Egan, The Complete Ivory
Kate Nepveu
Doris Egan's _The Complete Ivory_ is an omnibus of three novels, _The
Gate of Ivory_, _Two-Bit Heroes_, and _Guilt-Edged Ivory_. I'd read
_The Gate of Ivory_ on the plane coming back from New Year's and liked
it, but put off reading the rest because it was good travel reading,
and I had a lot of that coming up.
The setup is that there are four planets in this sector (which was cut
off from the rest of the galaxy some time before the story). On Ivory,
and only on Ivory, magic works, for a few people. Our narrator, Theodora,
was stranded there; she is telling fortunes in the marketplace to try and
earn her passage back to her home planet, when Ran Cormallon shows up and
offers her a job--telling *real* fortunes with a special deck of cards.
Being Ivoran, Ran neglects to tell her a number of important details
about the job, like what happened to his last card-reader . . .
The three books each tell a separate story, but together form a very
loose arc showing the progress of Theodora & Ran's relationship. I
enjoyed these a lot; they're one of the odd series that *is* science
fiction but sometimes *feels* like fantasy, but the place that science
and magic occupy in the complicated societies on Ivory has been worked
out pretty carefully. The story moves along briskly, and I quite enjoy
Theodora's company.
[Theodora's contraceptive implant has run out, and she's just got her
first menstrual period in years. While on a grueling hike with people
much taller than she is.]
Why doesn't anybody ever warn you about these things? I thought about
all those marvelous stories I'd read back on Athena, the legends I'd
fallen in love with--the heroes setting off to seek fortune and
adventure. Knights and damosels rode forth to do battle at castles
perilous, and the damosels never had this problem. And hobbits and
tall elves strode swiftly over the earth, and the hobbits never had
any trouble keeping up. Of course, hobbits were supposed to have
great endurance.
If only I were a hobbit. A *male* hobbit.
I'd recommend these, particularly to Bujold readers, but more generally,
to people who like their adventure with plenty of meat on the bones of
the characters and the culture.
Kate
--
http://www.steelypips.org/elsewhere.html -- kate....@yale.edu
Paired Reading Page; Book Reviews; Outside of a Dog: A Book Log
"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Rachel Brown
> Doris Egan's _The Complete Ivory_ is an omnibus of three novels, _The
> Gate of Ivory_, _Two-Bit Heroes_, and _Guilt-Edged Ivory_. I'd read
> _The Gate of Ivory_ on the plane coming back from New Year's and liked
> it, but put off reading the rest because it was good travel reading,
> and I had a lot of that coming up.
I too read them on a plane. They're lightweight, I suppose, and I find
that I can't remember the plots of any of them very well, but Egan
does some things exceptionally well, and they're extremely readable.
The first is probably the best, and certainly has the best, most
startling, and most tough-minded climax.
Theodora is probably the most unadventurous adventure protagonist
since Bilbo Baggins, and by the third book that started to seriously
annoy me. But she's a very real-seeming character, and her narration
is fun.
> I'd recommend these, particularly to Bujold readers, but more generally,
> to people who like their adventure with plenty of meat on the bones of
> the characters and the culture.
Doris Egan's other book, under the pen name "Jane Emerson," is _City
of Diamond_, an intricately plotted space adventure with marvelous
characters and an absolutely fascinating background. It shares the
charms of the Ivory books, without their sometimes irritating
preciousness, and this one actually deserves the Bujold comparison.
However... it's the first book in a trilogy, it ends on a cliffhanger,
and while the next two books will apparently be written eventually,
they show no signs of appearing any time soon. According to Egan's
website, the hold-up is not, as is usual, publishing complications,
but her own health problems and busy schedule. So, it's great, but
caveat emptor.
Rachel
>
> Kate
P.D. TILLMAN
Seconded -- I'm *very* happy to see these back in print.
These books are pretty near perfect light reaading. *Very*
snappy and amusing dialog (and monolog).
