Rainbow Man - Hardcover

Engh, M. J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312854684 ISBN 13: 9780312854683

Publisher: Tor Books, 1993

Synopsis

Liss settles on the peaceful planet Bimran, but the natives classify her as a male because of her birth-contol implant, and they become obsessed about sending her to either Heaven or Hell

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

Utopian tragedy, cast as an open-minded outsider's exploration of a possible, perhaps even probable, future society; by the author of Arslan and Wheel of the Winds. Liss, once a crew member of a nomadic, multigeneration starship, has settled on apparently idyllic Bimran--a planet with a barter economy, no laws, government, crime, or taxes, and one where public works are accomplished by volunteers. Liss becomes known as the ``Rainbow Man,'' because of her unusually colorful garments and because legally she's regarded as a man. Moreover, since only fertile heterosexual couples may marry, and since only married couples may have sex, Liss finds herself barred from intimate relationships. She forms friendships with the unorthodox and challenging Sarelli, with former starshipper Leona, and with Doron, a handsome, soulful Selector. But Liss learns that the function of a Selector is to judge--under lawless Bimran's God- given, inviolable Commandments--those whose behavior strays from the ordinary: the very good get years of electronically maintained Bliss; the evil receive endless agonizing Punishment. Appalled, Liss finds herself ever more at odds with Bimran's implacable Commandments, despite the complication of her increasing, and mutual, love for Doron. Finally, pursued by Selectors who denounce her as a dangerous subversive, Liss flees with Leona to another starship; Doron, refusing to cast off his beliefs, will not join her, and instead remains to face an eternity of Punishment. Despite some problems with the Bimran setup--who selects the Selectors, for instance--Engh deploys her arguments with telling skill and care, and builds the narrative to a shattering climax. Memorable. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

This breezy yet thoughtful book by the author of Arslan brings to mind the works of Ursula K. LeGuin and Orson Scott Card. In the distant future, female starshipper Liss leaves her peripatetic profession to settle on the planet Bimran, a pleasant world with a cheerful populace remarkable for its honesty and probity. But after a few months, Liss begins to sense a distasteful underside to her new home's charms. How is order maintained on a world with no visible government or law? Why do her two attractive male friends frustratingly deny their obvious romantic interest in her? And what role does Bimran's enigmatic religion play in these puzzles? In conversational, powerfully simple prose, Engh creates a rich and detailed culture with understandable, though flawed, reasons for its practices. Her characters are extremely likable and three-dimensional; even the antagonists are sympathetic. The action occasionally bogs down in pedantic debates on religion, but on the whole this is a lively, absorbing page turner.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0312854684
• ISBN 13: 9780312854683
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 253