Feminist SF for YA: Reviews

Science Fiction

Ratings: * = Barf me out! ** = Bleh. *** = OK **** = Great ***** = Excellent!!!
Age: P = Picture book ES = Elementary MS = Middle School HS = High School

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Book ------------------	Year ------	Review -------------------------------------------------------------	Rating & Age
Betsy Byars
The Computer Nut	1980s	OK, but dated story of a girl who gets contacted by an alien who writes to the terminal of her Apple II computer.	***
C.J. Cherryh http://www.cherryh.com
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Peter Dickinson
Eva	1989?	Weird!!!! Possibly the best book I've read all year. Intense, somewhat disturbing story of a girl whose brain is transferred to a chimpanzee's body. Eva's reactions, and the ways she finds to cope with being a chimp, are believeable... I liked how she kept observing the humans (including her parents) as if they were an alien species, noticing the animal-like ways that groups of people establish social hierarchies.	*****
The Changes trilogy	1980s	This series goes through various people's experiences in the Great Changes that happen where Britain is "infected" by technophobia. People become maddened whenever an engine or other complex mechanism is operating: they tear bus drivers to pieces, and smash alarm clocks. The country reverts to barbarism overnight! A few people, mostly foreigners, are unaffected. In the first book, twelve-year-old Nicola joins a band of Sikhs in search of a home. She and her friend Ajeet are excellent heroes! Grade AAA feminist cool. I haven't read the second book yet. The third one, The Weathermonger, is interesting too: a boy who can control weather, and his younger sister, escape England, then return and drive around the countryside in a 1909 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost limo, searching for the Necromancer.	****
Diane Duane
High Wizardry	1996?	The third book in the "So You Want To Be a Wizard" series. Awesomely cool story of magic, outer space, an alien airport terminal, whole planets that are alive, a magic computer, and, of course, quintessential evil. Note: The computer details are really very OFF... like in the computer nut. Kids in the know will snicker as the futuristic Apple computer starts up with a DOS prompt!	*****
Sylvia Louise Engdahl
Enchantress from the Stars	.	Plucky young space cadet anthropologist breaks the prime directive, becoming involved with people on a primitive world. Psychic powers, feudalism, magic. The way events become a fairy tale on the "primitive planet" is pretty neat. It's OK, it's science fiction, it has futuristic anthropology... doesn't mean I have to like it. Elana is always so self-deprecating, referring to how wise her father is... her boyfriend knows everything too. Blah! It's as if she has no personality other than incompetence. If she does do something right, it's by accident. Even at the end of the book, after she's gone to hell and back, and supposedly learned something, Father patiently explains what happened while she sits there feeling awed by him, for endless pages. But, if you like romance novels in general, here's one in space.	*
Journey Between Worlds	.	Another syrupy romance novel. Old fashioned pioneer girl. Another one who only does things right by accident, and who only behaves "independently" when she is petulantly angry. Can Melissa give up her dreams of a lovely suburban home on Earth and be content to stay on dusty old Mars with Pioneer Alex? Can she possibly come, in time, to share the grandeur of his dreams and bear endless little Martians? Engdahl's characters never have mothers-- only these horribly wise fathers and boyfriends. Barfy. On the other hand, some women I respect actually like this book. Judge for yourself.	*
Nancy Etchemendy N. Etchemendy
The Watchers of Space	.	A boy and his sister save their spaceship.	** and a half ES
Stranger from the Stars	.	.	.
The Crystal City	.	.	.
Nancy Farmer
The Ear, The Eye and the Arm	1995	The three children of an African general run off for a day's adventure, and are kidnapped. The picture of Zimbabwe, 200 years in the future: crowded, gritty, intense, polluted. I wouldn't say that gender related issues are central to the book, but they are definitely there. Mutant detectives, garbage dump eco-systems, mile-high buildings, and a humorous kid's-eye view of the messed up adults around them.	**** MS/HS
H.M. Hoover
Children of Morrow	.	Tia and Rabbit are miserable because they are so different from everyone in their village. Could there be anyone else left in the world, so long after the Great Destruction? A very Andre Norton-esque plot. Their journey to the sea is exactly the sort of thing I used to imagine before falling asleep-- survival among the crumbling skyscrapers.	**** MS
