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A review by ibbys
More Women of Wonder: Science Fiction Novelettes by Women About Women by Joanna Russ, Kate Wilhelm, Pamela Sargent, Ursula K. Le Guin, Leigh Brackett, C.L. Moore, Josephine Saxton, Joan D. Vinge
3.0
“The Day Before the Revolution” is what drew me to this collection since it's a prequel to one of my favorite novels, The Dispossessed. Alien planet + female-led radical politics + emotional fidelity + empathy toward elderly women = a match made in heaven. I have to get my hands on some more of Ursula K. Le Guin’s science fiction.
The story that I found myself surprised to enjoy was “Tin Soldier.” There were some glimpses of inexpert prose, but it had innovative sf world-building details that were fun to chew on, plus a romance plot complicated by almost-speed-of-light travel and cyborg longevity. Cheesiness surfaced at times, but there was beauty, too.
The two first stories, “Jirel Meets Magic” and “The Lake of the Gone Forever,” started the anthology unimpressively. The florid prose of "Jirel Meets Magic" was icky, and the story more resembled fantasy than sf. "The Lake of the Gone Forever" betrayed a white/Western (Terran?) savior complex toward one-dimensional, oppressed alien women. The stories are ordered chronologically according to when they were published, meaning that these two were written in the early years of the genre (1930s,40s). They stand in the collection more for the sake of feminist sf’s history, rather than for their quality.
“The Second Inquisition and “The Funeral” each charmed me in different ways but ultimately didn’t hold my attention strongly. I enjoyed “The Second Inquisition” for its decision to place an alien time traveler in the setting of the 1920s. The ideas in “The Funeral” seemed better articulated in The Handmaid’s Tale. Both of those stories did something exciting to complicate the genre, but had their own foibles.
"The Power of Time" had a split narrative style between a woman in the 70s and a woman in the future. It was an OK story, probably not one I'll remember from the collection.
Even with some dated elements, this collection holds up fairly against time. I feel kinship with these female science fiction authors, as if we were all part of a similar world. Definitely gave me a lot to think about in writing my own sf stories.
The story that I found myself surprised to enjoy was “Tin Soldier.” There were some glimpses of inexpert prose, but it had innovative sf world-building details that were fun to chew on, plus a romance plot complicated by almost-speed-of-light travel and cyborg longevity. Cheesiness surfaced at times, but there was beauty, too.
The two first stories, “Jirel Meets Magic” and “The Lake of the Gone Forever,” started the anthology unimpressively. The florid prose of "Jirel Meets Magic" was icky, and the story more resembled fantasy than sf. "The Lake of the Gone Forever" betrayed a white/Western (Terran?) savior complex toward one-dimensional, oppressed alien women. The stories are ordered chronologically according to when they were published, meaning that these two were written in the early years of the genre (1930s,40s). They stand in the collection more for the sake of feminist sf’s history, rather than for their quality.
“The Second Inquisition and “The Funeral” each charmed me in different ways but ultimately didn’t hold my attention strongly. I enjoyed “The Second Inquisition” for its decision to place an alien time traveler in the setting of the 1920s. The ideas in “The Funeral” seemed better articulated in The Handmaid’s Tale. Both of those stories did something exciting to complicate the genre, but had their own foibles.
"The Power of Time" had a split narrative style between a woman in the 70s and a woman in the future. It was an OK story, probably not one I'll remember from the collection.
Even with some dated elements, this collection holds up fairly against time. I feel kinship with these female science fiction authors, as if we were all part of a similar world. Definitely gave me a lot to think about in writing my own sf stories.