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Five Twelfths of Heaven

Book One of the Roads of Heaven

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Five Twelfths of Heaven

By: Melissa Scott
Narrated by: Arielle DeLisle
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About this listen

In a space-faring civilization where a single woman is increasingly disenfranchised, the star pilot Silence Leigh is defrauded from her inheritance by a greedy competitor. Forced to ally with two men, Silence is dragged into a deadly political struggle, and is tantalized by the hints of the legendary Earth, as well as the dread and the glory of Magi's power. Her dreams of having her own ship and of escape from the Hegemony's oppressions take on new direction and focus when she joins the crew of "The Sun-Treader".

©1985 Melissa Scott (P)2012 David Wilson Science Fiction Space Opera Fiction
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From the very starting passage I fell in love with the story. Silence, the main character, is still just as captivating a character as she was thirty years ago when the book was published. A rare female pilot, she finds herself on a world (like many in this setting) in which women are treated as second class citizens, but determined to return to the life she loves - that of a pilot.

Whilst considered science fiction, the setting is one in which high technology has been limited and instead society is based on principles closer to what you might call magic. But it is ordered, studied and practiced in manners no different to any high science found in science fiction or conics. I found myself regularly listening to entire sections again purely to enjoy the deep descriptions of the science of the world Melissa Scott has built.


Throughout the book, the narration was excellent. Arielle speaks clearly and put a lot of feeling into the performance. Different characters and their emotions were always clear. Melissa Scott's character and place names were always very distinctive, and combined with Arielle's performance this meant I never felt lost or confused.

Feminist high adventure in space

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