Heart of Gold

ISBN: 0-441-00691-4 Order from: Amazon.com

A pleasant science-fictional romance, with a well-described but superficial setting, hints of Regency romances with unusual social roles, and characters better suited for romance than science fiction.

Reviewed by David on December 25, 2000

Genre: Science Fiction (Romance, Intrigue, Biology)

Synopsis: On a world populated by several human races, wide differences in looks, temperament, and social customs make interactions very strained. The matriarchial Indigo, with their black hair, reliance on agriculture and decorum, are conditioned to defer to their blue-skinned old-fashioned female aristocracy. The taller, bulkier Gulden are fiercely male-oriented, aggressive, and due to lack of arable land have relied on engineering and trade. Few know the customs of the soft-spoken, near-albino Whites.

However, advances in technology, transportation, and trade, have brought the races into reluctant contact. In a rare, multi-race microbiology lab, Nolan, an Indigo scientist, works alongside his talented and frequently squabbling companions to identify and prevent new deceases afflicting the races.

But while a few individuals form relationship based on intellectual respect, verbal sparring or the attraction for the exotic, the closer contact also brings out uglier feelings. Instinctual dislike of other races and their strange social customs is amplified by competition for land and jobs. As hot-headed gold radicals and ruthless blue aristocrats collide, the weary cooperation threatens to erupt into terrorism and sabotage.

Those like Nolan who have forged ties of friendship across the color lines have will be the first losers. But few understand the dangers of an all-out, devastating race war.

Full Review: The setting is never fully explained, and the origins of the colorful races (and others, by implication) is taken for granted. In fact this lack of explanation works very well, and the world, with unusual (but somewhat familiar) social customs is well-described.

The blue female aristocracy, preoccupied with gossip, formal balls, and land, are reluctant to accept that some men, despite not being able to own real property, are searching for independence. The gold society is more superficially described, since the protagonists spend less time there.

While working on a social level, the technology descriptions are less plausible. The development level that's implied by a single scientist analyzing a virus and creating an antidote in one day; combination of city-wide integrated computer and television network, or the vague talk of anti-gravity, seems incongruous in light of the poor state of long-distance communication, transport or even geographic knowledge.

The novel seems a claustrophobic: the universe outside one city is very vague and utterly unimportant. A lot of time is spent on emotional content, and this self-involved intensity by the protagonists works quite well in a romance contest. The character-building otherwise is pretty light.

On the whole, this is a pleasant diversion of a novel, where the science-fictional content, while described with imagination, serves mostly as a vehicle for a romance plot.

Overall: 6; Plot: 5; Characters: 6; Style: 6; World-building: 5; Originality: 5.5;

ISBN: 0-441-00691-4 Order from: Amazon.com