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Maya Greenwood #1
The Fifth Sacred Thing
An epic tale of freedom and slavery, love and war, and the potential futures of humankind tells of a twenty-first century California clan caught between two clashing worlds, one based on tolerance, the other on repression.
Declaration of the Four Sacred Things
The earth is a living, conscious being. In company with cultures of many different times and places, we name these things as air, fire, water, and earth.
Whether we see them as the breath, energy, blood, and body of the Mother, or as the blessed gifts of a Creator, or as symbols of the interconnected systems that sustain life, we know that nothing can live without them.
To call these things sacred is to say that they have a value beyond their usefulness for human ends, that they themselves became the standards by which our acts, our economics, our laws, and our purposes must be judged. no one has the right to appropriate them or profit from them at the expense of others. Any government that fails to protect them forfeits its legitimacy.
All people, all living things, are part of the earth life, and so are sacred. No one of us stands higher or lower than any other. Only justice can assure only ecological balance can sustain freedom. Only in freedom can that fifth sacred thing we call spirit flourish in its full diversity.
To honor the sacred is to create conditions in which nourishment, sustenance, habitat, knowledge, freedom, and beauty can thrive. To honor the sacred is to make love possible.
To this we dedicate our curiosity, our will, our courage, our silences, and our voices. To this we dedicate our lives.
Praise for The Fifth Sacred Thing
“This is wisdom wrapped in drama.” —Tom Hayden, California state senator
“Starhawk makes the jump to fiction quite smoothly with this memorable first novel.” — Locus
“Totally captivating . . . a vision of the paradigm shift that is essential for our very survival as a species on this planet.” —Elinor Gadon, author of The Once and Future Goddess
“This strong debut fits well against feminist futuristic, utopic, and dystopic works by the likes of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ursula LeGuin, and Margaret Atwood.” — Library Journal
Declaration of the Four Sacred Things
The earth is a living, conscious being. In company with cultures of many different times and places, we name these things as air, fire, water, and earth.
Whether we see them as the breath, energy, blood, and body of the Mother, or as the blessed gifts of a Creator, or as symbols of the interconnected systems that sustain life, we know that nothing can live without them.
To call these things sacred is to say that they have a value beyond their usefulness for human ends, that they themselves became the standards by which our acts, our economics, our laws, and our purposes must be judged. no one has the right to appropriate them or profit from them at the expense of others. Any government that fails to protect them forfeits its legitimacy.
All people, all living things, are part of the earth life, and so are sacred. No one of us stands higher or lower than any other. Only justice can assure only ecological balance can sustain freedom. Only in freedom can that fifth sacred thing we call spirit flourish in its full diversity.
To honor the sacred is to create conditions in which nourishment, sustenance, habitat, knowledge, freedom, and beauty can thrive. To honor the sacred is to make love possible.
To this we dedicate our curiosity, our will, our courage, our silences, and our voices. To this we dedicate our lives.
Praise for The Fifth Sacred Thing
“This is wisdom wrapped in drama.” —Tom Hayden, California state senator
“Starhawk makes the jump to fiction quite smoothly with this memorable first novel.” — Locus
“Totally captivating . . . a vision of the paradigm shift that is essential for our very survival as a species on this planet.” —Elinor Gadon, author of The Once and Future Goddess
“This strong debut fits well against feminist futuristic, utopic, and dystopic works by the likes of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ursula LeGuin, and Margaret Atwood.” — Library Journal
486 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
477 people are currently reading
10010 people want to read
About the author
Starhawk
50 books986 followersStarhawk is an author, activist, permaculture designer and teacher, and a prominent voice in modern Goddess religion and earth-based spirituality. She is the author or coauthor of thirteen books, including the classics The Spiral Dance and The Fifth Sacred Thing. Her latest is the newly published fiction novel City of Refuge, the long-awaited sequel to The Fifth Sacred Thing.
Starhawk directs Earth Activist Training, (www.earthactivisttraining.org), teaching permaculture design grounded in spirit and with a focus on organizing and activism. “Social permaculture”—the conscious design of regenerative human systems, is a particular focus of hers.
She lives on Golden Rabbit Ranch in Western Sonoma County, CA, where she is developing a model of carbon-sequestering land use incorporating food forests and savannahs, planned grazing, and regenerative forestry.
She travels internationally, lecturing and teaching on earth-based spirituality, permaculture, and the skills of activism. Her web site is www.starhawk.org.
Starhawk directs Earth Activist Training, (www.earthactivisttraining.org), teaching permaculture design grounded in spirit and with a focus on organizing and activism. “Social permaculture”—the conscious design of regenerative human systems, is a particular focus of hers.
She lives on Golden Rabbit Ranch in Western Sonoma County, CA, where she is developing a model of carbon-sequestering land use incorporating food forests and savannahs, planned grazing, and regenerative forestry.
She travels internationally, lecturing and teaching on earth-based spirituality, permaculture, and the skills of activism. Her web site is www.starhawk.org.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 640 reviews
October 21, 2016
Good Reclaiming Witch that I am, I wanted to l-o-v-e this book. But it has issues.
*It honors and accepts every credal system except atheism, which is portrayed as antiquated and unenlightened.
*It denigrates monofidelity and monosexuality (homo as well as hetero). EDIT 10/21/16: I want to clarify that I applaud Starhawk's elevation of bi- and pansexuality and polyamory. However, there was no need to do it while making monofidelity and monosexuality seem less sophisticated, spiritual, enlightened, and, it sometimes seemed, less moral than the others
*Secondary and tertiary characters often seem less people than tickmarks on Starhawk's gender/class/ethnicity/sexuality matrix.
*Ultimately, it embraces the either/or, us/them duality it claims to reject.
*Though the main characters are supposed to be spiritual leaders, they have very childish relationships with their religions and deities--striking bargains, complaining about how hard everything is.
*Until the last pages, there's a strange "there's Califorinia, and there's Europe, and what rest of the world?" cultural blindness going on.
In the end, what I found more disappointing than any of this was the klunky heavy-handedness of the prose. I've long admired the poetic lyricism of Starhawk's nonfiction, and I expected The Fifth Sacred Thing to have even more of that. Instead it has stilted dialogue, page after page of monologuing infodumps and as-you-know-Bobs, and descriptive passages dense to the point of impenetrability.
I more or less agree with most of the sociopolitical commentary Starhawk makes in this book. I just regret that her vehicle for making that commentary is such a clumsy one.
*It honors and accepts every credal system except atheism, which is portrayed as antiquated and unenlightened.
