Reviews

The Dancers of Noyo by Margaret St. Clair

wazbar's review

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adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced

3.5

Dancers has definite, deliberate through lines with St Clair's other novels the Sign of the Labrys, the Dolphins of Altair and the Shadow People (which I would say otherwise do not overlap with each other very much). This, and being St Clair's last novel, gives it the character of a kind of summative work.

However, a couple of different things make it less effective than her others. One is that it's much more of a return to pulp form than her other works, and this makes the events feel very assorted and disconnected. 

Furthermore, the pulp figure of the Canny Man of Action as a narrator-protagonist is in conflict with St Clair's own thrust as an aquarian/new age/wiccan writer. It requires the people who appear to be her own contemporary hippies to be cast as the conservative social order that needs to be shaken up with a new spiritual epiphany. Maybe that's more deliberate than I'm giving it credit for, but it came across confusedly to me.

dom_00's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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