The Plains of Passage - Jean M. Auel

The literary quality of Auel's The Valley of the Horses and The Mammoth Hunters, the second and third volume in her Earth's Children series, left something to be desired to put it mildly, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue this series of reviews. I've always had a soft spot for The Plains of Passage, the fourth volume, and since I recently came across an English language version (this is one of the few novels I've read both in English and Dutch translation) I decided to go ahead and reread it. My recent read of Kim Stanley Robinson's Shaman may also have something to do with it. The novels share a setting during the ice age, if little else.

After a difficult year among the Mamutoi, the Mammoth hunters, Ayla has decided Jondalar is the man for her and that if it takes crossing the continent to travel to his home is the price for being with him, she is willing to pay it. In early summer they set out on their journey. Knowing he is unlikely ever to travel that far again, Jondalar opts for the longer route that will have them follow the Donau, the Great Mother river for most of its length. It is his last chance to see his kin among the Sharamudoi people living on it's banks. Their journey will take them a full year and exposes them to every danger the unforgiving ice age environment has to offer.

The Plains of Passage can be accused of just about everything that bothered me in the previous two books. Ayla is still a Mary Sue. Fortunately, traveling doesn't give her too much time to invent new stuff although she does make a few steps in domesticating wolves. She does find the time to become fluent in three more languages despite spending weeks at most with the peoples in question. Her abilities win her admiration and several invitations to stay permanently. Despite this universal worship of her supreme abilities she still fears being rejected by Jondalar's people and is on the verge of asking Jondalar to stay with one of the peoples they meet along the way.

The repetitions that mar the later books in particular are also very present in this novel. With every new group Ayla is exposed to there is an endless string of formal introductions, disbelieve over her control of their animal companions and admiration for the inventions Ayla and Jondalar bring. After that, we usually find out what challenge is facing this particular community and what Ayla can do to fix it. Once the the proper steps are taken to fix the problem, Ayla and Jondalar are of to continue their journey. Another repetitive element in the story are the many graphic sex scenes. Personally it doesn't bother me, but in this book the scene where a young girl watching Jondalar and Ayla go at it helps her to overcome a gang rape was a bit too much for me.

Jondalar and Ayla also battle their personal demons during their journey. As mentioned before, it is her fear of rejection for Ayla. Jondalar struggles with an equally unlikely issue. He is afraid that the Great Mother won't find him worthy to create children of his spirit. He still refuses to believe in Ayla's theory linking sex and procreation and the uncertainty about whether or not he'll have offspring drives him to seek the aid of a holy man they meet along the way. He even goes so far as to try and get Ayla to have sex with another man. Given the story I guess it is consistent but it had me roll my eyes anyway.

There is plenty of about this novel I find extremely unlikely, incredibly annoying or outright ridiculous but there are a few aspects that appeal to me. As usual, Auel has done her homework. The novel contains rich descriptions of the ice age landscape and ecology. Some may find them boring or repetitive. For me, the way she describes the landscape is very interesting indeed. Some elements do turn up time and again but she has done a good job in describing the various landscapes her main characters travel through. The place might have been a bit colder than it is today, ecologically it was diverse if you know how to look at them. Picture yourself standing on the banks of the river, somewhere north of Belgrade where the Tisza river joins the Donau, trying to imagine what the place looked like some 30,000 years ago. It is quite a feat of the imagination, especially when you consider Auel describes a journey of several thousand miles this way. For some reason Jondalar's journey east in The Valley of the Horses lacked that kind of refined understanding of the environment he was traveling through.

Archaeological finds have also inspired Auel. A number of the artifacts described in the novel are based on archaeological finds. There is a big difference between the archaeological and ecological sides of this story in that the archaeological evidence is usually incomplete and lacking context. Auel built her story of people worshiping the Great Earth Mother around it and we have no way of knowing if it is anywhere near reality. In fact, I suspect she is wildly of the mark in many respects. Still, someone with an appreciation of prehistoric art and artifacts will enjoy these details in the book. Educated guesses and speculation about how these objects fitted into everyday life are part of what makes prehistory fascinating in my opinion.

The thing that most appealed to me when I first read this novel was the fact that at the heart of it, is an epic journey. It's something of a Fantasy cliche really, but one that remains quite popular. There is something about people being reduced to the basics with only their skill and ingenuity between them and disaster that makes for an appealing story. In that sense, the novel works better than Ayla facing impossible odds in The Valley of the Horses or the high school drama that fills The Mammoth Hunters.

Does that mean it's a good book? No, not really. The novel just has too many flaws for that. At best, I'd call it a guilty pleasure. It's a book that at a rational level, could be burnt to the ground in a review without requiring any great effort from the reviewer. Nevertheless, I have a soft spot for it. I don't think I would have bothered with The Shelters of Stone and The Land of Painted Caves without enjoying this book at some level. It is still more than a few steps down from The Clan of the Cave Bear however. The tragedy of this series is that Auel never managed to come close to the level she reached in the opening volume. Still, this minor step up was just enough to keep me going and even to convince me to reread the fifth book. I guess I will finish this series of reviews after all.