*It denigrates monofidelity and monosexuality (homo as well as hetero). EDIT 10/21/16: I want to clarify that I applaud Starhawk's elevation of bi- and pansexuality and polyamory. However, there was no need to do it while making monofidelity and monosexuality seem less sophisticated, spiritual, enlightened, and, it sometimes seemed, less moral than the others
*Secondary and tertiary characters often seem less people than tickmarks on Starhawk's gender/class/ethnicity/sexuality matrix.
*Ultimately, it embraces the either/or, us/them duality it claims to reject.
*Though the main characters are supposed to be spiritual leaders, they have very childish relationships with their religions and deities--striking bargains, complaining about how hard everything is.
*Until the last pages, there's a strange "there's Califorinia, and there's Europe, and what rest of the world?" cultural blindness going on.
In the end, what I found more disappointing than any of this was the klunky heavy-handedness of the prose. I've long admired the poetic lyricism of Starhawk's nonfiction, and I expected The Fifth Sacred Thing to have even more of that. Instead it has stilted dialogue, page after page of monologuing infodumps and as-you-know-Bobs, and descriptive passages dense to the point of impenetrability.
I more or less agree with most of the sociopolitical commentary Starhawk makes in this book. I just regret that her vehicle for making that commentary is such a clumsy one.
November 8, 2015
11/2015 I live in the sweetness of this book, whether I am reading it or not. There are times when I need this book the way I need air. This has been one of those times. I slipped into it the way Madrone slipped into Sara's pool, unable to resist, entirely yielding myself to the narrative. It's prose that speaks to me on the deepest level, and oh, how glad I was to re-immerse myself.
11/2012 I find more to love each time I come back to this book, this time being no exception. I come to this book like water in the desert and it purifies and magnifies me.
2/2011 Unequivocally, I love this book. I live inside it and believe in it with all my heart. It feels like home, the society depicted herein, with its collective collaborative hippie soul. Sure, it's preachy and even didactic in parts. I find I don't mind preachy, so long as I'm sitting in the choir.
After reading the stark and scary natural histories I've been dipping into lately, this utopia of the possible- although it's a hard-won utopia indeed- feels comforting to me.
I believe that people can work together and create a society which honors the earth and the sacred things thereupon, that people can honor one another and find new ways to relate to their environments. I have to believe it, otherwise I'd give up. This is the book I turn to when I think about giving up.
3/2008 A re-read. I love this book unreservedly. I'm not particularly fond of the whole new age ideology. I'm not a believer in any of the recognizable religions, including Paganism. I worship at the altar of science. And yet I buy this book completely. I inhabit it like a second skin.
This book is the rhetoric of hope, of redemption, of bravery and of transformation. I don't know if it's particularly well-written, I've never noticed in the score of times I've read it. I don't care if it's not. I fall in and am consumed.
It helps that, religious overtones aside, I share the values espoused here. I'm a Utopian at heart, I suppose. Free love and tomatoes for everyone! Never thirst.
11/2012 I find more to love each time I come back to this book, this time being no exception. I come to this book like water in the desert and it purifies and magnifies me.
2/2011 Unequivocally, I love this book. I live inside it and believe in it with all my heart. It feels like home, the society depicted herein, with its collective collaborative hippie soul. Sure, it's preachy and even didactic in parts. I find I don't mind preachy, so long as I'm sitting in the choir.
After reading the stark and scary natural histories I've been dipping into lately, this utopia of the possible- although it's a hard-won utopia indeed- feels comforting to me.
I believe that people can work together and create a society which honors the earth and the sacred things thereupon, that people can honor one another and find new ways to relate to their environments. I have to believe it, otherwise I'd give up. This is the book I turn to when I think about giving up.
3/2008 A re-read. I love this book unreservedly. I'm not particularly fond of the whole new age ideology. I'm not a believer in any of the recognizable religions, including Paganism. I worship at the altar of science. And yet I buy this book completely. I inhabit it like a second skin.
This book is the rhetoric of hope, of redemption, of bravery and of transformation. I don't know if it's particularly well-written, I've never noticed in the score of times I've read it. I don't care if it's not. I fall in and am consumed.
It helps that, religious overtones aside, I share the values espoused here. I'm a Utopian at heart, I suppose. Free love and tomatoes for everyone! Never thirst.
August 3, 2007
So I had a lot of politics in high school, and I also lived in Wiccantown, The Bible Belt, U.S.A. Therefore, this book resonated rather a lot with me. I still love utopias, and this book is very much a utopia: an idealistic nowhere, but a nowhere that's worth talking about.
Still, I haven't been able to make myself reread this, now that I'm no longer fifteen and no longer believe that 1) magic is an appropriately thorough way to deal with biological warfare 2) polyamorous pansexuality always works out well 3) the world is divided into good people and death eaters.
It's not badly written, and it's a pretty story, and I do recommend it. I just, you know, no longer want to hand it out on street corners. Nonetheless, if you enjoy speculative fiction, especially utopia/dystopia plotlines, you might want to look into it.
Still, I haven't been able to make myself reread this, now that I'm no longer fifteen and no longer believe that 1) magic is an appropriately thorough way to deal with biological warfare 2) polyamorous pansexuality always works out well 3) the world is divided into good people and death eaters.
It's not badly written, and it's a pretty story, and I do recommend it. I just, you know, no longer want to hand it out on street corners. Nonetheless, if you enjoy speculative fiction, especially utopia/dystopia plotlines, you might want to look into it.
September 28, 2009
This book has some good passages about nonviolent resistance and about building a community. If it could have set up those issues without depending on New Age-y "science" (e.g., manipulating ch'i, using intelligent crystals for computers that are programmed through advanced visualization techniques, acupuncture, using the brain's natural electronic field to manipulate electronic devices) and magic (e.g., communicating with the dead, communicating with bees, vision quests), it might have been good, because the insights regarding nonviolence can be quite valuable.
In the end, I just found this book frustrating. I couldn't read the magic and fake science as mere fantasy because the author doesn't present it as such. I got tired of the numerous sex scenes, none of which really did much for me anyway. I really got tired of the Goddess-worship. And I hated the inevitable happy ending; it was way too easy.
If there were some way to excise all of that and just leave about the third quarter of the book intact--where the inhabitants of the city formerly known as San Francisco resist military invasion with noncooperation techniques and nonviolent resistance and where one of the protagonists ventures out into the dystopian world of the former Los Angeles--this might be a good book. As it is, though, I'll leave it to the people who get more out of magical science and fluffy spirituality.
In the end, I just found this book frustrating. I couldn't read the magic and fake science as mere fantasy because the author doesn't present it as such. I got tired of the numerous sex scenes, none of which really did much for me anyway. I really got tired of the Goddess-worship. And I hated the inevitable happy ending; it was way too easy.
