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Mindsong
On the planet Eden, a terraformed paradise in the midst of a Hellenic Age one man hunts the supreme secret - that may be only a myth. He is Don Eel. Call him lover, dreamer, rebel, seer. Death-sentenced on his own world, rescued and led across wild and nomadic lands to the gleaming Citadel with its hidden ultramodern room - he alone can pass unscathed into the world of the blue-green skies and bustling spaceports, searching the galaxy for a treasure too close to see. He alone can unlock the mystery for which an ageless race lost their memories to save their lives.
- GenresScience Fiction
282 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Did Not Finish
April 20, 2025DNF @ 37% - I've got to admit, I just don't want to pick this one up again.
I'm always curious to read older sci-fi written by women. However, this one did not work for me.
DonEel lives in a harsh, repressive community where he is arrested for sleeping with the mayor's wife and sentenced to death. He expects a quick execution but is instead left tied to a tree in a sacred grove, where he is rescued by a handsome stranger named Pollo, a "Delphan" scholar from a distant land.
It's difficult to read on a sentence level with convoluted writing. The pacing is slow, meandering and repetitive. It is very hard to feel connected or invested in anything because character motivations are always reliant on vague prophecies and dreams. "I came here because a dream told me to," "I knew you existed because I saw it in a dream," etc. etc.
There is a lot of travel and a lot of talk about cartographers and mapmaking, but no maps are included, which is frustrating. The worldbuilding is simplistic overall, with vague sketches of towns and villages that are extremely generic.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect (given the time period this was written in) is that queerness is hinted at, but nothing comes of this - at least insofar as I read. Pollo makes a pass at DonEel, is rebuffed, and later we learn he has a hot wife anyway AND a hot sister to pair up with DonEel. Um, okay?
I am slightly curious to see if Pollo and DonEel's relationship is revisited later in the novel, but not enough to push through the dry writing and repetitive travel sequences.
I'm always curious to read older sci-fi written by women. However, this one did not work for me.
DonEel lives in a harsh, repressive community where he is arrested for sleeping with the mayor's wife and sentenced to death. He expects a quick execution but is instead left tied to a tree in a sacred grove, where he is rescued by a handsome stranger named Pollo, a "Delphan" scholar from a distant land.
It's difficult to read on a sentence level with convoluted writing. The pacing is slow, meandering and repetitive. It is very hard to feel connected or invested in anything because character motivations are always reliant on vague prophecies and dreams. "I came here because a dream told me to," "I knew you existed because I saw it in a dream," etc. etc.
There is a lot of travel and a lot of talk about cartographers and mapmaking, but no maps are included, which is frustrating. The worldbuilding is simplistic overall, with vague sketches of towns and villages that are extremely generic.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect (given the time period this was written in) is that queerness is hinted at, but nothing comes of this - at least insofar as I read. Pollo makes a pass at DonEel, is rebuffed, and later we learn he has a hot wife anyway AND a hot sister to pair up with DonEel. Um, okay?
I am slightly curious to see if Pollo and DonEel's relationship is revisited later in the novel, but not enough to push through the dry writing and repetitive travel sequences.
February 12, 2021
I wanted to read some historic sci-fi - it did not age well - though well written I just could not connect to the characters (the way they interacted and made decisions).
November 3, 2020
The first book I ever read that had an actual gay character in it. As such, it's something of a milestone.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews