fantasy thread where I was asking for recs of books similar to Planescape: Torment. If so, I can definitely see the comparison; if not, who knows! If you’re looking for an utterly weird and disconcerting read, this is a good fit. Weak stomachs, stay away.
Cw for sexual violence, slavery and incest.
So What’s It About?
Why is there an old woman, in a hanging cage for punishment, keeping a journal written in blood? Candas Jane Dorsey has written an ambitious, feminist novel about women coming to terms with their identity in a barbarous fantasy world. Dorsey's women travel across the world, from the slave dens to the merchant cities, across seas by ship and by dirigible, to isolated mountain villages and back again. There is a woman exiled from her family, a mother who has abandoned her daughter, an old woman in a cage, a young women slave on a lord's estate who does not remember her past. How many of them are the same woman?
What I Thought
This is an extremely unique one. I’ve never read anything quite like it, and I don’t expect to read anything very similar ever again. It’s probably one of the darkest books I’ve read in a long time, but I think that darkness is put to good use in creating something truly bold and original.
Each perspective in Black Wine is utterly unique, but they end up forming a greater whole that is truly magnificent. You know how there’s that massive reveal in The Fifth Season regarding the identities of the three narrators? Well, this book has awesome reveals like that several times over -the realization that the enslaved waif is Essa, the realization that the journal perspective is Ea’s, and then that the old woman in the cage is Ea. It was really fun gradually piecing things together and seeing the story threads weave into a pattern that made sense.
The story’s world is also really interesting - some places have electricity, gene mapping and neurosurgery while we also have people living in isolated villages and executing transgressors by hanging. Each place has its own culture and customs, with the main focus being the customs about touch, formality and sexuality. There’s a scene where several women from different places are summoned by the Carrier of the Dead and speak about what they consider perversity, each with a drastically different idea. There is no conceptualization of rape or consent in the Dark Isles. There are little touches of difference like the tradition of handfasting polycules or the universal use of the name Minh with different pronunciations and emphases.
Another central theme is language and how it connects us - sharing a tongue binds the waif to the old woman in the cage, and the waif learns about the liberatory power of language for the enslaved from a slave whose name she interprets as Escape-from-bondage. Language is what sets off revolution in the Dark Isles.
This is also a story about how we live on through brutality in different ways, especially in the case of women who transgress. The waif and Escapes-from-bondage decide that consensual sex is a “slave rebellion,” to put it in the waif’s terms. XX (Escapes-from-bondage) ultimately finds that he has to return to the Dark Isles at the end of the story because his work there is incomplete; Ea ultimately just wanders off, mind broken by what she has experienced, and Essa realizes that she never really got her mother back in a really bittersweet turn of events. Black Wine also makes it clear that the fight against brutality can simply lead to more violence in turn - the revolution in the Dark Isles leads to despotism on the part of the new government, which leads to utter decimation in another rebellion.
On this theme of living on through brutality in different ways, one of my favorite bits of the book is the conversation between XX and Essa at the end of the book, where they talk about the way she tried to sleep with him when they were both still in the Dark Isles. Essa’s privilege and naivety led to her presuming upon him; she couldn’t understand how different his experience of the world was, the power she held over him, and the way that their relationship changed when she stopped being the waif. Even though she had no bad intentions, she still hurt him with her presumption.
If it isn’t clear from everything I’ve talked about so far, this book is extremely brutal. While I could generally deal with it, there were a few places where it became a bit much for me; everything to do with Ea’s monstrous grandmother is just A Lot, especially with her treatment of the slaves that she tortures to death and lobotomizes etc. There are a couple of things that aren’t necessarily too brutal but just didn’t work for me at all, like the part where the sisters with the incestuous relationship were painting on each other with menstrual blood and the bit about white people being discriminated against. There are also lots of relationships that develop very quickly and get dropped and lots of coincidences, like Essa ending up where Ea is in the cage and them finding each other later while walking down the road. Finally, I just do not understand what happened at the very ending of the book at all!!
I can’t remember how I first heard about this book but I think it might have been in an r/fantasy thread where I was asking for recs of books similar to Planescape: Torment. If so, I can definitely see the comparison; if not, who knows! If you’re looking for an utterly weird and disconcerting read, this is a good fit. Weak stomachs, stay away.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 19, 2019
This was a strange and difficult novel. Not difficult to read the way that words are read, but difficult to process, emotionally.
It's very strong on feminism by way of how much crap women go through in these pages. It's ostensibly a fantasy with lots of adventure and traveling, but through different characterizations, we're subject to tons of slavery, abuse, acceptance in the midst of horror, and sex.
I can see where people might call this a literary novel as much as they might call it a fantasy. The question of sexuality takes the forefront with LGBT featured. On top of that, the difficult narrative drive of abuse shows up in all shapes and sizes. I've read a lot of mightily difficult novels in this vein.
One particular novel that was written long after Black Wine, in particular, comes to mind. The Book of the Unnamed Midwife is just as emotional to read and while one is fantasy and the other is dystopian SF, they both have a LOT in common.
