What do you think?
Rate this book
Double Nocturne
With the Homeworlds wars over at last, Tom Hark and his crewmates had been sent to the long cut off colony planet called Islands, to repair the failing Artificial Intelligence left to aid in governing the planet seventy-five years earlier. But war and time had taken its toll not only on the Homeworlds but on Islands as well.
Forced to make an unexpected emergency landing on Islands wile searching for his missing captain and navigator, Tom discovered a world on the brink of ruin. For as the AI had slowly failed, it had left behind a legacy of insular cultures, rigid, feudal matriarchies in which men were less than even second class citizens. On this high gravity world of cut-throat politics and barbaric customs, could a "civilized" man survive long enough to complete his colony-saving mission? Or was it already too late for both Tom Hark and the world called Islands.
Forced to make an unexpected emergency landing on Islands wile searching for his missing captain and navigator, Tom discovered a world on the brink of ruin. For as the AI had slowly failed, it had left behind a legacy of insular cultures, rigid, feudal matriarchies in which men were less than even second class citizens. On this high gravity world of cut-throat politics and barbaric customs, could a "civilized" man survive long enough to complete his colony-saving mission? Or was it already too late for both Tom Hark and the world called Islands.
- GenresFiction
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
1 person is currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Cynthia Felice
16 books12 followersAn American science fiction writer. Her first novel, Godsfire, and her first short story, "David and Lindy", were published in 1978. She and Connie Willis have co-written three novels that are often considered young adult fiction, according to Willis.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 6, 2020
This has everything that makes Cynthia Felice one of my favourite sci fi writers: an alien planet, adventure, intrigue, romance (not too much, just the right amount), and believable, likeable characters. She has a style which is easy to read, and fully immersive in the world, and people, she creates. So, do yourself a favour, and join Tom Hark in his adventures as he crash-lands while searching for his missing Captain and her engineer. For the record, my personal favourite character is Sellia, who appears later in the story. There's a great sequel waiting to be written, if the author ever feels the urge! :) Highly recommended.
November 11, 2025
This novel is just bad. It's written in a needlessly complicated way, with plenty of terribly structured sentences, many typos, and a whole lot of impossible grammar. The female-dominated society treats men as though they fall somewhere between toddlers and dogs; it's disturbing. Men aren't even allowed to choose their own meals; female nutritionists control their diets based on what they've already eaten, among other factors. (Hark is hungry, and they intentionally give him soup that's too hot because men aren't trusted to eat at a healthily slow pace.) Relatively "free" men are appointed female "guardians." This isn't feminism; it goes a few steps beyond.
Aside from the enslaved male population, there's a religion at play (Penitents). I think "clerics" and "sorry sisters" (or "sorries") are possibly synonymous here. They control the unbalanced (three-to-one) female-to-male ratio with what seems to be a combination of vasectomy ("purification") and frozen sperm. "A married man must be purified because his seed isn't consecrated. But unmarried men undergo purification, too, as a sacrament." The way Hark and Jeremy freaked out at the prospect of a simple pipe cut was peculiar; they stubbornly viewed it as if it were equal to castration, which they were assured it was not. (Jeremy is a doctor himself, plus, he's gay; why would he care about becoming sterile?)
The three main male characters are scheming during a perceived piss break. Orrin says too much time has passed for such, but Jeremy pulls his pants down, declaring, "I need to take a crap." They continue their serious conversation for almost an entire page while he's squatting there... "Orrin looked at him, feeling a terrible twinge of guilt when he saw the younger man gazing at him with such trust and admiration... Jeremy was standing up and buckling his pants. Orrin put a hand on his shoulder." I'm not sure it's possible to write a more awkward scene.
Oh yeah... Two characters are just walking along, and BAM! one instantly breaks their leg. It just came out of nowhere.
Hark starts out unrequitedly "in love" with his captain. Then he falls hard for Sellia. But, while wishing only to be friends with Laurel, he's quite willing to copulate with her on the side (and behind Sellia's back), provided it doesn't damage their friendship...
I encountered a problem with continuity. On p. 285, "[Orrin] thrust the transport token into [Sellia's] hand." But somehow, he has it again on p. 327, offering it to Hark...
There are twin sisters who are "interchangeable." The author switches their names back and forth, confusing at least one section for the reader and another only for the "protagonist." The reader is assailed with somewhat unexplained terminology, some of which sounds mighty unpleasant given the context: "dandy," "nature boy" ("bully-sized nature boys"), "stripling son," "ticket-of-leave boy," "muscle," "bottom," "Top," "lace," etc. Some technology related to an AI is seriously referred to as "jelly beans," but the locals call them "brain jewels."
...
"... the queen demanded to know." (p. 172)
Typos:
"... Jeremy is going to do what he has must to shut you up."
-
"Hark picked up his own up and lifted it..."
