From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

Amazon gives the age range 9-12 for "The Isis Trilogy"
by Monica Hughes. So I ordered it for a 9-year old girl
in my extended family (whose name happens to be Isis).
Then I looked up the Wikipedia article for it and it is
called "young adult" which Wikipedia defines as ages 12-18.
She is mature for her age, but still... Is she liable to
chuck it and return to her smartphone?
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

In article <pan$d2c5e$aeed1e6c$42f82e04$3376eb43@cpacker.org>,
Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:

Amazon gives the age range 9-12 for "The Isis Trilogy"
by Monica Hughes. So I ordered it for a 9-year old girl
in my extended family (whose name happens to be Isis).
Then I looked up the Wikipedia article for it and it is
called "young adult" which Wikipedia defines as ages 12-18.
She is mature for her age, but still... Is she liable to
chuck it and return to her smartphone?

I've reread two of these recently enough to have an opinion. The
prose isn't too challenging and the characters and plot are
straight forward enough. She might be a bit vexed by the odd
way in which various characters accomodate the kid who becomes
the colonists' leader. He's a prejudiced dingbat, but for some
reason even people who are perfectly rational don't want to
upset him by exposing the flaws in his worldview or deposing
him.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

On 6/24/26 08:36, James Nicoll wrote:

In article <pan$d2c5e$aeed1e6c$42f82e04$3376eb43@cpacker.org>,
Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:

Amazon gives the age range 9-12 for "The Isis Trilogy"
by Monica Hughes. So I ordered it for a 9-year old girl
in my extended family (whose name happens to be Isis).
Then I looked up the Wikipedia article for it and it is
called "young adult" which Wikipedia defines as ages 12-18.
She is mature for her age, but still... Is she liable to
chuck it and return to her smartphone?

I've reread two of these recently enough to have an opinion. The
prose isn't too challenging and the characters and plot are
straight forward enough. She might be a bit vexed by the odd
way in which various characters accomodate the kid who becomes
the colonists' leader. He's a prejudiced dingbat, but for some
reason even people who are perfectly rational don't want to
upset him by exposing the flaws in his worldview or deposing
him.

This is irony, right?
--
Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it
turns out that God hates all the same people you do. -rCoAnne Lamott
86 47 II/4 25
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

In article <111h2nq$3257v$1@dont-email.me>,
Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:

On 6/24/26 08:36, James Nicoll wrote:

In article <pan$d2c5e$aeed1e6c$42f82e04$3376eb43@cpacker.org>,
Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:

Amazon gives the age range 9-12 for "The Isis Trilogy"
by Monica Hughes. So I ordered it for a 9-year old girl
in my extended family (whose name happens to be Isis).
Then I looked up the Wikipedia article for it and it is
called "young adult" which Wikipedia defines as ages 12-18.
She is mature for her age, but still... Is she liable to
chuck it and return to her smartphone?

I've reread two of these recently enough to have an opinion. The
prose isn't too challenging and the characters and plot are
straight forward enough. She might be a bit vexed by the odd
way in which various characters accomodate the kid who becomes
the colonists' leader. He's a prejudiced dingbat, but for some
reason even people who are perfectly rational don't want to
upset him by exposing the flaws in his worldview or deposing
him.

This is irony, right?

Nope.

My reviews:

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/so-said-the-lighthouse-keeper https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/the-other-side-of-the-mountain

From the second one:

"David has reimagined the object of his infatuation as a goddess of pure
evil. This is only one way in which he is a terrible, bad, no-good person.
He has institutionalized misogyny. He has transformed his community into
a bunch of superstitious peasants too worried about taboos to deal with
a possible flood. He uses his position to try to send the grandson of
a rival to what David believes is certain death. David has virtually
no redeeming features.

Olwen and her guardian, in contrast, are very nice people, which makes
the ending of this book utterly baffling. Jody has risked his life to
save his people from a calamity for which David is in large part to
blame, but Olwen asks Jody NOT to use what he has learned to expose
or depose the tyrant. It's not clear why Olwen takes this stance.
Does she still have some affection for the deranged old coot? If so,
she is not being kind to his unfortunate subjects."
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

On 6/24/26 13:14, James Nicoll wrote:

In article <111h2nq$3257v$1@dont-email.me>,
Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:

On 6/24/26 08:36, James Nicoll wrote:

In article <pan$d2c5e$aeed1e6c$42f82e04$3376eb43@cpacker.org>,
Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:

Amazon gives the age range 9-12 for "The Isis Trilogy"
by Monica Hughes. So I ordered it for a 9-year old girl
in my extended family (whose name happens to be Isis).
Then I looked up the Wikipedia article for it and it is
called "young adult" which Wikipedia defines as ages 12-18.
She is mature for her age, but still... Is she liable to
chuck it and return to her smartphone?

I've reread two of these recently enough to have an opinion. The
prose isn't too challenging and the characters and plot are
straight forward enough. She might be a bit vexed by the odd
way in which various characters accomodate the kid who becomes
the colonists' leader. He's a prejudiced dingbat, but for some
reason even people who are perfectly rational don't want to
upset him by exposing the flaws in his worldview or deposing
him.

This is irony, right?

Nope.

