The Companions (Gollancz S.F.)
Sheri S Tepper. Beware, following review contains spoilers.
I keep reading Sheri S Tepper as she wrote one of my all time favourite books, Gate to Women’s Country
. [As an aside, it’s a book I’ll never lend you, for two reasons, 1) I don’t currently own a copy as 2) every time I own it and lend it out, it doesn’t come back 🙁 ]. I found Gate challenging, thought provoking but ultimately inspiring, while I find most of the work of Tepper that I’ve read since then seems to harp on a similar theme – humanity (usually in the shape of men) has buggered the world up and humanity (usually in the shape of slightly worn down women) needs to be rescued by (slightly stern but eventually benign) aliens. As I’m not convinced there are that many alien species out there, and certainly not convinced that there will be any who think saving species who can’t figure out how to save themselves, I find this particular theme a bit less than a draw. Nevertheless, I keep picking up Tepper books, I find them readable, and there is always the hope at some point she might think of a different hook.
is a little different, but the first time I tried to read that one, I gave up completely, and it’s only quite recently that I found the courage to plough right the way through.
. Fairly sure Jinian featured in it. I don’t recall it standing out particularly.
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