2016 read #66: The Games of Neith by Margaret St. Clair.

The Games of Neith by Margaret St. Clair
149 pages
First book publication 1960; original publication date unknown
Read from August 26 to August 27
Rating: ★★ out of 5

I realize I'm far too lenient when I rate these old Ace Doubles, but so help me, this one was actually kind of... interesting? There are intriguingly precocious elements to the worldbuilding that hint at unrealized potential, even as the mores and expectations of midcentury science fiction undercut them. Gwethym is a multi-ethnic colony world, settled by an interbred mix of Chinese, Swedish, and French, with no apparent ethnic hierarchy, all startlingly progressive for 1960 -- at least until a lone "cunning Chinese" stereotype shows up. The main protagonist is a woman with considerable political authority who makes decisions, has responsibilities, follows her curiosity, and plays an active role in the story -- yet also laughs merrily at casual rape jokes and automatically assumes the subservient, "helpmeet" role in her relationship.

That doesn't seem like much, but for a midcentury Ace pulp, it's almost startlingly progressive. The rest of the book, however, is a mess. The characters are flimsy. The dialogue consists of "As you know..." info dumps and ludicrous technobabble, which leaps from the heat death of the universe and energy leaking between parallel universes to mirror chemistry and giant viruses to "space-time tracing machines" and energy beings, all presented as boldly as if it made sense in some fashion. The plot likewise lurches from one disconnected incident to the next, as often as not strung together by the machinations of a psychic alien dog.

The Games of Neith is not a good book. In places it is eye-rollingly bad. It is certainly not the equal of Memory by Linda Nagata, a book I read a long ass time ago and also rated two stars. (If I were to read the latter fresh today, I'd probably bump it up to at least two and a half; I think I had higher expectations for mainstream sci-fi back then.) Yet Games is also not as bad as, say, The Wind Whales of Ishmael or Master of the World. Once again I must wave my hands and plea that my ratings are arbitrary and don't mean all that much in the end.