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Heart of Gold
On a planet torn apart by class and economic divisions and feuding factions, Nolan, a rational scientist of the privileged class, and Katrini, a born rebel, are drawn together in a forbidden love that could change their world forever. Reissue.
342 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Sharon Shinn
59 books2,230 followersI’ve been writing stories and poems since I was eight years old. My first poem was about Halloween: "What is tonight? What is tonight?/Try to guess and you’ll guess right." Perhaps this inauspicious beginning explains why it took me till I was in my thirties to sell a novel. It occurred to me early on that it might take some time and a lot of tries before I was able to publish any of my creative writing, so I pursued a degree in journalism at Northwestern University so I’d be able to support myself while I figured out how to write fiction.
I’ve spent most of my journalism career at three trade and association magazines—The Professional Photographer (which, as you might guess, went to studio and industrial photographers), DECOR (which went to frame shop and art gallery owners), and BizEd (which is directed at deans and professors at business schools). My longest stint, seventeen years, was at DECOR. Many people don’t know this, but I’m a CPF (Certified Picture Framer), having passed a very long, technical test to prove I understood the tenets of conservation framing. Now I write about management education and interview some really cool, really smart people from all over the world.
I mostly write my fiction in the evenings and on weekends. It requires a pretty obsessive-compulsive personality to be as prolific as I’ve been in the past ten years and hold down a full-time job. But I do manage to tear myself away from the computer now and then to do something fun. I read as often as I can, across all genres, though I’m most often holding a book that’s fantasy or romance, with the occasional western thrown in. I’m a fan of Cardinals baseball and try to be at the ballpark on opening day. If I had the time, I’d see a movie every day of my life. I love certain TV shows so much that knowing a new episode is going to air that night will make me happy all day. (I’m a huge Joss Whedon fan, but in the past I’ve given my heart to shows all over the map in terms of quality: "Knight Rider," "Remington Steele," "Blake’s 7," "Moonlighting," "The Young Riders," "Cheers," "Hill Street Blues," "X-Files," "Lost," "Battlestar Galactica"...you can probably fill in the gaps. And let’s not forget my very first loves, "The Partridge Family," "Here Come the Brides" and "Alias Smith & Jones.")
I don’t have kids, I don’t want pets, and all my plants die, so I’m really only forced to provide ongoing care for my menagerie of stuffed animals. All my friends are animal lovers, though, and someone once theorized that I keep friends as pets. I’m still trying to decide if that’s true.
I’ve spent most of my journalism career at three trade and association magazines—The Professional Photographer (which, as you might guess, went to studio and industrial photographers), DECOR (which went to frame shop and art gallery owners), and BizEd (which is directed at deans and professors at business schools). My longest stint, seventeen years, was at DECOR. Many people don’t know this, but I’m a CPF (Certified Picture Framer), having passed a very long, technical test to prove I understood the tenets of conservation framing. Now I write about management education and interview some really cool, really smart people from all over the world.
I mostly write my fiction in the evenings and on weekends. It requires a pretty obsessive-compulsive personality to be as prolific as I’ve been in the past ten years and hold down a full-time job. But I do manage to tear myself away from the computer now and then to do something fun. I read as often as I can, across all genres, though I’m most often holding a book that’s fantasy or romance, with the occasional western thrown in. I’m a fan of Cardinals baseball and try to be at the ballpark on opening day. If I had the time, I’d see a movie every day of my life. I love certain TV shows so much that knowing a new episode is going to air that night will make me happy all day. (I’m a huge Joss Whedon fan, but in the past I’ve given my heart to shows all over the map in terms of quality: "Knight Rider," "Remington Steele," "Blake’s 7," "Moonlighting," "The Young Riders," "Cheers," "Hill Street Blues," "X-Files," "Lost," "Battlestar Galactica"...you can probably fill in the gaps. And let’s not forget my very first loves, "The Partridge Family," "Here Come the Brides" and "Alias Smith & Jones.")
I don’t have kids, I don’t want pets, and all my plants die, so I’m really only forced to provide ongoing care for my menagerie of stuffed animals. All my friends are animal lovers, though, and someone once theorized that I keep friends as pets. I’m still trying to decide if that’s true.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews
August 27, 2019
That was a powerful book, a scary book. It explored the sensitive themes of racism and terrorism under the quaint camouflage of fantasy. The action, allegedly, takes place someplace else, where people’s skins are blue and gold instead of brown and white, as they are here, but the punch this book delivers is all the more potent because of it. I read it and thought: even in fantasy, with its unlimited possibilities, the author couldn’t find a solution. How could we, in real life, do better?
There are two major races in the world of this novel: indigo (blue skin) and gulden (golden skin). The indigo race are old aristocrats. They own land and wealth. They are also a matriarchal society. The women inherit, hold government positions, get education. The men, traditionally, just serve as consorts and sperm donors, although the situation has been changing in recent decades. Some indigo men nowadays refuse to get married. They want to have an education and to hold a job, but that’s still rare.
The gulden race is the opposite. They are intensely patriarchal. The majority of them still live in their mountains. Women in the gulden society are property. They can’t even shop for food without permission – a special tag – from their husbands or fathers. Physical abuse of women and children is common in gulden families. Some women try to escape, but it is still rare. Most die in the process.
Both races look at each other as barbarians, indecent in their practices. The only place of change seems to be the city, where both cultures collide. Here, in the city, indigo men could find jobs. Here, in the city, gulden women could hide from their men-folks.
And here, in the city, a young gulden leader unleashes a string of terrorist bombings to force the indigo government to... do what? Now it gets dicey. What he really wants is unclear. He screams: “Freedom!” All terrorists do everywhere, but it feels like he wants to stop progress. Or maybe he just wants the indigo to back off and leave his people the way they are, and his women chattel forever.
I hated the guy. I hated his entire culture, but one of the protagonists, the indigo woman Kit, sees hidden qualities in the gulden way of life. A rebel in her own rich, aristocratic family, she prefers gulden, men and women, to her own people. She grew up among the gulden, as her father, a sociologist, studied the gulden race. It goes even deeper: Kit is in love with a gulden man. In fact, she is full of compassion and understanding for everyone, but is her compassion needed amid the racial hostilities and political intrigues? Is her understanding enough to make a difference?
Another protagonist, an indigo man Nolan, isn’t a rebel in the usual sense. Like others of his race, he doesn’t really accepts gulden as civilized, but he works with them. He is quiet and introspective, a man of science, a biologists, and he likes his job. He is not sure he wants to get married but he will accept life the way it is supposed to be.
When Nolan, by accident, discovers a plot threatening genocide of all gulden, his conscience pushes him to take steps, to ensure such horror doesn’t become reality, and the only one who could help him is Kit. They didn’t even know each other before their crazy attempt to save the gulden race, and Nolan makes some hard decisions along the way. He is so much out of his comfort zone, it’s hard to read, but still he doesn’t waver in his determination. Not everyone would consider his choices moral or ethical. Actually, no indigo did in the story, except Kit, and I’m not sure I do, but he did accomplish his goal: he saved the gulden from extinction, at a great personal cost. At a cost to all indigo, actually.
The terrorism stopped too, but that was in a fantasy tale. Unfortunately, the associations with the real life are too deep in this book, and the decisions and heroes of our life never go the way of Nolan and his ‘happy ending’. I don’t see a happy ending for our global terrorism threat. Things change even here, on this Earth, but much slower than in this author’s fantasy world. And not always for the better. So the reading of this story was a pretty painful experience for me, laced with disappointment and fear for the future. I wish it was as ‘simple’ for us as it was for Nolan and Kit.
