Rating: 
Summary: Frustrating
Review: It took me a while to figure out why I disliked this book. The most obvious reason I could find is that I hated the idea of a race like the Wraeththu displace mankind. It seemed like even though the characters were hermaphroditic, they were portrayed more like men than anything. The homosexual themes threw me off, but I adapted. The lack of major female players was a constant source of irritation. Also annoying was how the various tribes were presented in an index, but we never got to see them in action.
Then it hit me how frustrating the plot was. The author would build up a conflict, and then let it slip away. For instance, a major villain was defeated in the second book through sex, essentially. The few scenes that do contain conflict tend to be confusing.
I realize that most of the conflict took place within the characters, but this just lended a wishy-washy, whiny quality to them. I couldn't identify with their angst.
To top it all off, there were the New Age tones to it - mankind was scourged for its disrespect to females, sex and crystal magic that almost made me want to vomit, the aformentioned lack of overt conflict, and the sudden superiority of the female side of the universe.
I gave the book three stars because in the end, the writing had a nice dreamlike quality and there were a few intriguing ideas. However, the inspiration was never followed up on.
Rating: 
Summary: Exquisite, Mesmerizing ,Enthralling
Review: Dark Cal,Golden Pell,Poignant Cobweb,Noble Swift,Perfect Seel,Tormented Vaysh... Who can ever forget these exquisite beings...The story grips you from the 1st page and just doesn't let go. I was hooked so badly that I took a day off from work to finish the 3rd book. However towards the last quarter of the 3rd book I just felt betrayed by Storm because she could have just done it much better and this would have been a read and reread enthralment. It was as if Storm lost interest towards the end of the story and just wished to finish it for the sake of finishing it or is the editor trying to limit the number of pages...Is there an unabridged version ?
However because of the beauty of the 1st, 2nd and 1/2 of the 3rd book I still rate the complete story 5 stars. Glad that the 3 books are combined into one and I have orderd a copy for a friend because I just could not lend him my copies. To all would be readers : please do not be deterred by the 700 over pages of the 3 in 1 copy. Believe me it is a spellbinding read and made one wishful for more...
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting initial idea, but poor writing and tedious plots
Review: A friend recommended me this book. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to her hype, dismally in fact. Although the idea of a mutated, androgynous, post-human species surviving a future holocaust is intriguing (and, to my knowledge, original in contemporary SF) the story is poorly written (the tenses are everywhere, the prose is less than the sum of its parts although some of the characterization is good), the plotting is labored and increasingly tedious and even the timeline is inconsistent! I managed to reach the end of book 3 through sheer effort of will hoping for a more entertaining finale but this too was a letdown. Admittedly, this trilogy was written a while ago but good writing never ages. Sadly this is very old. Somebody please bury it...
Rating:
Summary: Read it once..and Searched for it for years to buy it!
Review: Okay so I read these books (one book now) a long time ago after finding it hidden on a library shelf...YES it may seem slow at times but IT'S ABSOLUTELY ENTHRALLING as others have said.Come on think about it! The premise of the story, of humankind eventually dying out and a unisex mutation surviving, is mind blowing! I've yet to find another author who has thought of it. If you do, please write me I don't mind being wrong plus I would want to read it. I was so excited when I finally found this book in Manhattan that I bought it right there and then even though that left me poor for a while (college student at the time). For those who want to be thrown into a sensual, beguiling, and mind blowing world...READ IT!
Rating:
Summary: too lovely to hope for
Review: I hardly know how to begin. This trilogy so mesmerised me that I read all three books in one sitting and screamed at my mother when she told me it was dinnertime to get out of my world. In 1989...and I have read and reread the series many times. A truly lovely, lyrical writing style and THE most beautiful characters I have ever immersed in, I adore everything about these books. Emotional, evocative, magickal and opulent, I'd recommend this to anyone who has a penchant for goth/fantasy, sublimely sensual creatures, pansexuality and original visions. I have read all of Storm's books, though this was my introduction to her work and remains my favourite of her worlds. Magnificent.