-
"'No,' Orrins said." (Orrin)
-
"The sunhedge had been breeched..." (breached; this is the third book I've read where this has been an issue...)
-
"He supposed to be quite a big man." (He's)
-
"... Orrin realized that Dame Cirila was looking at Orrin..." [laughter]
-
"... but then she felt her legs give away..." (way)
-
"Hark grapped Sellia around the waist..." (?)
...
Illegal/Messed-up Grammar:
"... there's no dead bodies inside..." (there are)
-
"... she added before Orrin reply." (before Orrin could reply)
-
"When you're certain no one's noticed Hark and I didn't come back, come after us." (haven't)
-
"He heard insects buzzing, but they didn't disturb him, and nor did the pleasant, damp warmth of the living cave."
-
"That would have been tomorrow night, no further away then the night after that..." (than)
-
"I wouldn't have imposed on our friendship and ask you to take her if I believed she would deal unfairly with you." (asked)
-
"It would make it easier from him to step from the railing onto the branch." (for)
-
"'Are drugs involved?' the Hark was asking..." [Drugs might explain some things...]
-
"There's even the chance that the canister... have been put in the pod..." (has)
-
"... the enfeebled protectors of Fox Court in the park, all them slouching and tiresome in their rhetoric..." (all of them)
-
"Only Dame Adione and Orrin was left in the little clearing." (were)
-
"... for there always a risk of asking a question that her sister would not and thus jeopardizing the impersonation." (there was always)
-
"Prepping Captain Dace took a long time, Rene's even longer."
-
"I don't know my own future, let alone be able to predict yours."
...
Characters "shrug" non-stop. There's also a great deal of nodding and shaking of heads. "Look" is by far the most prevalent verb, however. In only 330 pages, there are at least 479 "looks"; some pages have as many as eight, some none at all. The author writes, "[insert character] said" in many situations where clarification of who's speaking isn't needed. She uses "... said simply" over five times (I only started counting in ch. 9). The author puts certain words, especially "just," out of order several times; it just sounds wrong when you're reading, tripping you up.
-
"look": ~479!!!~ (+1 "overlook")
"stare": 74
"watch" (not the wrist variety): 73
"glance": 30
"gaze": 15
"glare": 11
"glimpse": 5
"peer": 5
"leer": 2
"squint": 2
"peek": 1
-
"himself": 77
"herself": 37
"yourself": 27
"themselves": 12
"myself": 8
"itself": 4
"self-": 4
"ourselves": 2
-
"shrug": >54 (Only counting from p. 72 onward.)
"lay": 23
"wince": 5+
"whirl": 4+ (From ch. 7 on.)
"rose" (verb): 4 (+1 "arose")
"plunge": 3-4
-
"silver": 6
"acrid": 3
"here and there": 1
-
"vernacular": 8
"lap": 8
-
"dim": 13
"glow": 11
"gleam": 7
"glitter": 4
"glisten": 3
"glint": 3
"brighten": 3 (close together)
"sparkle": 3
"shimmer": 1
"shone": 1
...
"She had met a male doctor once before. He had been a muscle fag and was not a good doctor. Rumor had it he spent more time lifting weights than scalpels. Of course, a sissy wouldn't need to be devoted to body-building, but they had other distracting proclivities."
-
"'Don't worry, lad. I won't let them cut off your balls.'
Once more Orrin touched him. This time it wasn't the unconscious gesture of camaraderie; this time he deliberately took Jeremy's hand. And again Jeremy felt the fire deep inside. He would rather be dead than not feel it again."
...
3/10
Aside from the enslaved male population, there's a religion at play (Penitents). I think "clerics" and "sorry sisters" (or "sorries") are possibly synonymous here. They control the unbalanced (three-to-one) female-to-male ratio with what seems to be a combination of vasectomy ("purification") and frozen sperm. "A married man must be purified because his seed isn't consecrated. But unmarried men undergo purification, too, as a sacrament." The way Hark and Jeremy freaked out at the prospect of a simple pipe cut was peculiar; they stubbornly viewed it as if it were equal to castration, which they were assured it was not. (Jeremy is a doctor himself, plus, he's gay; why would he care about becoming sterile?)
The three main male characters are scheming during a perceived piss break. Orrin says too much time has passed for such, but Jeremy pulls his pants down, declaring, "I need to take a crap." They continue their serious conversation for almost an entire page while he's squatting there... "Orrin looked at him, feeling a terrible twinge of guilt when he saw the younger man gazing at him with such trust and admiration... Jeremy was standing up and buckling his pants. Orrin put a hand on his shoulder." I'm not sure it's possible to write a more awkward scene.
Oh yeah... Two characters are just walking along, and BAM! one instantly breaks their leg. It just came out of nowhere.