If there were some way to excise all of that and just leave about the third quarter of the book intact--where the inhabitants of the city formerly known as San Francisco resist military invasion with noncooperation techniques and nonviolent resistance and where one of the protagonists ventures out into the dystopian world of the former Los Angeles--this might be a good book. As it is, though, I'll leave it to the people who get more out of magical science and fluffy spirituality.
September 17, 2016
It's a rare book that changes your entire world.
This is one.
This is one.
December 1, 2008
Couldn't stand it, couldn't finish it. And I usually love radical utopias+ conservative dystopias--the 2 paired together? Whhooooo! But the style was turgid and thick and the sentimentality oozed off the page. Maybe my aesthetic problems with paganism helped, too. The description of the prison and their escape from it was compelling, but that's about it.
December 26, 2007
I enjoyed this book (but not the sleep it cost me when I stayed up too-late reading it) -- I've heard of Starhawk, and this makes me curious to read more of her stuff. It's good to get a dose of utopia set in SF, and the writing is compelling. Her characters are complex as are the ways she's envisioned society (and threats to it), and I appreciate the way she wrestles with questions of non-violence vs armed rebellion, though at times the plot asked me to make jumps that didn't actually flow.
April 15, 2019
This is a dystopian versus utopian novel with a difference because it is not straight science fiction - at least, the story relies upon the use of alternative medicine and manipulation of ch'i/qi, the body's energy field, by people who have psychic abilities. But I decided to treat it as a blend of science fiction and fantasy and just accept it. There is a very serious polemical intent behind this book: it is quite prophetic in its warning - published in the early 1990s it shows a California beset by drought as well as pollution and disease and uses the term 'climate change' in at least one place. But it is also a character driven story.
The story is set in 2048. Twenty years previously the United States of America collapsed and a political regime was set up in the southern part, run by the Stewards, a military tyranny backed by an extreme religious cult, the Millenialists, who teach that at the second coming of Christ, Jesus decided humanity was too sinful to redeem and went away again. They have used this as a justification for an appalling reign of repression and murder in which large numbers of the population are declared souless and are used as breeding animals for racing, sex slaves and war, and the rest are kept in line by rationed access to water and to drugs which are essential to survival against deliberately engineered viruses, though at a cost to the subjects. The regime is white supremacist and misogynistic.
Meanwhile, in San Franscisco and the bay area, an alternative society was created after the people rose up twenty years before and did not allow the Stewards to impose their rule. This has thrived, powered by collective hard work, and has preserved the scarce water and other natural resources, while seeking to develop techniques to clean up the toxins in the environment. The mantra they have developed is that there are five sacred things: earth, air, water, fire and spirit, none of which can be owned by anyone.
Their society is unashamedly utopian in its collectivism, lack of racism/sexism/ageism and other prejudice, and its complete religious tolerance and in fact mingling of religions. There is also not even any serious jealousy arising from a fairly free and easy attitude towards sex with multiple partners of all genders, and apart from a few incorrigibles who are banned to the outskirts to live off wild pigs, everyone is happy to work in return for a share in the food, water and other resources. The arising of psychic powers has also resulted in 'Witches' as they are known: people who can cure by laying on of hands, or who can manipulate electrical devices - even the computers, which are used for specialist tasks, are based on a crystal technology worked by the mind. But everything is not well in 'utopia' for plagues have reduced the population and the suspicion is that these are artificially engineered and originate from the south.
Naturally the Stewards, living in an area baked by heat and lacking in resources - most of the population there has to work for water and drugs to protect them from the same engineered viruses that have been sent north - and feeling the need to assert their authority over 'Witches' and 'devil worshippers' - decides to invade the north. The story therefore is split between the community in the north and the repression in the south, with the south seen first through the eyes of Bird, a San Fransican who was captured and spent ten years in a prison, and then his lover Madrone, a psychic healer who eventually travels there to try to help the meagre resistence movements. Eventually the enemy makes its move, which results in a harrowing portrayal of the attempts by the San Fransicans to resist non violently against murderous tyranny.
The story does become a bit heavy handed at times in the polemic and also the need for one character to explain to another, and hence the reader, what is going on. There is quite a lot of internal dialogue and scenes do feature head hopping between characters. Some readers probably would find the paganism and ecofeminism a bit over emphasised or the same with the group sex and other sexual scenes. There is also quite a bit of violence. But I found it an interesting story even if the characters were sometimes a bit irritating, or the issue of how the north eradicated racism and sexism etc rather glossed over. A solid 4 star read.
The story is set in 2048. Twenty years previously the United States of America collapsed and a political regime was set up in the southern part, run by the Stewards, a military tyranny backed by an extreme religious cult, the Millenialists, who teach that at the second coming of Christ, Jesus decided humanity was too sinful to redeem and went away again. They have used this as a justification for an appalling reign of repression and murder in which large numbers of the population are declared souless and are used as breeding animals for racing, sex slaves and war, and the rest are kept in line by rationed access to water and to drugs which are essential to survival against deliberately engineered viruses, though at a cost to the subjects. The regime is white supremacist and misogynistic.
Meanwhile, in San Franscisco and the bay area, an alternative society was created after the people rose up twenty years before and did not allow the Stewards to impose their rule. This has thrived, powered by collective hard work, and has preserved the scarce water and other natural resources, while seeking to develop techniques to clean up the toxins in the environment. The mantra they have developed is that there are five sacred things: earth, air, water, fire and spirit, none of which can be owned by anyone.
Their society is unashamedly utopian in its collectivism, lack of racism/sexism/ageism and other prejudice, and its complete religious tolerance and in fact mingling of religions. There is also not even any serious jealousy arising from a fairly free and easy attitude towards sex with multiple partners of all genders, and apart from a few incorrigibles who are banned to the outskirts to live off wild pigs, everyone is happy to work in return for a share in the food, water and other resources. The arising of psychic powers has also resulted in 'Witches' as they are known: people who can cure by laying on of hands, or who can manipulate electrical devices - even the computers, which are used for specialist tasks, are based on a crystal technology worked by the mind. But everything is not well in 'utopia' for plagues have reduced the population and the suspicion is that these are artificially engineered and originate from the south.
Naturally the Stewards, living in an area baked by heat and lacking in resources - most of the population there has to work for water and drugs to protect them from the same engineered viruses that have been sent north - and feeling the need to assert their authority over 'Witches' and 'devil worshippers' - decides to invade the north. The story therefore is split between the community in the north and the repression in the south, with the south seen first through the eyes of Bird, a San Fransican who was captured and spent ten years in a prison, and then his lover Madrone, a psychic healer who eventually travels there to try to help the meagre resistence movements. Eventually the enemy makes its move, which results in a harrowing portrayal of the attempts by the San Fransicans to resist non violently against murderous tyranny.
