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Conqueror's Child (Holdfast Chronicles) [Paperback]

Suzy McKee Charnas (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.99
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Conqueror's Child (Holdfast Chronicles) + The Furies: Book Three of 'The Holdfast Chronicles'
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Product details

  • Paperback: 6 pages
  • Publisher: St Martin's Press; 1st Trade Pbk. Ed edition (28 Feb 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312869460
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312869465
  • Product Dimensions: 14 x 3.2 x 21 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 670,915 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Synopsis

Alldera's rape-conceived daughter Sorrell grows up among the Riding Women until her bond with a fellow misfit leads her to a reunion with her mother, who is building a new society in the former men-cities, and her mother's rapists.

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Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Fems have conquered their male masters -- what now? 19 April 1999
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
The Holdfast/Motherlines series reaches a triumphant conclusion with this fourth volume. Many authors might have ended with the third novel, THE FURIES, in which the Free Fems, with the help of the Riding Women, invade the Holdfast and overcome the men, their former masters. But the reversal of roles between masters and slaves is only the beginning. As the young heroine says in the epilogue of THE CONQUEROR'S CHILD, there are no real endings.

This final book focuses on the "next generation"; the warriors led by Alldera the Conqueror have won back their homeland, and now her followers must build a new society, where men and woman can live at peace together for the first time in centuries. The renegade male who returns from the wilderness to attack the female-ruled Holdfast proves to be an anachronism; so also, however, does Alldera, already in the process of growing into a legend. The major viewpoint character, Alldera's daughter Sorrel (NOT "adopted daughter"), flees the Grasslands for the Holdfast with a boy child she has taken under her protection. The narrative follows the structure of Dickens' BLEAK HOUSE and Bradley's HERITAGE OF HASTUR, alternating chapters told in the first person by Sorrel with third-person chapters focusing on various other characters, thus combining the advantages of both intimacy and breadth.

Given that men must be kept alive for breeding, must they remain forever prisoners or chattel? Can they ever be trusted? Can they learn to live with females as equals? Can both men and women forget old bitterness and hate? What will become of the new generation of male children? Ambiguous, multifaceted, lifelike characters work together toward answers. Even though there are no "real endings," Sorrel's epilogue ties up a number of loose ends to provide closure for the reader.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Violent end to a violent book series 29 Aug 1999
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I have read all four books in the Holdfast Chronicles. I have sometimes wondered what the world would be like in a matriarchal society where women made most of the decisions. Would women be as violent and war-like as men have been throughout history? I doubt it! However, the women in Ms. Charnas post-holocaust world are surprisingly like their former (male) masters. I prefer the utopian world of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "Herland". Neither worlds are particularly believable. But it is interesting to speculate.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.3 out of 5 stars  3 reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Fems have conquered their male masters -- what now? 19 April 1999
By Margaret L. Carter - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
The Holdfast/Motherlines series reaches a triumphant conclusion with this fourth volume. Many authors might have ended with the third novel, THE FURIES, in which the Free Fems, with the help of the Riding Women, invade the Holdfast and overcome the men, their former masters. But the reversal of roles between masters and slaves is only the beginning. As the young heroine says in the epilogue of THE CONQUEROR'S CHILD, there are no real endings.

This final book focuses on the "next generation"; the warriors led by Alldera the Conqueror have won back their homeland, and now her followers must build a new society, where men and woman can live at peace together for the first time in centuries. The renegade male who returns from the wilderness to attack the female-ruled Holdfast proves to be an anachronism; so also, however, does Alldera, already in the process of growing into a legend. The major viewpoint character, Alldera's daughter Sorrel (NOT "adopted daughter"), flees the Grasslands for the Holdfast with a boy child she has taken under her protection. The narrative follows the structure of Dickens' BLEAK HOUSE and Bradley's HERITAGE OF HASTUR, alternating chapters told in the first person by Sorrel with third-person chapters focusing on various other characters, thus combining the advantages of both intimacy and breadth.

Given that men must be kept alive for breeding, must they remain forever prisoners or chattel? Can they ever be trusted? Can they learn to live with females as equals? Can both men and women forget old bitterness and hate? What will become of the new generation of male children? Ambiguous, multifaceted, lifelike characters work together toward answers. Even though there are no "real endings," Sorrel's epilogue ties up a number of loose ends to provide closure for the reader.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing 11 July 2000
By Michele Lloyd - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
First, I don't know if this book would have the same impact if you hadn't already read the preceding three. That said, this novel is one of the best I've ever read (as are its predecessors). The characters are rich and complex, filled with contradiction and capable of growth and change. The dynamics of the interactions between different groups of people are as intricate and convoluted as in real life. The world of the Holdfast--both its culture and ecology--is described in rich detail. The prose is so good that it is invisible. I was transported into the future world of the Holdfast and was never drawn back to the present by a clumsy bit of exposition. You won't like this book if you don't like character-driven novels, or if you think that strong women characters have to be perfect. The Free Fems and the New Free are far from perfect, but they are utterly human, and doing their best to create a new way to live from the ashes of the old. 4 thumbs up! I strongly recommend that you read the whole series: The Slave and the Free (2 books in one), The Furies, and The Conqueror's Child.
4 of 14 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Violent end to a violent book series 29 Aug 1999
By ldawson@tampabay.rr.com - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I have read all four books in the Holdfast Chronicles. I have sometimes wondered what the world would be like in a matriarchal society where women made most of the decisions. Would women be as violent and war-like as men have been throughout history? I doubt it! However, the women in Ms. Charnas post-holocaust world are surprisingly like their former (male) masters. I prefer the utopian world of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "Herland". Neither worlds are particularly believable. But it is interesting to speculate.
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