Book Details
Title: The Plains of Passage
Author: Jean M. Auel
Publisher: Bantam Books
Pages: 868
Year: 2011
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-553-28941-1
First published: 1990

Arslan - M.J. Engh

For my tenth read in the Women of Genre Fiction reading challenge I picked Arslan by M.J. Engh. I've read a couple of more recent works in the past few months so I thought I'd pick an older one this time around. Arslan is Engh's first novel and was published in 1976. To date, only four novels by Engh have appeared but with that small oeuvre she did manage to make quite an impression. She was named author emerita by the SFWA in 2009. Engh is also a scolar of Roman history. Something that clearly influenced this novel. the edition I've read is the Gollancz SF Masterworks edition. I guess the editors of that series have a knack for picking controversial books. Personally, I'm not sure I would have included it.

Some time during the later stages of the cold war, a figure from the small nation of Turkestan rises to prominence in the world. Caught between China on one side and the USSR on the other, he cleverly uses a combination of politics and extortion to gain control of the armies of the major powers in the world. What he means to do with it remains unclear but the inhabitants of the small town of Kraftsville, Illinois get a shot at finding out when the new dictator of the world settles there for a time. His motives are unclear but he brings great change to the town. Whatever Arslan is up to, he has changed to world for good.

The main problem I have with this novel is that it is horribly implausible. Engh is not to specific on how Arslan gains power, by the time we meet him in the opening stages of the novel, he is already firmly in control. Since his nation has less inhabitants than most of the major cities on the planet, force of arms is clearly not an option. Force of personality obviously has something to do with, and cleverly manipulation people, but world politics is full of people who can do just that. And know how to defend themselves.

In the opening stages of the book, Arslan is portrayed as a brutal dictator. He rapes a young boy and a young girl in front of his men shortly after arriving, in what is certainly the most shocking scenes in the book. Arslan appears to think himself a Caesar. Divine, entitled to shape the world in whatever way pleases him because he has the power to do so. He feels that the rules he imposes on others do not apply to him. In more modern terms we'd call it megalomania. Arslan believes he is so invincible that he even offers one of the main characters the chance to shoot him. As it turns out it is not the first, nor the last, time that he exposes himself to such a risk. Unbelievable, nobody takes him up on the offer and the world is left to pay the price for this stunning bit of cowardice.

Arslan enforces a way of life that even in small town America, with it's ideal of a simple country life, is a serious step back. The economy is reverted to local produce only, contact with the outside world is reduced to a minimum and any technology that can't be sustained by local means phased out. Arslan appears to want to create a sort primitive agrarian state, which is quite scary if you consider what what going on in Cambodia at the time this book was published. You don't really want to think about the effect such policies would have on highly urbanized areas. It is back to basics for Kraftsville but that is not all he has in mind. After a while it becomes apparent no children are born anymore and then his true motivations come to the surface.

It is at this point it becomes clear what Engh is trying to achieve with the novel. Arslan is further developed into a round character. No longer the archetype of a tyrant, he is described as tirelessly working towards his goals, prepared to make large personal sacrifices of his own and living by his own moral standard, albeit a different one from what would be acceptable in small town America. Engh is trying to make the reader feel sympathy for Arslan and puts in a lot of effort to achieve this.

All of this is seen through the eyes of two main chanters. The first is Franklin L. Bond, principal of the town's school and a respected figure in Kraftsville society. He feels it is his duty to keep the place together and to that end collaborates extensively with Arslan. He is also in control of a pitiful excuse for resistance that arises in Kraftsville. Ironically, most of their work seems to consist of restraining people from doing something suicidally stupid. His ambivalence towards Arslan prevents him from doing anything meaningful beyond running the town. Given Arlan's plans, that is simply not enough.

The second point of view is that of Hunt Morgan, the boy who is unfortunate enough to be raped by Arslan. Later on, Hunt develops a complex relationship with his rapist, of appearing jealous when he lavishes his attention on others. Engh uses Hunt to show the reader that in his own way Arslan does care, thereby creating another shade of grey. It's another part of the story I had trouble believing. The voice of Hunt is also much more difficult to read. He uses just about every adjective in the dictionary at least once in his point of view sections. I didn't think it was quite convincing for a boy his age. Although it must be said he is very well read.

