Ennead

by Jan Mark

Isaac is an orphan. At fifteen years old, he has not yet found his niche on Erato. Unless he does so, he will face deportation - and certain death. Isaac has a plan to make his future safe. It involves importing Eleanor, a stone carver from a distant planet. But Eleanor is not what Isaac expects. She is not what anyone expects. She is free-thinking and defiant, and her presence could be more than this strange, dusty planet can bear...

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Janet Marjorie Mark (1943-2006) was a British children's author and two time winner of the Carnegie Medal. She also taught art and English in Gravesend, Kent, was part of the faculty of Education at Oxford Polytechnic in the early 1980s and was a tutor and mentor to other writers before her death from meningitis-related septicaemia.

Meet the author:

What is your favourite animal?
The noble rat

What is your favourite boy’s name?
George

What is your favourite girl’s name?
Marjorie

What is your favourite food?
Pickled herring

What is your favourite music?
Klezmer

What is your favourite hobby?
Listening to music

Reviews

[Amy_anyone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book absolutely blew my mind. Explaining why would ruin it; please just read it.

[Alex Ankarr · Rating 3 out of 5]

as bleak as you can possibly imagine. Bloody hell.

[Capn]

Euterpe lay as the Earth lay, third planet in a system of nine known as the Ennead.
Originally, it had been a haven for refugees from Earth, but now it too was dying. The people of Erato, second in the system, were determined to avoid the same fate; so all behaviour on this bleak planet was rigidly controlled.

Isaac was an outsider on Erato, the lone survivor of a disaster elsewhere in the Ennead, and outsiders had a difficult time of it. Still, by scheming and bribing - by accepting Erato's rules - he had become steward of an important household. But life remained precarious and to his increasing resentment Isaac's survival depended on the goodwill of others. So when the chance came to rescue a girl from Euterpe, somebody who would be forever in his debt, Isaac grasped it enthusiastically. But when the girl arrives, Isaac's dreams of power begin to go awry: she makes an unexpected friendship, and in doing so evokes long-suppressed ideas from Earth which threaten everything Isaac and the worthy citizens of Erato have built up.

The Ennead is Jan Mark's third book. A compelling story, written with great verve, this extraordinary picture of a corrupt and authoritarian society marks a radical departure from her earlier novels, Thunder and Lightnings (which won the Carnegie Medal for the best children's novel of 1976) and Under the Autumn Garden. It can only strengthen Jan Mark's reputation as one of the best children's novelists to have emerged in the past few years.
Jacket illustration by Yvonne Gilbert

I'm expecting great things - sci-fi is NOT my forte, but she blew me away with The Eclipse of the Century. :)
Also hoping this is Alan's long-lost corn-growing bleak SF story.. :)

[Javier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Analizo esta novela tanto desde mi perspectiva como desde la de un chaval de unos 10 años o así, que es a quien creo que va dirigida. La Enéada presenta las cualidades del mundo rocoso y yermo donde se desarrolla: es sólida, pero también dura y repetitiva. Lo que más me ha gustado es su enfoque, pues nos ofrece la típica distopía (¿futurista?) pero desde el punto de vista de un tercer personaje que en los inicios de la trama parece noble y sin embargo se va envileciendo, poniéndose al nivel de la sociedad totalitaria a la que pertenece. La rebeldía y el romance de la pareja de sublevados la vemos desde fuera, a través del prisma de los prejuicios y el rechazo. Estilísticamente es correcta, pero las descripciones se hacen demasiado largas e innecesarias las más veces, no logrando aportar nada pese a su insistencia, quedando el mundo apenas desarrollado. Esto creo que es un hándicap importante para el lector en ciernes, cuya imaginación no va a ser estimulada ni va a retener muchas imágenes de la novela. Una lástima, considerando que tenía potencial. El giro religioso final tampoco me ha gustado mucho; a veces parece que los autores no consiguen despegarse de ciertos elementos que, en novelas sobre la post-humanidad, encajan muy malamente.

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It was well written" is all my journal entry from 1985 says.

[Katy Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This made me think of Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy - a story of lives being lived elsewhere in the universe, humans migrating elsewhere and the small town intricacies that grow up from the new environment and inhabitants forming new cliches, structures and ideologies.

I was disappointed with this though, it started well, but it didn't live up to expectations. Maybe I missed some of the subtleties and political meaning.

On a planet far from Earth, a two year voyage from human civilisation, Isaac plots and schemes to keep his place and avoid deportation. An orphan, he will be sent away if he is no longer useful to his employer. Circumstances give him the chance to bring a sculptor to the planet for his employer, and she too must be taught to tow the line, if she too is hoping to remain.

Isaac, I was never certain if I liked - he's not a bad person, but he schemes, he's rude, morally he makes judgements I didn't like. Eleanor too, the sculptor is rebellious but talented in her art. Her experiences are heartfelt, but I just couldn't understand all of her decisions either.

A good chance to read an early children's science fiction story, a forerunner to writers like Patrick Ness. Some interesting ideas, and a world I could picture, but I felt it was too short and underdeveloped - I wanted more of the dark side of the small town Isaac lives in, there were sinister undertones that could have featured more.

I also wanted to know more of the two year horrific-sounding space voyages, they could have had their own novel to themselves.

Glad I've read this book by Mark, I've not read enough from this author, but it's not a stand-out for me of the genre.

For readers, this is best suited to readers aged 10 and above.

[Rachel Churcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is also available on my blog, Unsupervised in a Bookstore .

I first read this 30-ish years ago, and I wanted to revisit it while I'm writing for a YA audience.

And this is how you do YA. Don't pull your punches, but don't be graphic either. I remember loving this book, and the very clearly imagined alien world, on my first reading. The setting didn't feel as exotic this time round, but the world-building is solid, the characters are interesting, and the story is as haunting as it was when I read it as a teenager. The author uses casual cruelty from every character (with the exception of the outsider) to set up an intolerable situation. Everyone is breathtakingly cruel - and yet it doesn't feel unreal. It feels very human.

A short, punchy book that has aged well. I was pleasantly surprised.

[Emily Kestrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this one in junior high. I remember really enjoying it.