SOJALS rating:

Very good (4/5)

I first read this on the 13th November 1986 and most recently on the 10th August 2006

In the Hegemony that controls the known worlds of a future human empire, Einsteinian science is scorned and the electronic arts are anathema.

Travel between the farflung planets of the empire is via a metaphysical realm, Starships enter and are navigated through this realm by arcane astrological maps and charts.

Five twelfths of Heaven is the point at which one leaves normal space and moves into this bizarre dimension.

Silence Leigh is a starship pilot, a very unusual occupation for a woman. However, there's something even more unusual about Silence, and that's very special indeed but you'll have to find out for yourself when you read this fabulous book.

This really is one of my favourite novels. Melissa's writing is good, but it is this amazing future world she has created that makes this novel live on so enjoyably in one's imagination.

The premise in this novel is that FTL travel is possible but that it cannot be achieved through scientific means, in fact they are the antithesis of the magical techniques required. Indeed the presence of the computers will almost certainly prevent any magic work

This is the story of a young woman's voyage of self-discovery, and in her case (ah, so rarely in everybody else's) she discovers her unique gift