This feminist’s dream of a city is my only quibble with the novel. The men keep house and tend children while the women manage businesses and see to the governing of the city. They bear many children to the variety of lovers they choose, and they dominate the male citizens, who have been raised to be submissive and obedient. They worship the Goddess, or Lady, as they call her. She finds the cities and the women – bold-eyed, broad-hipped earth mothers who are both the secular and religious leaders of their society. It is Sarama’s refusal to accept this submissive role which sends her west in search of cities rumored to be ruled by women. The women of the steppe are subservient, powerless creatures who have value only as son-bearers.
Tarr’s descriptions of horses are knowledgeable and loving, and she makes them integral to the plot, not just background decoration. Sarama and other women of her tribe are chosen as servants of Horse Goddess, a female deity older than Skyfather but now less powerful they serve the Mare, the equine embodiment of the Goddess. Skyfather, the male deity worshipped by the steppe people, requires a blood sacrifice, which is provided by killing a horse the king then sits on the horsehide to perform his kingly functions of ruler and advisor for that year. A boy cannot become a man and full member of his tribe until he has caught and tamed a wild stallion and ridden him back to the tribal encampment in triumph. They are the nomads’ most prized property. Horses play a prominent role in this novel. In the course of this larger struggle, two couples fall in love, and their relationships mirror the wonder and sadness of conquest and assimilation. Here they meet Danu and Tilia, son and daughter of the Mother, the wise, benevolent ruler of that city.Īs time goes by, more and more steppe tribes come west seeking riches and domination of the cities, and the western people must decide whether to abide by their peace-loving traditions and surrender to the conquerors, or learn to fight, something even their men have never done. Tarr takes these historical facts and weaves them into an interesting, readable story about Sarama and Agni, offspring of the king of the White Horse tribe of the steppe, who find their way west to the city of Three Birds. and 3000 B.C., these cities were overrun and conquered by tribes of nomadic horsemen from the steppes of Asia.
According to the Author’s Note, settlements the size of medieval cities existed in eastern Europe and western Asia from 7000 B.C. It is a vibrant and fascinating portrayal of the conflict that arises when a male-dominated nomadic culture meets a settled, city-dwelling matriarchy. Misogynists, beware, this book is not for you! It is a celebration of big-breasted, powerful women, wild, proud horses, and what happens when men try to break them.
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