The Slave and the Free (Walk to the End of the World and Motherlines)

This is one of the wierder sci-fi-fantasy books I've read. Before I get into that, this volume contains the first two books of a four-book series written by Suzy McKee Charnas over something like thirty years. Not a prolific pace for an author, and interesting since sci-fi (I know I'm probably mixing up genres a bit here, but never mind that, okay?) authors seem to be able to churn out books one after the other a bit like a sausage factory.

So that piqued my interest - perhaps this will be an extremely writerly book, which I think would be interesting in the genre. Okay, full disclosure - I just grabbed the book off the shelf in the library because it looked interesting, and it wasn't til later that I found out the rest of the stuff.

I'm still not sure if I like reading this series. Set formulaically after an apocalypse known as The Wasting, leftover and survivor humans are eking out a grimmish existance, with a rather bizarre set of customs and mores. In the first book, consider a patriarchal society embodying everything inequality of the sexes in the extreme. In the second, consider a matriarchal society - with no men. Read the book to find out how they procreate - as the process was hinted at I hoped against fleeting hope that it would not be so... It was.

So the social order of Charnas' vision isn't really to my taste. I suppose that would have something to do with her aims in writing the book - thirty years, the first book first published in 1974 - which strikes me as coinciding far too neatly with the cycles in radical feminism. (At the end of the second book, it's starting to sound like things aren't going to go too well for any male character that might appear in the third book. I hope the library has it.) Back on track: It's almost a Swiftian trope, but I will reserve judgement until I finish the series.

I would have to say that I am appreciating the vision and development of the books. The first one was a quick, interesting read; the second I found a little harder to get through. It could have been the subject matter, it may have been the writing. In any event, my interest is aroused enough to say "Bring on the next book," which I'll do next time I'm at the library.

Still... very wierd book.