Harris (Accidental Creatures
) makes questing for the inner goddess look like child's play in this intriguing but sometimes uneasy mix of SF, romance and feminist fantasy rooted in ancient Sumerian myth. In the first of three "books," a young Semite slave/priestess, Shula, serves the demanding goddess Ananna, but she prefers a rival goddess, the more balanced, dark-winged maiden, Belili-Lit. Book two flashes forward to depict Shula's contemporary teen counterpart, Wendy Chrenko, who also has a mystical encounter with a dark-winged girl, whom she calls Lili. Wendy falls in love with Ray Mackie, an artistic boy from a dysfunctional family, but tensions mount after Ray becomes an identity thief and Wendy discovers feminism in college. The last section shakily integrates the two worlds via a human/computer interface experiment, which Wendy, determined to find proof of a prehistoric matriarchy, undergoes after her dissertation is rejected. Harris complicates the rushed ending with the return of a reformed Ray who attempts to "rescue" Wendy. If the implausible feel-good epilogue leaves some readers scratching their heads, Harris demonstrates that the time for the sexes to search for common ground is always now. (Mar. 22)
FYI:
Accidental Creatures won the 1999 Spectrum Award.