Hark starts out unrequitedly "in love" with his captain. Then he falls hard for Sellia. But, while wishing only to be friends with Laurel, he's quite willing to copulate with her on the side (and behind Sellia's back), provided it doesn't damage their friendship...
I encountered a problem with continuity. On p. 285, "[Orrin] thrust the transport token into [Sellia's] hand." But somehow, he has it again on p. 327, offering it to Hark...
There are twin sisters who are "interchangeable." The author switches their names back and forth, confusing at least one section for the reader and another only for the "protagonist." The reader is assailed with somewhat unexplained terminology, some of which sounds mighty unpleasant given the context: "dandy," "nature boy" ("bully-sized nature boys"), "stripling son," "ticket-of-leave boy," "muscle," "bottom," "Top," "lace," etc. Some technology related to an AI is seriously referred to as "jelly beans," but the locals call them "brain jewels."
...
"... the queen demanded to know." (p. 172)
Typos:
"... Jeremy is going to do what he has must to shut you up."
-
"Hark picked up his own up and lifted it..."
-
"'No,' Orrins said." (Orrin)
-
"The sunhedge had been breeched..." (breached; this is the third book I've read where this has been an issue...)
-
"He supposed to be quite a big man." (He's)
-
"... Orrin realized that Dame Cirila was looking at Orrin..." [laughter]
-
"... but then she felt her legs give away..." (way)
-
"Hark grapped Sellia around the waist..." (?)
...
Illegal/Messed-up Grammar:
"... there's no dead bodies inside..." (there are)
-
"... she added before Orrin reply." (before Orrin could reply)
-
"When you're certain no one's noticed Hark and I didn't come back, come after us." (haven't)
-
"He heard insects buzzing, but they didn't disturb him, and nor did the pleasant, damp warmth of the living cave."
-
"That would have been tomorrow night, no further away then the night after that..." (than)
-
"I wouldn't have imposed on our friendship and ask you to take her if I believed she would deal unfairly with you." (asked)
-
"It would make it easier from him to step from the railing onto the branch." (for)
-
"'Are drugs involved?' the Hark was asking..." [Drugs might explain some things...]
-
"There's even the chance that the canister... have been put in the pod..." (has)
-
"... the enfeebled protectors of Fox Court in the park, all them slouching and tiresome in their rhetoric..." (all of them)
-
"Only Dame Adione and Orrin was left in the little clearing." (were)
-
"... for there always a risk of asking a question that her sister would not and thus jeopardizing the impersonation." (there was always)
-
"Prepping Captain Dace took a long time, Rene's even longer."
-
"I don't know my own future, let alone be able to predict yours."
...
Characters "shrug" non-stop. There's also a great deal of nodding and shaking of heads. "Look" is by far the most prevalent verb, however. In only 330 pages, there are at least 479 "looks"; some pages have as many as eight, some none at all. The author writes, "[insert character] said" in many situations where clarification of who's speaking isn't needed. She uses "... said simply" over five times (I only started counting in ch. 9). The author puts certain words, especially "just," out of order several times; it just sounds wrong when you're reading, tripping you up.
-
"look": ~479!!!~ (+1 "overlook")
"stare": 74
"watch" (not the wrist variety): 73
"glance": 30
"gaze": 15
"glare": 11
"glimpse": 5
"peer": 5
"leer": 2
"squint": 2
"peek": 1
-
"himself": 77
"herself": 37
"yourself": 27
"themselves": 12
"myself": 8
"itself": 4
"self-": 4
"ourselves": 2
-
"shrug": >54 (Only counting from p. 72 onward.)
"lay": 23
"wince": 5+
"whirl": 4+ (From ch. 7 on.)
"rose" (verb): 4 (+1 "arose")
"plunge": 3-4
-
"silver": 6
"acrid": 3
"here and there": 1
-
"vernacular": 8
"lap": 8
-
"dim": 13
"glow": 11
"gleam": 7
"glitter": 4
"glisten": 3
"glint": 3
"brighten": 3 (close together)
"sparkle": 3
"shimmer": 1
"shone": 1
...
"She had met a male doctor once before. He had been a muscle fag and was not a good doctor. Rumor had it he spent more time lifting weights than scalpels. Of course, a sissy wouldn't need to be devoted to body-building, but they had other distracting proclivities."
-
"'Don't worry, lad. I won't let them cut off your balls.'
Once more Orrin touched him. This time it wasn't the unconscious gesture of camaraderie; this time he deliberately took Jeremy's hand. And again Jeremy felt the fire deep inside. He would rather be dead than not feel it again."
...
3/10
Read
October 23, 2025On the beautiful planet called Islands, the colony's Artificial Intelligence failed generations before, and with all contact to the Home Government cut off, a hostile feudal society arose in which men were used only for manual labor and sex. When Tom Hark and his crew arrive, they are immediately imprisoned and only through the princess Sellia can they be rescued. .
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews