Reviews

Not quite what I thought it would be judging from the synopsis. I thought this piece of time travel fiction from 1919 would paint a utopian future world of 2118 in which women brutally rule over men. Instead there is one female authority among tons of male rulers and her claim to power is based on her beauty. Nevertheless, this glimpse into the future was interesting and fun. Often it felt almost whimsical and with the in-between space of Ulithia it reminded me more of a fantasy than a scifi novel. I also enjoyed the 3 main characters and the friendship dynamic between them. I just wish the woman, Viola, had not been the object of attraction for basically every male character (also, she's 17, it was uncomfortable at times).

I like to remind myself that this piece of creative non-realistic fiction was written in the early 20th century by a woman and it makes me proud that Gertrude Barrows Bennett (she wrote under a pen name) had the imagination and courage to publish her work.

glimnore's review against another edition

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4.0

Quite the interesting foray into early dark fantasy and scifi. Stevens' work is a bit campy, but I can see where the lines of inspiration were drawn for many of the golden-age scifi works. A wonderful read for all, as long as we bear in mind when this was written and the impact it had on works like Lovecraft and Merritt.

Maybe one day, I'll find myself wandering through the moon gates of Ulithia...

a_zografia's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

apersonallibrary's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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