The story does become a bit heavy handed at times in the polemic and also the need for one character to explain to another, and hence the reader, what is going on. There is quite a lot of internal dialogue and scenes do feature head hopping between characters. Some readers probably would find the paganism and ecofeminism a bit over emphasised or the same with the group sex and other sexual scenes. There is also quite a bit of violence. But I found it an interesting story even if the characters were sometimes a bit irritating, or the issue of how the north eradicated racism and sexism etc rather glossed over. A solid 4 star read.
April 15, 2018
This is truly a visionary novel. One of the best depictions of non-violent protest and rebuilding of society on Her (Goddess) principals. The book really spoke to me in so many ways. I struggle with the ideas of non-violent protest and productive non-cooperation, they are concepts that are difficult to me to grasp. In this story a good number of examples are given for, how both of these strategies can be successful. As well as the sex-positivity in the novel is very nicely done and is very well realized. Done with enough grace and detail to be realistic.
I enjoyed the book very much and will be returning to it in some time, the audio-book version is well voiced and gives the novel even more dimension. I have the whole series already so will go to book 3 now as it is a direct sequel and then will read book 2 as it is a prequel.
I enjoyed the book very much and will be returning to it in some time, the audio-book version is well voiced and gives the novel even more dimension. I have the whole series already so will go to book 3 now as it is a direct sequel and then will read book 2 as it is a prequel.
March 8, 2011
Where to start? This book is deeply affecting and touched on so many of my passions, it is difficult to know where to start.
First, it is another entry in the large (and still growing) list of what my friend Hobo Lee used to call Northern California Post-Apocalyptic fiction. Do we in Northern California have a cataclysm fetish? Or do we here in this beautiful and fragile place just wisely wish for an end to this society as we know it before it kills us all?
In any case, Starhawk has taken all that she knows from her work as a pagan, anarchist, activist, nonviolent organizer, and created a world that may be our near future.
Set in the mid-21st century in San Francisco, an earth-worshiping, polycultural, polyamorous, polytheist culture of nonviolent warriors is pitted against the last brutal and convulsive remnants of industrial society. Primary cultural values of the post-uprising San Francisco are the four sacred things: Earth, fire, water, and air. The story largely follows the fates of the members of one courageous family as they leave paradise for hell to face off against their would-be conquerors.
The story is threaded with the themes of spirituality, autonomy, and mutual aid. It debates the nature and effectiveness of violence and nonviolence. It is thoroughly steeped in earth-centered spirituality, anarchism, ecology, and resistance to destruction.
You may have read Ecotopia years ago. The Fifth Sacred Thing is Ecotopia for grown-ups. Also a Utopian vision for passionate revolutionaries, anti-capitalists, anarchists, eco-defenders, and spiritual folks.
First, it is another entry in the large (and still growing) list of what my friend Hobo Lee used to call Northern California Post-Apocalyptic fiction. Do we in Northern California have a cataclysm fetish? Or do we here in this beautiful and fragile place just wisely wish for an end to this society as we know it before it kills us all?
In any case, Starhawk has taken all that she knows from her work as a pagan, anarchist, activist, nonviolent organizer, and created a world that may be our near future.
Set in the mid-21st century in San Francisco, an earth-worshiping, polycultural, polyamorous, polytheist culture of nonviolent warriors is pitted against the last brutal and convulsive remnants of industrial society. Primary cultural values of the post-uprising San Francisco are the four sacred things: Earth, fire, water, and air. The story largely follows the fates of the members of one courageous family as they leave paradise for hell to face off against their would-be conquerors.
The story is threaded with the themes of spirituality, autonomy, and mutual aid. It debates the nature and effectiveness of violence and nonviolence. It is thoroughly steeped in earth-centered spirituality, anarchism, ecology, and resistance to destruction.
You may have read Ecotopia years ago. The Fifth Sacred Thing is Ecotopia for grown-ups. Also a Utopian vision for passionate revolutionaries, anti-capitalists, anarchists, eco-defenders, and spiritual folks.
May 13, 2015
The Fifth Scared Thing might have made a pretty engaging short story or novella if it focused on and committed to examining its major themes (sustainability, non-violent resistance, etc). Instead, we get pages and pages of healing visualizations and characters going in circles in their own minds. If you like stories where you are totally in a character’s head I guess you might like this more, but generally I found it took too long for things to happen. Spoilers ahead...
Stuff I liked:
- Maya is quite active and vital in her old age
- The plan to blow up the bridges is treated as a big deal
- The idea of a sustainable SF, though I feel the author didn't commit to closely examining it, and I'm skeptical that it could scale to larger (re: modern day) populations. Characters will outright admit that descriptions of the city sound like a fairy tale, and that is how it came across to me as well, even though the author did try to say that things weren’t perfect. To be fair, Star Trek is guilty of this as well
- Depiction of non-violent resistance was relatively realistic: the story acknowledges it is difficult and painful.
- Freedom to live as you please
Stuff that made me think:
- I wasn't sure how I felt about the Wild Boar people being exiled. But I suppose if you refuse help or treatment and don't want to contribute, you're sort of making your own bed. And even in exile they get a place at the community meetings.
- So much of the resistance was vocal that I wondered if their tactics would have been successful if the invading force spoke a different language. Maybe the appearance of people as 'ghosts' would have a universal effect, but would it be enough?
- Instead of sending an expeditionary force, what if the Stewards had sent many more troops? They probably would have steamrolled the city with ease.
- How could we make the current size of the city sustainable and pleasant, without war and epidemics wiping out most of the population? That’s a more interesting question to me.
Stuff I didn't like:
- Computers run on crystals programmed through visualization... What does that even mean? I'm used to hand-waving in sci-fi, but each mention of this took me out of the story.
- My instinct was to reject the idea of healing through ch’i, laying on of hands, curing disease through visualization, etc. I realized, however, that I don’t hold the Force against Star Wars or biotics against Mass Effect. I think the difference is that those concepts are better integrated in to their universes. Whereas, the Fifth Sacred Thing is full of boring descriptions of energy levels, etc. I think it could be that less detail actually makes it more believable.
- Madrone joining the bee hive was weird. It just was. I tried to think of whether it would bother me if it was an alien species instead of a bee hive. I think because we have no evidence that you could gain special powers or do these things with bees, which are creatures we know something about, it seems less believable. At least if you go to the far fictional end of the spectrum, a writer can make the rules.