Rating:
Summary: Tantalizing, but Slow-Moving and Uneven
Review: This sweeping, gothic epic almost blew my mind, but just not quite. The premise is very intriguing, the characters and settings are highly creative, and the sexual weirdness of the novel offers a lot of food for thought. The fact that the author is a woman leads you to think about the premise very carefully. If you did not know this, you would probably assume that the writer was a gay male who has envisioned a wishful future fantasy in which super-enlightened gay men rule the earth, and where women and straight men are obsolete and extinct. But since the writer is a woman, it's not quite that simple, and the gender-bending, androgynous Wraeththu can instead be seen as enlightened male figures who are in touch with their feminine sides (a weakness among human men, of course). Besides, eventually we learn that there are females working behind the scenes anyway. Unfortunately this book has a lot of problems. One of the author's major weaknesses is in writing believable dialogue. This is especially a problem in the second book. The characters engage in stilted, herky-jerky conversations that are damaged by ridiculous mood swings. Characters become inexplicably offended, angered, hurt, and exasperated by innocuous comments from the other person. These are apparently the author's unsuccessful attempts to make the conversations more interesting or dramatic. Also, the book is annoyingly slow in getting to the point, as you have to needlessly wait forever to see why everybody in Wraeththu society thinks Calanthe is such a big deal, and we never do learn why Thiede was interested in Pellaz and Cal so much that he wanted to either make them gods or destroy them. Finally, the author fails to expand upon the supposed theme of the book -- which is the fact that even though the Wraeththu are supposed to be the super-advanced and enlightened successors of mankind, they have succumbed to mankind's sins and weaknesses by forgetting why they are special. The publisher is guilty of many offenses as well. The summary on the back cover says: "They are destined to supplant humanity as we know it, but humanity won't die without a struggle." This is WRONG. Humanity is essentially out of the picture before the story begins. Also, there is a very misleading female character in the back cover illustration. And this book is full of typos.
Rating:
Summary: more Wraeththu please
Review: As often happens, I read the second book in the trilogy first, and didn't stop until I'd unearthed the others. As Storm was changing publishers at the time, this was not easy- and I begged, borrowed and [almost!] stole them. However, the books themselves are written so evocatively that you can almost picture Wraeththu. It also meshed very well with those androgynous looking young men who haunted London so much in the late eighties and early nineties [although they weren't half as attractive]. My first criticism is that the books are not well edited, which is purely the publisher's fault.
The second and most important is that the third seems to have lost its way after the half way point- too short- the reunion between Pellaz and Cal should have been more cataclysmic, but given the circumstances was remarkably humdrum. I always felt that Storm rather lost interest towards the end- rushed is the word. However, don't let this put you off buying Wraeththu. You'll want it never to end- I always feel that she should give us one more book about them....
wish, wish, wish...
Rating: 
Summary: great gothic fiction
Review: Despite its flaws, this is original and great gothic fantasy. Combining three books in one, it's a weighty tome and certainly daunting in size, so I confess to picking it up with a little trepidation. But don't let that put you off - it's a pacey read and one you won't put down until all the plot threads have been tied up. The narrative follows the increasingly fantastic and imaginative adventures of Pellaz, Swift, and, of course, the incomparable Cal. You'll love them, and be desperate to know what trial they must endure next, let alone how they will manage to scramble out of the tight spots. With much anticipation for the reunion between Pellaz and Cal, I raced to the end of these books but sadly must admit to being a little disappointed. While it was undeniably the resolution everyone would hope for, I expected more passion between two characters who have been set up as 'soul-mates'. Somehow their reunion lacked the fire and intensity I expected of them as people who had been separated by circumstance for so long. I also feel that they and their cohorts must essentially be seen as largely two-dimensional characters who really needed to be fleshed-out a little more, perhaps made a little more complex. My last niggling criticism is the ending seemed to happen all too quickly and conveniently. I particularly found the compliance of characters such as Thiede and Ashmael unexpected and simply inexplicable. Saying that, my disappointment may just be attributable to my unwillingness to finish the trilogy! Nonetheless, it's an adventurous read and if you have ever enjoyed books by Anne Rice and Poppy Z. Brite, you'll dig Storm Constantine.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: A friend sent me this collection few years back and I found myself completely carried away into Constantine's exotic, erotic world.Not only is she a fabulous fabulist, but a fine crafter of words. Most enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Strange mutant shadows...of Love
Review: I've never read a book like this. I'm still at the beginning,but frankly I'm already bewitched. Alien abductions,a Day After of some kind ,androgynous mutants, alternate history...and a philosophical apologue on mankind.This is an intoxicating fascinating book.Here William S. Borroughs meets Jack Vance.For these "Wraeththu" reminded me of the wild boys of William Burroughs.Only,Miss Constantine can write a coherent and consequential novel,and a beautiful one,too!
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