There are two major races in the world of this novel: indigo (blue skin) and gulden (golden skin). The indigo race are old aristocrats. They own land and wealth. They are also a matriarchal society. The women inherit, hold government positions, get education. The men, traditionally, just serve as consorts and sperm donors, although the situation has been changing in recent decades. Some indigo men nowadays refuse to get married. They want to have an education and to hold a job, but that’s still rare.
The gulden race is the opposite. They are intensely patriarchal. The majority of them still live in their mountains. Women in the gulden society are property. They can’t even shop for food without permission – a special tag – from their husbands or fathers. Physical abuse of women and children is common in gulden families. Some women try to escape, but it is still rare. Most die in the process.
Both races look at each other as barbarians, indecent in their practices. The only place of change seems to be the city, where both cultures collide. Here, in the city, indigo men could find jobs. Here, in the city, gulden women could hide from their men-folks.
And here, in the city, a young gulden leader unleashes a string of terrorist bombings to force the indigo government to... do what? Now it gets dicey. What he really wants is unclear. He screams: “Freedom!” All terrorists do everywhere, but it feels like he wants to stop progress. Or maybe he just wants the indigo to back off and leave his people the way they are, and his women chattel forever.
I hated the guy. I hated his entire culture, but one of the protagonists, the indigo woman Kit, sees hidden qualities in the gulden way of life. A rebel in her own rich, aristocratic family, she prefers gulden, men and women, to her own people. She grew up among the gulden, as her father, a sociologist, studied the gulden race. It goes even deeper: Kit is in love with a gulden man. In fact, she is full of compassion and understanding for everyone, but is her compassion needed amid the racial hostilities and political intrigues? Is her understanding enough to make a difference?
Another protagonist, an indigo man Nolan, isn’t a rebel in the usual sense. Like others of his race, he doesn’t really accepts gulden as civilized, but he works with them. He is quiet and introspective, a man of science, a biologists, and he likes his job. He is not sure he wants to get married but he will accept life the way it is supposed to be.
When Nolan, by accident, discovers a plot threatening genocide of all gulden, his conscience pushes him to take steps, to ensure such horror doesn’t become reality, and the only one who could help him is Kit. They didn’t even know each other before their crazy attempt to save the gulden race, and Nolan makes some hard decisions along the way. He is so much out of his comfort zone, it’s hard to read, but still he doesn’t waver in his determination. Not everyone would consider his choices moral or ethical. Actually, no indigo did in the story, except Kit, and I’m not sure I do, but he did accomplish his goal: he saved the gulden from extinction, at a great personal cost. At a cost to all indigo, actually.
The terrorism stopped too, but that was in a fantasy tale. Unfortunately, the associations with the real life are too deep in this book, and the decisions and heroes of our life never go the way of Nolan and his ‘happy ending’. I don’t see a happy ending for our global terrorism threat. Things change even here, on this Earth, but much slower than in this author’s fantasy world. And not always for the better. So the reading of this story was a pretty painful experience for me, laced with disappointment and fear for the future. I wish it was as ‘simple’ for us as it was for Nolan and Kit.
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February 6, 2017i am not going to rate this, as there were parts that i didn't like it, all those preachy parts that weren't really a story but someone standing still and talking about what's wrong and what's not and then there were sometimes a story told by a storyteller that i really like and i got lost in the story till we got to the preachings! i most of the time don't like to be told, i want to think about it and figure it out. so this was love hate thing and i definitely can't rate it.
June 26, 2017
Sharon Shinn is a favorite author of mine, largely because her style is so compulsively readable and involving. It isn't quite gorgeously lyrical, like Juliet Marillier's or Patricia McKillip's, but it doesn't have to be. Shinn is a first-rate storyteller, and she creates heroes and heroines who learn and grow and take risks for what they know to be right. While romance plays a significant role, it is never the beginning and end of any character's identity.
I find much to like in this book. I'm intrigued by the societies Shinn has built. Nolan Adelpho is one of those wonderful risk-taking heroes I find so easy to root for (though I regret I couldn't embrace the female lead, Kitrini, to the same degree), and his journey kept me interested. Yet even as I find myself involved, eager to see what happens next, issues keep nagging at me, and now that the journey is done, I can put a finger on my biggest problem.
Shinn paints two societies, the matriarchal indigo and the patriarchal gulden. Of the two, the matriarchy is held up to the sharper scrutiny and scorn, yet it strikes me that of the two worlds, it would be the more tolerable to live in. The matriarchy is supposedly oppressive to men, yet a man like Nolan can pursue a career he loves, and he can forge a genuine friendship with a female colleague, Melina (my favorite female character). He can make the decision that can change both worlds. He can shape the future.
Now try to imagine a guldwoman doing any of these things.
Right. Here lies my main problem: I can't escape a feeling that this story is incomplete. Something crucial is missing, and that something is a guldwoman as a substantial character. Because we never gain the smallest glimpse of a guldwoman's perspective, their oppression remains a very abstract thing, and so we perceive that Shinn judges it far less harshly than the treatment of Nolan and the indigo men and the casual racism of the elite indigo women. We know that our supposed heroine, Kitrini, works with guldwomen who have escaped abusive marriages, but we know nothing of any of them as individuals. They remain an abstract collective, about whom it's impossible to care.
Just who are the guldwomen?
Who is Pakt's wife, for instance, who silently and invisibly serves her husband and the other menfolk (helped by her equally silent and invisible daughter)? Pakt, we're told, is a good man by gulden standards, but he tells Nolan his wife should feel honored to serve as what is basically a house-slave. What does SHE think about this? Is she really proud of her role, as Pakt says, or does she feel some subconscious frustration at the lack of an outlet for some of her faculties? Does she have an opinion on this or any subject, or has her society so systematically hobbled her ability to think that her mind is basically an empty vacuum? Has she or any guldwoman managed to forge some sort of inner life in defiance of the role they are forced to play? Maybe some guldwomen think and write and paint and play music in secret. That would have been cool to see.
But alas, the guldwomen, throughout the novel, remain the "women we don't see," unknown and unknowable. If one of them, just one, had been allowed to emerge from the shadows as a real character, how different this story as a whole might have been, and how much more balanced and complex the depiction of the contrasting societies would have come across. Shinn, at her best, would have given us this. Sadly, I fear, this is subpar Shinn.
By the end of the book, supposedly, the whole world has changed. But has anything changed for the guldwomen? Will it?
This was the question I wanted answered. And the only answer I'm left with is that we're not really expected to care.
I find much to like in this book. I'm intrigued by the societies Shinn has built. Nolan Adelpho is one of those wonderful risk-taking heroes I find so easy to root for (though I regret I couldn't embrace the female lead, Kitrini, to the same degree), and his journey kept me interested. Yet even as I find myself involved, eager to see what happens next, issues keep nagging at me, and now that the journey is done, I can put a finger on my biggest problem.
Shinn paints two societies, the matriarchal indigo and the patriarchal gulden. Of the two, the matriarchy is held up to the sharper scrutiny and scorn, yet it strikes me that of the two worlds, it would be the more tolerable to live in. The matriarchy is supposedly oppressive to men, yet a man like Nolan can pursue a career he loves, and he can forge a genuine friendship with a female colleague, Melina (my favorite female character). He can make the decision that can change both worlds. He can shape the future.
Now try to imagine a guldwoman doing any of these things.
Right. Here lies my main problem: I can't escape a feeling that this story is incomplete. Something crucial is missing, and that something is a guldwoman as a substantial character. Because we never gain the smallest glimpse of a guldwoman's perspective, their oppression remains a very abstract thing, and so we perceive that Shinn judges it far less harshly than the treatment of Nolan and the indigo men and the casual racism of the elite indigo women. We know that our supposed heroine, Kitrini, works with guldwomen who have escaped abusive marriages, but we know nothing of any of them as individuals. They remain an abstract collective, about whom it's impossible to care.
Just who are the guldwomen?
Who is Pakt's wife, for instance, who silently and invisibly serves her husband and the other menfolk (helped by her equally silent and invisible daughter)? Pakt, we're told, is a good man by gulden standards, but he tells Nolan his wife should feel honored to serve as what is basically a house-slave. What does SHE think about this? Is she really proud of her role, as Pakt says, or does she feel some subconscious frustration at the lack of an outlet for some of her faculties? Does she have an opinion on this or any subject, or has her society so systematically hobbled her ability to think that her mind is basically an empty vacuum? Has she or any guldwoman managed to forge some sort of inner life in defiance of the role they are forced to play? Maybe some guldwomen think and write and paint and play music in secret. That would have been cool to see.
But alas, the guldwomen, throughout the novel, remain the "women we don't see," unknown and unknowable. If one of them, just one, had been allowed to emerge from the shadows as a real character, how different this story as a whole might have been, and how much more balanced and complex the depiction of the contrasting societies would have come across. Shinn, at her best, would have given us this. Sadly, I fear, this is subpar Shinn.
By the end of the book, supposedly, the whole world has changed. But has anything changed for the guldwomen? Will it?
This was the question I wanted answered. And the only answer I'm left with is that we're not really expected to care.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2012
Again, in all humility, I do try NOT to give five star ratings too often in order to keep such a rating for truly special books which have that extra element which distinguishes them from the morass of published novels. I believe this is one of the the special ones.
The first part of the book is mainly devoted to world building, but succeeds in keeping the reader's attention despite this as the world in question is incredibly vivid and detailed. In short, it is a world where three 'races' of humans coexist: the matriarchal blue-skinned indigo who have come to dominate society and who control the best lands, the albino who make a virtue of keeping to themselves, and the patriarchal gulden who have come to resent the indigo's 'imperialism'. The book combines first-rate world building with top-notch characterization, gripping adventure and romance. In fact, the romance is so well done, IMHO, that it avoids many of the all too common clichés and stereotypes of romance in literature and shows how two seemingly dissimilar people can find one another, as well as the difference between being 'in love' and finding a person who actually 'fits' us.
This novel also successfully shows us, despite its alien setting, just how easy it is for human beings to hate one another and just how difficult it is for us to love and to forgive.
Finally (and as I don't wish to spoil anyone I will try to avoid being specific) the adventure is so truly gripping that there is one climactic moment in which one of the main characters reveals what he has done and describes this to a 'dried up old hag', to which I have returned to several times since reading the book, as it was so emotionally satisfying. Personally, I think there is something to be said about a book which can make you do this.
As a final note, I would avoid giving too much credence to the book's synopsis printed on the back of this particular edition, as it was only a marginally accurate representation of the book's plot.
Again, JMHO.
The first part of the book is mainly devoted to world building, but succeeds in keeping the reader's attention despite this as the world in question is incredibly vivid and detailed. In short, it is a world where three 'races' of humans coexist: the matriarchal blue-skinned indigo who have come to dominate society and who control the best lands, the albino who make a virtue of keeping to themselves, and the patriarchal gulden who have come to resent the indigo's 'imperialism'. The book combines first-rate world building with top-notch characterization, gripping adventure and romance. In fact, the romance is so well done, IMHO, that it avoids many of the all too common clichés and stereotypes of romance in literature and shows how two seemingly dissimilar people can find one another, as well as the difference between being 'in love' and finding a person who actually 'fits' us.
This novel also successfully shows us, despite its alien setting, just how easy it is for human beings to hate one another and just how difficult it is for us to love and to forgive.
Finally (and as I don't wish to spoil anyone I will try to avoid being specific) the adventure is so truly gripping that there is one climactic moment in which one of the main characters reveals what he has done and describes this to a 'dried up old hag', to which I have returned to several times since reading the book, as it was so emotionally satisfying. Personally, I think there is something to be said about a book which can make you do this.
As a final note, I would avoid giving too much credence to the book's synopsis printed on the back of this particular edition, as it was only a marginally accurate representation of the book's plot.
Again, JMHO.
February 6, 2021
I saw this book used at a book sale and picked it up blind based on the fact that I had read and enjoyed this author before. Sadly, didn't end up enjoying it much.
This is a race allegory, with there being 3 groups of people. There are indigo who are the ruling class and a matriarchal society, gulden who are below them and come from a patriarchal society, and albinos who are the lowest. First, I don't think it was a great idea to include a group that exists with this made up groups and have them be the lowest.
Secondly, I wasn't really impressed with how Sharon Shinn made the matriarchal society basically exactly the same as patriarchal societies but just with the roles switched. Men have a hard time being educated as it's seen as a waste of time, they can't inherit, etc. I feel like this would have been a good opportunity to dive into the idea of how they could be different so it felt lazy to have them basically be the same. Sharon's biggest problem with all this is that she tried to tackle so much along with this issue of racism. She wanted to tackle class issues, gender issues, and even homophobia as indigo women can sleep with other women as long as they ultimately settle down with a man, but men who sleep with men are seen as lesser. Sharon tries to address this by having an indigo man who feels disgusted by mlm discussing it with another gulden man, but it just ends up feeling mostly unaddressed.
In fact, a lot of these topics felt unaddressed or were addressed in strange ways. For example, we're supposed to see the good and evil in both the indigo and gulden societies, but ultimately the 2 indigo characters ended up together, and a lot of the gulden characters didn't feel as well explored. The main indigo woman, Kitrini, made a lot of stupid decisions. She's in love with this gulden man who is a terrorist and is constantly acting pathetic about it, even when she's thinking about how poorly he treats her.
Ultimately, the author bit off more than she could chew and I didn't find myself enjoying this book at all.
This is a race allegory, with there being 3 groups of people. There are indigo who are the ruling class and a matriarchal society, gulden who are below them and come from a patriarchal society, and albinos who are the lowest. First, I don't think it was a great idea to include a group that exists with this made up groups and have them be the lowest.
Secondly, I wasn't really impressed with how Sharon Shinn made the matriarchal society basically exactly the same as patriarchal societies but just with the roles switched. Men have a hard time being educated as it's seen as a waste of time, they can't inherit, etc. I feel like this would have been a good opportunity to dive into the idea of how they could be different so it felt lazy to have them basically be the same. Sharon's biggest problem with all this is that she tried to tackle so much along with this issue of racism. She wanted to tackle class issues, gender issues, and even homophobia as indigo women can sleep with other women as long as they ultimately settle down with a man, but men who sleep with men are seen as lesser. Sharon tries to address this by having an indigo man who feels disgusted by mlm discussing it with another gulden man, but it just ends up feeling mostly unaddressed.
In fact, a lot of these topics felt unaddressed or were addressed in strange ways. For example, we're supposed to see the good and evil in both the indigo and gulden societies, but ultimately the 2 indigo characters ended up together, and a lot of the gulden characters didn't feel as well explored. The main indigo woman, Kitrini, made a lot of stupid decisions. She's in love with this gulden man who is a terrorist and is constantly acting pathetic about it, even when she's thinking about how poorly he treats her.
Ultimately, the author bit off more than she could chew and I didn't find myself enjoying this book at all.
October 1, 2011
I thought this book was more sci fi lite. Politics and race and gender issues were touched on, but then brushed aside for romance. This seems to be a tendency in Sharon Shinn's books though.
Still an enjoyable read. I liked her world and the contrast between the races. I liked how she handled the heroine between two worlds. it was at times original but at other times cliche.
Some may find the story a bit dry since there is a lot of descriptions of the world and explanations of the cultures.
Still an enjoyable read. I liked her world and the contrast between the races. I liked how she handled the heroine between two worlds. it was at times original but at other times cliche.
Some may find the story a bit dry since there is a lot of descriptions of the world and explanations of the cultures.
July 18, 2020
This is one of Shinn’s earlier works, and it’s far from her best. The book recently was re-released, likely in response to recent racial unrest, as it deals with sexism as well as racial hatred and prejudice between two fictional races, the Indigo and the Gulden. Unfortunately, the failures of the book render any message trite.
So many aspects of the book made little sense. The Gulden were responsible for building and technology in the city yet were seen by the Indigo as hardly human and not even allowed to own property there. The Gulden were a patriarchal society, led by aggressive and physically imposing men, while the Indigo were matriarchal and led by less physically aggressive women. Yet we are to believe, despite the Gulden’s physical and technological superiority, the Indigo totally dominated and repressed the Gulden?
What really disappointed me about the book, though, were some of the characters themselves, particularly Kit. Frankly, she was an idiot most of the time. Her emotions and actions were more that of a hormonal adolescent than a grown, supposedly intelligent woman. Her professions of love seemed little different than a twelve-year-old mooning over the photo of a boy band star and Nolan’s were not much better, at least at first. I spent too much of the book being annoyed by, rather than drawn in by, their thoughts and actions.
While this story was a miss for me, I remain a fan and look forward to future—hopefully better crafted—books by Shinn.
So many aspects of the book made little sense. The Gulden were responsible for building and technology in the city yet were seen by the Indigo as hardly human and not even allowed to own property there. The Gulden were a patriarchal society, led by aggressive and physically imposing men, while the Indigo were matriarchal and led by less physically aggressive women. Yet we are to believe, despite the Gulden’s physical and technological superiority, the Indigo totally dominated and repressed the Gulden?
What really disappointed me about the book, though, were some of the characters themselves, particularly Kit. Frankly, she was an idiot most of the time. Her emotions and actions were more that of a hormonal adolescent than a grown, supposedly intelligent woman. Her professions of love seemed little different than a twelve-year-old mooning over the photo of a boy band star and Nolan’s were not much better, at least at first. I spent too much of the book being annoyed by, rather than drawn in by, their thoughts and actions.
While this story was a miss for me, I remain a fan and look forward to future—hopefully better crafted—books by Shinn.
November 27, 2022
Mixed feelings on this entry in Shinn's bibliography. As usual, Shinn flexes her unending talent for complex world building in Heart of Gold, but she sets it up with a lot less finesse than she does in her other books. The first third of this story is an awkward, clunky, and slow exposition of the world, tedious enough that my initial instinct was to set the book aside. But because this is Sharon Shinn, I forced myself through a whopping 100 or so pages, a courtesy I would never extend to any other author.
Am I glad I pushed through? Not sure. Around the 100 page mark, when I finally had most of the details of the world down, and when Shinn mostly stops trying to explain it to the reader, is when I finally felt the urge to turn pages and find out what would happen next. There was decent enough suspense in certain scenes and compelling enough characters to draw me in, but there was also a lot to stop me from being completely engrossed. Most of the book is stuffed with overlong discussions about the disparity and enmity between the main two races (the indigo and the gulden) that populate this science fiction world, and the correlation between these discussions and the active racism and misogyny in the US and everywhere else in the world is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. It's definitely an earnest exploration about how the way we're born affects the way we think about other people, but I found most of the ethics and morality here dubious at best and nonsensical at worst, mostly because I had a hard time buying the way Shinn presents the two races to us.
The indigo race is a strict, matriarchal society that, as described in this book, is basically just the patriarchy of 1800s England reversed so that it is women who own everything, women who have the power, and it is men who live by the dictations of their mothers and sisters and arranged into marriages. Shinn tries very hard to turn the real-world patriarchy on its head, but ironically the influence of that patriarchy still made it into her fictional indigo matriarchy. There were several discussions between indigo men in this book that reeked of toxic masculinity, and given how the matriarchy is presented in this world, I don't see how men would have learned to be toxic like that. So it seems that, despite her best efforts to write the opposite kind of culture, Shinn can't quite get away from the male-dominated world we live in.
The other main race is the gulden, which is the complete opposite of the indigo. They are a male-dominated society that sanctions the abuse and murder of women and children--and this is where Shinn really started to lose me. She writes as if the indigo and gulden are basically equal in their restrictive cultures, that one is no worse than the other, but I just could not wrap my head around that, considering that one of those cultures OPENLY ENCOURAGES MURDER. There are certainly a few forward-looking gulden characters that I liked (no main gulden women characters) and a few truly villainous indigos whose actions are atrocious and on par with the murdering the gulden men seem partial to, but Shinn was unable to convince me that both were equally flawed. And I'm not sure she even convinced herself, seeing as the two main characters and love interests are both indigo, and one of them ends up rejecting all of her gulden acquaintances.
HOWEVER. Despite what I thought was some seriously problematic world building (which is a little funny, given that I've read worlds by Sharon Shinn far more bonkers than this one with fewer issues), the story eventually did capture my attention, and there were several good things worth noting. Our heroine (Kit) begins the book in what I can only describe as an emotionally abusive relationship, and I thought her journey through this romance was depicted very well, especially in a scene during the last third of the book when she finally takes time to understand everything that was wrong with the relationship and inevitably falls out of love with him. Our hero (Nolan) also begins the book in a separate (less volatile) relationship, and he too goes through the process of slowly falling out of love, which eventually ends in a tender and sad breakup scene, which I thought was brilliantly rendered. Shinn seems to have a talent for writing relationship dissolutions, because she also does a great job showing how Kit eventually distances herself from a much beloved father figure. So...the best parts of this book are characters ending relationships, experiencing heartbreak, and learning to move on. And WEIRDLY, all these moments are far superior to the actual love story, which did not enrapture me, and wasn't that fully realized in the end anyway (I mean, it sort of is, but not in a way that satisfies this particular reader).
And finally, the last 100 pages of the book REALLY pick up. Shit hits the fan, all the most interesting characters show up (Chay and Kit was the most engaging relationship for me here), and the suspense and tension ratchet up to the highest levels. I had a hard time putting the book down at this point. In this section there are also some dryly funny parallels to the COVID 19 epidemic, which are all the more interesting given that this book was published 20+ years ago.
Would I actually recommend this book to anyone? I don't know. I found it for a few dollars at Half Price Books, and I guess I'm glad I picked it up and read it. But it is definitely not Shinn's best work, and I would not give it to anyone who had never read her before. There are some tidbits here that hint at tropes and ideas Shinn uses in her later work, like the dead, semi-careless father of the privileged girl (Troubled Waters), a creditable attempt to explore the viewpoint of characters that are part of the oppressor group of people (Summers at Castle Auburn), to name a few, but only a die-hard fan would find any of it interesting.
Am I glad I pushed through? Not sure. Around the 100 page mark, when I finally had most of the details of the world down, and when Shinn mostly stops trying to explain it to the reader, is when I finally felt the urge to turn pages and find out what would happen next. There was decent enough suspense in certain scenes and compelling enough characters to draw me in, but there was also a lot to stop me from being completely engrossed. Most of the book is stuffed with overlong discussions about the disparity and enmity between the main two races (the indigo and the gulden) that populate this science fiction world, and the correlation between these discussions and the active racism and misogyny in the US and everywhere else in the world is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. It's definitely an earnest exploration about how the way we're born affects the way we think about other people, but I found most of the ethics and morality here dubious at best and nonsensical at worst, mostly because I had a hard time buying the way Shinn presents the two races to us.
