5/12 of Heaven

Silence Leigh is a female starship pilot. There are not too many of these around. The different thing about these books is that pilots fly ships not via any particular sort of technology, but more an ability to interact with reality, a little like the Amberites, to change the dimensions around them so that they get to where they want to go. Silence here is basically taken prisoner by two men, and forced to use her abilities to serve them, as a way out of her economic problems. The Hegemony treats women poorly, and she is cheated out of a rightful inheritance, but a marriage of convenience with these men enables them to continue on their way. She finds out they are in an underground movement devoted to working about the Hegemony. Thus begins a larger conflict.

I felt that Scott was trying a little too hard to get Silence and her husbands into deeper and deeper trouble. Almost like they were living Murphy's Law. However, I still enjoyed the book and I really appreciated the way Scott handles Silence being a female pilot in an extremely male-dominated field. Silence does not feel inferior, but she realizes that due to some planets' customs life as a female pilot is more difficult. With reluctance, Silence realizes that she must partner up with two men in order to escape the mess her uncle has left her in. With that said, Silence still shines as the heroine of the book. The ending really leaves you hanging and now I have to find the second book, which is out of print.

Melissa Scott has played with a lot of conventional genres and SF story elements, but her best work pushes some of the boundaries. In Five-Twelfths of Heaven, she creates an unusual - and successful - cross between fantasy and science fiction, as well as continuing her tradition of dealing with gender roles and society.The universe of Five-Twelfths is a fairly standard one in some ways. The Hegemon, a widening empire of many planets, is a tightly-controlled, autocratic society that places extreme limits on women; women must be veiled at all times, aren't allowed to own property or take legal actions, etc. However, the fantasy element comes in with the elements of star travel, which are much like magic, and especially the magi, who are able to use spells to control both Purgatory (the celestial, partially supermaterial state attainable by material creatures) and Hell (the submaterial state). The blending of the typical SF and unusual fantasy elements make this world a unique and complete creation, interesting in its own right.The plot is also fairly good. Five-Twelfths is the story of Silence, a woman in the very male-restricted profession of pilot. Caught up in circumstances beyond her control, she makes an unusual alliance, finds herself pitted against the Hegemony, and discovers that she has powers in excess of anything anyone expected. All in all, a satisfying read and much more interesting than is usual in science fantasy blends. Scott makes the most of her talents in this book - pity it's out of print, but many libraries will have a copy. (NB: Five-Twelfths of Heaven is the first in a trilogy - the sequels are Silence in Solitude and The Empress of Earth - that should definitely be read in order.)