Reviews

The Color of Neanderthal Eyes / And Strange at Ecbatan the Trees by Michael Bishop, James Tiptree Jr.

girlofsteel377's review

3.0

My view of this book (or half of the double book) is vividly colored by the fact that Tiptree is actually Alice Sheldon. She really reveled in her macho male role--part of her "deceit" was that she really was more capable at so many of the masculine pursuits than many of her contemporary male sci-fi writers. So the relationship between the spaceman (for the first bunch of pages I had assumed the main character is female, but again, the aforementioned coloring) and the alien race is quite titillating.

There is still a lot of the "oh you poor uncivilized race" interaction and a patronizing quality to the description of the people. But still a good, quick read. Lots of action (and alien romance, hubba hubba).

shane_tiernan's review

4.0

I only read the Bishop story but it was really good.

porsane's review

3.0

I do enjoy James Tiptree Junior, but this novella felt a bit tired and dated. Human meets alien, falls in love with alien , saves her species. It's adequately written, but nothing all that special. The Michael Bishop novella, however, is a gem. I think he's one of those tragically under appreciated sf authors that more people should read. His novella, about a zoo of Homo sapiens, subtly genetically engineered into an emotionally stunted underclass and a passionate over class by post humans is a complicated tale of loss, inevitability and fragility. On the surface it's about the losses of war, but there was enough layering and shading in it to remind me of Gene Wolfe.