The indigo race is a strict, matriarchal society that, as described in this book, is basically just the patriarchy of 1800s England reversed so that it is women who own everything, women who have the power, and it is men who live by the dictations of their mothers and sisters and arranged into marriages. Shinn tries very hard to turn the real-world patriarchy on its head, but ironically the influence of that patriarchy still made it into her fictional indigo matriarchy. There were several discussions between indigo men in this book that reeked of toxic masculinity, and given how the matriarchy is presented in this world, I don't see how men would have learned to be toxic like that. So it seems that, despite her best efforts to write the opposite kind of culture, Shinn can't quite get away from the male-dominated world we live in.
The other main race is the gulden, which is the complete opposite of the indigo. They are a male-dominated society that sanctions the abuse and murder of women and children--and this is where Shinn really started to lose me. She writes as if the indigo and gulden are basically equal in their restrictive cultures, that one is no worse than the other, but I just could not wrap my head around that, considering that one of those cultures OPENLY ENCOURAGES MURDER. There are certainly a few forward-looking gulden characters that I liked (no main gulden women characters) and a few truly villainous indigos whose actions are atrocious and on par with the murdering the gulden men seem partial to, but Shinn was unable to convince me that both were equally flawed. And I'm not sure she even convinced herself, seeing as the two main characters and love interests are both indigo, and one of them ends up rejecting all of her gulden acquaintances.
HOWEVER. Despite what I thought was some seriously problematic world building (which is a little funny, given that I've read worlds by Sharon Shinn far more bonkers than this one with fewer issues), the story eventually did capture my attention, and there were several good things worth noting. Our heroine (Kit) begins the book in what I can only describe as an emotionally abusive relationship, and I thought her journey through this romance was depicted very well, especially in a scene during the last third of the book when she finally takes time to understand everything that was wrong with the relationship and inevitably falls out of love with him. Our hero (Nolan) also begins the book in a separate (less volatile) relationship, and he too goes through the process of slowly falling out of love, which eventually ends in a tender and sad breakup scene, which I thought was brilliantly rendered. Shinn seems to have a talent for writing relationship dissolutions, because she also does a great job showing how Kit eventually distances herself from a much beloved father figure. So...the best parts of this book are characters ending relationships, experiencing heartbreak, and learning to move on. And WEIRDLY, all these moments are far superior to the actual love story, which did not enrapture me, and wasn't that fully realized in the end anyway (I mean, it sort of is, but not in a way that satisfies this particular reader).
And finally, the last 100 pages of the book REALLY pick up. Shit hits the fan, all the most interesting characters show up (Chay and Kit was the most engaging relationship for me here), and the suspense and tension ratchet up to the highest levels. I had a hard time putting the book down at this point. In this section there are also some dryly funny parallels to the COVID 19 epidemic, which are all the more interesting given that this book was published 20+ years ago.
Would I actually recommend this book to anyone? I don't know. I found it for a few dollars at Half Price Books, and I guess I'm glad I picked it up and read it. But it is definitely not Shinn's best work, and I would not give it to anyone who had never read her before. There are some tidbits here that hint at tropes and ideas Shinn uses in her later work, like the dead, semi-careless father of the privileged girl (Troubled Waters), a creditable attempt to explore the viewpoint of characters that are part of the oppressor group of people (Summers at Castle Auburn), to name a few, but only a die-hard fan would find any of it interesting.
May 23, 2020
3.5 will fully review in the morning.
Alright, well this was different than Shinn's normal fantasy work. I enjoyed the world, the different races, the conversations on race and gender, and some commentary on how things work for real vs how we expect them to.
So, I liked the book. I don't think it should be called a romance at all because the romance between the two characters doesn't happen until the last 100 pages and to be perfectly honest felt very far fetched. I could've gotten behind a lot of other scenarios, they started working together, they kept in touch as friends, but all in all saying they fell in love the way they did didn't sell it for me.
It's possible that fans of her mystic and elemental series may still like this book bc the writing and world building were great but they also might not bc like me, they're expecting a little something different when it comes to the romance/relationship.
Alright, well this was different than Shinn's normal fantasy work. I enjoyed the world, the different races, the conversations on race and gender, and some commentary on how things work for real vs how we expect them to.
So, I liked the book. I don't think it should be called a romance at all because the romance between the two characters doesn't happen until the last 100 pages and to be perfectly honest felt very far fetched. I could've gotten behind a lot of other scenarios, they started working together, they kept in touch as friends, but all in all saying they fell in love the way they did didn't sell it for me.
It's possible that fans of her mystic and elemental series may still like this book bc the writing and world building were great but they also might not bc like me, they're expecting a little something different when it comes to the romance/relationship.
June 16, 2012
I really enjoyed reading this again. It was just the right time to re-visit it. Heart of Gold is interesting because it is an extended look at gender roles within society. Brilliantly, Sharon Shinn examines this not in our own society, but in a sci-fi world. There are two main races that the book deals with; the blueskin are a matriarchal society in which castes are strictly (if not legally enforced) and men cannot inherit property, the gulden are a patriarchal society which is more violent and highly structured, and the men rule over the house (including wives, unwed sisters, and children). People in the book, whether the accept it or fight against it, are a product of their cultures and the unspoken assumptions inherent in them. I very much enjoyed the book, which dealt with many issues I've been mulling over recently that have to do with gender roles and gender expectations and how society and upbringing fit into this.
I only wish the book had ended differently. I like Nolan, a blueskin, I admire
I only wish the book had ended differently. I like Nolan, a blueskin, I admire
January 18, 2019
I kind of only got this on Bookmooch because I had the points, it was available, and hey, it's Sharon Shinn. I wasn't expecting to like it, because it's one of her science fiction efforts, and I'd read lots of reviews on here saying it was very different to her Summers at Castle Auburn (which I LOVE) and the Safe-Keeper trilogy (which I also love, but only in lower-case). And it is very different to those books, yes, but I still found myself really enjoying it! At first it was a little... slow, amongst other things (namely alien, and I actually came across one of those sentences science-fiction haters like to laugh about, like 'I hopped on the grombulator in my flech-tech boots, adjusting my dumpoolock as I stared ahead at the fast approaching flogwats. This was going to be tricky. If only I'd recharched my kwimly this morning!' [not an actual example, but I cannot be bothered to go and fetch the book, then find the particular passage!:]) So once I'd gotten over such things as characters with blue skin and original high-tech forms of public transport (not to mention the unsubtleness of the messages about racism and sexism), I found myself fairly gripped by the story. Glad I mooched it, really.
December 31, 2021
Shinn really should have also stuck to just race. She brought in homosexuality (and made a really mind-boggling distinction between female and male homosexuality that was unbelievable in such a society) and abortion, but she never dealt with them. I mean, we have two conversations where it's like, "yeah. We believe this and you believe that and we both make no sense," in terms of homosexuality, but it's never resolved. On one hand, we're cool with female homosexuality, but even though Nolan spends quite a bit of time talking about his feelings about male homosexuality, it's never resolved. I mean, why put it in, if you're not going to actually tackle it? It makes it seem as if you're supporting that kind of idea. And then abortion is brought up for literally no reason. I got the idea that Shinn is anti-abortion because that side kinda wins the argument (even after comparing abortion to murdering children um . . . ).
The romance is kind of weird but turns out relatively cute, which was nice.
The romance is kind of weird but turns out relatively cute, which was nice.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 15, 2011
This was a very interesting story. I thought that the characters were well developed and the author did a good job of describing the society so that you understood it. I thought about this one several times after I had finished it because it really made you think. I would probably give it 3.5 stars and would have been okay without the suggestive scenes and such.
