Review: Feels Like a "Daring" SF Novel of the 1960s
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 06 14, 2014
I've read some other books by this author, and liked them - but this just had a weird sort of "alternative SF of the Sexual Revolution" vibe to it that felt both dated and a bit pervy, and not in a fun way. From the use of neologisms like "Primale", "Fem" and "Mem", to the idea of genetically-engineered Dominant men and submissive women, as well as "free" women (Fems) and "free" men (Mems) who aren't as Superior as the Primales, to the Female Head of the High Council (who is the Fem female lead of the book's mother!) suggesting the Primale lead would be free to treat her as he would a genetically engineered sex slave(!), something about this book annoyed me in the same way that the GOR novels, or sexually explicit SF of the time which was largely guys getting their rocks off with every woman in sight, did.This was a Did Not Finish for me - that's how annoyed I was at it. If I was feeling generous, I might give the author the benefit of the doubt and wonder if she wasn't, in fact, satirizing the sexist literature of the time - but I guess I'm not feeling generous today.