- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Gollancz; New edition edition (29 Jan 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 057560378X
- ISBN-13: 978-0575603783
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,085,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
White Queen
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Johnny Guglioli used to be a journalist, but his QV virus has rendered him an outcast. In exile from his native America, he encounters an enigmatic young woman. He is convinced she is an alien, and that she is part of a small force sent to reconnoitre Earth.
About the Author
Gwyneth Jones lives in Brighton with her husband and son. She won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for BOLD AS LOVE; CASTLES MADE OF SAND was shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Award. She is the previous winner of the James Tiptree Memorial Award and two World Fantasy Awards; four of her previous books have been shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Johnny could never sleep in Africa. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Johnny could never sleep in Africa. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A demanding, tightly plotted treatment of the old theme of First Contact. White Queen features difficult, dangerous, but finally very sympathetic characters, in a near-future world full of messy situations any of which would support a book of its own. They're all doomed to collide, crash and burn, with the arrival of the brilliant, uncompromisingly alien "Aleutians". Some of the guesses have proved wrong, so there are elements that jar (India and Pakistan still "Third World" countries, the EU an economic miracle, fueled by Eastern European slave labour e.g.). But it gets five stars for being a true, sophisticated modern classic, one of the most influential books behind the British Boom. Read this and you'll know where Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Ken McLeod and the like got their cool, "UK independent" sf style.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Just finished reading "White Lady". Enjoyed it so much that I am posting for the first time, a review on Amazon, my favorite bookstore and source of commentaries. Like readers on another review site, I found it hard to put the book down. No plot description from me, I shall try to describe what it is about.
White Lady is the most interesting description of interaction with aliens that I, a SciFi fan for over 40 years, have come across. Usually, aliens are described as shallow stereotypes, way advanced technologically, either loathsomely aggressive or unnaturally noble, and often cosmically incomprehensible. All alien individuals in a book normally have pretty much the same personality, barring differences in importance or status (nobleness or meanness).
Gwyneth Jones' aliens are alien in a totally new way. They are, of course, incomprehensible, but mostly because they are so different from us, rather than because they are so noble or so hostile. That incomprehensibility expresses itself in every interaction between humans and aliens - each interchange contains bits of understandings and bits of misunderstandings. Because, in some ways, they are also like us. The aliens, on Earth by accident, mostly want to make money. They are not above being deceitful in their interactions with us, neither are we with them. So they are understandable, in some ways. Are they interested in having a relationship with Earth in the "Take me to your leader!" sense. Some are, some are not. Certainly, "relationship" does not mean the same thing to them as it does to us. They are not especially interested either dominating us or teaching us. They have their own interests and they are not much in agreement with eachother. The depth of these shadings is what makes the book interesting.
Gender is a key theme of the book, but do the aliens have gender? Well yes, or maybe yes but not like us. Do they have sex? Well, not much and it sounds pretty different, but yes. With humans? Well that causes some confusion too. Especially to the extent that cross-species love is involved. By taking a bit of distance do we get something worth thinking about? Yes. And once in a while, a glimpse of seeing humans as aliens through alien eyes.
Is it challenging to read? Sometimes, but not in the "Oh, I'll try to again read this later sense". I always wanted to know what happens next, but I sometimes wished to think about what I had read. As one reviewer noted on another site, we are indeed left wanting more. But hey, I suppose that is pretty normal for the first book of a trilogy.
White Lady is the most interesting description of interaction with aliens that I, a SciFi fan for over 40 years, have come across. Usually, aliens are described as shallow stereotypes, way advanced technologically, either loathsomely aggressive or unnaturally noble, and often cosmically incomprehensible. All alien individuals in a book normally have pretty much the same personality, barring differences in importance or status (nobleness or meanness).
Gwyneth Jones' aliens are alien in a totally new way. They are, of course, incomprehensible, but mostly because they are so different from us, rather than because they are so noble or so hostile. That incomprehensibility expresses itself in every interaction between humans and aliens - each interchange contains bits of understandings and bits of misunderstandings. Because, in some ways, they are also like us. The aliens, on Earth by accident, mostly want to make money. They are not above being deceitful in their interactions with us, neither are we with them. So they are understandable, in some ways. Are they interested in having a relationship with Earth in the "Take me to your leader!" sense. Some are, some are not. Certainly, "relationship" does not mean the same thing to them as it does to us. They are not especially interested either dominating us or teaching us. They have their own interests and they are not much in agreement with eachother. The depth of these shadings is what makes the book interesting.
Gender is a key theme of the book, but do the aliens have gender? Well yes, or maybe yes but not like us. Do they have sex? Well, not much and it sounds pretty different, but yes. With humans? Well that causes some confusion too. Especially to the extent that cross-species love is involved. By taking a bit of distance do we get something worth thinking about? Yes. And once in a while, a glimpse of seeing humans as aliens through alien eyes.
Is it challenging to read? Sometimes, but not in the "Oh, I'll try to again read this later sense". I always wanted to know what happens next, but I sometimes wished to think about what I had read. As one reviewer noted on another site, we are indeed left wanting more. But hey, I suppose that is pretty normal for the first book of a trilogy.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've taken far too long (is it 20 years? Good grief!) to discover this gem - the cover is not one that attracts me, but it's the book that matters, and the cover does depict an early scene pretty well. I should have read the reviews on the sleeve - they sum it up succinctly.
Iain Banks says:
"Seductively weird....populated by characters that live on in the mind long after the book's been put back on the shelf."
... and: "A triumph of the depiction of otherness" (he hits the nail on the head with that)
Time Out's Lisa Tuttle says:
"One of those rare books that stretches the intellect while it engages the heart."
Well, I cannot fault them for accuracy. Don't often read blurbs on the outside of books that relate so well to the text inside, but they have got it dead right.
As have Paddy and Mishi in their reviews.
Highly recommended to people who enjoy speculative fiction that is well written.
(Like this author's excellent "Bold as Love"/"Castles made of Sand"/Band of Gipsys", this is a trilogy, the next two are "North Wind" and "Phoenix Cafe". I've just ordered them - can't wait!)
Iain Banks says:
"Seductively weird....populated by characters that live on in the mind long after the book's been put back on the shelf."
... and: "A triumph of the depiction of otherness" (he hits the nail on the head with that)
Time Out's Lisa Tuttle says:
"One of those rare books that stretches the intellect while it engages the heart."
Well, I cannot fault them for accuracy. Don't often read blurbs on the outside of books that relate so well to the text inside, but they have got it dead right.
As have Paddy and Mishi in their reviews.
Highly recommended to people who enjoy speculative fiction that is well written.
(Like this author's excellent "Bold as Love"/"Castles made of Sand"/Band of Gipsys", this is a trilogy, the next two are "North Wind" and "Phoenix Cafe". I've just ordered them - can't wait!)
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
