Maxwell, Ann - A Dead God Dancing

[oyceter]

The planet of Tal-Lith's sun is about to consume the planet. To try and save the people, the Concord has sent a team of five to Tal-Lith to try to use the planet's religion to convince the people to move off-planet. There's Lhar the Fearless Leader, Nevin the Naive, T'Mero the Brawn, Diri the Sex Kitten, and Syza, the healer who can no longer heal. Although their entire plan depends on Diri, who is of a race that happens to fit the description of the Tal-Lith goddess Lith, the bulk of the book is about Lhar and Syza.

So far, this is my favorite of Maxwell's books (including her Elizabeth Lowell books). I think part of it is my unexpected mood shift from romance to pulp SF—I started Timeshadow Rider again for the fourth time and it's finally holding my interest—but part is also because I love the cold, tortured heroine. (I was so tempted to put a Twitter hashtag #iamsopredictable here.) It is so odd reading her SF after having read quite a few of her romances back in the day; I can still see much of the same gender politics and character types, but seeing them in here SF brings a whole new twist to it.

Lhar is brusque and bossy like most of her alpha males, but it makes much more sense, given that the entire team depends on him to lead them through the mission alive. Diri also resembles the Evil Sexy Women from romances, but rather than condemning her, Maxwell simply notes that Diri's culture isn't given to monogamous relationships and shows several times that the men being jealous over her is their problem, not hers. And although she's tried to have traumatized, cold heroines like Syza, it's nice to have the reason be emotional manipulation and planet-wide destruction rather than the usual rape in romances. (Seriously, romances. I love you, but can we please not attribute all female trauma to rape, losing a child, or emotionally dysfunctional romance?)

Also, there is a scene in the middle of the book that reads like the template of the "foreplay but not yet sex" scene in all her romances that I've read, in which the heroine is touching the hero and unintentionally arousing him, usually because she knows very little about sex and/or sexual arousal. In the romances, this almost always leads to the hero blaming the heroine for blue balls and yelling at her for not wanting him when she retreats because of emotional trauma. In here, Lhar basically says, "Hey, that's really nice, I like it, keep going, and please don't feel any pressure to go any further than you feel comfortable. I can deal." It's so sweet! He knows she dislikes mindtouch, so he actually tries to avoid doing it to her whenever possible. And he backs off if she gets too agitated and doesn't blame her for it! Romance heroes, you should take notes.

I should probably say more about the world building, given that this is SF, but I don't tend to be a very good critic of it. I did enjoy the bits about the worship of Lith and I especially loved learning how the religion came to be, and the desert-like setting gave it a rather Dune-like setting. That said, I didn't get the impression that the Lithan people (Tal-Lithan? Liths? I can't remember) were thinly veiled metaphors for POC, but I may just not be picking up on things a reader who reads more SF would. The world just felt so alien and so completely different, including the people of the Concord.

Spoilers

Also, I kind of love that the sex kitten dancer ends up being the ultimate threat not because she is evil and sexy, but because she is the greatest dancer of her people and wants to go out with a bang. I do see how it can be read negatively, but I still love it! And I love that Maxwell lets a huge part of the world basically just die instead of saving them all against their will.

From what I can tell, this is set in the same universe as The Jaws of Menx and The Singer Enigma, although I have no idea if there's anything similar about the three save the Concord. I need to reread Jaws of Menx.

Comments

[kothithelegu.livejournal.com]

I love Ann Maxwell's books! I admire her ability to create rich alien cultural values and then play them off of our modern expectations of behavior. I feel that kind of writing makes gripping science fiction.

In particular, I've really enjoyed her Fire Dancer trilogy and the stand alone book Change. The idea of fire dancers really captured my imagination and is such a different take on the use of magic within a highly technologically advanced space faring society.

Thank you so much for reveiwing this book! I didn't know about it or Timeshadow Rider but now want to read them immediately. :)

darn...

[(Anonymous)]

Aww, I should have read this comment first. So her Dancer books were always only a trilogy? It felt unfinished to me, so I had always assumed they were part of what was originally intended to be an ongoing series.

Re: darn...

[oyceter]

No, I don't think it was a planned trilogy, just an unfinished series =(. Because I am very sure she would have ended it with something about Rheba and Kirtn!

[oyceter]

I have to be in the right mood to read them—if my brain's too overworked, all her cool worldbuilding goes right over my head—but they're very fun when I am in the mood!

squee!

[(Anonymous)]

My subject line was my first response. I hadn't thought about Ann Maxwell in years - she was sort of my "gateway drug" into adult romance (Fire Dancer and whatever the other books were called). I remember my horror at discovering that she never finished her Dancer series (and, if she has since I last checked, omg, I've got to go find the book(s)!).

Looks like I've got to hunt this one down. :)

Re: squee!

[rachelmanija]

She hasn't, though I did get someone to write me a very nice sequel story last Yuletide.

I need to re-read this one, Oyce! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I don't recall the Liths/Lithans at all, but one of the things I like about Maxwell is that her alien cultures don't tend to be based on real ones, but seem wholly original.

Re: squee!

[oyceter]

You should definitely reread it! I kind of love how Lhar and Syza's relationship is a nice commentary on the relationships she has in the romances I've read. I mean, I don't think it's deliberate, but still interesting.

Re: squee!

[slashaddict13]

Wow! I missed this story and I'm totally thrilled to find it!! It always drove me crazy that she never finished the series!

[jonquil]

I love Maxwell's SF so much. I'm sorry that she literally couldn't afford to keep writing SF. (I also love NAME OF A SHADOW very much, which is definitely in the same universe as this one.)

Edit: To amplify, because a couple of people mentioned it. I read an interview with Maxwell; it must have been at least ten years ago, so the details are blurred. In any case, she said that she could make a living writing romances and couldn't from SF, so it was a fairly obvious choice. There was also a mention of some idiot fans making threats against her because they wanted to know if furry ever got off with smoothie. :(

[oyceter]

That is so sad! Especially because her romances are much less interesting =(. It's like she tries to have the same giant emotional conflicts that she does in her SF, but when the reason is "I distrust women because my mother was a whore!" instead of "I angst because I can't touch you because the universe will literally be destroyed!" it just doesn't have the same effect.

...I wonder if she is looking at the paranormal romance/urban fantasy trend right now and plotting something? Her stuff is much more SF than the paranormals currently in the market, but there'd be more worldbuilding to play with! Then again, it looks like she is going for thrillers with some romance now.