The Far Side of Evil

From what I recall, as I read it a while ago, this was an amazing book that gave the teenage me a nice glimpse into the USSR from a very safe situation. (Science fiction).

I really liked Enchantress From the Stars, and while I agree that this book is darker and heavier than that, I don't think there's as wide a divide in age-level as the author does. Enchantress From the Stars had a lot of complex philosophical stuff in it just like this book, and both are best suited to young adult level.

Anyway, it was interesting to see Elana move on to a new mission now that she has been fully trained. She definitely gets put through her paces in this book and must face many philosophical and ethical dilemmas, which she works through as thoroughly as she can. There is a lot of debate about the Service and its policies, about what a society needs to evolve past the "Critical Stage" and avoid destroying itself, and what Elana is willing to do in order to carry out what she feels is right. She's got other factors to deal with in this book, including a fellow agent who has a completely different view on what's right for this planet, and a new best friend to whom she can't reveal herself, but who ends up getting drawn into the mix and the danger anyway.

It was a good read that makes you think, and also remains hopeful. The author has stated that she was using political story elements to advance her theories on the necessity of space colonization, and not trying to make the story reflect politically on the state of the world in 1971. Still, you can compare elements to American and world history, and it does make you curious how our slow push in regards to space travel could have affected our international politics.

I'm looking forward to reading another series by Engdahl.

It smarts a little to think I first read this book when I was in my early twenties, my mind full of the Apollo moon missions and Star Trek. I remember being impressed by its ideas and questions especially regarding that awkward Star Trek thing – the Prime Directive. Heavy sigh! I had long hair in those days, no paunch, my own teeth – forget the acne and the aching shyness.

Anyway, the teenage Elana – from Enchantress from the Stars - has managed to persuade the Federal Anthropological Service that she is ready for her first post-grad assignment. She is to be sent with another young operative, Randil, to observe the Youngling planet Toris as it teeters on the edge of nuclear self annihilation or progress into the stars. Whatever happens they must always remain anonymous observers. The Torisians must never know they have aliens among them.

Elana, courageous and dedicated, can handle that. She forms a friendship with a Torisian girl called Kari who accepts her as another Torisian. Sadly Randil is made of different material. He falls in love with Kari, knows he doesn't want to lose her, and as Toris stumbles closer to nuclear war that Prime Directive thing cracks and begins to crumble. Can Elana stitch things together and save the day?

Well, she's not one to throw in the towel and that's despite being captured and subjected to a lengthy torture scene involving sensory deprivation and an evil spy-breaker, Commander Feric, who seems to enjoy it all a little bit too much for comfortable reading. And she has an altruistic fellow observer in Varned to inspire her with his own willingness to accept execution rather than defy that rigid Directive.

It is a stirring adventure story with an heroic female role and the storytelling rolls along at a fairly hectic pace. However, you do begin to wonder about the Federation's attitude to Youngling civilizations. The term itself seems derogative. Perhaps the Federation is one step away from Empire and colonial repression. And if Younglings blow themselves up does the Federation really care? Do the Younglings become Losers while the Federation moves on to the next candidate. Randil's views may have shown greater empathy to our Youngling humanity than a Prime Directive inspired Elana ever would.

This is NOT the edition I have, which is a trade paperback, cited as being a 1991 edition, and has the same cover picture as one that's defined as a hardback in this database (pink and black, with a depiction of a woman looking at (through? I'm pretty sure they're not transparent) an Emblem).

I've commented in reviews of other editions of this many of my problems with the book. I don't like the valorization of suffering and sacrifice. I do not believe that the end EVER justifies the means. I have pretty serious problems with the notion of a galaxy-spanning civilization that can't even come up with a way to drive intruders out of a landing ship BEFORE the ship is destroyed. Or, for that matter, a ship that won't take off if loaded with missiles, at all. It wouldn't be that hard to establish safety features which would render the ship useless without injuring intruders, and degenerate the engines, steering systems, etc, in the event of unauthorized access. These simple precautions would prevent the protagonist from facing agonizing doubts and torture just to prevent destructive use of Federation facilities.

Other points arise on a rereading; some of them I've already covered. But one that I noted on this reading that I'd vaguely noticed before: why doesn't an anthropologist include much anthropological detail? For example, the Agent notes that part of the torture regime involves violating taboos which are almost completely unknown to Elana. Granted, she's a newcomer to the world, as are all agents of the Federation. But if she didn't at least know enough to avoid accidentally violating a taboo (as, for example, by having her hair cut short, when the recently-conquered city she has arrived at finds short hair obscene), how could she have managed at all?

Amnesia would provide an excuse for many lapses, to be sure. But I think of a story in which an amnesiac woman wonders if she drinks coffee. Trust me: if she didn't, she'd know. If you don't remember your first taste of coffee, I do. The aroma is enticing (when not overdone), but the actual taste is DISGUSTING. If you'd never had a cup of coffee, you'd be able to recognize that you hadn't, even if you couldn't remember consciously.