The strangeness of this novel has nothing to do with sex or abuse, however. It mostly has to do with questioning the nature of the characters in relation to the narrator. Confusing? Not quite spelled out except perhaps it is at the end? Yes to both. We're meant to re-evaluate all of the text, and it pretty much worked. Except where it didn't, quite, for me. A little too arty perhaps. I'm worried it cheapened rather than deepened the full experience.
It IS, however, well worth reading for all of us interested in the nastiness of the human condition and what steps we take to survive and find happiness despite it.
It's very strong on feminism by way of how much crap women go through in these pages. It's ostensibly a fantasy with lots of adventure and traveling, but through different characterizations, we're subject to tons of slavery, abuse, acceptance in the midst of horror, and sex.
I can see where people might call this a literary novel as much as they might call it a fantasy. The question of sexuality takes the forefront with LGBT featured. On top of that, the difficult narrative drive of abuse shows up in all shapes and sizes. I've read a lot of mightily difficult novels in this vein.
One particular novel that was written long after Black Wine, in particular, comes to mind. The Book of the Unnamed Midwife is just as emotional to read and while one is fantasy and the other is dystopian SF, they both have a LOT in common.
The strangeness of this novel has nothing to do with sex or abuse, however. It mostly has to do with questioning the nature of the characters in relation to the narrator. Confusing? Not quite spelled out except perhaps it is at the end? Yes to both. We're meant to re-evaluate all of the text, and it pretty much worked. Except where it didn't, quite, for me. A little too arty perhaps. I'm worried it cheapened rather than deepened the full experience.
It IS, however, well worth reading for all of us interested in the nastiness of the human condition and what steps we take to survive and find happiness despite it.
February 7, 2017
Goodreads ratings, you have let me down again. This was a complex and very well written novel and it made me feel sick to my stomach. It was dark and disturbing and I just didn't like it, despite the fact that it had a lot of pluses on its side. So it gets an "I didn't like it" one star, even though the quality and ideas were 4.
One of the things that this book did very well was to create a wide variety of customs, mores, and sexual orientation acceptance. There were bisexual, homosexual, heterosexual, and polygamous sex scenes, as well as a character that it was hinted that he was transgender. There were a lot more sex scenes in this than I typically like in my books but I give the author major kudos for the sheer variety. There was only one thing that I actually found appalling:
I ended up classifying this as fantasy-dark but not fantasy. It's not actually a fantasy or sci-fi book. It takes place in a world that is similar to ours in a lot of ways. For the most part it seems to be a fantasy world but then there are references to genetic manipulation and there's a scene with a brain scan of some kind. So this part of the book was actually not clear. I think the author was messing with ideas of what different cultures could be like, as well as sexual orientation and... Actually, I don't know what to call the last. It was like she was playing with ideas of other methods of conceiving a child. And I don't mean things we could do. I mean two male partners can conceive a male child but only within one country or region.
While I think that this was actually a really great books in a lot of ways, I simply didn't like the darker aspects. There was incest, rape, and a particularly nauseating scene that was BDSM for one of the partners. It was definitely rape and a very violent assault for the other, which made it most definitely not BDSM. These were a hefty part of why I couldn't like the book, but it was mostly just that it was so dark that I was sick to my stomach. The southern culture was the only one I struggled with, though.
Actually, I think it's this sex scene that I'm very sarcastically calling a BDSM scene, which it most definitely was not, that killed the book for me. The woman was a vicious, violent psychopath who enjoyed weilding power through cruelty and depravity. The one enjoying the sex so much was the queen and she was flaying (with her nails) and beating a slave until blood was pouring off of him. The slave was not allowed to say no or do anything to defend or protect himself. There were a lot of great things about this book but I don't think I ever recovered from that scene.
Lindsay, you don't want to read this.
One of the things that this book did very well was to create a wide variety of customs, mores, and sexual orientation acceptance. There were bisexual, homosexual, heterosexual, and polygamous sex scenes, as well as a character that it was hinted that he was transgender. There were a lot more sex scenes in this than I typically like in my books but I give the author major kudos for the sheer variety. There was only one thing that I actually found appalling:
I ended up classifying this as fantasy-dark but not fantasy. It's not actually a fantasy or sci-fi book. It takes place in a world that is similar to ours in a lot of ways. For the most part it seems to be a fantasy world but then there are references to genetic manipulation and there's a scene with a brain scan of some kind. So this part of the book was actually not clear. I think the author was messing with ideas of what different cultures could be like, as well as sexual orientation and... Actually, I don't know what to call the last. It was like she was playing with ideas of other methods of conceiving a child. And I don't mean things we could do. I mean two male partners can conceive a male child but only within one country or region.
While I think that this was actually a really great books in a lot of ways, I simply didn't like the darker aspects. There was incest, rape, and a particularly nauseating scene that was BDSM for one of the partners. It was definitely rape and a very violent assault for the other, which made it most definitely not BDSM. These were a hefty part of why I couldn't like the book, but it was mostly just that it was so dark that I was sick to my stomach. The southern culture was the only one I struggled with, though.
