SOJALS rating:

Mediocre (2/5)

I first read this in January 2001.

The colony ship Ibn Battula had successfully reached the world of Miccail but a disastrous accident destroyed most of the ship. Only a handful of people survived on the surface to continue the colony. By enforced breeding of the women, the colony seized its small chance to survive and struggled on.

Years later accidental deaths due to the harsh alien environment and an increasing number of birth defects and deformities threatens the colony's existence. Some of these deformities are mutations of the sexual organs. and for a colony whose only hope of continued existence is in increasing the birth-rate, those afflicted are repugnant and ostracised.

Anais suffers from this strange deformity leaving her sexuality in doubt

This is a horribly believable tale of intolerance and man's inhumanity to man. Three intertwined stories tell of the indigenous aliens prior to their extinction, the solitary life of Gabriella, one of the original colonists following the death of the women she loved, and of Anais who years later attempts to gain some understanding of both the original aliens and the changes happening to herself and her people.

So what did I think of it? Rather good, actually. I'm not a fan of novels weaving separate tales that relate but don't actually connect, but this still made it as, in my opinion, a worthwhile book.

What's it got? aliens, sex and sexual prejudice.