Cheers -- Pete Tillman
Book Reviews: http://www.silcom.com/~manatee/reviewer.html#tillman
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/cm/member-reviews/-/A3GHSD9VY8XS4Q/
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/iplus/nonfiction/index.htm#reviews
http://www.sfsite.com/revwho.htm
--
TLambs1138
face, inhale, you know the drill).
Jean Lamb, tlamb...@cs.com
"Fun will now commence!" - Seven of Nine
Boudewijn Rempt
> Seconded -- I'm *very* happy to see these back in print.
> These books are pretty near perfect light reaading. *Very*
> snappy and amusing dialog (and monolog).
A friend of ours just borrowed the trilogy to us. Initially
I put it away. Just a knee-jerk reaction to the combination
of magic and spaceships. But I love all the little details,
the wonderful dialogue, and the developing relation between
Theodora and her employer.
--
Boudewijn Rempt | http://www.valdyas.org
Irina Rempt
[Doris Egan's Ivory books]
> I
> enjoyed these a lot; they're one of the odd series that *is* science
> fiction but sometimes *feels* like fantasy, but the place that
> science and magic occupy in the complicated societies on Ivory has
> been worked out pretty carefully.
I've just finished the first. Somebody lent the omnibus to us, and I
tripped over the fantasy-flavoured SF (kept expecting it to be
fantasy and running into computers and spaceships) and stopped
reading, until Boudewijn picked it up and loved it and I wanted to
know whether it really was worth while.
It was.
I *still* don't like the SF-F crossover much; I'd probably enjoy the
fantasy elements more in a separate book so I could put the SF book
aside.
Irina
--
ir...@valdyas.org
http://www.valdyas.org/irina/index.html (English)
http://www.valdyas.org/irina/backpage.html (Nederlands)
Aaron Bergman
Brown <rpho...@mediaone.net> wrote:
>
> I too read them on a plane. They're lightweight, I suppose, and I find
> that I can't remember the plots of any of them very well, but Egan
> does some things exceptionally well, and they're extremely readable.
> The first is probably the best, and certainly has the best, most
> startling, and most tough-minded climax.
>
> Theodora is probably the most unadventurous adventure protagonist
> since Bilbo Baggins, and by the third book that started to seriously
> annoy me. But she's a very real-seeming character, and her narration
> is fun.
I developed a serious dislike for Theodora by the middle of the second
book. She's just not a very nice person. I began to wonder at time if
the author realized this.
I don't find all that much to recommend in these books. As fluff goes,
there's much better and more entertaining stuff out there. There's
nothing actively bad about them, I suppose, but neither is there
anything to recommend it over the countless other books of the same
ilk.
Aaron
John Andrew Fairhurst
> I'd recommend these, particularly to Bujold readers, but more generally,
> to people who like their adventure with plenty of meat on the bones of
> the characters and the culture.
>
I've read & reread _Gate of Ivory_ several times, not believing that I
really liked it but always find myself drawn into it...
--
John Fairhurst
In Association with Amazon worldwide:
http://www.johnsbooks.co.uk/Books/Masterworks
The Gollancz Masterworks Collections
Trent Goulding
[Egan's Ivory trilogy]
>I don't find all that much to recommend in these books. As fluff goes,
>there's much better and more entertaining stuff out there. There's
>nothing actively bad about them, I suppose, but neither is there
>anything to recommend it over the countless other books of the same
>ilk.
I have to say I second Aaron's view. I read the first one and
wasn't sufficiently motivated by it to even go on to the second one.
--
Trent Goulding trent.g...@mho.com
Kate Nepveu
>> Doris Egan's _The Complete Ivory_ is an omnibus of three novels, _The
>> Gate of Ivory_, _Two-Bit Heroes_, and _Guilt-Edged Ivory_. I'd read
>> _The Gate of Ivory_ on the plane coming back from New Year's and liked
>> it, but put off reading the rest because it was good travel reading,
>> and I had a lot of that coming up.