The Delikon	.	Another psychologically intense book by Hoover. Although she looks human, Varina is part of an insectoid alien race, the Delikon, that has enslaved Earth for thousands of years. She is horrified when she sees revolution and war break out- realizing that she's all too human.	*** HS
Another Heaven, Another Earth	1981	.	.
The Dawn Palace	.	.	.
The Winds of Mars	.	Annalyn discovers some unpleasant truths about her family, the rulers of Mars. I like her robot, Hector. Not up to the usual awesome quality of writing from Hoover, but still enjoyable.	*** MS
Monica Hughes
Invitation to the Game	1996	2154 dystopian teenage angst. Way cool. Generation X of the future-- overeducated kids get out of school and discover that there are no jobs for them. Ten friends, male and female, make a home in an abandoned warehouse and try to make their dreams come true.	***** MS-HS
The Dream Catcher	1986	Girl in a telepathic society just doesn't fit in. Could there be anyone in the world outside the domed city?	**** MS
The Crystal Drop	.	Megan and her younger brother travel across Canada. The year: 2011. Civilization: pretty much non-existent.	.
The Isis Trilogy	.	A space colony and its problems. Complex characters.	.
Diana Wynne Jones
Hexwood	.	.	.
Annette Klause
Alien Secrets	.	.	.
Tanith Lee
The Silver Metal Lover	.	Another futuristic romance novel. But I actually LIKE this one. An unhappy rich girl falls in love with a robot and runs away from home. The writing is good.	***
Ursula K. Leguin
Fisherman of the Inland Sea	.	.	.
Madeline L'Engle
A Wrinkle in Time	.	Two words: Vastly Overrated.	**
Margaret Mahy
The Greatest Show Off Earth	.	A girl in a space circus. I can't wait to read this, when I find it.	.
Raging Robots and Unruly Uncles	.	Penelope and her cousins run away together after building an evil robot and a good robot that drive their uncles crazy! I love the Parrot Restaurant, Transportation Service, and Library. This book is excellent and hilarious.	***** ES/MS
Anne McCaffrey
Dragonsong	.	.	.
Dragonsinger	.	.	.
Hayao Miyazaki
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind	.	A princess in a future earth saves her city from an invasion. Giant mutant insects. The world is taken over by the polluted forest and its deadly spores. Through her experiments and her courageous contact with the insects, Nausicaa discovers the secret of the forest. There is more adult version of this in black and white. This book is stills from the anime film- which is also excellent.	***** ES/MS
Andre Norton About Andre (Alice Mary) Norton
Breed to Come	.	Outcasts from a civilization of giant mutant cats, discovering technology in an ancient city. Evil giant mutant rats.	***
Many more books	.	To be reviewed soon.	***
Kenneth Oppel
Dead Water Zone	.	Tough kids Paul and Monica investigate an experiment gone awry.	.
John Peel
Uptime, Downtime	.	Time travel...	.
Doris Piserchia Doris Piserchia Page
Star Rider	1974	Lone (re-named Jade, later on) and her mount Hinx roam the stars looking for the fabled planet of Doubleluck. She is a jak, a roving space girl with a pioneer spirit, bonded for life with her powerful, dimension warping, telepathic space dog/horse. This big, muscley, smart fourteen year old girl and her brave mount answer all questions, expose all hypocrisy, and save the entire universe from stagnation and death. What could be more satisfying? Don't miss Jade's love-hate relationship with a buff, jaw-clenching, Clint Eastwood-esque dude named Big Jak. Some mystery and pathos is added by a race of weird grinning creatures, the varks, custodians of the galaxy, who fly by flatulence and can change minds with other species.	***** HS
The Dimensioneers	.	.	.
Spaceling	.	.	.
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Pamela Sargent
Alien Child	.	.	.
The Watchstar	.	.	.
Earthseed	.	.	.
Homesmind	.	.	.
Pamela F. Service
Stinker From Space	1988	Alien agent Tsynq Yr accidentally moves into the body of a skunk. Karen and Jonathan help him in his mission.	ES
Stinker's Return	.	Tsynq Yr, still in a skunk's body, returns to Earth on another mission.	.
Stephanie Spinner
Aliens for Dinner	.	.	.
Sydney Van Scyoc
Sunwaifs	.	More eco-science fiction, with fascinating mythological twist. As is so pleasantly usual (at least to ex-angst-ridden-goths like me), Van Syoc features a mutant teenage girl who is obsessed with death and violence. This one, Corrie, gets to have a better ending than the one in Starmother. Outcast teenagers grow up to be gods; transgender echoes, mystical drug visions, soul-shaking encounters with Mother Destiny, the planet itself. Mythology fans will like this.	**** HS
Starmother	.	Funky mutated tribal people and a strict, patriarchal religious society clash, with the plucky young space cadet caught in the middle. Interesting eco-fable. I was sad when the blood-lust of the crazed, mud covered, mutant girl led her to her doom.	**** HS
Lawrence Yep
Monster Makers, Inc.	.	.	** MS