Set on Stratos, a planet ruled by women who have genetically altered themselves and the tiny minority of men in their society, this novel marks Brin's attempt to write in the science fiction subgenre of "feminist science fiction". Most of the time, this genre is also "utopian feminist science fiction", and the fact that this book isn't seems to have ticked off a lot of a feminist science fiction writers.

There are certainly grounds to criticize the book - it is a little overbroad in painting gender stereotypes, but arguably that is because most of the women are clones (although the main character and her twin sister are not, they are second class "vars"). The book is also overlong, and somehow it feels rushed. A fair amount of time is spent with the characters screwing about with the game "Life", which is supposed to be the passion of the seafaring men of the planet, which to me, stretches credulity (since, for most people, Life gets tedious after a reasonably short time).

The novel focuses on the adventures of Maia - one of a pair of twin "vars", cast out of her comfortable clone-run family business with her twin to find their fortunes. The comfortable, semi-technological utopia that has been set up on the world has been disrupted by a visitor from the outside: a man from the star faring culture that exists off world. Maia travels for a bit, finding out that some people are trying to upset the current society by eliminating the men of the world entirely. Maia is kidnapped, escapes with the help of Renna, the off-worlder, has a bunch of adventures in which she learns that everything about her world is not what she assumed. She discovers off-world technology that appears to have been suppressed by the ruling elite and becomes a political symbol (most especially to a crew of virtuous men who she had helped earlier), finally coming out against those in power to try to pull Stratos out of its enforced technological backwardness.

As I wrote before, this novel is not a great novel - it paints with a broad brush, the villains are a little too transparent, many characters seem to behave in irrational and nonsensical ways; however, it still does a good job at confronting and deflating the silly "feminist utopias" that many science fiction authors are fond of. It is also, at its core, a pretty good story without referencing the political and social commentary. ( )

This book is a fun adventure novel, but hardly compelling science fiction. A set of twins set out to seek their fortune in a world run by matriarchial clans of genetic clones. The gender issues are drawn with a wide and sloppy brush, the characters are a little flat, and while entertaining, it's rather shallow. Pick it up for the pirates, pernicious plots, and puzzles. ( )

I really hated this book. I picked it up because Brin and Suzy Charnas got into a heated discussion about the book on a discussion list I was on, and I was intrigued. Brin wanted to write a feminist utopian novel and got all irate and obnxious when folks who write and read feminist spec fic found it offensive and declared that it missed its mark. I have to agree. This book reads very much as a male view of what a woman would find to be utopian -- and as such reflects perhaps a bit too much of his limited understanding of 'what women want' and how we sees women in the world.

But points for trying, right? ( )

An engaging adventure story in an interesting social background. There are many unique points in this novel:
* What if human can self-clone in addition to mating as means to replicate?
* "Traditional" underdog adventure story in which the main character is treated unfairly.
* The game of Life as a universal computing machine.

David Brin somehow blends these ingredients to result in a really interesting story.

My complaint is the rushed feel to parts 3 & 4 of the novel. And the ending does not feel satisfying to me. Overall a great read. ( )

I especially liked that the characters didn't get partnered up in the end.