Phoenix Café

The Aleutian Trilogy #3

by Gwyneth Jones

Phoenix Café concludes the tale of the Aleutian invasion in a hip, dark, violent novel. Another hundred years on, the Aleutians prepare to leave both Earth and a humanity transformed in strange and sometimes unpleasant ways by two hundred years of alien exploitation. The Aleutians have the space drive. But what has humanity gained or lost, and who will pick up the pieces? This is a novel of politics, economics, sexual identity, and the fate of humanity.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Gwyneth Jones is a writer and critic of genre fiction. She's won the Tiptree award, two World Fantasy awards, the Arthur C. Clarke award, the British Science Fiction Association short story award, the Dracula Society's Children of the Night award, the P.K.Dick award, and the SFRA Pilgrim award for lifetime achievement in sf criticism. She also writes for teenagers, usually as Ann Halam. She lives in Brighton, UK, with her husband and two cats called Ginger and Milo; curating assorted pondlife in season. She's a member of the Soil Association, the Sussex Wildlife Trust, Frack Free Sussex and the Green Party; and an Amnesty International volunteer.

Reviews

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 2 out of 5]

"dark and violent" sure, but I don't know about "hip" even for the 90s when it was actually written. It might have helped me understand this book if I had read the first 2 but I did my best.

This is a genuinely original piece of work, which is kind of marred by having a sort of 12 year old prurience to it and especially a fascination with non-consensual sex (ie rape). I suspect enough readers would have experienced being raped for any supposed power to be missing in the scenes so all we get is this reductionist, repetitive rape scene/s. I mean it's horrible, but not in an interesting way. Reading around that there is originality around the mix of "alien" and "human" cultures and identities including games (as in computer games but more real), drugs, biological weapons and engineered human/non-humans (predictably they are "young ladies" also known as "sextoys"). The genderedness of this world is tiresomely patriarchal with a 90s "women have agency too" which disappears into wanting to be raped.

As far as central characters go Misha is probably one of the lest interesting, relatable or likeable characters I have had to deal with yet the author has a stubborn insistance that he be the main/only real relationship for her protagonist. There's also an alient mentor/parent who is approving of her being abused and endangering herself and gets sidelined by this love/hate interest which in a reader's terms is not all that "interesting". Would it hurt to at least try to pass the Bechdel test with a female friendship (not just going out for sex with a sextoy)? Conversely could Misha be more than just a testosterone fueled boring lump of rapacious masculinity? Or could him being that way (due to taking hormones) be problematised better not just an awkward and vague apology after 300 pages of abuse and arrogance?

In the better parts I thought this book was a bit like an over-literal misreading of Deleuze and Guattari's thousand plateaus but considering that was not in the references (yeah there are references at the back) that's probably me projecting. The ending is along the lines of the "and then they woke up and it was all a dream" that we were taught not to write when we were in year 4 or something...or maybe more like the end of Rocky Horror Picture Show with profound cynicism about in/humanity and the fate of the world.

To some extent the nasty brutishness of this book might be a true and accurate picture of humanity but it doesn't give much to live for does it?

[Ardene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book in a trilogy about the arrival on earth of aliens and the effects their economic activities and technology have on humanity over two centuries. It's also about politics and gender identity and exploitation and guilt.

This book follows Catherine, the Aleutian Clavel reborn in a human body, and her relationship with the human Misha and his Reformer friends up through the departure of the aliens from earth.

Catherine, desperate to expiate her guilt about her rape of a human male (and the consequences of that rape, including the Aleutians' acquisition of faster than light travel that the humans invented but can't use), allows Misha to exploit her sexually, not understanding until late in the game what his agenda really is.

I like Gwyneth Jones because she makes me think and I'm always a bit uncomfortable reading her.

[Kaylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's very Gwyneth Jones. I'm not sure what else to say about it...If you like her other books, this is a good one, though Divine Endurance is still my favorite.

If you don't know Jones, basically, she writes science fiction that people sometimes find confusing, and there's a big focus on loss. Often the loss of everyone the main character cares about, sometimes loss of an entire way of life. It's not as depressing as it sounds, but be prepared for a bittersweet ending.