A World Between is a light tale which half conceals some deeper issues. It lacks the driving outrage of most matriarchal society novels written by female authors. Even the more moderate ones like Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Ruins of Isis (1978) or Joy Chant's When Voiha Wakes (1983) have a sharp edge of awareness that this book lacks.

Brad Strickland's To Stand Beneath the Sun (1986), is a closer parallel that also examines gender issues through a matriarchal society.

For its story of a couple whose bond is tested and made stronger by their role in public events, there are even fewer precedents. This very fact emphasizes the book's value as a work of imagination. Couples like Royce and Carlotta are so rare in our world that no one writes mainstream novels about them. The sequel novels to the Star Wars movies show Leia Organa and Han Solo in...