Actually, I think it's this sex scene that I'm very sarcastically calling a BDSM scene, which it most definitely was not, that killed the book for me. The woman was a vicious, violent psychopath who enjoyed weilding power through cruelty and depravity. The one enjoying the sex so much was the queen and she was flaying (with her nails) and beating a slave until blood was pouring off of him. The slave was not allowed to say no or do anything to defend or protect himself. There were a lot of great things about this book but I don't think I ever recovered from that scene.
Lindsay, you don't want to read this.
September 28, 2013
I got this book as a birthday present from my sister.
As soon as I was done reading it (with that shuddering pleasure that only the absolute best books give you), I passed it back to her to read... and I still haven't got it back, because when she was done, she gave it to her boyfriend to read (someone who is not the biggest fantasy fan), and he won't read the very end, because "But once I finish it, it'll be over!"
I'm considering buying another copy, to re-read it and pass it on again to someone else.
It's amazing that 'Black Wine' is a first novel. The characters are complex enough to fully immerse yourself in their lives. The world is not some faux-medieval wish-fulfillment daydream, but a real, gritty and harsh land - that still somehow has the feel of one of your deepest dreams.
Recommended for fans of Ursula LeGuin, Margaret Atwood, and Sheri S. Tepper. (But having said that, I feel I should add that the "feminist" undercurrent of the book is neither distracting, nor does it leave you with that nasty "agenda" taste in your mouth.)
(oh, and they play Scrabble! Yay! (as Scrabble fanatics, both me & my sister got a big kick out of that!)
As soon as I was done reading it (with that shuddering pleasure that only the absolute best books give you), I passed it back to her to read... and I still haven't got it back, because when she was done, she gave it to her boyfriend to read (someone who is not the biggest fantasy fan), and he won't read the very end, because "But once I finish it, it'll be over!"
I'm considering buying another copy, to re-read it and pass it on again to someone else.
It's amazing that 'Black Wine' is a first novel. The characters are complex enough to fully immerse yourself in their lives. The world is not some faux-medieval wish-fulfillment daydream, but a real, gritty and harsh land - that still somehow has the feel of one of your deepest dreams.
Recommended for fans of Ursula LeGuin, Margaret Atwood, and Sheri S. Tepper. (But having said that, I feel I should add that the "feminist" undercurrent of the book is neither distracting, nor does it leave you with that nasty "agenda" taste in your mouth.)
(oh, and they play Scrabble! Yay! (as Scrabble fanatics, both me & my sister got a big kick out of that!)
April 12, 2015
This is one of the more fascinating novels I have read in a long time. Very stylized and well structured.The book reminded me a lot of Gene Wolfe’s books in the surreal and dark world it creates. The themes dealt with in this are similar to that of Ursula Le Guin. All the major characters here are female and some major themes are female sexuality, freedom and oppression, history and identity, and the epistemological themes of language and perception.
January 7, 2020
A woman flees her despotic family and home; a woman bereft of family traces retraces her mother's footsteps towards that same home. I love how Jo Walton writes on this book, because that rhapsodizing is a necessary counterbalance to some of the objective flaws. The dense, mirrored, disjointed plotlines feel more like a stylized concept of identity and inheritance than a realistic depiction of two lives; the various locations and relationships are rendered complex and immediate when present, but they're dropped when the narrative moves on--and the extent to which the protagonists fail to internalize those experiences can work against the themes.
But there's more than those complaints. This is a study of the way that language builds and depicts society, and the way society informs and limits the individual. It's stylized and heightened, but grounded by a close domestic focus, and every element when in focus is distinct and provoking. This takes cover in its stylistic paradoxes, but builds something larger than the point/counterpoint of its strengths and weaknesses--something unique.
I imagine it blossoms upon reread.
But there's more than those complaints. This is a study of the way that language builds and depicts society, and the way society informs and limits the individual. It's stylized and heightened, but grounded by a close domestic focus, and every element when in focus is distinct and provoking. This takes cover in its stylistic paradoxes, but builds something larger than the point/counterpoint of its strengths and weaknesses--something unique.
I imagine it blossoms upon reread.
March 23, 2016
Reading this book felt like a dream. And sometimes a nightmare.
The setup of the book was really unique and intriguing, in the first half. The way the story lines seem disconnected and eventually intertwine is perfect, but I can see where some would find the vagueness annoying. This kind of flowery prose isn't for everyone, and I found myself having to reread a lot of sentences just to understand the clunky wording.
The world building was wonderfully done. It doesn't spell anything out, and a lot is implied or left out entirely. In a normal fantasy or sci-fi story this wouldn't be good, but it works for this kind of disjointed, dreamlike book. It reads as if these cultures are already established for everyone, and don't need to be explained. The same goes for the nature of all the polyamorous and polysexual relationships, which aren't treated like a big deal.
Some people have mentioned not liking the fact that the time period and technology is so all-over-the-place, seeming to be medieval in some parts and futuristic in others. I don't find that it detracts from anything actually important to the story, and if it got any more specific then it would take away from the central meaning of the story and become more like a standard other-world fantasy novel. Too much lore and it becomes too much Game of Thrones. I thought it was interesting that as the story progressed, the technology and world got steadily more modern and closer to our world. Going from criminals locked in cages or hung from gibbets, to a single girl working as a forklift driver and playing in a band at coffee shops.
