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Voice of the Goddess
Signed by Author on title page - Signature only - First Edition, First Printing.. Book is in Fine condition. Interior is clean and legible. Not remaindered. Dust Jacket is Fine condition. Not chipped or crinkled. Not price clipped. Dust Jacket is covered by Mylar Brodart. All-Ways well boxed, All-Ways fast service. Thanks.
381 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 11, 2008
I got about a quarter way through and couldn't finish it. While the history of Therma and it's possibility of being Plato's Atlantis, this story just couldn't keep my attention.
April 24, 2020
I tried to give this book a chance even after the , telling myself that this was in the distant past and people had shorter lifespans and so they became considered adults faster. It still felt wrong. But I had to stop reading at the twisted part that . It's surprising and disappointing that a book which is supposedly about a possibly "enlightened" civilization that did not have war, would include such things.
February 23, 2024
Once again I'm disappointed by a book about this era. I read Mary Renault as a teenager 45 years ago and am forever spoiled by her writing. i have never read a book that comes close to the quality of her writing. However, taking Renault out of my consideration of this book, it just really isn't very good.
July 13, 2013
What's black and white and red all over? Remember, this is a family show; no sick answers, please.
An embarrassed zebra, you say? BZZZT, wrong -- thank you for playing!
In this case, the colors describe the remains of the Minoan civilization on Crete after being obliterated by a neighboring island-volcano, Kalliste.
No, I didn't give away the ending of Voice of the Goddess. After reading the back-cover copy and author's preface, wherein Judith Hand documents the theorized link between the Minoans and the legend of Atlantis, the astute reader will expect this violent geological event from page one. And Hand portrays it in imaginatively graphic detail.
To get there, however, one must put up with a female protagonist first introduced as a bratty preteen who, alas, doesn't grow up during the ensuing decade covered in the novel's chronology.
Fate blessed Leesandra -- or perhaps cursed her -- with a direct line of communication to a deity her people worship as the Mother of All. Leesandra must choose between her spiritual destiny and her emotional one as the virile warrior Alektrion lays claim to her heart. External conflict abounds, at times keeping the lovers apart, as worshippers of a rival male deity, Poseidon, seek to spread their religion through bloody conquest.
Can you spell "Crusades?" I thought so.
Obviously, the author spent much energy incorporating her prodigious research and spiritual agenda into this book. The setting comes alive as in few historical works I've ever read, and feminist readers of a New Age bent may appreciate its goddess emphasis.
The element that elevates any story beyond mediocre, however, lies not in its setting or theme but its characters. In Voice of the Goddess, the characters too often seem unsympathetic and illogically motivated. Some key characters, such as best-friend-turned-enemy Galatea, disappear without a follow-up regarding their fates -- and without much of a response from the protagonist herself. Even the "consummation" scene between Leesandra and Alektrion comes across as emotionally uninspired. The platonic relationship between Leesandra and her Nubian mentor, Zuliya, gets my vote as the most believable. In the final pages, Zuliya deals Leesandra a long-overdue comeuppance. I doubtless surprised everyone in the commuter train car with my cheer.
What else is black and white and red all over? Sometimes people answer "a book." But at 26 bucks for a hardcover, you can bet that Voice of the Goddess won't be read all over.
(Originally published in Crescent Blues. Reprinted with permission.)
An embarrassed zebra, you say? BZZZT, wrong -- thank you for playing!
In this case, the colors describe the remains of the Minoan civilization on Crete after being obliterated by a neighboring island-volcano, Kalliste.
No, I didn't give away the ending of Voice of the Goddess. After reading the back-cover copy and author's preface, wherein Judith Hand documents the theorized link between the Minoans and the legend of Atlantis, the astute reader will expect this violent geological event from page one. And Hand portrays it in imaginatively graphic detail.
To get there, however, one must put up with a female protagonist first introduced as a bratty preteen who, alas, doesn't grow up during the ensuing decade covered in the novel's chronology.
Fate blessed Leesandra -- or perhaps cursed her -- with a direct line of communication to a deity her people worship as the Mother of All. Leesandra must choose between her spiritual destiny and her emotional one as the virile warrior Alektrion lays claim to her heart. External conflict abounds, at times keeping the lovers apart, as worshippers of a rival male deity, Poseidon, seek to spread their religion through bloody conquest.