> I too read them on a plane. They're lightweight, I suppose, and I find
> that I can't remember the plots of any of them very well, but Egan
> does some things exceptionally well, and they're extremely readable.
> The first is probably the best, and certainly has the best, most
> startling, and most tough-minded climax.
I think you're probably right; it's hard for me to sort out when
I like a book better because I read it first, and when it's actually
better, but certainly the plot of the first is the most remarkable.
The third reminded me of a Brother Cadfael novel, only without the
quality of the killer being obvious.
> Theodora is probably the most unadventurous adventure protagonist
> since Bilbo Baggins, and by the third book that started to seriously
> annoy me. But she's a very real-seeming character, and her narration
> is fun.
I sympathized enough with her (there's a passage about being cranky
when insufficiently rested that's me all over) to get past that, plus
I was reading pretty quickly which probably helped too. And I begin
to think that I have a weakness for narrators who are *themselves*,
completely and undisputedly. (Just finished re-reading _The King's
Peace_, about to read _The King's Name_ for the first time.)
>> I'd recommend these, particularly to Bujold readers, but more generally,
>> to people who like their adventure with plenty of meat on the bones of
>> the characters and the culture.
> Doris Egan's other book, under the pen name "Jane Emerson," is _City
> of Diamond_, an intricately plotted space adventure with marvelous
> characters and an absolutely fascinating background. It shares the
> charms of the Ivory books, without their sometimes irritating
> preciousness, and this one actually deserves the Bujold comparison.
> However... it's the first book in a trilogy, it ends on a cliffhanger,
> and while the next two books will apparently be written eventually,
> they show no signs of appearing any time soon. According to Egan's
> website, the hold-up is not, as is usual, publishing complications,
> but her own health problems and busy schedule. So, it's great, but
> caveat emptor.
I'd heard of it and even looked at it when it was in bookstores.
Chad's read it, but we can't find it in his apartment; we're afraid
he left it in Japan. I'll keep an eye out for it; it can't be all
that hard to find used.
Kate Nepveu
>> Seconded -- I'm *very* happy to see these back in print.
>> These books are pretty near perfect light reaading. *Very*
>> snappy and amusing dialog (and monolog).
> A friend of ours just borrowed the trilogy to us. Initially
Just fyi--"borrow" doesn't go both ways in English, the person
who owns the thing "lends" it (past: "lent"). It would be
sensible if it did, of course.
> I put it away. Just a knee-jerk reaction to the combination
> of magic and spaceships. But I love all the little details,
> the wonderful dialogue, and the developing relation between
> Theodora and her employer.
Ran is also a very real-seeming character, even if he's not as
real to me as Theodora is. I think other people are right and
the first probably is the best, though.
Mike Kozlowski
Kate Nepveu <kate....@yale.edu> wrote:
>Boudewijn Rempt <bo...@rempt.xs4all.nl> wrote:
>> A friend of ours just borrowed the trilogy to us. Initially
>
>Just fyi--"borrow" doesn't go both ways in English, the person
>who owns the thing "lends" it (past: "lent"). It would be
>sensible if it did, of course.
It goes that way just fine in local Wisconsin dialect. I have to remember
consciously not to do that formally.
>> I put it away. Just a knee-jerk reaction to the combination
>> of magic and spaceships. But I love all the little details,
>> the wonderful dialogue, and the developing relation between
>> Theodora and her employer.
And I have to say: What relationship? I didn't read the third one, not
being motivated enough by the first two, but the relationship they had
seemed like one of those stereotypical book relationships -- they have
nothing in common with each other, and don't even seem to _like_ each
other, but they get thrown together by events, and they're fine as long as
the events keep coming.
The weak depiction of that romance, along with the wispy indistinctness of
the characters and the generally forgettable plotting and writing, made
these books eminently forgettable for me. They may be doing something of
the same thing as Bujold, but then again, Terry Brooks is doing the same
thing as Tolkien.
--
Mike Kozlowski
http://www.klio.org/mlk/