I simultaneously did and didn't like all the loose ends - I wanted the stories to be resolved, but that also wouldn't have suited the nature of the book.
I only gave it three stars because despite all this, I wouldn't want to read it again. It was intensely violent and disturbing in some places, and other places were just bending my mind too much to enjoy the read. I prefer less cerebral fantasies. I couldn't get really attached to any of the characters or put much stock in any of their relationships, beyond wanting the mothers and daughters to be reunited.
The setup of the book was really unique and intriguing, in the first half. The way the story lines seem disconnected and eventually intertwine is perfect, but I can see where some would find the vagueness annoying. This kind of flowery prose isn't for everyone, and I found myself having to reread a lot of sentences just to understand the clunky wording.
The world building was wonderfully done. It doesn't spell anything out, and a lot is implied or left out entirely. In a normal fantasy or sci-fi story this wouldn't be good, but it works for this kind of disjointed, dreamlike book. It reads as if these cultures are already established for everyone, and don't need to be explained. The same goes for the nature of all the polyamorous and polysexual relationships, which aren't treated like a big deal.
Some people have mentioned not liking the fact that the time period and technology is so all-over-the-place, seeming to be medieval in some parts and futuristic in others. I don't find that it detracts from anything actually important to the story, and if it got any more specific then it would take away from the central meaning of the story and become more like a standard other-world fantasy novel. Too much lore and it becomes too much Game of Thrones. I thought it was interesting that as the story progressed, the technology and world got steadily more modern and closer to our world. Going from criminals locked in cages or hung from gibbets, to a single girl working as a forklift driver and playing in a band at coffee shops.
I simultaneously did and didn't like all the loose ends - I wanted the stories to be resolved, but that also wouldn't have suited the nature of the book.
I only gave it three stars because despite all this, I wouldn't want to read it again. It was intensely violent and disturbing in some places, and other places were just bending my mind too much to enjoy the read. I prefer less cerebral fantasies. I couldn't get really attached to any of the characters or put much stock in any of their relationships, beyond wanting the mothers and daughters to be reunited.
January 25, 2009
4.5 stars
This book is as rich, complex, and worth savoring as one imagines the eponymous black wine to be. The characters are delightful and intriguing, and hold up well to the multiple-narrator structure (unlike certain other books The Boleyn Inheritance I've read recently). The plot is intricately structured and well-paced, and the themes are interesting without being overbearing. On top of all that, it is beautifully written, including some brilliant turns of phrase, one of my favorites being "a minuscule tranquility."
I have just three, relatively minor, quibbles that keep it from getting that last half star: First, there is a bit of a narrative lull in the middle of the book after the mystery that carries through the first half has been revealed. Second, there is some inconsistency in the technological state of the world. It bothered me that they had global-range airships and advanced neurosurgery, but apparently no means of long-distance communication faster than people carrying letters, and that this incongruity was not explained. Finally, the geographers among us would really like a map of the world.
This book is as rich, complex, and worth savoring as one imagines the eponymous black wine to be. The characters are delightful and intriguing, and hold up well to the multiple-narrator structure (unlike certain other books The Boleyn Inheritance I've read recently). The plot is intricately structured and well-paced, and the themes are interesting without being overbearing. On top of all that, it is beautifully written, including some brilliant turns of phrase, one of my favorites being "a minuscule tranquility."
I have just three, relatively minor, quibbles that keep it from getting that last half star: First, there is a bit of a narrative lull in the middle of the book after the mystery that carries through the first half has been revealed. Second, there is some inconsistency in the technological state of the world. It bothered me that they had global-range airships and advanced neurosurgery, but apparently no means of long-distance communication faster than people carrying letters, and that this incongruity was not explained. Finally, the geographers among us would really like a map of the world.
June 1, 2015
What a tour-de-force. Black Wine is not only a darkly satisfying piece of literary sci -fi, but a blisteringly uncompromising exploration of gender, identity and sexual politics. Gorgeously written, it was no surprise to discover that Candas Jane Dorsey is a poet, and her love of words shines through the story. At times the shifts between narrative voices could be confusing, but as the story unfolds the reason for this blurring of identity becomes clear. There is beauty in bleakness. Wonderful.
April 6, 2019
Parts of this were sublime, parts were overwrought, and a few parts were boring. I liked the sharp turns to the surreal. Dorsey’s horror imagery is extremely evocative and effective. The end definitely felt rushed. But it was a weird book and I’m really not sure what I thought of it, all told.
May 13, 2025
My rating for this novel exists somewhere on the continuum between "I didn't understand it" to "it has serious flaws." Probably closer to the former; I shouldn't have read it before bed over the course of a month. If there's any significant merit to the novel (as respected reviewers like Jo Walton would argue) it'd require a sustained, careful read to uncover.
Thematically, the comp to Le Guin is accurate (sex, power, language), but in terms of literary style Black Wine is more inaccessible than Le Guin's best-known works. It's dreamlike in that Dorsey moves from one decontextualized scene to the next without transition or apparent logic.
Much of this is surely intentional, but some decisions work against the immersive, amorphous atmosphere that Dorsey seemes to have wanted to create. Examples include the haphazard introductions of that are then rarely referenced again and the the semi-frequent, immersion-breaking use of colloquial language ("total nut case," "you old fart") and real-world references within an ostensibly secondary world. Most of it is probably (?) intentional, but I just didn't get it.
Thematically, the comp to Le Guin is accurate (sex, power, language), but in terms of literary style Black Wine is more inaccessible than Le Guin's best-known works. It's dreamlike in that Dorsey moves from one decontextualized scene to the next without transition or apparent logic.
Much of this is surely intentional, but some decisions work against the immersive, amorphous atmosphere that Dorsey seemes to have wanted to create. Examples include the haphazard introductions of that are then rarely referenced again and the the semi-frequent, immersion-breaking use of colloquial language ("total nut case," "you old fart") and real-world references within an ostensibly secondary world. Most of it is probably (?) intentional, but I just didn't get it.
April 7, 2020
Must mull this one over. I didn’t connect with it the way I hoped; I really liked it in theory, but in practice it felt… unpolished? Evasive? I underlined plenty, though, so it will be interesting to see if it’s one of those seeds that burrows itself in my mind to bloom later.
January 20, 2014
This book is a little hard to get into, but oh my god, am I glad I stuck with it! It is a little confusing in the beginning, with too little information given to the reader. Some of the language choices made the reading, especially at the beginning, awkward.Setting aside the negatives (of which there are few), a couple of chapter in, I was so hooked that I stayed up all night to finish the book. As the world of Black Wine becomes clear and the women's stories are pulled together I found myself enjoying the rich universe that Dorsey created. It is so worth a read, the dark and fascinating plot lines of the individual women are woven together so beautifully and her unique way of telling a story spanning several generations make this book worth a look at.
January 14, 2018
This book is marvelous, very well written, with a complex structure that adds to the effect of the whole. I was reading Lord Valentine's Castle and the first of the New Sun books by Gene Wolfe at the same time, and they have similar tones, science fantasy with darker undercurrents. In some ways a dynastic saga, or a family history, which is not readily apparent at the beginning. One of the best books I have read in science fiction for truthfully handling non-binary relationships, and exploring alternative sexualities in a fashion that feels true. There are many things to savour in this book, and it is one of the few books I know that demand a second read in order to appreciate everything. Also very facile with language, and how we communicate, or fail to.
January 2, 2008
What starts out as a fairly bleak fantasy book (major points) devolves into a cross between a Margret Atwood parody and the naughtier bits of Anne Rice. Still there was some fairly cool passages, just wish Dorsey hadn't got all caught up in how sensitive her characters were.
I pictured all the male characters as having ponytails. Not good.
I pictured all the male characters as having ponytails. Not good.
October 7, 2008
The prose and structure in Black Wine are beautifully done, and the worldbuilding is intriguing, but I didn't find myself terribly attached to the story or characters. That's because it's not the kind of book I fall for, though, rather than being a flaw in the work.
May 30, 2016
Slow paced and elusive.
July 7, 2018
A remarkable book that's perhaps 85% Le Guin and 15% Iain Banks. Difficult and prickly, with some strange details that I'm not sure the purpose of, but I really enjoyed it.
December 26, 2020
On starting to read this I was quickly reminded of N K Jemisin’s
The Fifth Season
. We have three different narrative strands each with a female protagonist, obviously connected (but in what way not immediately apparent,) a recognisable world yet different from our own, possibly far in the future, featuring places with portentous names, Trader Town, the Fjord of Tears, the Remarkable Mountains, the Land of the Dark Isles, an unfamiliar social system - or systems, there are different polities here – to navigate. However, as it unfolded the resemblances diminished somewhat. In particular, the relationship between Jemisin’s strands was a more bravura writing accomplishment. But Black Wine is good all the same.
We start with the story of a woman, amnesiac as a result of falling from the sky, with another, mad, woman living in a cage in the courtyard outside. They live in a society – the Zone of Control - where a favour bestowed consequently imbues obligation. The mad woman had not received any such favour and so managed to live without the burden of repayment. The amnesiac, however, had, and so is a sexual slave to her master and the nurse who looked/looks after her. Here also, minor acts of defiance can lead to tongues being removed. The amnesiac forms a friendship with a male slave who has suffered from this. The tongueless have devised a sign language for themselves of which their owners are unaware.
The resemblance of the amnesiac, whom we later find is named Essa, to the titular ruler - actual rule has been devolved to her son-in-law - of a different polity (as shown on its coins) is marked. When the mad woman finds Essa is going to voyage there she tells her to avoid the regent and certainly not to have sex with him. The female ruler is a cruel type, as is her son-in-law, and the connection between her, the madwoman and Essa is the motor of the plot.
The world Dorsey describes is a little strange. For the most part it appears to be without advanced technology - though it does have airships (from which you can fall from the clouds) - a lot of the travelling involved seems to be on foot, but at one point one of the characters decides she wishes to get somewhere faster and a quicker transit system is utilised.