Can you spell "Crusades?" I thought so.
Obviously, the author spent much energy incorporating her prodigious research and spiritual agenda into this book. The setting comes alive as in few historical works I've ever read, and feminist readers of a New Age bent may appreciate its goddess emphasis.
The element that elevates any story beyond mediocre, however, lies not in its setting or theme but its characters. In Voice of the Goddess, the characters too often seem unsympathetic and illogically motivated. Some key characters, such as best-friend-turned-enemy Galatea, disappear without a follow-up regarding their fates -- and without much of a response from the protagonist herself. Even the "consummation" scene between Leesandra and Alektrion comes across as emotionally uninspired. The platonic relationship between Leesandra and her Nubian mentor, Zuliya, gets my vote as the most believable. In the final pages, Zuliya deals Leesandra a long-overdue comeuppance. I doubtless surprised everyone in the commuter train car with my cheer.
What else is black and white and red all over? Sometimes people answer "a book." But at 26 bucks for a hardcover, you can bet that Voice of the Goddess won't be read all over.
(Originally published in Crescent Blues. Reprinted with permission.)
December 1, 2008
Pretty dang good. i think if i had not just finished Theresa Dintino's Ode to Minoa right before i started this, i'd have liked it even better from the start. I feel that Dintino does a better job of creating a truly bronze-age society, a place in which people *think* differently than we do now (and if you've ever read any Sumerian literature, you KNOW how differently people thought!), how their root assumptions and fundamental cultural prejudices are very different from ours. Hand does not do as well at that. She *does* create a very interesting picture of what the world might have looked like in the decades leading up to the eruption of the island of Kalliste in 1628 bce. Her characters are living and memorable, and a person more intersted in a well-written historical novel than in the quality of the spiritual reality of those people will probably prefer this book to the other. if you're more interested in an insightful idea of what Crete c. 1640 bce might have felt like for the people who were actually there, and don't mind plowing through some real amateur plotting failures, Dintino's book will be the better one. Hand does not have a strong grasp of what it means to be polytheistic, and her version of ancient Cretan goddess worship is very narrow as a consequence. she reduces Mycenaean religion of the same time to Poseidon worship. within that reduced framework, she tells a very good story, and tells it well. but Dintino, though not as skillful a writer, does a better job of bringing ancient Crete to life. so it depends on what you're looking for in a historical novel of this era.
May 30, 2012
I finished this book quickly. Its focus is on the Minoan culture & its civlization. The focus is on the Mother Goddess, and the girls who are trained to be in Her service. There is one in particular, named Leesandra. She is very gifted & has a great future ahead. Unfortunely, jealousy of Her gifts could be Her downfall.
The other person of importance is Alektrion, someone Leesandra meets early in this story. Problem arise when a rival ruler attacks the lands that are not prepared for his brutal ways. Also he brings a religion which goes against the Minoans.
I recommend this book because that is some historical basis in this story. And a story with truth in it, shows us our past. But I'm afraid hustory keeps repeating itelf. Can mankind learn?
The other person of importance is Alektrion, someone Leesandra meets early in this story. Problem arise when a rival ruler attacks the lands that are not prepared for his brutal ways. Also he brings a religion which goes against the Minoans.
I recommend this book because that is some historical basis in this story. And a story with truth in it, shows us our past. But I'm afraid hustory keeps repeating itelf. Can mankind learn?
June 25, 2016
I was a little disappointed. Just another epic action-adventure romance with a strapping, angry warrior man and the peaceful female cleric. I mean, priestess.
It is well-written and the research behind it is most fascinating. I didn't find any of the characters all that interesting, though. Read it if historical romances are your thing.
I thought it was going to be good, Goddess-culture, matriarchal society, female empowerment. No.
It is well-written and the research behind it is most fascinating. I didn't find any of the characters all that interesting, though. Read it if historical romances are your thing.
I thought it was going to be good, Goddess-culture, matriarchal society, female empowerment. No.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews