Pam's Book Log

7 November, 2002

Theodora was a student in Legends and Folk Literature on the scholarly planet Athena, until she went on a vacation trip to the planet Ivory. There, she was mugged, losing all her money and identification and missing her ship home. That was two years ago, and she's survived since then by doing Tarot readings in the capital's Trade Square, in hopes of eventually saving enough money to buy passage back to Athena. Her plan takes a major detour, however, when a dashing, wealthy young man asks her to tell his fortune, and liking the way she handles herself, offers her a job.

Ivory itself is kind of like a cross between Lois Bujold's Barrayar and Jackson's Whole: it's got Barrayar's mixture of high- and low-tech, and aristocratic political system, but instead of the militaristic, honor-obsessed Barrayaran mindset, Ivory's citizens have a free-wheeling, anything-for-a-profit, rampantly capitalist outlook on life. As an added twist, there's the sorcery. Some Ivorans have abilities which, for all intents and purposes, amount to magic powers. Theodora's employer, Ran Cormallon, is one such. By hooking up with him, Theodora gains the ability to really use cards as a diviniation tool, as opposed to the Miss Cleo act which had previously provided her livelihood. Things go well for a while, as Theodora gains proficiency at her new trade, and makes real financial progress towards her ultimate goal of a starship ticket. Then, somebody tries to kill her. Then, she's kidnapped. Then, somebody tries to kill both her and Ran. Theodora and Ran must discover which of Ran's enemies is behind the attacks, and stop them.

The Gate of Ivory (along with its sequels) has its detractors, but IMO, it's an enjoyable scifi-adventure-romance story, one of my personal favorites. Part of the reason I like it so much is that I identify with Theodora quite strongly. She's a physically-feeble academic who's not at all cut out for dangerous adventures, and who'd much rather be sitting somewhere comfortable than running about the countryside trying not to get killed. When push comes to shove, however, she's a survivor. Also, she's frugal (well, okay, cheap), not like some scifi adventure heroes with unlimited expense accounts who I could mention. The book also gets points for having a villain who's actually likeable, and for having a nice romance which grows naturally through mutual companionship and experience. The writing is also good; the story is told from Theodora's point of view, and she's got a distinctive, wry narrative voice.

I guess I'll just wrap it up with a quote I like. Here, Theodora is recuperating from an air-car crash:

Ran looked at me speculatively. "Kylla had a hill-healer in, as well as a doctor trained on Tellys. She sent to Perbry Monastery for the healer. One of the ishin na'telleth monks."
"Oh?" I bent an arm experimentally. Whatever they'd done, I seemed to have survived it. "What did he say about my injuries?"
"He didn't say anything about them. He said you don't get enough exercise. He also said you don't live in your body enough."
"What's that supposed to mean? Where the hell do I live, if I don't live in my body?"
"I wouldn't know. Anyway, one shouldn't take these ishin na'telleth people seriously. They don't even take themselves seriously."
"What did the doctor say?"
"He said you had a concussion and second-degree burns."
"Good for him."
"Yes. But when he left, you still had second-degree burns, and when the healer left, you were all right."