A touch of fantasy arrives with the Carrier of Spirits, who imbibes the memories of everyone who dies. (She carries Essa’s pre-amnesia existence, but not of course those gained after the fall.) Essa’s relationship with the muted slave allows Dorsey to comment on the nuances of free will and the dependence of the exercise of it on social status.
Observations such as, “‘Look. I am this stone. I have been tumbled and moved, and it has all shaped me,’” are as much an expression of the universal as an outcrop of the story being told. Occasionally the text comments on itself or the writing process, (or perhaps reader expectations,) as in, “‘The mad king is a trope of literature and myth.’”
Black Wine is the first Dorsey novel I have read. It is less opaque than some of her short stories and encouraged me to look for more.
We start with the story of a woman, amnesiac as a result of falling from the sky, with another, mad, woman living in a cage in the courtyard outside. They live in a society – the Zone of Control - where a favour bestowed consequently imbues obligation. The mad woman had not received any such favour and so managed to live without the burden of repayment. The amnesiac, however, had, and so is a sexual slave to her master and the nurse who looked/looks after her. Here also, minor acts of defiance can lead to tongues being removed. The amnesiac forms a friendship with a male slave who has suffered from this. The tongueless have devised a sign language for themselves of which their owners are unaware.
The resemblance of the amnesiac, whom we later find is named Essa, to the titular ruler - actual rule has been devolved to her son-in-law - of a different polity (as shown on its coins) is marked. When the mad woman finds Essa is going to voyage there she tells her to avoid the regent and certainly not to have sex with him. The female ruler is a cruel type, as is her son-in-law, and the connection between her, the madwoman and Essa is the motor of the plot.
The world Dorsey describes is a little strange. For the most part it appears to be without advanced technology - though it does have airships (from which you can fall from the clouds) - a lot of the travelling involved seems to be on foot, but at one point one of the characters decides she wishes to get somewhere faster and a quicker transit system is utilised.
A touch of fantasy arrives with the Carrier of Spirits, who imbibes the memories of everyone who dies. (She carries Essa’s pre-amnesia existence, but not of course those gained after the fall.) Essa’s relationship with the muted slave allows Dorsey to comment on the nuances of free will and the dependence of the exercise of it on social status.
Observations such as, “‘Look. I am this stone. I have been tumbled and moved, and it has all shaped me,’” are as much an expression of the universal as an outcrop of the story being told. Occasionally the text comments on itself or the writing process, (or perhaps reader expectations,) as in, “‘The mad king is a trope of literature and myth.’”
Black Wine is the first Dorsey novel I have read. It is less opaque than some of her short stories and encouraged me to look for more.
December 12, 2018
I loved Hamilton, but I hadn't been that impressed with Lin-Manuel Miranda's previous work In the Heights. Actually, that's not fair: I felt it had a lot going for it, but that I just wasn't the right audience for it. That's pretty much how I feel about Black Wine ... I didn't like it (and ultimately stopped reading it and started reading the extraordinarily dissimilar By the Shores of Silver Lake) but I don't think it's horrible as much as I think it's not quite for me.
(That said, I do manage to like all manner of surprising things, if handled in just the right way. This was not that way).
1. There are clearly three narratives going on, but no sense of how they are linked. Are the three women relatives? Will they meet later and become friends? Is this a murder mystery and those are our primary suspects? Who knows!
2. The three women aren't remotely differentiated in character. In fact, none of the characters jump off the page as having a discernible personality, save for the second-hand descriptions of a dreadful grandmother. Everyone else is just there, sounding, probably, a lot like the author and the way she thinks or expresses herself. So it was impossible to tell (when switching viewpoints) which narrative we were back into, something that was never an issue with, say, Middlemarch or Vanity Fair, and those were written over a hundred years ago, so I know it's possible to do so as a writer!
3. No plot momentum. I don't need every story to be a rollicking adventure (one of my favourite all-time books is Queen Lucia, and that's just about a woman in a small town attempting to slightly outshine another woman at social events), but I do want to have some sense in where the story is heading, or even What Kind of Book this is. For instance, in a murder mystery (which I'm assuming this isn't) I put up with meeting lots of characters in the first quarter of a book because I'm pretty sure they'll all be implicated in an upcoming murder.
4. No fun. This, clearly, was going to be one of those ever-so-serious books. But if you're going to go that route, for me, you have to compensate by having incredibly compelling characters that I fall in love with so I will want to know what happens to them, rather than three wan uninteresting ciphers, as we have here.
It's possible that the book storms into a wild impossible beauty in the last two-thirds, but I doubt it (or doubt that it'd appeal to me, given my take on the the first third), so I'm done with it, and on to other things. I'm a third of the way through By the Shores of Silver Lake already, I can tell all the characters apart, exciting things have happened, and I care about the participants. It's a winner. Black Wine? Not so much.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
(That said, I do manage to like all manner of surprising things, if handled in just the right way. This was not that way).
1. There are clearly three narratives going on, but no sense of how they are linked. Are the three women relatives? Will they meet later and become friends? Is this a murder mystery and those are our primary suspects? Who knows!
