A Woman of the Iron People

This stunning novel is in the best tradition of first contact novels. The main character, an anthropologist, somehow manages to keep herself alive among challenging circumstances, and finds the right informant to learn about a pre-industrial culture on a wildly beautiful and unspoiled planet. Arnason's writing is genial and comforting. She has a knack for immediacy--it feels like the protagonist is a close friend imparting an adventure. Dialogue is snappy yet meticulous. The plot is strong and maintains stamina. This is sci-fi with its roots in an eco/feminist perspective similar to Le Guin or Tepper. All of the above and a page turner too!

Eleanor Arnason is a gifted writer, of whom, I am sure we willbe hearing alot more from. The story is magical. The onlyexception I have with the book, is the future written aboutby Eleanor of earth. The book is copyrighted 1991 and the story is set at least two centuries in the future and the authorstill depicts a historically viable soviet union and a marxist, Engeliansocialist future, which on the face of the story, is absurd.Also why do they keep putting a picture of a woman holding askull of the cover of the hardback and paperback? What does thishave to do with the story?

There's always some trepidation when one begins to re-read a fondly-remembered book. Will it hold up? Will it be as good as I remember? Happily, Ms. Arnason's wonderful prose soon caught me once again inher spell....Lixia, the viewpoint character, is a Hawaiian anthropologist from an Earth still recovering from the excesses of the 20th century. She's nerving herself up to enter her first alien village at Sigma Draconis --'There was no point in sneaking around. If they caught me spying, I'd be in real trouble. The best thing was to walk right in.The technique hadn't worked in New Jersey, of course. The people there had tried to sacrifice me to their god, the Destroyer of Cities...'Nia, a woman of the Iron People, is a smith and a pervert - she once loved a man. Her neighbors drove her from their village in disgrace. Now she has a smithy near a village of the Copper People -- the village Lixia had come to study. Lixia's first contact doesn't go well -- she is driven out. Nia takes her in, befriends her, and they become travel companions. The next village they visit is kinder: "This person without fur is amazing. She knows nothing about anything. But she is willing to listen, and she doesn't interrupt."Lixia and Nia are joined by Dexter Seawarrior, Ph.D., an Angeleno aborigine. His people prize mellowness and truth; Dexter is devious and ambitious. He left his tribe, went to school, and is now a tenured professor at Berkeley....The book is filled with complicated people, some of them human,muddling through life."When a shamaness of an alien village, having handled for the momentthe problem of an alien intruder, walks away complaining aloud, 'Why do these things always happen to me?' the reader knows she's in trustworthy hands. High marks." -- Suzy McKee Charnas-- plus more nice cover blurbs from P. Sargent, Ch. Platt, MJ Engh, John Sladek, Gw. Jones & UK Le Guin. They liked it, I liked it, and you will too.Happy reading!Pete Tillman

The world-building in this book was superb. Set on the home planet of the only other sentient species ever found, the characters in this book are anthropologists who are trying to understand this new kind of intelligent life. In the process, they discover more about themselves than the objects of their studies. Listed as a Utopian novel in many reviews, it is not. However, it does include a distinct future Earth (in the human anthropologist's memories, actions, and attitudes) that could be described as a Utopia of sorts. This is a book for those of us who like to think, and it's one of the best books of this kind I have ever read. Do try it.