Are the Torisians really so benighted that they know NOTHING AT ALL about psychology? This seems more improbable than if they'd had eyes on their fingertips. Further, it seems belied by the arguments of the torturers, who, though they claim more knowledge of psychology than they have (most of it wrong, and all of it hypergeneralized), do at least have SOME claim to psychological knowledge. If they universalize highly variable and socially idiosyncratic traits (at one point, for example, Elana fails to respond in the expected manner to obscenities--because she doesn't recognize them as obscenities, never having encountered them in speech or writing before), they nevertheless have a reasonably canny understanding of how to use taboos to disturb social integration. Just because it doesn't work on an alien doesn't necessarily mean it wouldn't have worked on a local.

But the torturers' belief that they can consistently manipulate 'their own' people isn't consistent with the facts. Many people in all times and places where torture is practiced have successfully resisted torture: have refused to tell what they know even if the alternative is death...or prolonged suffering, which can be worse. You can only die once, after all. It's not just that people lie under torture, and tell their torturers anything they think the 'interrogators' want to know, true or entirely made up. It's that some people won't talk AT ALL. Elana comforts herself that the Torisians will eventually encounter somebody of their own soil who 'will' discover the truths she has laboriously been taught. But aside from psychic abilities (which are not a necessary prerequisite for successful resistance), there can be no doubt that there has ALREADY been abundant successful resistance. If not, there would be no need for the 'neo-Statists' to conquer or attempt to establish control. Why re-till already plowed soil? All that would be necessary would be to insert the new variables into the old plugs, and flip a few switches, and on to the next task.

The fact is that despotic societies are NOT effective at controlling people. They believe that they have 'the' key to people's minds. They not only do not have 'the' key: there IS no single key. The interrogator in this book would never prevail, even without the dea ex machina of the alien spy. He can't. He's trying to fly with a defective theory of lift, drag, and thrust.

The agents in the story are trying to figure out what causes 'Critical Stage' societies to fail or (more often) succeed. What if the critical factor is that somebody who's been trying to explain electromagnetic phenomena using a theory of aether, suddenly discovers a theory of electrons? If the Torisians have been working all along with a (several?) false theory(ies) of mentality, maybe the reason a commitment to space travel makes a difference is that those who venture 'where no one has gone before' discover new horizons in the mind, as well as the physical horizons beyond their homeworlds' gravity wells.

Mind-blowing book!
Elana is such a gorgeous character for me because I can really look up to her. She was everything and more the hero is meant to be. In a few situations, she would have been completely justified in lashing out at others, but she always went for the greater good, and she didn't come across as snooty at all! Though Elana was much older in this book, I could still see the personality that I so loved in The Enchantress From the Stars. Randil and Kari were very well defined and interesting. It was possible to understand where they were coming from, and how their experiences had shaped them.
Characters: 5 Stars
Can I just say, it took every last ounce of will in my being not to skip ahead and read the end! Riveting from the very first pages, The Far Side of Evil is pure Sci-Fi while still exploring the contours of an oppressed society. Several unexpected twist and turns. To be cliche, I was on the edge of my seat till the last pages! I do wish the ending had been a little stronger, but it tied things up quite nicely while still leaving the reader room for imagination.
Plot: 5 Stars
This book posed so many philosophical questions that kept my mind working for some time after I finished. It reads more towards an older audience than The Enchantress From the Stars, but could possibly be classified as YA. The Far Side of Evil is written as a diary, in a style that left the future unknown. I loved it!
Style: 5 Stars

Rating: 5 Stars
Genre: Sci-Fi
YA/Adult Fiction

This book, the sequel to Enchantress from the Stars tells the story of Elana's first post-graduation mission: a risky attempt to prevent the residents of a nuclear-age world from destroying themselves. She is placed in the world as an amnesiac, so she can learn about the culture from the inside and have an excuse for any lapses of knowledge she betrays. However she comes to the attention of the totalitarian government and ends up captured and interrogated.

Running parallel to Elana's story is that of her fellow agent, who begins to question his orders and the sanctity of the non-intervention directive.

This is an intense, moving story, aimed at young adults but good for older readers as well. I recommend reading n  Enchantress from the Starsn first.

Engdahl does a wonderful job exploring that liminal space between good intention and catastrophic results. She questions how much naivete can excuse when the consequences of someone's actions may be extreme and fatal for others.

Despite the book's well plumbed questioning, I didn't absolutely love this book like its predecessor. I think, in part, I'm not as enthusiastic because this one does not incorporate the fairy tale element that enchanted me. Instead of younglings and a mystical forest with quests, this book takes us to a world on the brink of nuclear disaster with disillusioned and fatalistic inhabitants. So the environment is inhospitable and wearying.

Compound the nihilistic dictatorship context with a story told primarily through hindsight. The way the story is told creates even more distance. For most of the book, I (as the reader) am not experiencing with the narrator. Instead I am listening to an extended account...a sort of litany, albeit it an interesting one. This happened, then this happened, then this happened.

This is definitely still a good read, despite its poor comparison to its predecessor.

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A companion to Enchantress from the Stars, but not a YA novel. Darker and more realistic- loved it.