- It also squicked me out that Madrone was taken to the hive instead of given any choice. I suspect she would have consented if asked, but it was still jarring
- I understand Madrone is impulsive, even naive or reckless. But you don’t go to another territory - ostensibly as an ambassador - and not respect how things are done there. You don’t have to agree with how things are done, but you need to check yourself out of respect to the people who live there. Madrone is old enough that she ought to know this, and yet I don’t feel that she was truly challenged by her tendency to live as she would back home.
- The Stewards have laser rifles, because, I guess, it’s the future? And yet they can’t maintain other technologies. Just seemed out of place to me.
- Didn’t really buy Madrone and Bird’s romance. We’re just told they were once close, but they spend so much time apart, and when they’re together, it’s boring - nothing happens except arguing and making up and sexing
Stuff I liked:
- Maya is quite active and vital in her old age
- The plan to blow up the bridges is treated as a big deal
- The idea of a sustainable SF, though I feel the author didn't commit to closely examining it, and I'm skeptical that it could scale to larger (re: modern day) populations. Characters will outright admit that descriptions of the city sound like a fairy tale, and that is how it came across to me as well, even though the author did try to say that things weren’t perfect. To be fair, Star Trek is guilty of this as well
- Depiction of non-violent resistance was relatively realistic: the story acknowledges it is difficult and painful.
- Freedom to live as you please
Stuff that made me think:
- I wasn't sure how I felt about the Wild Boar people being exiled. But I suppose if you refuse help or treatment and don't want to contribute, you're sort of making your own bed. And even in exile they get a place at the community meetings.
- So much of the resistance was vocal that I wondered if their tactics would have been successful if the invading force spoke a different language. Maybe the appearance of people as 'ghosts' would have a universal effect, but would it be enough?
- Instead of sending an expeditionary force, what if the Stewards had sent many more troops? They probably would have steamrolled the city with ease.
- How could we make the current size of the city sustainable and pleasant, without war and epidemics wiping out most of the population? That’s a more interesting question to me.
Stuff I didn't like:
- Computers run on crystals programmed through visualization... What does that even mean? I'm used to hand-waving in sci-fi, but each mention of this took me out of the story.
- My instinct was to reject the idea of healing through ch’i, laying on of hands, curing disease through visualization, etc. I realized, however, that I don’t hold the Force against Star Wars or biotics against Mass Effect. I think the difference is that those concepts are better integrated in to their universes. Whereas, the Fifth Sacred Thing is full of boring descriptions of energy levels, etc. I think it could be that less detail actually makes it more believable.
- Madrone joining the bee hive was weird. It just was. I tried to think of whether it would bother me if it was an alien species instead of a bee hive. I think because we have no evidence that you could gain special powers or do these things with bees, which are creatures we know something about, it seems less believable. At least if you go to the far fictional end of the spectrum, a writer can make the rules.
- It also squicked me out that Madrone was taken to the hive instead of given any choice. I suspect she would have consented if asked, but it was still jarring
- I understand Madrone is impulsive, even naive or reckless. But you don’t go to another territory - ostensibly as an ambassador - and not respect how things are done there. You don’t have to agree with how things are done, but you need to check yourself out of respect to the people who live there. Madrone is old enough that she ought to know this, and yet I don’t feel that she was truly challenged by her tendency to live as she would back home.
- The Stewards have laser rifles, because, I guess, it’s the future? And yet they can’t maintain other technologies. Just seemed out of place to me.
- Didn’t really buy Madrone and Bird’s romance. We’re just told they were once close, but they spend so much time apart, and when they’re together, it’s boring - nothing happens except arguing and making up and sexing
January 19, 2024
I loved some of the philosophy in this book, the problematising of things like- so should we eat animals or not? Where do you draw the line/s of non-violence? The need for hope and meaning even when everything else is gone....etc. I also valued the feminism, the eco-utopia etc.
The dark parts became too dark for me. About a 1/3 into the book there was a turn to the dark that you never really recover from. (Compared to say "the lord of the rings" which has different flaws but breaks up the travel into abject darkness with real light points of relief and friendship). The relief from darkness is always too partial and mostly is just sex or water or a conversation with a spiritual entity.
I valued that people were bisexual and polyamorous but agree with other commentators who have argued that these ways of being are pushed at the expense of the validity of other ways of being (I am demi-ace so the emphasis on sex was not relatable to me, not did I want to read quite so much detail about other people's doings though I didn't disapprove). There's a range of sexualities and that's as valid as a range of diets or whatever. I also felt that despite th bisexuality and feminism this fell into a very stereotypical binary way of viewing gender- women are wise nurturers, men have a warrior spirit....etc).
I love, love, loved the early descriptions of a beautiful (but fragile and hard-won) society with music and art and universities and hard work but lavish festivals. The gondolas! The fresh veggies. I could have happily stayed in that setting a LOT longer. I will probably read more of Starhawk because at the end of the day for the things I liked here, and the things I didn't, I feel it was a significant book in being utopian, spiritual, feminist, ecocentric, philosophically complex and with unresolved questions! I would blieve the author worked hard and thought long and deeply.
The dark parts became too dark for me. About a 1/3 into the book there was a turn to the dark that you never really recover from. (Compared to say "the lord of the rings" which has different flaws but breaks up the travel into abject darkness with real light points of relief and friendship). The relief from darkness is always too partial and mostly is just sex or water or a conversation with a spiritual entity.
I valued that people were bisexual and polyamorous but agree with other commentators who have argued that these ways of being are pushed at the expense of the validity of other ways of being (I am demi-ace so the emphasis on sex was not relatable to me, not did I want to read quite so much detail about other people's doings though I didn't disapprove). There's a range of sexualities and that's as valid as a range of diets or whatever. I also felt that despite th bisexuality and feminism this fell into a very stereotypical binary way of viewing gender- women are wise nurturers, men have a warrior spirit....etc).
I love, love, loved the early descriptions of a beautiful (but fragile and hard-won) society with music and art and universities and hard work but lavish festivals. The gondolas! The fresh veggies. I could have happily stayed in that setting a LOT longer. I will probably read more of Starhawk because at the end of the day for the things I liked here, and the things I didn't, I feel it was a significant book in being utopian, spiritual, feminist, ecocentric, philosophically complex and with unresolved questions! I would blieve the author worked hard and thought long and deeply.
May 26, 2021
Ahead of its time. Prescient for many contemporary issues. Not to say it's time has come and gone. The issues it addresses - and how it addresses them - are totally relevant now and for the foreseeable future - AND she addresses other issues that have still not yet come to the prominence they soon will / must.
