Singer from the Sea, The Fresco, Grass by Sheri Tepper
None as good as The Gate to Women's Country.

Singer from the Sea was weak in that I never felt close to the heroine. Despite being a women in a society that treated women like nothing, she still felt very light. Didn't seem to be enough exploration of any fear, etc she must have felt. Also the world felt a little too light. A little too unlikely also. The evil powers seemed a bit too stupid. Although probably no dumber than George W. Bush.

There was something like the ancient greek play here from Women's Country, in the Myth of the Singer. Suggestive of Tepper following something of a formula. All in all this one just wasn't quite good enough to be worth the time.

The Fresco was a bit better. I was drawn in strongly in the beginning. The world was very real (our world). The heroine was also very real. Much better than in Singer from the Sea. But then once the main plot really got started, the heroine again became a bit light. And it became quite similar to Singer. The aliens were certainly well thought out. Tepper is very intelligent. Very wise. The setting sort of disappeared as the plot got going though. The evil people again were simplistic. But perhaps real evil is. This was sort of a feel good fantasy novel. Bordered on silly, really.

Grass. Thanks to a kindle sample I realized I read this long ago. I remembered the "hound" staring at her. Don't remember a lot though. Just that it's another absurd society unquestioning of harmful, silly social traditions.

I do think highly of Tepper though. Hard to say what more I want here. There is strong questioning of social norms. There are societies with alternative norms. I don't know. I've very little in the way of insights here. I think the mormon bigamists society in Women's Country has stuck with me the most. That book in general was far better than these three. Perhaps what was strongest to me in The Fresco was the idea that some people live like they really don't care if they live and like they kind of really want to drag you down with them.

In The Fresco, the heroine had no ace up her sleeve. Nor really in Gate to Women's Country. She did in Singer from the Sea but this fact was partially hidden from the audience. So Tepper's novels lack in this regard for me. They all suffer injustice but the injustice feels too light for my taste. I want the extreme dystopian anguish of Drizzt and that sort of ace also, that the audience is pretty well aware, Tepper only hints. Tepper leaves a lot of mystery, lots of bare hints, which is mostly OK, but not when it comes to the ace. Also sometimes she withholds in a clunky fasion.

The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri Tepper

A fantasy fiction alternate society where the vast majority of men are considered to be violent, monsterous creatures that shouldn't be allowed to reproduce and that shouldn't be allowed to be a part of civilized society. This book suggests that roughly 5% of men are decent and that we perhaps should use eugenics to rid ourselves of the violence, power seeking activities which permeate our world.

Beautifully done. Slightly reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird. Advocation of eugenics is not an easy one to manage but it's done very well here. I strongly agreed with the points Tepper made throughout. This here is a template to remember.

Similar to Bakker the main character has no ace up his sleeve, instead it's other side characters. Also the injustice isn't glaringly blunt.

Plot develops quite slowly, I almost didn't get into it. The flashes to the greek play I didn't like at the time but in hindsight seemed brilliant. Yet if attempting to appeal to a large audience are probably a mistake.

Beautiful analogies. That so many men perhaps could be good but are coerced, pressured into being "manly"/"not gay" and thus becoming harmful ugly creatures. In regular society thus permeates. In this society they thus choose to stay in Warrior country. To be one of the few "sissies" who comes back to Women's Country takes an exceptional man. But it's stark and easier to see whereas in our real world we can't see that the same thing is happening on a hourly basis, in our social norms.

Loved the bigamist Mormon society at the end also.

This story is not as capitivating as Hobb, Martin, or even Bakker. But the ideas could be life changing to a person who reads this at the right time. As such I'd say it's the best fantasy fiction I've ever read. A much more important author than Bakker who edges into tediousness but whom I still read because of the side characters hidden aces.