Elizabeth A. Lynn

Trigger Alert - Torture, Sadism, Themes of Incest

And yet somehow, with a book that opens with the main character undergoing horrifying, sadistic torture at the hands of another main character, I was pulled into the world of this book. Or the otherworld, as the case may be. On the world of Chabad, in the Sardonyx Sector, Dana Ikoro tries to smuggle the illegal drug dorazine and is captured. Instead of a court and trial, he is handed over to Zed, scion of the Yago family, who run the illegal show more trade of dorazine as a drug to clear the minds and emotions of the vast network of slaves traded on Chabad every year. For Dana, his adventure has just begun.

Dana becomes the pilot and slave for the head of the Yago family, Rhani, older sister to Zed and Zed's first love interest. It is never explicit whether they engaged in physical incest, but the passion the two siblings felt for each other was never in question. When their mother finds them in the garden as teenagers, she suddenly separates them for the next few years and as a result, Zed's love for his sister becomes a sick and twisted sadism.

The story is gripping and told without shame or apology. Which, given the social standing of the Yago family on this world and the wealth and power they represent, is understandable. Dana finds himself a member of this household, all too aware that any infraction he makes in his new-found role will result in another round of torture. And he undertakes his new duties, becomes Rhani's bodyguard, and does everything he can to survive on a barren, treeless world where even the fruit has to be brought in by ship transport.

Again, the themes are harrowing, though they are an undercurrent to the book, and Lynn is such a brilliant writer that the story, and Dana's survival, are the main focus of this book. show less

Lynn was not an author known to me, so I came to this short collection cold. In the first story, a wizard runs a trading empire, and when his CEO, so to speak, betrays him, he imprisons him as water in the sea. Some time later, he frees him, because a rival wizard has been upsetting the balance of power. The two disguise themselves to visit the other wizard, but he sees through their disguises. Fortunately, after several months of drugged gaslighting, the CEO chap regains his senses, and the show more world is set right. So far, so consolatory. The second story, however, is anything but. Three sisters are noted for their beauty, intelligence and martial prowess. A mysterious woman appears and challenges them to combat. One accepts and is killed. Some time later, the mysterious challenger reappears, and this time the second sister is killed in combat. So the third sister hunts down the killer, who turns out to be an aspect of the Moon, and she becomes her lover. Years later, the sister decides to return to her family, but it seems decades have passed. But she stays and lives out her life, mourning her dead sisters and lost lover. The final story reads more like mythology than epic fantasy. A goddess entrusts command of the five winds to a reclusive astronomer who lives in a cave in the mountains. The goddess’s son decide to check this out, and becomes the woman’s lover. She has two girls, who grow faster than human girls. He leaves and steals the cloak the woman uses to command the winds. Chaos ensues. Eventually, the goddess returns. But the woman has disappeared and the two daughters are only just managing to survive. I don’t think I’ve read anything by Lynn before, and I have the impression I’ve seen her name chiefly on the covers of sharecropped novels… although checking on isfdb.org, I see that’s completely false and two of her three standalone novels are, in fact, science fiction. (The 1983 UK paperback edition of one has quite striking cover art.) The three stories in Tales from a Vanished Country are really good, which was completely unexpected. They make clever use of fantasy tropes, and are deeply feminist, even the first one which features no female characters. I think I’ll track down copies of those two science fiction novels… show less

Definitely a half-full, half-empty book. How you rate this will depend on whether you focus on its weaknesses or strengths. The weaknesses include (1) a deadly boring opening chapter that sets up the main characters: Dana, the low-rent smuggling Starcaptain, Rhani, the naive rich slave-owning mistress of the House of Yago on the planet Chabad, and Zed, her sadistic slave-capturing incestuous brother (2) that cast of characters! (3) an abrupt shift in the final chapters to some very weakly show more motivated plot mechanics. The strengths are in the primary center of the book, beginning with Dana's torture and mental subjugation by Zed, followed by his life as a slave and sex-toy / lover? to Rhani, and his involvement with but ambivalence towards the those attempting to overthrow the slave economy on Chabad. As soon as this story begins, the emotions and characterizations are light-years better than the opening chapter. The debate on slavery is also far more nuanced than most SF tackling this topic. Dana does not join the anti-slavery movement. Members of that movement are often criminal in their behavior and on the "other side" as far as plot goes. The model of slavery is time-limited, e.g., ten years, only applied as a criminal sentence, and drugs limit misery. The fundamental evils of the system are portrayed in small scenes, conversations, and reflections.

Recommended but you might hate it. You might throw it across the room. You might be right. But don't give up on it in the early setup chapters. Give it a good 100 pages and then decide. show less

I first read Lynn's "early" books -- all of them -- between 1979 and 1984 or so, when they were new. "The Northern Girl" was probably my favorite then, and I just re-read it over the last few days. (And: I bought the e-book edition and I am very grateful to Richard Curtis and his crew at ereads.com for re-publishing Lynn's work for a new generation.)

There's one little scene in this book, almost at the end, that really stuck with me for years, and which I could visualize so clearly. It's a show more brief description of a character, but when I re-read it again this afternoon, it was just as lovely as it had been then, and made me feel nostalgic and warm.

At the time the "Tornor" trilogy came out I suppose "mainstream" SF/Fantasy was not full of non-hetero relationships or really strong women; perhaps that's part of what attracted me to these: the plain matter-of-fact way the characters in that world had relationships, and whether those were homo or hetero was basically irrelevant -- part of the ordinary background.

Lynn's actual prose style is rather spare and direct; not as "lush" or detailed as I often like in a book. But she does a good job of defining this world, making us see the people and the city, and giving us glimpses of a much wider world. And I always wanted more more more... Unfortunately, she stopped writing in the mid-1980s, and we will probably never get any further books about this interesting world. We'll have to cherish the ones we have, I guess -- but that thought made me sad when I finished reading today. show less