The Jaws of Menx

by Ann Maxwell, Elizabeth Lowell

WHERE THE GODS TREAD, CAN MAN FOLLOW?

Menx, the mysterious world where technology is taboo and reality is seldom what it seems. Menx is fast approaching the time when it must decide for or against membership in the Galactic Concord, and Rhane en Jacaroen, hereditary ruler of the planet Siol, has come here on a double mission--as a Concord agent and to recapture and preserve for Siol his brother Cezine's death moments. Yet to learn all he must, Rhane has to travel through the Jaws of Menx, the forbidden mountains, and on to the Fountains of Madness, where only the gods survive. At the Fountains, Cezine died, and there Rhane will relive his brother's last hours and find his own destiny. But first he must find a guide, tame a living legend, and run a terrifying gauntlet of madness and destruction. Failure will mean the end of Siol, but if Rhane succeeds, two other worlds may pay the price... How long could the natives of Menx survive if the Galactic Concord learned their oldest and darkest secret?

Genres: Science Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, Ebooks

Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1981

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
(1)romance author

aka Lowell Charters, Elizabeth Lowell, A.E. Maxwell individually and with co-author/husband Evan Maxwell and Annalise Sun.

Ann Maxwell has written over 60 novels and one non-fiction book. There are 30 million copies of these books in print, as well as reprints in 30 foreign languages. The novels range from science fiction to historical fiction, from romance to mystery to suspense.

Writing as Ann Maxwell, she began her career in 1975 with a science fiction novel, Change. Since then, seven of her nine science fiction novels have been recommended for the Science Fiction Writers of America Nebula Award; A Dead God Dancing was nominated for what was then called TABA (The American Book Award).

In 1976 Ann and Evan (as A. E. Maxwell) collaborated with a Norwegian hunter and photographer, Ivar Ruud, on The Year-Long Day, a nonfiction work that was condensed in Reader's Digest and published in four foreign editions and three book club editions. In 1985, the first A. E. Maxwell crime novel featuring a couple called Fiddler and Fiora was published by Doubleday. The Frog and the Scorpion, received a creative writing award from the University of California. The fourth book in the series, Just Enough Light to Kill, was named by Time magazine as one of the best crime novels of 1988.

Ann and Evan (writing as Ann Maxwell) have published four suspense novels, the most recent of which is Shadows and Silk. These novels appeared on nation-wide bestseller lists.

In 1982, Ann began publishing romances as Elizabeth Lowell. Under that name she has received numerous professional awards in the romance field, including a Lifetime Achievement award from the Romance Writers of America (1994). Since July of 1992, she has had 30 novels on the New York Times list. Her most recent book is BLUE SMOKE AND MURDER.

Reviews

[Gail Carriger · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Everything is moral somewhere in the universe and nothing is immoral everywhere."

How can you not want to read an author that can write that kind of sentence?

Ann Maxwell is a prolific writer, she's penned under various names over 50 books. But I think her sci-fi is her best. The Jaws of the Menx is classic Maxwell ~ atmospheric, absorbing, almost dream-like. There's the hint of a romance and a very ambiguous ending. This kind of writing is not for everyone, but I find it relaxing because it can transport so easily. While I tend to slightly prefer her more concrete-feeling sci-fi, like the Firedancer series, that is a bit more character driven and romantic, there is something to be said for the shear beauty of the writing in Jaws and Timeshadow Rider. (Although not conjoined, I tend to think of these two books as together because of contextual similarities.)

As a reader, you have to be willing to just accept this book. Try to apply logic or puzzle your way through and it will be too incomprehensible. It's more fantasy than sci-fi. This is not so much like committing yourself to a theme park ride, as diving into an exotic spa treatment. It's not really all that adventure-like, or exciting, the tension is in the world building and the doomed nature of the quest. This book can get depressing but it's a dream state, not an actuality, and I emerge out the other end if not refreshed, at least, satisfied.

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow,okay. For a book with a fairly quick ending it feels surprisingly whole. There's an absolute belief in it's own world that almost completely overcomes any awkwardness in the story.
I also read it in about 6 hours because I just had to know how it ended.

[Princessjay · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting little book.

Rhane is part of the current ruling family for Siol, a planet whose culture requires an unbroken history of all the members of its ruling family. So, perforce, he goes to Menx where his father and younger brother Cezine died, in order to learn and record their death moments. Shiya, a native of Menx who accompanied both Rhane and Cezine 8 years ago on their expedition, now agrees to take Rhane to the Jaws of Menx. Meanwhile, Menx is on the verge of being thrown out from the galactic Concord of planets, due to a weird epidemic where people melt into a husk of themselves for unknown reasons. Once Menx is out of the Concord, all the unsavory folks who space travel will fall upon the planet and scavenge it apart. Lor Jostre, a diplomat from a third planet--known as the oldest civilization in the Concord, T'aeln--tasked to induct Menx into the Concord but seems to be unsuccessful, forcibly comes on the trip to dissuade Rhane from the trip.