Some reviews say it's too idealistic. It's written as a utopia - which is the best way to explore how they live practically when their utopian ways are put to serious challenges. That is done quite realistically. Besides, it's not non-fiction. It's a work of imagination to expand what could become real. On top of that, the harsh challenges from outside their dream community - those are terribly real. All too real.
If I could offer one book for everyone everywhere to read, this is the one. What a wonderful world this could be....
Some reviews say it's too idealistic. It's written as a utopia - which is the best way to explore how they live practically when their utopian ways are put to serious challenges. That is done quite realistically. Besides, it's not non-fiction. It's a work of imagination to expand what could become real. On top of that, the harsh challenges from outside their dream community - those are terribly real. All too real.
If I could offer one book for everyone everywhere to read, this is the one. What a wonderful world this could be....
May 19, 2021
HIGHLIGHTS
~Hopepunk + witchcraft = The Best
~peace is violence’s kryptonite
~bees are a girl’s best friend
~everyone is named John and everything is F I N E
~a utopia you’ll believe in
~‘we didn’t destroy the databanks, the crystals just don’t like you’
The Fifth Sacred Thing is a book I don’t know how to talk about.
It’s not one of the books I instantly recommend the moment I make a new friend. It’s not even a book I gift to fellow fantasy-readers. It’s a book I’m shy of showing to people. It feels so private, so personal, so intimate. To put The Fifth Sacred Thing into someone else’s hands is like giving them my warm, beating heart to hold.
Considering what the eponymous fifth sacred thing of the main characters’ philosophy is – spirit, or love – that seems entirely appropriate.
This is a book set after a climate and societal collapse. In the North – of what used to be California, if I put the pieces together correctly – a new and painfully perfect society has been built, where people of all races and creeds have come together in their determination to find a better way. It’s a city where every child speaks American Sign Language, where shrines to Yemaya and Kuan Yin and the Virgin Mary are equally honoured, where there is no violence and no hunger or thirst. It’s a city built by witches, where computers are powered by semi-sentient crystals and healers use as much magic as medicine to treat their patients. It’s a city that holds four things sacred – earth, air, fire, and water – and whose philosophy is based upon the truth that no one can own these things, and no one can be denied them.
It sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? The whole point of this book, though, is that it’s not. Is that it can be true.
It’s never going to be easy.
But it will always be worth it.
The Fifth Sacred Thing is a little bit of a manifesto, a little bit of an open question – and wholly an incredible story. We have three main characters: Maya, an elderly queer Jewish witch who was instrumental in the City’s creation; Bird, her biracial grandson; and Madrone, an immensely talented Latina witch-healer who is the grandchild of two of Maya’s lovers. Bird has been missing for ten years, after going south to scout out the lands of the Stewards – think Handmaid’s Tale, but turn the racism dial to 12 and add the worst perversion of Christianity you can imagine – and Madrone has spent about that long battling wave after wave of epidemics, which she and the other healers think might be an attempt at biological warfare from the Stewards.
The book opens during one such epidemic, and with Bird finally making his way home. What he has to tell his people is horrifying – the reality of life under the Stewards – and terrifying: the Stewards are definitely coming for the north.
How does a community built on peace defend itself against one built on violence?
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
~Hopepunk + witchcraft = The Best
~peace is violence’s kryptonite
~bees are a girl’s best friend
~everyone is named John and everything is F I N E
~a utopia you’ll believe in
~‘we didn’t destroy the databanks, the crystals just don’t like you’
The Fifth Sacred Thing is a book I don’t know how to talk about.
It’s not one of the books I instantly recommend the moment I make a new friend. It’s not even a book I gift to fellow fantasy-readers. It’s a book I’m shy of showing to people. It feels so private, so personal, so intimate. To put The Fifth Sacred Thing into someone else’s hands is like giving them my warm, beating heart to hold.
Considering what the eponymous fifth sacred thing of the main characters’ philosophy is – spirit, or love – that seems entirely appropriate.
This is a book set after a climate and societal collapse. In the North – of what used to be California, if I put the pieces together correctly – a new and painfully perfect society has been built, where people of all races and creeds have come together in their determination to find a better way. It’s a city where every child speaks American Sign Language, where shrines to Yemaya and Kuan Yin and the Virgin Mary are equally honoured, where there is no violence and no hunger or thirst. It’s a city built by witches, where computers are powered by semi-sentient crystals and healers use as much magic as medicine to treat their patients. It’s a city that holds four things sacred – earth, air, fire, and water – and whose philosophy is based upon the truth that no one can own these things, and no one can be denied them.
It sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? The whole point of this book, though, is that it’s not. Is that it can be true.
It’s never going to be easy.
But it will always be worth it.
The Fifth Sacred Thing is a little bit of a manifesto, a little bit of an open question – and wholly an incredible story. We have three main characters: Maya, an elderly queer Jewish witch who was instrumental in the City’s creation; Bird, her biracial grandson; and Madrone, an immensely talented Latina witch-healer who is the grandchild of two of Maya’s lovers. Bird has been missing for ten years, after going south to scout out the lands of the Stewards – think Handmaid’s Tale, but turn the racism dial to 12 and add the worst perversion of Christianity you can imagine – and Madrone has spent about that long battling wave after wave of epidemics, which she and the other healers think might be an attempt at biological warfare from the Stewards.
The book opens during one such epidemic, and with Bird finally making his way home. What he has to tell his people is horrifying – the reality of life under the Stewards – and terrifying: the Stewards are definitely coming for the north.
How does a community built on peace defend itself against one built on violence?
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
September 10, 2022
“Who sees all beings in their own self, and their own self in all beings, loses all fear”
This is one of the most powerful things I have ever read. It was raw. It was horrifying. I guffawed at the visit from Elijah, laugh-cried ironically at one point, and wept in others. The writing was well paced, colorful, and engaging. The plot was nuanced, multicultural, interfaith affirming, frank about sex, sex positive for all orientations without being lewd, spiritually rich, and trauma informed. There were executions and orgies, torture and love, death, hauntings, and also a lot of life and wisdom packed into this book. It was of course at its core a redemption plot, and I don’t know that you could ask anything more of a story.
I would describe it as neo-pagan fiction set an environmentally triggered dystopian world, and I want more of this is my life.
Even though it was fiction so at times the plot resolutions were improbable, It was hopeful in a way that felt real. There were little human things like arguments at war councils and wild boar men as well as starting with a real world city that maintained its cultural identity, which collectively kept the “too good to be true fairy tale” world of San Francisco of the future from feeling impossible. Unlike most Utopic societies, this one was based in consent, rather than authoritarianism, although it was certainly not a world without problems and challenges, nor was it meant to be a utopia to begin with.
