Timeshadow Rider, by Ann Maxwell

[rachelmanija]

Like many of Maxwell’s books, this is space opera from the id.

Sharia and Kane are psychics whose soul-bond is externalized and visible within the color-changing jewels they both wear. Sharia has silver skin and violet eyes and translucent silver hair. She can kill (and heal) people with her hair. Yes, literally. Kane has translucent black hair and can pick up psychometric impressions from objects. (Via his hands. I know, too bad.)

They Can Never Touch because they both have five fingers and five touching five is the ultimate taboo on their planet. When it turns out that there is an actual reason behind this, even more angst ensues. The plot, such as it is, is that Sharia and Kane’s home planet collectively went insane and the whole population became a ravening mob of crazed psychics when a pair of purple jewels that were the only thing preventing this were deactivated and then stolen. Kane and Sharia, in between touching, not touching, longing to touch, having various space yentas tell them they’ll go insane if they don’t touch, etc, search for the jewels.

And if that wasn’t enough, there are semi-sentient ships, ancient artifacts, space pirates, a translating machine that drives you insane, reincarnation, and an unkillable interdimensional transparent soul-eating cat companion.

There’s too much action occurring on the psychic plane for my taste, but it’s all great fun when people aren’t communing with or zapping each other in lengthy passages of abstract description. Kane and Sharia are sweet and rather more sensible than one would expect under the circumstances, considering all the psychic lunacy and epic angst floating about. I enjoyed this.

Timeshadow Rider

Comments

[oracne.livejournal.com]

an unkillable interdimensional transparent soul-eating cat companion

WANT.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I had totally forgotten about the unkillable interdimensional transparent soul-eating cat companion! Clearly it is time to reread.

Also, there is some kind of indication that Timeshadow Rider takes place in the far (far*) past of the Dancer books, but I forget what it is.

*Far far far. I love how everything is millions of years old.

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

I remember that, too, now that you mention it - it was like some piece of technology, I think, that was in ruins in the Dancer books? Or maybe it was the home planet that was a myth in the Dancer books?

Hmmm....

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

IIRC, Sharia and Kane's home planet Za'arain is legend in the Dancer books.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

Please tell me whether the missing jewels happen to be the ones they're wearing and touching each other is what it would take to reactivate them. Because, I get this inference leaping at me most annoyingly while reading your summary, and I'm unlikely to find the book to learn the answer.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

No, totally different jewels.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. Thank you.

[sorceressakemi.livejournal.com]

That sounds amazing.

[genarti]

I...

I...

Wow.

I might have to track this down.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

Wow, the Fire Dancer books sound restrained by comparison!

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

I love this book, and I've probably said that here before.

It's Cherryh-dense, it really is. Maxwell doesn't get much credit for it because she adds so much id and angst (whereas Cherryh just wants to tell you about people being exhausted and miserable and terrified, which is still id, but not the romantic kind).

_Timeshadow Rider_ starts with an explanation that the Za'ar civilization is a million years old, and it's collapsing -- and then somewhere along you realize that the Zaarain Cycle that is recalled (as ancient legend) in the Fire Dancer series *hasn't started yet*; those million years were the barbarian prehistory. (Because, let's face it, a civilization which is two pieces of purple crystal away from mass savagery still has a few issues to work out.)

And the extradimensional cat sings in two voices, because -- as Brust would say -- a god is someone who can be in two places at once.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I tend to compare her more to C.L. Moore than Cherryh, but yeah -- I think she's underrated as a writer of space opera.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Ok ok, I've placed an order with Amazon for a used copy.

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

They Can Never Touch because they both have five fingers and five touching five is the ultimate taboo on their planet.

Wait, how many fingers does everyone else on the planet have? And why? And couldn't one of them cut off a finger? I know, I am not interrogating the text from the right perspective...

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

Four-fingered and six-fingered hands are common among their species. Five is a genetic trait associated with powerful psionic talent, and the taboos are associated with that... and the book *does* force the characters to dig into the distinctions between themselves and, say, a member of a different five-fingered species.

Like I said, there's depth to it. This is also the first book I saw that presented the idea of True Soulmates and then (explicitly) said, look, this isn't *love*. Soulmates can wind up lovers, mortal enemies, or just destroy themselves trying to connect. The bond doesn't care.