June 29, 2009
Shinn's other books are so very romantic that I went into this one with high expectations. It's a very good SF novel, but it's not that romantic, so I admit that I was disappointed.
September 10, 2024
3.5? It's compelling and makes me ponder things but it also feels imperfect and incomplete in many ways...
July 14, 2014
I read Sharon Shinn's Samaria series many years ago (when it was still a trilogy), and thought it simply wonderful. Heart of Gold, while good, doesn't measure up. And that's disappointing, because there's a lot of potential in its premise.
On an unnamed continent of an unnamed planet, three diverse races live in a state of unarmed truce. The Indigos, a blue-skinned matriarchal society, are the de facto rulers of the continent by virtue of their numbers and control of arable land. The Guldens, a gold-skinned patriarchal society, are more technologically innovative, but stifled by restricted access to land, wealth, and power. The third race, the Albinos, exist in meek servitude, primarily to the Indigos.
Nolan Adelpho, the scion of one of the High Hundred families, the Indigo elite, is a scientist in Biolab in the Central City. His family is waiting for him to get this notion of working for a living out of system and marry according to family arrangement. He is quietly rebelling: although he loves Leesa, his fiancee, he is resisting the pressure being put on him to come home, where all he will then be required to do is raise the children and take care of the house. He enjoys his work and has made several satisfactory discoveries in his field: antivirals and antibiotics.
Kitrini Candachi is the somewhat disreputable member of another High Hundred family: disreputable by virtue of her father's youthful rebellion in leaving home and raising her among the Guldens. Much to her indomitable grandmother's dismay, she does her reputation no good by being the mistress of Jex Zanlan, the son of the Gulden chief Chay Zanlan.
The Indigo and the Gulden have viewed each other with suspicion for generations. Long ago, the Indigo bullied the Gulden out of their native lands and pushed them toward the rocky coast. Non-aggression treaties were eventually signed, but lately the Indigo have been pushing into Gulden territory again. Terrorist attacks have taken place in retaliation, attacks laid at the feet of Jex Zanlan, now under arrest and awaiting trial in the Central City.
Shinn spends nearly half of the book introducing us to the various aspects and conflicts of Indigo and Gulden society, and then plunges us into the midst of a terrorist attack, a frantic escape from Central City, and a clandestine journey to Gulden territory in an effort to thwart a malicious plot. The slow build-up is necessary, especially due to the severe role reversal of Indigo society, where women have all the power, land, money, and prestige, and men are the virginal chattel bargained away in marriage. Even the action-packed second half progresses at a leisurely pace. For all its leisure, though, this is a fast read, easily consumed in a day or two.
All that being said, this book's premise is one that could have easily been expanded to twice its length. Too much was left unexplored. What was the origin of the different skin tones? Did the Indigo come from some other planet or some other continent and take over the Gulden lands? If not, how did two such radically different societal structures evolve on the same continent? Was there some geologic feature which separated them that the Indigo eventually surmounted? Why did Shinn even include the Albino race since they played virtually no part in the story? What about the Guldens' trading partners on other continents, mentioned only in passing? Were they Gulden as well? Albino? Or something else? So many questions, so little information. I guess that's what comes from having a mind attuned to anthropology....
So. Bottom line. Enjoyable light SF/fantasy with a romantic bent, not too taxing on the brain. Could have been better, but not too shabby a way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
On an unnamed continent of an unnamed planet, three diverse races live in a state of unarmed truce. The Indigos, a blue-skinned matriarchal society, are the de facto rulers of the continent by virtue of their numbers and control of arable land. The Guldens, a gold-skinned patriarchal society, are more technologically innovative, but stifled by restricted access to land, wealth, and power. The third race, the Albinos, exist in meek servitude, primarily to the Indigos.
Nolan Adelpho, the scion of one of the High Hundred families, the Indigo elite, is a scientist in Biolab in the Central City. His family is waiting for him to get this notion of working for a living out of system and marry according to family arrangement. He is quietly rebelling: although he loves Leesa, his fiancee, he is resisting the pressure being put on him to come home, where all he will then be required to do is raise the children and take care of the house. He enjoys his work and has made several satisfactory discoveries in his field: antivirals and antibiotics.
Kitrini Candachi is the somewhat disreputable member of another High Hundred family: disreputable by virtue of her father's youthful rebellion in leaving home and raising her among the Guldens. Much to her indomitable grandmother's dismay, she does her reputation no good by being the mistress of Jex Zanlan, the son of the Gulden chief Chay Zanlan.
The Indigo and the Gulden have viewed each other with suspicion for generations. Long ago, the Indigo bullied the Gulden out of their native lands and pushed them toward the rocky coast. Non-aggression treaties were eventually signed, but lately the Indigo have been pushing into Gulden territory again. Terrorist attacks have taken place in retaliation, attacks laid at the feet of Jex Zanlan, now under arrest and awaiting trial in the Central City.
Shinn spends nearly half of the book introducing us to the various aspects and conflicts of Indigo and Gulden society, and then plunges us into the midst of a terrorist attack, a frantic escape from Central City, and a clandestine journey to Gulden territory in an effort to thwart a malicious plot. The slow build-up is necessary, especially due to the severe role reversal of Indigo society, where women have all the power, land, money, and prestige, and men are the virginal chattel bargained away in marriage. Even the action-packed second half progresses at a leisurely pace. For all its leisure, though, this is a fast read, easily consumed in a day or two.
All that being said, this book's premise is one that could have easily been expanded to twice its length. Too much was left unexplored. What was the origin of the different skin tones? Did the Indigo come from some other planet or some other continent and take over the Gulden lands? If not, how did two such radically different societal structures evolve on the same continent? Was there some geologic feature which separated them that the Indigo eventually surmounted? Why did Shinn even include the Albino race since they played virtually no part in the story? What about the Guldens' trading partners on other continents, mentioned only in passing? Were they Gulden as well? Albino? Or something else? So many questions, so little information. I guess that's what comes from having a mind attuned to anthropology....
So. Bottom line. Enjoyable light SF/fantasy with a romantic bent, not too taxing on the brain. Could have been better, but not too shabby a way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
February 21, 2017
This multi-layered, multi-faceted novel is so searching in its probings of social structure, culture, eating habits, mores and morals, prejudices and outlooks that it transcends mere science fiction. Even with its illuminations of the hearts and minds of its various characters, Ms. Shinn understands that the core of humanity isn’t always so easy to decipher.
Time and again, Nolan Adelpho and Kitrini Candachi have their expectations of others shattered, to the point where they wonder if they can ever fully trust or understand other people. But that’s the beauty and terror of life—knowing that nothing is ever certain and that change can wonderful but devastating as well. The changes in themselves and that they make on other people around them create a charged drama that is absolutely absorbing to read.
At times, it seems as if one person or another makes an over-winded explanation of the way society works. It’s necessary; otherwise the reader might get lost about the opposing social outlooks (in indigo society, women are revered and the ones with power while in the gulden world, women are merely vessels to bear children and can be abused or even killed if a man’s pride demands it).
But these expositions aren’t the clumsy literary devices of a sloppy writer. Even when indigos, guldens and whites live together, they may shun each other and not necessarily know anything about how the other culture lives. Kitrini is forced to explain to a fellow blue exactly why guldens mistreat their women and her explanation is laced with scorn for his ignorance and a distant pity for these battered wives. It’s not that Kitrini doesn’t care; she’s simply seen too many of these unfortunate to waste unwanted sympathy. She would prefer to do something more constructive like ask for charity or help protect them from the spouses who search for them.
