Earthsong

This is presented as the third volume of the "Native Tongue" trilogy. In a sense this is true, since it uses the same universe and is set at a later date than the first two volumes. In most respects it is not, since it departs from the main theme ("language sets the stage for perception") and the grand design started in the first two volumes and picks up other ideas.This is much less a true sci fi novel than the first two volumes and it is even more tongue-in-cheek. If nothing else, this book is highly imaginative and a pleasure to read.

This is the third book in a series of three, and is clearly the inferior of it's predecesors. In Native Tongue and Judas Rose, Suzette Haden Elgin wrote provokatively about the role of language in a fictional future where woman are second class citizens. Earthsong simulataneously abandons the major subject of the previous two books (the emergence of a "woman's language", laadan) and at the same time will make absolutely no sense to people who haven't read the earlier books. Also, many of the characters are mere snapshots (introduced to give us a flavor of the range of women's viewpoints in this new society) and the lack of deep characterizations and fragmented narrative can be disconcering, particularly if you like your fantasy with clear connections and resolution. I don't mean to sound totally negative, for there are some thought-provoking ideas here- particularly a new way to solve the problem of human starvation. But these ideas stretch the boundries of scientific credibility. For all these reasons, I give Earthsong a 4.