Enchantress from the Stars [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

The book starts off with a young woman on a planetary anthropological mission, on a world called Andrecia. Andrecia is medieval and primitive, and in no way capable of handling the knowledge that advanced, spacefaring societies exist beyond their world.

But the heroine, Elana, soon becomes involved in a plot concerning the potential invasion of Andrecia. But it is near-impossible for her to save the Andrecians, superstitious and magic-believers, from an invasion.

Nearby is also a medical guy, Jarel, who feels remorse at the intentions of the Exploration Corps. They do not consider the population of Andrecia to be sentient and worthy of their notice, and promise to bring destruction down on Andrecia. There is also the son of an Andrecian woodcutter named Georyn, who identifies Elana as the Enchantress of the Stars. He believes that she has come for the purpose of testing him, if he can defeat a fearsome dragon in the forests.

This clash of the sophisticated and the simple is well-drawn and almost saddening at times. Georyn's faith in Elana's "magic" is truly touching, without making him appear ignorant or dumb. Elana is an excellent, intelligent heroine who captures your sympathy and does not let go. Her struggles with integrity and truth do not transcend the reader, but are ones that you feel as much as she does.

Too often in books there is a clash between magic and science, but in this particular book there is no clash. Perhaps that is partly due to the writing style -- half the magic seems to be in the otherworldly descriptions, interspersed with more grounded prose in the right places. (And Engdahl definitely knows how to write a beginning that will suck you in) Though some things like "Imperial Corps" and "Federation" imply a pseudo-Star-Trekkian space opera, this is none of the kind. This is a thoughtful work, filled with intelligent questions that will stimulate as it entertains.

This goes on the shelf beside Tolkien and the Riddlemaster trilogy.

In this story we meet our heroine Alana. Alana spells out clearly the three phases of humanity. In the first phase, people are superstitious and primitive. In the second, they are scientific and logical. In the third (and this is the phase to which Alana belongs) people remember the spiritual side to life and enter onto an entirely different plane from that of their forebears. Those planets and people in the universe who have advanced to the third phase have joined together to save those in the first phase from those in the second. In this particular story, Alana joins both her father and her lover on a planet not too different from that of Earth. Their goal is to save the planet's fledgling civilization from a group of colonizers from another planet. To do so, Alana must enlist the help of a man living in an age of chivalry and a man living in an age of science. As these three worlds intersect, the book thoroughly examines where it is humanity is heading and what we have to look forward to. In short, it is a book about faith.

How easy it would have been for author Engdahl to screw up while writing this. She could have made it too long (and it's not a quick read at that). The pace could have dragged. The characters (and jumps between different people's perspectives) could have rung false. Instead, the book is nearly perfect. Alana has sworn an oath to protect the secret of her advanced world's existence from the people she interacts with. At the same time, however, she wonders if it is proper to question the oath's policy. When she asks her father this question he responds as such:

"We are sworn to carry out Federation policy, yes, just as a policeman is bound to uphold the law; but that doesn't mean we suspend our own ethical judgement".

So Engdahl smoothly works in questions of ethics vs. morality as well. The book goes far beyond the normal sci-fi/fantasy literature it has been so unfortunately paired with. Rather, it is a deeply moving and deeply felt story that reaches for the Big Questions and, on top of that, is an enjoyable read. It is probably the most enjoyable philosophical book written for young adults that I have ever had the pleasure to read. A nearly forgotten, marvelous, wonderful book.