Kitrini and Nolan are both brave in their individual ways and this courage touches and sparks a returning affection in each other. You can understand how they both cherished others and see how their new affections don’t cheapen or take anything from their former lovers. That love is as glorious to read about as their individual fights to create order in their chaotic worlds.
In a way, I was very sorry to see the novel end where and when it did. Nolan has instigated violent and terrible change in his world, one that puts him in considerable danger. I wanted to see what would happen when both guldens and indigos are put in peril. Would they work together? Would there be warfare? How would it occur? What happens next?!
This is truly one of the better science fiction novels I’ve read in recent years and one that deserves to be shared with a wider audience who like their science fiction laced with social commentary.
Time and again, Nolan Adelpho and Kitrini Candachi have their expectations of others shattered, to the point where they wonder if they can ever fully trust or understand other people. But that’s the beauty and terror of life—knowing that nothing is ever certain and that change can wonderful but devastating as well. The changes in themselves and that they make on other people around them create a charged drama that is absolutely absorbing to read.
At times, it seems as if one person or another makes an over-winded explanation of the way society works. It’s necessary; otherwise the reader might get lost about the opposing social outlooks (in indigo society, women are revered and the ones with power while in the gulden world, women are merely vessels to bear children and can be abused or even killed if a man’s pride demands it).
But these expositions aren’t the clumsy literary devices of a sloppy writer. Even when indigos, guldens and whites live together, they may shun each other and not necessarily know anything about how the other culture lives. Kitrini is forced to explain to a fellow blue exactly why guldens mistreat their women and her explanation is laced with scorn for his ignorance and a distant pity for these battered wives. It’s not that Kitrini doesn’t care; she’s simply seen too many of these unfortunate to waste unwanted sympathy. She would prefer to do something more constructive like ask for charity or help protect them from the spouses who search for them.
Kitrini and Nolan are both brave in their individual ways and this courage touches and sparks a returning affection in each other. You can understand how they both cherished others and see how their new affections don’t cheapen or take anything from their former lovers. That love is as glorious to read about as their individual fights to create order in their chaotic worlds.
In a way, I was very sorry to see the novel end where and when it did. Nolan has instigated violent and terrible change in his world, one that puts him in considerable danger. I wanted to see what would happen when both guldens and indigos are put in peril. Would they work together? Would there be warfare? How would it occur? What happens next?!
This is truly one of the better science fiction novels I’ve read in recent years and one that deserves to be shared with a wider audience who like their science fiction laced with social commentary.
June 27, 2015
Well, I really enjoyed this book!
I'm a fan of Sharon Shinn's Twelve Houses series, and I read her short story collection Quatrain which included a story from this universe, so I was interested. It didn't disappoint! Complex, sympathetic characters, a richly developed world with a good (if not super subtle) message about systematic racism, classism, and cultural understanding (and misunderstanding). I also found the characters and the story memorable enough that for several months this has been the book I kept in my car, so that whenever I was stuck someplace with time to kill, I had something to read. I always found myself sucked right back into the story, even with weeks in between reading, even reading only a couple of chapters at a time. What will I find to take its place??
[SPOILERS BELOW]
The only thing keeping this back from a five-star rating is Kit. I liked the character a lot, but her devotion to Jex Zanlan drove me up the wall. It seemed incredibly clear that he was a manipulative monster who was enjoying the power he held over her. And she realized it, and I wanted to cheer, and then the moment she was in his presence again her willpower vanished. I admit, I don't have a lot of patience for stories about characters who are SO overpowered by lust (or what they believe to be love, but let's be honest here) that they completely lose their common sense. So I really just wanted to shake her. Very frustrating.
But I enjoyed finding out about her history, and I would actually be interested to read more about her, maybe see what it was like for her to learn her own history, and how it shaped what she was. Because that revelation was saved for nearly the very end of the book, she came across as a sort of garden-variety upper-class rebel, someone drawn to the supposed (or in the case of this world, actual) danger of the 'other', and who also wanted to help marginalized people. There's nothing wrong with that, but the revelation of her part-gulden heritage makes her motivation/psychology much more complex, and I'd love to see more of that. It might even make her fanatical devotion to Jex easier to swallow.
I'd also love to see what becomes of the future of this society, now that the barriers of coexistence between these races have been breached. And how do the albino fit into this? For most of the book, it was easy to forget that a third race was even involved. I don't know if Sharon Shinn intends to write any more novels in this world, but I'd definitely read them if she did, especially if it gives us more of these characters. =)
I'm a fan of Sharon Shinn's Twelve Houses series, and I read her short story collection Quatrain which included a story from this universe, so I was interested. It didn't disappoint! Complex, sympathetic characters, a richly developed world with a good (if not super subtle) message about systematic racism, classism, and cultural understanding (and misunderstanding). I also found the characters and the story memorable enough that for several months this has been the book I kept in my car, so that whenever I was stuck someplace with time to kill, I had something to read. I always found myself sucked right back into the story, even with weeks in between reading, even reading only a couple of chapters at a time. What will I find to take its place??
[SPOILERS BELOW]
The only thing keeping this back from a five-star rating is Kit. I liked the character a lot, but her devotion to Jex Zanlan drove me up the wall. It seemed incredibly clear that he was a manipulative monster who was enjoying the power he held over her. And she realized it, and I wanted to cheer, and then the moment she was in his presence again her willpower vanished. I admit, I don't have a lot of patience for stories about characters who are SO overpowered by lust (or what they believe to be love, but let's be honest here) that they completely lose their common sense. So I really just wanted to shake her. Very frustrating.
But I enjoyed finding out about her history, and I would actually be interested to read more about her, maybe see what it was like for her to learn her own history, and how it shaped what she was. Because that revelation was saved for nearly the very end of the book, she came across as a sort of garden-variety upper-class rebel, someone drawn to the supposed (or in the case of this world, actual) danger of the 'other', and who also wanted to help marginalized people. There's nothing wrong with that, but the revelation of her part-gulden heritage makes her motivation/psychology much more complex, and I'd love to see more of that. It might even make her fanatical devotion to Jex easier to swallow.
I'd also love to see what becomes of the future of this society, now that the barriers of coexistence between these races have been breached. And how do the albino fit into this? For most of the book, it was easy to forget that a third race was even involved. I don't know if Sharon Shinn intends to write any more novels in this world, but I'd definitely read them if she did, especially if it gives us more of these characters. =)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2012
It is difficult to say what Heart of Gold actually is about. But I'll try.
Firstly, it is a story about Kitrini and Nolan. Kitrini Candachi is an indigo woman, part of a highly matriarchal society. She would have been heir to her grandmother's estates but for her paternity. Her father was a very forward-thinking man and an anthropologist. She had lived with her father on Gold Mountain, the patriarchal centre of gulden power. She has now moved to the City, having been turned out of Gold Mountain as her lover was jailed for terrorism.
Nolan Adelpho is an indigo man. A brilliant bioscientist, he works hard to keep his job at the Centre (in the City) to find cures to gulden diseases. He is being awaited to take his proper place beside his fiancée in the country as befitting an indigo man.
Secondly, more importantly and pervasively, it is about a rift between the two major races: indigo and gulden. Clearly, their ways of life are markedly different purely based on gender roles. However, outside of that, there is so little that sets them apart, right down to their mistrust in and quest for dominance against the other race.
Thirdly, all the simmering contrasts and similarities between the races unfold through the characters and their jarring views and come to a head marked by love, betrayal, politics, genocide and an inevitable shattering of prejudices and perceptions.
Finally, through this story, I learned how my world had shaped my views. Despite being a feminist, I had my imagination stretched as I tried to comprehend the world Shinn created with such care and attention to detail. There were some events that were destined to happen, but others caught me completely by surprise. The drama and suspense, if the richness of the cultures and people was not enough, had me gripped to the end.
