Reviews: Diana Rivers

Journey to Zelindar: The Personal Account of Sair of Semasi (Book 986 of the Hadra Archives) (1986: Lace Publications)
Daughters of the Great Star (Book 57 of the Hadra Archives, as recorded by Tazmirrel of Nemanthi under the guidance of Alyeeta the Witch) (1992: Lace Publications)
The Hadra (Book 57, Part 2, of the Hadra Archives, as recorded by Tazzil of Zelindar for Alyeeta the Witch) (1995: Lace Publications)
Clouds of War (2000 ?)
The Red Line of Yarmald (planned & mentioned at the end of The Hadra; sequel to Clouds of War; forthcoming 2002 ?)

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This series is likely to be overlooked in its women's bookstore ghetto, which is unfortunate, since it's at least as good as much of the sf that gets published by mainstream sf presses.

Journey to Zelindar was the first of these novels published, and although Rivers is a good writer, this is the least sophisticated of her three books. In this book, a woman, Sair of Semasi, escapes her own country after a gang rape and is taken in by the Hadra, a country of women. The Hadra have been given special powers by the goddess, and defend their country through these powers. Journey is a lesbian separatist utopia, and this novel charts the growth of Sair and the events taking place in this world, as well as exploring the society of the Hadra.

Daughters of the Great Star, followed by The Hadra, are two closely related stories that follow the development of this society. Daughters has an "Escape to Witch Mountain" plot, in which the females born during the passing of a star all have special powers, and are consequently persecuted. The story is told by Tazmirrel, later known as Tazzil, and is altogether a rather coherent and well-told narrative. Characterization is good, and these two stories succeed rather well. -- lq, 6/25/00