The scariest part of the book was how the author’s predictions in the 1990s about christian-authoritarianism seizing power in the US and the sexist, racist new government they established seemed like the least improbable thing in the novel.
Yes, it really took me two years to finish it, not bc it was not engaging but because it was so densely rich I could only ingest so much at a time.
Ultimately this book was, for me, a guide for how to fight back, with hope, when you standing face to face with evil. I used what I learned in this novel to help me resist evil in my real life (and win) and if i lived in a society i thought was good, and we were invaded, i would want to fight back with Spirit, following the example of what i saw laid out in this plot.
This is one of the most powerful things I have ever read. It was raw. It was horrifying. I guffawed at the visit from Elijah, laugh-cried ironically at one point, and wept in others. The writing was well paced, colorful, and engaging. The plot was nuanced, multicultural, interfaith affirming, frank about sex, sex positive for all orientations without being lewd, spiritually rich, and trauma informed. There were executions and orgies, torture and love, death, hauntings, and also a lot of life and wisdom packed into this book. It was of course at its core a redemption plot, and I don’t know that you could ask anything more of a story.
I would describe it as neo-pagan fiction set an environmentally triggered dystopian world, and I want more of this is my life.
Even though it was fiction so at times the plot resolutions were improbable, It was hopeful in a way that felt real. There were little human things like arguments at war councils and wild boar men as well as starting with a real world city that maintained its cultural identity, which collectively kept the “too good to be true fairy tale” world of San Francisco of the future from feeling impossible. Unlike most Utopic societies, this one was based in consent, rather than authoritarianism, although it was certainly not a world without problems and challenges, nor was it meant to be a utopia to begin with.
The scariest part of the book was how the author’s predictions in the 1990s about christian-authoritarianism seizing power in the US and the sexist, racist new government they established seemed like the least improbable thing in the novel.
Yes, it really took me two years to finish it, not bc it was not engaging but because it was so densely rich I could only ingest so much at a time.
Ultimately this book was, for me, a guide for how to fight back, with hope, when you standing face to face with evil. I used what I learned in this novel to help me resist evil in my real life (and win) and if i lived in a society i thought was good, and we were invaded, i would want to fight back with Spirit, following the example of what i saw laid out in this plot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 10, 2021
I found this book a bit of a struggle to read, sometimes I loved it and sometimes it infuriated me!
The Fifth Sacred Thing is about an anarchist utopian society struggling against a dystopian christian patriarchal society that wants to invade and take its resources in a postapocalyptic (due to climate change) future.
I love the way society works in San Francisco, the religions all harmonising with each other, as well as the inclusivity - they sign at their meetings so everyone can interact. I'm also a big fan of how they think resources should be allocated: "all the gifts of the earth are shared". The descriptions of how the anarchist society ran were really interesting and gave me a lot to think about!
One thing I didn't like was the insinuation that polygamy is a more evolved perspective towards relationships. I'm totally cool with consenting adults doing what they want, but everyone does relationships in different ways and the preachy tone here just didn't sit well with me.
Sometimes the magic got in the way of the story too. It was mostly a realistic-ish portrayal but then it was interspersed with magical solutions to problems and I think it would have made for a better story without it.
Finally, the part that infuriated me, you can't fight fascism with love. Fascists will kill their enemies without a thought because they don't see them as equals, and if you try to reason with them with a kind conversation you're just putting innocent lives in danger. Technically this was shown in the book but it was portrayed as taking the high road, but it killed a lot of people and even so it still took the violence of others stepping in, and that wasn't acknowledged.
I'm not sure who I'd recommend this to. If you have an interest in seeing a portrayal of an anarchist society and can put up with magic interventions and extreme anti-violence then give it a go!
The Fifth Sacred Thing is about an anarchist utopian society struggling against a dystopian christian patriarchal society that wants to invade and take its resources in a postapocalyptic (due to climate change) future.
I love the way society works in San Francisco, the religions all harmonising with each other, as well as the inclusivity - they sign at their meetings so everyone can interact. I'm also a big fan of how they think resources should be allocated: "all the gifts of the earth are shared". The descriptions of how the anarchist society ran were really interesting and gave me a lot to think about!
One thing I didn't like was the insinuation that polygamy is a more evolved perspective towards relationships. I'm totally cool with consenting adults doing what they want, but everyone does relationships in different ways and the preachy tone here just didn't sit well with me.
Sometimes the magic got in the way of the story too. It was mostly a realistic-ish portrayal but then it was interspersed with magical solutions to problems and I think it would have made for a better story without it.
Finally, the part that infuriated me, you can't fight fascism with love. Fascists will kill their enemies without a thought because they don't see them as equals, and if you try to reason with them with a kind conversation you're just putting innocent lives in danger. Technically this was shown in the book but it was portrayed as taking the high road, but it killed a lot of people and even so it still took the violence of others stepping in, and that wasn't acknowledged.
I'm not sure who I'd recommend this to. If you have an interest in seeing a portrayal of an anarchist society and can put up with magic interventions and extreme anti-violence then give it a go!
March 5, 2008
My first introduction to "ecofeminism." Extremely close to the end of the book so I will reserve judgement on the ending, but I am extremely impressed with Starhawk's ability to draw me into her world and keep me there. I felt attached to the characters and experienced so many emotions along with them. The description of the grandmother ripping the safety latches off her kitchen cabinets had me crying... it is so true that no matter what we do to protect them, they grow up and insist on doing dangerous things. There are a good many lessons and insightful ideas presented. We are already pretty good recyclers and conservationists in this house, but I have determined to do more after reading this wonderful speculative fiction. As with so many authors, I wish I could present the Baha'i Faith to Starhawk and talk with her about how our views mesh and differ.
Having read a lot of Heinlein growing up, I wasn't thrown my all the group sex or the idea that all sex between consenting adults is okay, though it's not my personal belief. I think that in this area, as in some few others, Starhawk presents a view of human nature that is a little bit sugar coated.
All in all, an excellent and obviously well-learned extrapolation of the current state of the world. I intend to read her other books and would certainly recommend this one to anybody! I think my Wicca daughter-in-law with love it :)
Having read a lot of Heinlein growing up, I wasn't thrown my all the group sex or the idea that all sex between consenting adults is okay, though it's not my personal belief. I think that in this area, as in some few others, Starhawk presents a view of human nature that is a little bit sugar coated.
All in all, an excellent and obviously well-learned extrapolation of the current state of the world. I intend to read her other books and would certainly recommend this one to anybody! I think my Wicca daughter-in-law with love it :)
April 22, 2012
This utopian "new age" vision of San Francisco in the not-so-distant future, written in the early mid 90's by STARHAWK, could have been a series of deep eye-rolls that permanently damaged my vision; But the novel was well written and the narrative enticing enough to keep me invested.
