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A Door into Ocean cover art

A Door into Ocean

By: Joan Slonczewski
Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
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Publisher's Summary

The Sharers of Shora are a nation of women on a distant moon in the far future. They are pacifists, they are highly advanced in biological sciences, and they reproduce by parthenogenesis - because there are no males. Conflict erupts when a militaristic neighboring civilization decides to develop their ocean world and sends in an army.

A groundbreaking work both of feminist science fiction and of world-building hard science fiction, A Door into Ocean is the novel that made Joan Slonczewski's reputation as an important science-fiction writer.
©1986 Joan Slonczewski (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Genetic Engineering Hard Science Fiction
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Critic Reviews

"[A] dreamy, poetic book...very much in the spirit of Dune or Le Guin's works. It's tough to build a world, particularly if you try to get the science correct. Author Slonczewski accomplishes that difficult feat and manages a gripping plot into the bargain. Maybe LeGuin has competition." ( San Francisco Examiner)

What listeners say about A Door into Ocean

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Thought Provoking - good performance.

No spoilers in review.

This was not the easiest book to listen to. I don't mean the narrator, who was excellent, and I don't mean the story, which was captivating. But the clash of culture, and the spiral of events and decisions the characters fall into could be, at times, painful to work through.

The themes and ideas are challenging, as any good science fiction novel. Most characters are rich and detailed. I think reviews that pigeon-hole this book as feminist sci-fi take away from the depth of the thematic content this book. Yes, it is rich in feminist ideas (which I like), but it is also so much more - culture, biology, pacifism, protest, personal struggles for identity and finding a life worth living. Definitely worth a read for anyone interested in complex sci-fi worlds!

The only niggling critique I have is that while the world is revealed slowly and you work things out - which is great - I was still left wanting to know so much more about the wider history, politics and culture of this story.

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