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Book review: The Door into Sunset
Dec. 25th, 2008 12:31 pmToday's book review is The Door into Sunset by Diane Duane.
This is the third book in The Tale of the Five. The first, The Door into Fire, was written in 1979. The Door into Shadow was written in 1984. This one in 1992. At the end of this one, it says there's a fourth book coming, The Door into Starlight, but it's still not been written. I had read the first two, but long enough ago that I only had vague memories. If memory serves, they are as good as this one, they'd help in understanding this one a bit (though not totally necessary), and they might actually be easier to get, since they (Fire and Shadow that is) in an omnibus called The Sword and the Dragon in 2002.
This is a world that is so intensely appealing that I find it genuinely painful that I've reached the end of the book. It does have flaws -- from made-up languages that are just too hard to pronounce and get in the way to plot elements that don't seem fair and magic that doesn't seem to be bounded by much. It's not so much about the story itself as about the characters it illuminates and the attitudes of the world. There's one character in particular that I'm really painfully infatuated with, but all the other heroes and their associates are folks I'd really like to know. I wouldn't actually want to live in a world where life in general is that hard, but I wish I could live in a world with these attitudes toward love. We assume there are individuals who harbor jealousy, but the culture that makes a virtue of it seems absent. Multiple marriage is perfectly acceptable, as is sex outside of marriage, and if two people love each other, their genders are no barrier. This world also has a Goddess whose is present but whose influence is limited in a way that is partially explained and makes sense. Rulers actually rule for the benefit of their countries. Their people can know their leaders and trust them. In so many ways, it is what a world should be.
9 out of 10.
( plot summary )
This is the third book in The Tale of the Five. The first, The Door into Fire, was written in 1979. The Door into Shadow was written in 1984. This one in 1992. At the end of this one, it says there's a fourth book coming, The Door into Starlight, but it's still not been written. I had read the first two, but long enough ago that I only had vague memories. If memory serves, they are as good as this one, they'd help in understanding this one a bit (though not totally necessary), and they might actually be easier to get, since they (Fire and Shadow that is) in an omnibus called The Sword and the Dragon in 2002.
This is a world that is so intensely appealing that I find it genuinely painful that I've reached the end of the book. It does have flaws -- from made-up languages that are just too hard to pronounce and get in the way to plot elements that don't seem fair and magic that doesn't seem to be bounded by much. It's not so much about the story itself as about the characters it illuminates and the attitudes of the world. There's one character in particular that I'm really painfully infatuated with, but all the other heroes and their associates are folks I'd really like to know. I wouldn't actually want to live in a world where life in general is that hard, but I wish I could live in a world with these attitudes toward love. We assume there are individuals who harbor jealousy, but the culture that makes a virtue of it seems absent. Multiple marriage is perfectly acceptable, as is sex outside of marriage, and if two people love each other, their genders are no barrier. This world also has a Goddess whose is present but whose influence is limited in a way that is partially explained and makes sense. Rulers actually rule for the benefit of their countries. Their people can know their leaders and trust them. In so many ways, it is what a world should be.
9 out of 10.
( plot summary )