I liked this book for several reasons. The only weak point of the book was it's over-reliance on the religious overtones. And I am saying that as a self-proclaimed pagan.

On to the good sides. The characters were alive and dynamic and filled to the brim with depth. The plot was fast-paced and intriguing. For the first time in literature it has successfully defined the non-violent resistance vision into something that is more practical than idealistic.

Also, Starhawk, shows great imagination in the fantastical parts of the books envisioning crytaline computers with primitive consciousness, and her development of Bee magic evokes Orson Scott Card's "Speaker for the Dead".

In all, a great utopian/dystopian read, on par with Atwood's "Handmaid's Tale" and an easier read than Callenbach's "Ecotopia".

I ordered this book on Christmas break for a spring semester religion class. The price was great, the book is great condition, and was shipped well before it was time to head back to school.

This is an absolutely fabulous book that opened my eyes up to new possibilities. With each reading, I am just as excited about it as previous readings. it is very powerful and thoughtful.

Starhawk's goddess religion is NOT paganism. Real paganism is POLYTHEISTIC, meaning male and female deities. In this vision of the future, only WOMEN are allowed on the high council. In her path of deities, there are only GODDESSES. So where is Zeus? Apollo? Thor?

Nowhere to be seen. In Starhawk's Feminism as religion, the monotheistic God wears a dress. The Wild Boar people ( probably Celtic Reconstructionists and Asatru who got exiled for appealing to primary source material or hiding copies of the Poetic Edda from the wombyn-centric gynocratic book burners ) have no place in her society.

Wouldnt wicca be more safe with no dreaded Asatru nearby practicing a religion with strong male deities and taste for red meat and mead? Wouldnt wicca be better off without Zeus, Pan, Odin, or Lugh? In Starhawk's vision, the world is finally fixed by castrating both men and Gods.

I am not finished with this book, but there are some things to it that make me uncomfortable already. Mainly it's the spiritual aspects. Starhawk has created a utopia where religion is celebrated at the cost of culture. Dieties from native spiritualities all intermingle out of geography and specific ancient customs. Practices, like the Native American acknowledgement of the four directions, are blended and bastardized with other cultures, like the Greek four elements. People of color are often somehow more spiritual than white people, which is a common formula coming from a white author facing multiculturalism and I suspect is not unusual for a white neopagan. In history, cultures naturally blend together, like the Cuban Santeria pantheon of gods that combines aspects of Catholic saints with Yoruban dieties. But in Starhawk's literature this stuff seems forced together and adopted by some urban liberals too ashamed of their own Western Christian background to acknowledge it but unsure where else to turn.