2. The three women aren't remotely differentiated in character. In fact, none of the characters jump off the page as having a discernible personality, save for the second-hand descriptions of a dreadful grandmother. Everyone else is just there, sounding, probably, a lot like the author and the way she thinks or expresses herself. So it was impossible to tell (when switching viewpoints) which narrative we were back into, something that was never an issue with, say, Middlemarch or Vanity Fair, and those were written over a hundred years ago, so I know it's possible to do so as a writer!
3. No plot momentum. I don't need every story to be a rollicking adventure (one of my favourite all-time books is Queen Lucia, and that's just about a woman in a small town attempting to slightly outshine another woman at social events), but I do want to have some sense in where the story is heading, or even What Kind of Book this is. For instance, in a murder mystery (which I'm assuming this isn't) I put up with meeting lots of characters in the first quarter of a book because I'm pretty sure they'll all be implicated in an upcoming murder.
4. No fun. This, clearly, was going to be one of those ever-so-serious books. But if you're going to go that route, for me, you have to compensate by having incredibly compelling characters that I fall in love with so I will want to know what happens to them, rather than three wan uninteresting ciphers, as we have here.
It's possible that the book storms into a wild impossible beauty in the last two-thirds, but I doubt it (or doubt that it'd appeal to me, given my take on the the first third), so I'm done with it, and on to other things. I'm a third of the way through By the Shores of Silver Lake already, I can tell all the characters apart, exciting things have happened, and I care about the participants. It's a winner. Black Wine? Not so much.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
June 11, 2023
Content warnings for Rape, Violence, slavery, brutality, death, and Childhood Incarceration (And I am sure there are about 50 different warnings that could be added. If you are faint of heart, this is not one for you!)
What in the heck did I just read? I need a while to really digest this one. It got a bonus star just for the odd factor that will make me think about it long after. Initially, we are following a slave who has no memory of her past and befriends a woman in a cage. The interactions between this slave and others were the first indicators that this was going to take a bit to work through what was happening and why. At times the book felt disjointed, and some relationships developed quickly while others were slow and subtle and then petered out. Three main storylines braid together to make up the whole. It leaves you wondering about the cyclical nature of time and life. Sometimes it felt like a plot line was just left out dangling in the wind. There weren’t a lot of details included as far as scenery and much of the culture was revealed in the general acceptance or behaviors of the characters.
So much sex and quite a variety of sex as well! I think the author wanted to comment on the way different cultures approached touch and acceptance. It was hard to see something I would classify as sexual assault be so accepted by the main character(s). I don’t know that I would recommend it truly, but I know it will definitely pass my thoughts in the future. There were some heinous scenes that I would like to have skipped and not have taken up space in my head.
Narrator Kitty Kelly did a decent job of sharing the tale. I wouldn’t mind listening to her narrate other books.
Many thanks to author Candas Jane Dorsey, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for the free copy of this Audiobook in exchange for an honest review!
What in the heck did I just read? I need a while to really digest this one. It got a bonus star just for the odd factor that will make me think about it long after. Initially, we are following a slave who has no memory of her past and befriends a woman in a cage. The interactions between this slave and others were the first indicators that this was going to take a bit to work through what was happening and why. At times the book felt disjointed, and some relationships developed quickly while others were slow and subtle and then petered out. Three main storylines braid together to make up the whole. It leaves you wondering about the cyclical nature of time and life. Sometimes it felt like a plot line was just left out dangling in the wind. There weren’t a lot of details included as far as scenery and much of the culture was revealed in the general acceptance or behaviors of the characters.
So much sex and quite a variety of sex as well! I think the author wanted to comment on the way different cultures approached touch and acceptance. It was hard to see something I would classify as sexual assault be so accepted by the main character(s). I don’t know that I would recommend it truly, but I know it will definitely pass my thoughts in the future. There were some heinous scenes that I would like to have skipped and not have taken up space in my head.
Narrator Kitty Kelly did a decent job of sharing the tale. I wouldn’t mind listening to her narrate other books.
Many thanks to author Candas Jane Dorsey, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for the free copy of this Audiobook in exchange for an honest review!
June 23, 2021
This is by far one of the best books I've ever read. It's in my top 5 along with Octavia Butler, N.K. Jemisin, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, and Robin McKinley. I cannot recommend this book enough but especially to people healing from trauma or interested in conversations about consent. The explorations of trauma in this book are some of the most profound yet realistic depictions (which is funny for a fantasy book you would think) I've ever read. I cherish this book deeply and affectionately and re-read it often.
Potential Spoilers part:
The narrative of a language that doesn't include the word "no" or any way for the enslaved persons to even conceptualize their own agency or will is brilliant. For many of us who have grown up traumatized gaining the language to even conceptualize ourselves as having been harmed and betrayed and victimized is one of the key turning points that allows healing to begin. So this particular part was deeply profound for me and I am still so excited to have found a writer doing and caring about this kind of message. I could write a whole essay on how exceptional this book is but I'll leave it with just the one spoiler (though it's stated pretty clearly early on) to try and show what this book is about. What a stunning book about freedom and love and healing.
