'Godsfire' (264 pp) was published by Pocket Books in June 1978; the cover illustration is by Boris Vallejo.
On a distant planet live a race of feline Manimals and their human slaves. Technology is at a medieval level, primarily due to the fact that the felines' civilization ekes out an existence wholly within the shadow of an immense, Saturn-like ring that circles their planet's equator. Within the shadow there is perpetual gloom and rain, and diets consist of fish, mushrooms, snails, and lizards.
The main character also is the smartest member of the felines: a young woman named Heao, who is of the scholarly caste. Heao has her doubts about the cosmology of her world as it is interpreted by the priestly caste, who preach that the ring is a 'skybridge', from which the Rainmaker god decants water. The brief glow of sunlight on the edges of the ring's northern and southern horizons at each dusk and dawn represents the 'Godsfire' of the book's title. The priests declare that the Godsfire is an actual conflagration, triggered by the Gods for purposes unknown, bu Heao has her doubts as to the veracity of this theory.
The first two-thirds of the novel are occupied with detailing the world of the felines, interspersed with recitations of the various religious and political conflicts between the scholarly and priestly castes, conflicts which Heao attempts to exploit for her own purposes (sometimes with harmful consequences).
The final third of the novel sees Heao mount a long-pursued expedition designed to explore the territories outside the shadowfall. Accompanying the expedition is the High Priestess, who is actively seeking to discredit any challenges to her sacred interpretation of the World. Further complicating matters is the mystery of the origin of the human slaves, whose legends and myths speak of the land beyond the shadow as being the homeland of the Gods.
As the expedition progresses, it will uncover revelations about the nature of the world and its inhabitants, revelations that will threaten the existence of the feline civilization...........
'Godsfire' has much in common with the novels of C. J. Cherryh in terms of meticulously constructing an alien society and expounding on its social, political, and cultural idiosyncrasies as compared to 'our' civilization.
Unfortunately, 'Godsfire' suffers from the same problems that tend to afflict Cherryh's novels: so much effort is expended on world-building that the plot becomes secondary. In the case of 'Godsfire', I found myself struggling to continue through the first two-thirds of the book and its seemingly endless stretches of conversations in which the felines argue and spar over one thing or another.
The final third of the novel does see the long-awaited advent of a number of revelations and accompanying action sequences, but these - perhaps inevitably - have a rushed, contrived quality that could have been avoided with more energetic pacing in the earlier stages of the narrative.
Summing up, readers willing to exercise patience with the first two-thirds of the novel may find the closing chapters sufficiently interesting to impart some reward to completing 'Godsfire'. All others, however, are better off passing on this novel.
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