This article looks at both these classic novels, compares and contrasts them, and identifies their strengths and weaknesses.
As Daughters Of A Coral Dawn opens, the year is 2199. A brave group of women, the Unity, descended of an alien Mother, decide it is time to leave the patriarchy and barbarism of Earth behind and form their own culture on their own world. With the help of Megan, their charismatic but desperately lonely leader, they escape military pursuit and overcome untold hardships to succeed beyond their greatest imaginings. Then, just as they reach their zenith, a damaged ship from Earth stumbles onto their planet. Will they risk everything they have fought so hard for to help the hapless soldiers? And will Megan be able to keep her vow of solitude in the presence of the lovely Lt. Laurel Meredith?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Daughters Of An Amber Noon chronicles the tale of the members of the Unity who decided to stay behind. Now hunted mercilessly by a ruthless dictator, The Premier Supreme, they are forced to make a home underground in the most toxic desert on planet Earth. Like their space-bound sisters, they develop their own culture and form loving relationships among each other. Yet one member, Africa, a former close friend of the Premier, blames herself for not foreseeing and stopping the Premier's carnage. Tormented by her guilt, she contemplates suicide. But is she desperate enough to risk taking the whole Unity as well as her newfound lover to their deaths with her?
Daughters Of A Coral Dawn and Daughters Of An Amber Noon were written nearly twenty years apart (1984 and 2002), and there is a distinct difference in the tone and focus of each. Daughters Of A Coral Dawn is a book of discovery. The plot does not always move quickly, but the mechanics of what a woman-driven society might be like are fully explored and celebrated. The entire novel exudes a sense of playfulness and fun, from the charmingly grouchy Mother who refuses to bore herself with details to the charming "whoofies" who inhabit the planet of Maternas. Lesbian eroticism is also a key element of Daughters Of A Coral Dawn as couplings between the members of the Unity are described in languorous, breath-taking detail.