Just before setting off for Menx, a psi-user comes to train Rhane, telling him he's a natural psi-user, so he could find out just what happened to their expedition and transmit it to her via their psychic communication device. When he meets Shiya, he acquires a wiri--a sparkling, singing, bird-mammal creature who is also an extremely sensitive empath--and is able to sit on a reskan--predators who can become invisible. Shiya tells him these are accoutrements of the shayl, or people with power who must perform what they must to prevent shazir--their gods--from destroying the planets. She is also shayl. Rhan is initially dismissive, believing this to be superstitious nonsense, until he eventually sees the effect of a shzir. Shayl is just another term for people who can use psi. Shazir are psi-users whose powers are so uncontrollably powerful that they live in all possibilities, and whenever they show up, they can change reality all around them in arbitrary ways. The shayl has responsibility to kill children who may become shazir, and to take their souls into themselves as a way to understand and capture them, potentially leading to their own insanity.

They journey toward the Jaws. Rhane gets the melting disease, but ultimately learns to dirty secret Lor Jostre tried so hard to hide, by killing Rhane's father and brother earlier, and now infecting Rhane. It is because T'aeln civilization depends on the idea that yellow eyes equals sanity, so that anyone who has yellow eyes must equal sane. This used to be true prior to the Concord, but post Concord T'aeln produced offspring with all kinds of humanoid aliens, and yellow eyes no longer denote sanity. To hide this truth, even from most T'aeln folk, T'aeln ruling class put all of these bastard children onto Menx. Note: sanity is of prime importance to T'aeln as on Menx because insanity for the T'aeln leads to shazir in both cultures (since they have the same genetics). They created the wiris, which serve the same effect as a mechanic egg does for each T'aeln--to teach emotional control and dampen their psi powers.

Rhane comes past the Jaws to reach the Fountain of Madness beyond. Shiya dies there, having killed and taken Lor Jostre's soul. Rhane goes insane, turns shazir, but maintains enough of himself to change reality into one where he has no sickness and Shiya isn't dead. T'aeln and Menx are both proscribed, and can only be in contact with each other... in order to prevent this particular version of horrific psi gene from getting into the broader galaxy.

Another instance of literal deus ex machine... but a very good one, with all the events specifically meant to lead to this conclusion.

Pros: The world building is superb. The wiris, the reskans, the complex theology and truth of the shayl and shazir. The world seems big, full of hints of history that this story does not explain simply because events do not call for them. Apart from all the unusual happenings on Menx, the sf-nal elements explore how truly different cultures could produce very different perspectives and points-of-view. Each perspective has certain assumptions that are alien to the other cultures, leading to conflict and sowing seeds of destruction.

Cons: These characters are constantly snapping at one another, suppressing impatience, replying in flat tones. Gets quite repetitive at times. They are an unfriendly bunch, even while deep emotions and caring are supposedly developing.

Highly recommended. If you can find a copy, this is quite an unusual little gem.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really unique - sci fi is not my usual genre, but I enjoyed the journey through the jaws of Menx and on to the Fountain of Madness.

Earlier this year I read A Circle of Uncommon Witches by Paige Crutcher and I described the world building as feeling like Alice falling into Wonderland, with understanding of what exactly is going on as on the edge of my brain/ just out of reach. I feel the same way about this book and how Shayl, h'shayl and Shazil works. Same with the wiris and reskans and the politics between the 3 main planets involved in this story. The politics were simplistic enough that the final reveal of what was going on at the end of the book made sense, and it wasn't too much that I was bored with it.

Overall, an interesting read that has me considering if I've crossed over into shazil madness for enjoying this.

If you like this book, I would recommend A Circle of Uncommon Witches.

[A.S. Ember · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up for $2 from a stack of dozens of 80s scifi novels, more as a purchase to memorialize stumbling upon a neat little bookstore on a holiday than to actually read, expecting wacky and tacky content similar to "A Princess of Mars" - though perhaps with less sexism thanks to its woman author (a main reason for choosing this over the others at the shop). Imagine my delight and surprise when I delved into an intriguing, emotional story told in poignant, poetic diction: a tale of letting go of guilt and masculine entitlement, of accepting the wonderful and the awful together because life is formed of contradictions. Genuinely interesting, and beautifully told.

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really, really different - strange

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

This would have been 2 stars, but I thought about it--I like the sort of puzzle books, especially in mystery, where the reader can figure out what's going on before the characters do because the reader has all the information while the characters don't--but this is the sort of book where the reader has all the information the characters do and know and yet the reader can figure out what's going on far, far before the characters do.

[Oyceter · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a disease that melts people!

I should have more to say, but mostly I am still giggling about the melting disease.

Full review: http://oyceter.livejournal.com/664368...