My reviews:

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/so-said-the-lighthouse-keeper https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/the-other-side-of-the-mountain

From the second one:

"David has reimagined the object of his infatuation as a goddess of pure evil. This is only one way in which he is a terrible, bad, no-good person.
He has institutionalized misogyny. He has transformed his community into
a bunch of superstitious peasants too worried about taboos to deal with
a possible flood. He uses his position to try to send the grandson of
a rival to what David believes is certain death. David has virtually
no redeeming features.

Olwen and her guardian, in contrast, are very nice people, which makes
the ending of this book utterly baffling. Jody has risked his life to
save his people from a calamity for which David is in large part to
blame, but Olwen asks Jody NOT to use what he has learned to expose
or depose the tyrant. It's not clear why Olwen takes this stance.
Does she still have some affection for the deranged old coot? If so,
she is not being kind to his unfortunate subjects."'

Sorry, you're Canadian, so you might not see "She might be a bit vexed
by the odd way in which various characters accomodate the kid who
becomes the colonists' leader. He's a prejudiced dingbat, but for some
reason even people who are perfectly rational don't want to upset him by exposing the flaws in his worldview or deposing him" as sounding an
awful like reality in the United States.
--
Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it
turns out that God hates all the same people you do. -rCoAnne Lamott
86 47 II/4 25
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) writes:

In article <111h2nq$3257v$1@dont-email.me>,
Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:

On 6/24/26 08:36, James Nicoll wrote:

In article <pan$d2c5e$aeed1e6c$42f82e04$3376eb43@cpacker.org>,
Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:

Amazon gives the age range 9-12 for "The Isis Trilogy"
by Monica Hughes. So I ordered it for a 9-year old girl
in my extended family (whose name happens to be Isis).
Then I looked up the Wikipedia article for it and it is
called "young adult" which Wikipedia defines as ages 12-18.
She is mature for her age, but still... Is she liable to
chuck it and return to her smartphone?

I've reread two of these recently enough to have an opinion. The
prose isn't too challenging and the characters and plot are
straight forward enough. She might be a bit vexed by the odd
way in which various characters accomodate the kid who becomes
the colonists' leader. He's a prejudiced dingbat, but for some
reason even people who are perfectly rational don't want to
upset him by exposing the flaws in his worldview or deposing
him.

This is irony, right?

Nope.

I expect that Evelyn was referring to applicability of your
description to the current south-of-your-border leadership.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:

Amazon gives the age range 9-12 for "The Isis Trilogy"
by Monica Hughes. So I ordered it for a 9-year old girl
in my extended family (whose name happens to be Isis).
Then I looked up the Wikipedia article for it and it is
called "young adult" which Wikipedia defines as ages 12-18.
She is mature for her age, but still... Is she liable to
chuck it and return to her smartphone?

When I was nine years old I was reading SiaSL. But I know people in their fifties who are enjoying Madeline L'Engle now. You never know what you
are going to enjoy until you start reading it, so my rule is to never turn
a book down. Will that be the case for her? Who knows?
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

On Wed, 24 Jun 2026 17:14:13 -0000 (UTC), jdnicoll@panix.com (James
Nicoll) wrote:

Olwen and her guardian, in contrast, are very nice people, which makes
the ending of this book utterly baffling. Jody has risked his life to
save his people from a calamity for which David is in large part to
blame, but Olwen asks Jody NOT to use what he has learned to expose
or depose the tyrant. It's not clear why Olwen takes this stance.
Does she still have some affection for the deranged old coot? If so,
she is not being kind to his unfortunate subjects."

I should think the reason is obvious.

If the book was written as a "young adult" novel, then clearly the
thought of violently overthrowing a government is unfit for young
minds.

Young people can see injustice, and be passionate about how bad it is
- but older people understand the "real world", and remember how awful
the French Revolution was... and know that the most important thing is
to sustain the stability of the existing political system which allows businessmen to hold onto their hard-earned fortunes, such as the
businessmen who own the printing presses on which said novel was
printed.

Joe McCarthy's long shadow, in other words. At least that's how it can
be understood by those whose political views lean to the left. While I
think that revolution leading to tyranny is a genuine danger - have we
not the examples of Russia and Cuba to caution us? - I am still not
entirely unsympathetic to this point of view, due to the persistent
tendency in the United States to whitewash (terribly inappropriate
word in the context, but I can't think of a better) slavery.

I realize that I live in the timeline where Superboy comic books did
not have Superboy spend a considerable amount of his time secretly
rescuing black people in the South from Jim Crow. So I know what to
expect from media intended for the young.

John Savard
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

On Wed, 24 Jun 2026 13:30:58 -0400, "Evelyn C. Leeper" <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:

Sorry, you're Canadian, so you might not see "She might be a bit vexed
by the odd way in which various characters accomodate the kid who
becomes the colonists' leader. He's a prejudiced dingbat, but for some >reason even people who are perfectly rational don't want to upset him by >exposing the flaws in his worldview or deposing him" as sounding an
awful like reality in the United States.

Current reality, or reality there over the longer term?

I doubt you can conclude this from his being Canadian. For one thing,
Canadians are very much aware of politics in the United States. It has historically been a very large export market for us, and it is the
source for most of the entertainment we watch on television. So, while
we don't memorize the names of all 50 states, most of us know how your bicameral legislature differs from ours.

For another, James Nicoll's politics are somewhat to the left of my
own. I used to be a right-winger of sorts, but science denialism on
the right, starting before Trump with Stephen Harper's last term, has
convinced me that it is the moderate left that is the hope of
humanity.

John Savard
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