Publisher's Weekly
Despite a magical, nurturing Celtic lass at center stage, Baudino's ( Drag on sword ) rock 'n' roll fantasy flaunts its misanthropy. In sixth-century Ireland, Chairiste Ni Cummen and her female lover, Siudb Ni Corb, visit the home of the immortals to hear the bard Orfide play the harp. Chairiste escapes from the Realm, but Siudb is caught there. Fourteen centuries later, in 1987, Chairiste, now a harpist, is still trying to figure out how to save Siudb, when she discovers a different kind of music--heavy metal. Realizing the power of rock to blast open the portals of the Realm, Chairiste assembles an all-woman band called Gossamer Axe: Devi (sexually abused by her father), Lisa (exploited by men in her previous band), Monica (threatened and beaten by the male lover she left) and Melinda, whose drug habit nearly destroys the band (her male lover's fault, of course, for making the drugs available). With few exceptions, heterosexual males in this tale are hateful and destructive. The appearance of a gay man who dies of AIDS is a despicable exploitation of that disease. In Baudino's scenario, only women make beautiful music.