Potential Spoilers part:
The narrative of a language that doesn't include the word "no" or any way for the enslaved persons to even conceptualize their own agency or will is brilliant. For many of us who have grown up traumatized gaining the language to even conceptualize ourselves as having been harmed and betrayed and victimized is one of the key turning points that allows healing to begin. So this particular part was deeply profound for me and I am still so excited to have found a writer doing and caring about this kind of message. I could write a whole essay on how exceptional this book is but I'll leave it with just the one spoiler (though it's stated pretty clearly early on) to try and show what this book is about. What a stunning book about freedom and love and healing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 8, 2025
A truly remarkable book from an author of radiant humanism. The author has peopled a world that is geographically much like Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea with radically different cultures in an uneasy mix.
It is not an easy read. The early chapters are filled with brutality and suffering. What appear to be several protagonists alternate their stories, and for many chapters (for good reason) the author does not make clear which of them are in fact the same character and, if not the same, how they are related. The prose is beautiful but dense, requiring close attention.
After reading about a third of the way through, I had to take a long pause and then go back to absorb what had happened and to tease out the rules of the various cultures in which the characters operate. And to recover from the savagery that the characters had survived. And to slow myself down to take in what was happening as it occurred.
The reward was one of the most absorbing and thought-provoking pieces of fiction I have read in years.
It is not an easy read. The early chapters are filled with brutality and suffering. What appear to be several protagonists alternate their stories, and for many chapters (for good reason) the author does not make clear which of them are in fact the same character and, if not the same, how they are related. The prose is beautiful but dense, requiring close attention.
After reading about a third of the way through, I had to take a long pause and then go back to absorb what had happened and to tease out the rules of the various cultures in which the characters operate. And to recover from the savagery that the characters had survived. And to slow myself down to take in what was happening as it occurred.
The reward was one of the most absorbing and thought-provoking pieces of fiction I have read in years.
May 21, 2019
This is one of those books that defies categorization. Not sure where I picked it up, but after reading the description I was wondering if it would be dense, pedantic or otherwise offputting. None of the above. It was certainly dark but also showing a sense of the beauty that resides in those dark times. I'm still not sure if I completely understand the full arc of the story, but then again I don't know if the reader is supposed to. In the end that doesn't detract from the story but leaves it open to possibility.
June 9, 2020
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3392910.html
An intricate, interesting novel, which actually reminded me of some of Iain M. Banks' work more than anything, with interlacing narrative perspectives in a dangerously diverse but mimimally portrayed world. There is good sex, and very bad sex, and power wielded against those who are divergent or deviant, and there is some brutal violence which I admit I found a bit of a deterrent from following the main plot. I am rather surprised that the author hasn't written a lot more.
An intricate, interesting novel, which actually reminded me of some of Iain M. Banks' work more than anything, with interlacing narrative perspectives in a dangerously diverse but mimimally portrayed world. There is good sex, and very bad sex, and power wielded against those who are divergent or deviant, and there is some brutal violence which I admit I found a bit of a deterrent from following the main plot. I am rather surprised that the author hasn't written a lot more.
October 7, 2020
I’m not sure how I’m focused enough to read at the moment since I’m also reading for my MA, but here we are. This one was unabashedly feminist in the 1970s Joanna Russ kind of way. You have been forwarded. And considering the pre Giliad we’re all living in in the US at the moment, this book was apt. The kind of apt that felt like teeth being yanked right out of your head.
There is explicit sex, some rape some not so TW for that. And the story is kind of circular? Honestly this is a hate it or love it kind of book.
There is explicit sex, some rape some not so TW for that. And the story is kind of circular? Honestly this is a hate it or love it kind of book.
Read
August 7, 2024DNF. I love this author’s other books but couldn’t get into this one. I listened to the first 1.5 hours of the audiobook but I kept losing focus. One sentence seems to run into the next one and the characters’ actions don’t make sense to me. So little is explained about the world or what’s going on that details are hard to catch onto. I’m positive that this book will appeal to the right readers but I’m not the right audience.
November 20, 2017
https://www.tor.com/2008/09/12/blackw...
jo waltons review is good. It's not a book I would normally be interested in reading - the gratuitous descriptions of abuse are not my thing - but the prose and just I guess how the mystery of the girls past and mother is set up makes you want to see it through.
jo waltons review is good. It's not a book I would normally be interested in reading - the gratuitous descriptions of abuse are not my thing - but the prose and just I guess how the mystery of the girls past and mother is set up makes you want to see it through.
August 11, 2020
I really responded negatively to this novel. It's persistent in it's prurience. It opens with interesting bits but also a--frankly depressing--sexually explicit subplot that just...keeps...going. I bailed, and am not sorry. If you have a high pain threshold on perversion and psychological abuse, you may enjoy reading this one.
April 15, 2024
difficult, difficult, difficult. expects a lot of the reader. violence, rape, love, sex, tyranny, liberty, and above all language and translation are its concerns. loved it so much. not for the faint of heart or those opposed to experimental form.
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