I actually found myself ready to read this type of idealistic "social-science' fiction if you will...
Walking around the city now, I can actually see the San francisco described in these pages in my minds eye and think, "Maybe..."
Furthermore, as a healer/care-giver by nature and by profession, I really connected with the main characters struggle with maintaining energy, not giving out too much, taking care of yourself, and coping with others expectations of us to consistently perform miracles. It sucks being a super hero, huh?
Also, like many "post apocalyptic" stories, I found myself re-examining the things I take for granted that are so precious in this story: water, fresh food, sanitation, telecommunication... And while this type of chiding cautionary tale, that was so flarfy in it's own time, rings even truer today in the face of climate change and diminishing resources.
I won't lie to you, this is a melodrama, a parable if you will.... it can be heavy handed and exagerated. but don't knock it until you try it!
I actually found myself ready to read this type of idealistic "social-science' fiction if you will...
Walking around the city now, I can actually see the San francisco described in these pages in my minds eye and think, "Maybe..."
Furthermore, as a healer/care-giver by nature and by profession, I really connected with the main characters struggle with maintaining energy, not giving out too much, taking care of yourself, and coping with others expectations of us to consistently perform miracles. It sucks being a super hero, huh?
Also, like many "post apocalyptic" stories, I found myself re-examining the things I take for granted that are so precious in this story: water, fresh food, sanitation, telecommunication... And while this type of chiding cautionary tale, that was so flarfy in it's own time, rings even truer today in the face of climate change and diminishing resources.
I won't lie to you, this is a melodrama, a parable if you will.... it can be heavy handed and exagerated. but don't knock it until you try it!
April 7, 2019
I'm having trouble choosing a rating for this book, or thinking of how to review it. For the first 100-200 pages I was pretty dubious. The concept had intrigued me and it was recommended by a friend, but the presentation was a bit off putting. However now having completed it, I know that was by intent - it set the stage for the events that happened particularly in the final portions of the book. This is not a comfortable book to read. At the risk of sounding dramatic, in our current political and social climate, I could see a future where a similar schism occurs. While not comfortable, it is a powerful book to read, it made me think, it made me feel and then challenge how I feel, and I am going to look for the other two books in the series with the hope that they stand up to the first volume.
March 7, 2009
this book kind of blew me away. i finished it a couple months ago and i keep meaning to write my review of it. what i really loved about this book was the way she describes the characters' internal processes, i felt like i really knew what they were feeling, i could feel it too and travel with them in their minds. there were parts of the book that were kind of too scary for me, i felt it too much, took it on in my body, which is not good for me. i had so many things to say about it when i read it but now it's been a while so i don't remember as much. but i recommend it. i like the bee magic. and i love the character of bird. there were a lot of characters who i wished i could have spent more time with, continued to learn their stories.
February 3, 2008
Maybe not the best writing, but this book made me think long and hard about planetary resources, our current squandering of them, and how things might be if we continue on. it takes place in 2050, and resources are few. Water is scarce and precious, oil even scarcer. In San Francisco, the people have learned how to survive, thrive, even, by cooperative community.But of course, there are greedy bastards trying to control and hoard the resources at the deprivation of everyone else. That we, the people, can be victorious through love and consciousness, and cooperation, is the message. My book club read this and it sparked one of our most invigorating conversations several months ago.
August 14, 2007
I am reading this book for the third time. I identify with the main character, even though I thought she was a brat the first time through....; )
Look--if you care about the Earth or your freedoms when it comes to clean water and pure food, then read this book. It's a quick read because you won't be able to put it down. The characters are likable, their relationships refreshing.
It's the only fiction piece (as far as I know) by Starhawk. Research her work.
Look--if you care about the Earth or your freedoms when it comes to clean water and pure food, then read this book. It's a quick read because you won't be able to put it down. The characters are likable, their relationships refreshing.
It's the only fiction piece (as far as I know) by Starhawk. Research her work.
June 5, 2013
I'd give this book 2.5 stars. I was really uncomfortable with the author's special focus on penetrative sex (she really seemed to like having long discriptions of it) even to the extent that she felt like she needed to describe penetrative intercourse of bees (blagh!). I also didn't like the focus on 'group sex'. The book was interesting most of the time but wasn't compelling or very thought provoking.
November 28, 2017
This book is sometimes the most '90s thing ever to '90s, but I still liked it a lot, and it's one of the few SF books I've read that really takes the idea of nonviolence seriously. The author published a sequel in 2016 that I'm looking forward to reading.
I originally read this from the library a couple of years ago; an audio version was recently released and I plan to listen to that before reading the sequel.
I originally read this from the library a couple of years ago; an audio version was recently released and I plan to listen to that before reading the sequel.
September 3, 2020
I think this book is maybe the greatest thing Starhawk ever did. It's a monument of imagination, where she fully fleshes out the alternative society of her dreams -- how it will function, think, and feel. She imagines just about the worst disasters we could throw at ourselves, and then plausibly shows how the society of witches could emerge from that, as a victory of basic human decency. Of all alternative worlds I've seen in books or screens, I like this one the best.
June 11, 2021
One of my favorite books I've ever read. It took me a few chapters to get used to the "chi" magic stuff... it just felt a little airy fairy to me. I wasn't sure I'd be able to really buy into it, and I almost stopped reading. But I'm sure glad I didn't. Once you settle into it and get to know the world and the characters it's just the best thing ever.
xx-dnf-skim-reference
August 22, 2021rec'd on the optimistic post-apoc. thread, with caveats
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Oops. Not for me, with pseudo-science & goddess worship. Also it's huge, and first in a series. Another one off my shelves, August 2021.
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Oops. Not for me, with pseudo-science & goddess worship. Also it's huge, and first in a series. Another one off my shelves, August 2021.
August 26, 2008
Blueprint for the future.
August 10, 2022
Loved it! More later maybe.
February 7, 2018
Oh...California utopia! I read The Fifth Sacred Thing years ago and had forgotten so much of the woowoo embedded in the story. I remember the days when I actively shopped for Wiccan literature and paraphernalia, chanted to the Goddess a-la Charlie Murphy in the recording Burning Tmes, thought mandalas were magical symbols...I'm afraid becoming a social scientist makes me feel silly about a lot of the activities that took up my time in those days. But I DO believe that humans should do a better job honoring the earth, water, and one another. I DO think we can (and should) normalize healthy conflict resolution processes and cultivate deep respect for people who don't look like me. I just don't think that we can cure people by re-imagining their chi or that crystals will ever power the internet. If I could have given this a 3.5 for nostalgia sake I would have!
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