4-4.5 stars.
September 5, 2008
Shinn has created a sf world where three races coexist, each almost biologically identical save for the color of their skin. Through a plot about terrorism and falling in love, Shinn examines the tense relationship between the brutal, colorful and patriarchal Gilder and the repressed, agrarian and martiarchal Indigo. There are a few great moments: when an Indigo character realizes that although she was raised by the Gulden, she still has all the privileges of an Indigo; the long and uncomfortable bus ride two Indigo take to visit a golden friend; the Gulden newspapers printed with two languages, side by side...But the moments that feel like true statements about race, gender, and sexuality are too rare to make up for a hackneyed plot and stale characters. I was also really annoyed that Shinn was so lazy in creating the two clashing cultures—each is clearly an Earth culture, with sf colored skin. The Gulden are stereotypically Middle Eastern, complete with honor killings, while the Indigo are oh-so-Western European, complete with fancy balls. Why not create two NEW cultures, or at the very least not map them so closely onto clichés? Still and all, worth a read.
November 4, 2022
I have really enjoyed this book over the years and really wanted a comfort read so I picked it up again. It's a bit romance-ey as Shinn's books usually are, but even though I normally avoid romances like the plague, the way Shinn tells her stories I am okay with it.
The main plotline of Heart of Gold explores discrimination and prejudice. There are three races of people on this world; indigos who are a matriarchal society, guldmen who are a patriarchal societies and the albinos. The main character is Nolan Adelpho, an indigo biologist who is working in the city before he marries the woman his mother selected for him when he was 14 years old. Nolan works at Biolabs and works with guldmen as well as indigos, and has discovered that maybe everything his mother told him about the inferiority of the guldmen and albinos may not be true after all. We also get to know Kitrini, who is in love with the jailed son of the guldmen's leader.
I really do love this story; it has young people questioning the values of their families, a society going through changes and yes, romance(s). A good read that I enjoy going back to every few years.
The main plotline of Heart of Gold explores discrimination and prejudice. There are three races of people on this world; indigos who are a matriarchal society, guldmen who are a patriarchal societies and the albinos. The main character is Nolan Adelpho, an indigo biologist who is working in the city before he marries the woman his mother selected for him when he was 14 years old. Nolan works at Biolabs and works with guldmen as well as indigos, and has discovered that maybe everything his mother told him about the inferiority of the guldmen and albinos may not be true after all. We also get to know Kitrini, who is in love with the jailed son of the guldmen's leader.
I really do love this story; it has young people questioning the values of their families, a society going through changes and yes, romance(s). A good read that I enjoy going back to every few years.
July 12, 2014
Another rather delicious read from Sharon Shinn- and very different form the other books I have read. I'm soon going to run out of Sharon Shinn books at this rate.
There were some interesting questions explored in the book, which I really enjoyed. How far can we step beyond our culture- can we see the world in new ways or do we inevitably revert to the boundaries set by our upbringing? Must we leave people behind who don't want to change? How does this work on a larger scale, between two different cultures with opposing values- can significant change occur in one generation? When you have misjudged someone you love, can you trust your own judgement in future relationships? Is it capitulation to conservative forces to love someone who is acceptable to your own group?
These questions are explored very skillfully and made human through the focus on the 2 main characters, Kit and Nolan, with both points of view included. The only part that I didn't buy into was Nolan's actions with the virus. This seemed to be as extreme as Jax's terrorist activities.
There were some interesting questions explored in the book, which I really enjoyed. How far can we step beyond our culture- can we see the world in new ways or do we inevitably revert to the boundaries set by our upbringing? Must we leave people behind who don't want to change? How does this work on a larger scale, between two different cultures with opposing values- can significant change occur in one generation? When you have misjudged someone you love, can you trust your own judgement in future relationships? Is it capitulation to conservative forces to love someone who is acceptable to your own group?
These questions are explored very skillfully and made human through the focus on the 2 main characters, Kit and Nolan, with both points of view included. The only part that I didn't buy into was Nolan's actions with the virus. This seemed to be as extreme as Jax's terrorist activities.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 15, 2011
Reminded me a bit of Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West but reads more like Star Trek TNG's Angel One episode whipped together with some Chechen influenced Laurie Garrett with a bit of The White Plague.
Wont be for everyone, but I kinda liked it!
Wont be for everyone, but I kinda liked it!
December 19, 2016
I love this book. I was expecting a romance novel without high stakes, and yet this is a book I would give to someone in need of a feminist/social awakening! A matriarchal and a patriarchal society are pitted against each other. We see the negative sides of both, but always in the context of the story - there is no preaching here! Of course the 2 lovers come from different societies, which creates nice tension both within the relationship and in society at large.
I read all of SS's books, but this one is my favorite, for its subtly wide scope, its deft hand, its intelligence.
Thank you Ms Shinn!!
I read all of SS's books, but this one is my favorite, for its subtly wide scope, its deft hand, its intelligence.
Thank you Ms Shinn!!
February 1, 2016
Lots of interesting political commentary in this one. It's interesting to read something from the early 2000s, which is now 15 years ago! These "futuristic" people did not have cellphones. I found myself wondering "why doesn't she just use her phone to call him". The printed their news from the "news screens" and still read books, no e-readers.
I am not a technology nut, but I find it funny that I found it weird that they didn't have all of the tech we have. I had to keep reminding myself how old this book now is.
As for the book itself, I found it to be a page turner and rather compelling. It does start out slow, laying the groundwork and the back story. Sharon Shinn is a great writer.
I am not a technology nut, but I find it funny that I found it weird that they didn't have all of the tech we have. I had to keep reminding myself how old this book now is.
As for the book itself, I found it to be a page turner and rather compelling. It does start out slow, laying the groundwork and the back story. Sharon Shinn is a great writer.
February 28, 2009
Wow. Maybe this book found me at the right time, but loved both the story and the writing. Grabbed me from the beginning and I had a tough time putting the book down. Some simply exquisite descriptions of emotional situations. Interesting exploration of gendered and raced characters and the potential for change and what kinds of things lead to change. Able to create empathy for even the unsympathetic characters. The only drawback for me was an ending that wrapped up too quickly and too neatly. Will definitely be checking out the rest of this authors' books.
April 16, 2015
This was a wonderful book. The content was moving. The main theme of the story was tolerance. It dealt with racial differences, sexual orientation, and terrorism. It was a moving narrative that truly shows how hatred and ignorance are more powerful weapons than disease and ammunition. All wrapped up in a science fiction world with intrigue, danger, culture, and a little romance, this is a book that demonstrates that we are all people no matter what we look like.
September 21, 2010
Wow. I've actually come across a Sharon Shinn book I couldn't even finish. So far even my least favorite of her works I at least managed to finish easily. Maybe it was partially my bad mood tonight but with the switching POVs and when neither the world building or characters managed to grab my attention after 3 chapters, I gave up. Usually Sharon Shinn's work manages to grab me pretty quickly but this one just didn't work for me. What a bummer.
January 18, 2010
I enjoy good sci-fi. However, this book did nothing for me; I read few chapters more than I wanted to, just to give it a chance, and that was all. Laboriously told, characters you don't like and couldn't care less about, and a theme of anti-racism that you are bludgeoned over the head with. This is an unbelievable, wordy, sci-fi version of Romeo and Juliet.
August 20, 2010
This book caught my attention as an unusual story of a forbidden relationship in a complex, futuristic society. I went on to read Shinn's other novels and series (Heart of Gold is a standalone work for those of you who don't like to get involved in series) and I must say I like her other novels better, but this one is definitely a stand-out novel that establishes her unique voice and style.
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