The Warriors of Dawn is a pocket novel I picked from a free-book tree I occasionally donate to. An oldie (1975) but an extraordinarily imaginative tale in the science fiction category. I truly wish I had found this gem long ago.

The subtitle on the cover reads “A cosmic odyssey of man and superwoman,” a teaser that hints at one of the base concepts behind the story. Humanity, now an old race inhabiting many planets, shares the galaxy with an artificially created and enhanced human subspecies with amazing abilities but a unique problem: Their numbers are so low that they have developed a peculiar culture heavily focussed on four-adult families rather than the human mated pair. They cannot mate with ordinary humans, and they abhor the technocracy of human cultures; so, they live apart, on separate worlds, until an outside threat forces collaboration with humans.

At first glance, a rather simple Sci-Fi novel, The Warriors of Dawn deepens to explore intimate relationships among people as well as vastly different cultures and worlds. Interspersed throughout the chapters are quotes of fictional sages and discussions of philosophy that take the reader down winding paths that expose some of the inconsistencies and flaws in our own ways of thinking, or provide alternative outlooks never before considered.

Timeless is the word I would choose to describe M.A. Foster’s debut novel.

Do you enjoy books that challenge your mindset and culture?