The premise was intriguing but then the plot became bogged down. I wanted the characters to desperately do something...anything! other than passionately talking blah blah blah for pages. i kept saying ok, time for some action. But alas, we kept getting head talk from the main character.
While i liked some moral direction from the main characters, i was like OK! I get it! Now move on and DO something.

Two stars for the writing and three stars for the ideas. In many ways this is a rather old-fashioned science fiction novel. The somewhat stilted writing makes it clear that it is from that period of the golden ghetto of science fiction before more literary values had permeated through. For all that it is still worth reading if you do like your classic sci-fi.

Enchantress from the Stars is a beloved and oft-read book from my childhood. I hadn't known about this sequel until I read a reference to it here on Goodreads.

I wish I'd read it as a teen. Or, if reading as an adult, that it hadn't been as an American in 2019. Too much of it, from the evil of authoritarian nationalism to Randil's appalling blind arrogance, were all too familiar.

I much prefer Octavia Butler's Parable books for a discussion of focusing energy on space to improve conditions on Earth.

Sci fi book that involves a lot of moral issues. Very deep thinking. One of my favorites.

When I was a kid, I read the first in this series and loved it... So, of course, I picked up this book next. Unfortunately, it's for a much older audience than Enchantress from the Stars, and it gave me nightmares off and on for YEARS!

In fact, to this day - twenty years later - I still occasionally have nightmares where I dream about the sensory deprivation tank. There's just something about that whole concept - not being able to feel anything, move, etc. that still terrifies me today.

I think I was just far, far to young to have read and coped with that particular scene. Someday, I should go back and re-read this book to see if it is as scary as I remember.

Wow.

This book... this book feels like the current USA administration, with totalitarianism and roundups of "different people," and the demonizing of the Other Side. I pray we can expand to the stars before another nuclear event happens.

Engdahl raises some very interesting questions in this book, but I didn't really find it compelling. I think there wasn't enough action for me until the very end. It kind of reminded me of Arthur Kestler's book Darkness at Noon, although the narrator isn't entirely in her cell.

It definitely has a dated feel to it, although I feel there is still a lot to what she says. I can see why it has not enjoyed the popularity of Enchantress from the Stars though.

I won this book through Goodreads. Very enjoyable read. Loved the formatting and cover. The story was very exciting. I read it in 1 sitting. Too enthralling to put down.

A bit dated, as the author acknowledges in her afterword, this 1971 novel is the story of an alien federation attempting to learn what makes a developed world decide to focus its creative energies on either space colonization or nuclear war. The main characters are two young members of the federation's anthropological service, who are among the eight (?) scientists how infiltrate the planet Toris to observe and learn... until the youngest of them, Randil, decides he must intervene to save the planet and sets into play events that might just cause the very nuclear war the federation hopes the planet will avoid. It falls on the second youngest (and our main protagonist) Elana to try to repair the damage

A bit redundant and wordy, the novel is not subtle. For example, the author repeats the word Youngling (a term the federation applies to those who inhabit worlds that have not yet advanced enough to join the federation) twice as often as necessary, which gives the narrators using it an unintended condescending tone. She also goes on far too often about the special training federation anthropologists have had to withstand circumstances that would surely overmatch the various Younglings of the universe. The final writing quirk that kept snatching me out of the story and into the role of critic is the author's frequent use of the word "for" as a conjunction. It's one of my pet peeves, so it might not bother you at all, but I find it archaic and lazy and usually unnecessary. I know, I know: it's a small thing. But small things are what make the difference between average and superb writing.

An excellently crafted and cerebral story. Not necessarily a thoroughly coherent follow-up novel. Ideas don't contrast, but they aren't quite built on the same background. Still, a wonderful story with lots of good thoughts and things to muse on.

A good read in this political era

I read this book when it first came out. At the time, there were concerning currents in American politics and this story spoke to them in the way sci-fi does so well.

Today those currents are all the more concerning and Engdahl's book speaks again to us.

Awesome.

Sylvia’s mind has an amazing understanding of the trials a species like ourselves must go through to ultimately become one with the stars and at peace with each other. Something I hope one day humans will achieve. Thank you for this read and know that there are many other minds on this planet that share your views.