I guess whether or not you will like this novel depends on how well you think the author succeeds in making a very unlikely plot sound plausible. For me this pretty much failed on all fronts. I appreciate the efforts of the author to make the reader go back and froth between seeing Arslan as Lucifer himself and a caring man for those around him but in the end his character feels forced. Too extreme in many areas to be believable. The same goes for Hunt really. Franklin is more realistic. People keeping their heads low and muddling through would be very common in such a situation. He can't carry the story though, and so Arslan turned into a skillfully written but ultimately unsatisfying read for me.

Book Details
Title: Arslan
Author: M.J. Engh
Publisher: Gollancz
Pages: 303
Year: 2010
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-575-09501-4
First published: 1976

Shaman - Kim Stanley Robinson

I didn't read Robinson's previous novel, 2312, until a year after it was fist published. I guess I felt the story Robinson was writing had too many things in common with what he had done before that I couldn't get really excited about it. It turned out to be a good read but not one that ranks among my favourites. Shaman on the other hand, is one of those books I wanted to read as soon as it came out. In fact, I even tried (and failed) to get a review copy. Robinson's work is much more varied than the epic science fictions he is best known for and this book is a good example of that. Shaman takes us back in time instead of forward. That in itself is something Robinson has done before in The Years of Rice and Salt and Galileo's Dream, but certainly not this far. Shaman is a novel set during the ice age, some thirty-two thousand years ago.

Loon is the apprentice of the moody shaman Thorn. He didn't ask for the job, it just happened to him. After the death of his father, Thorn's real apprentice as Loon thinks of him, and his mother, the shaman and the herb woman Heather take care of him. He is not particularly interested in most of what Thorn is trying to teach him except for the art of making cave paintings. Loon is determined to find his own path in the unforgiving world. The fist step on that path is the wander, an initiation into manhood. That is far from his last challenge though.

Throughout his career Robinson has mixed in the evolution of humanity into his novels. One particularly clear example is Frank Vanderwal, a character in the Science in the Capital trilogy. He is constantly explaining modern human behaviour in the light of patterns we picked up while still being 'primates on the plain.' He even lives as something of an urban hunter-gatherer for a while in Fifty Degrees Below. Another example that comes to mind in Nirgal's run with the primitives in Blue Mars. More primitive modes of living in modern times are thoroughly discussed in Robinson's novels. Shaman itself, appears to be in part inspired by the Chauvet Cave, a site with extensive cave paintings, discovered in the Ardèche department of France. I recommenced you have a look at some of the art in that cave after finishing the book.

While many of Robinson's characters can opt for a (temporarily) more primitive lifestyle, Loon doesn't have a choice. He simply know any better. What keeps him busy are the most primal concerns of all: food, shelter and sex. What struck me about this novel was the sharp contrast with what is probably the most famous series of novels set in prehistory; Jean Auel's Earth Children series. Where she presents life during the ice age as utopia, where a human being can make a decent living with a bit of planning and a good set of survival skills, and where paradise is lost after the discovery of the link between sex and procreation, Robinson's reality is much harsher and probably closer to the truth. Loon suffers periods of starvation followed by a summer of plenty. His weight fluctuates considerably over the course of the seasons and he is always aware of the upcoming lean season. All things considered it is a miracle he still has time for his more spiritual pursuits.

In essence Shaman is a coming of age story. When we meet Loon he is very much a boy, unsure what to do with his life. Throughout the book he grows and builds the confidence he'll need to eventually step out of the shadow of the previous generation. It is quite a transformation to see him change from a moody boy to a confident man. Loon has a few brushes with death over the course of the book. Perhaps the most dramatic section of the novel and a turning point in Loon's life is his track back to his people after months of captivity with a northern tribe. It shows him the world is larger than he imagined. It's a journey that will push him to physical and mental extremes. Such treks show up in several of Robinson's other novels as well. Valerie's journey across Antarctica with her clients in toe comes to mind, as well as the evacuation of Burroughs in Green Mars. All of them are life threatening but none are quite are harrowing as Loon's journey though. The question of whether or not Thorn has a hand in Click's death will stay with the reader long after the last page has been turned.

Robinson spends relatively little time on the landscape and ecology of the land. Where in other books he is known for long passages of scientific and philosophical theories and speculations. Shaman is much more direct. Loon tackles the challenges that are right before him. He is at home in his environment. He accepts it as it is for the most part without considering his place in it or asking why the world looks the way it does. What keeps Loon wondering is people; the passage of time, the cycles of life and changing of generations, the cultures and survival strategies of other tribes are what occupies his mind. He may not realize it himself but he does posses the kind of curiosity and mindset that would suit a shaman.Something he starts to accept over the course of the novel.

I had high expectations of this book and Robinson's met them. How often does that happen? In a way Shaman is very different from the books that Robinson has written until now. It lacks his passion for the process of science for instance. On the other hand, there are lots of thematic links to his other works. It may not be the solar system spanning science fiction of his more popular books, I still thinks that even fans of his work that don't usually venture outside the genre will appreciate this. Loon's journey is fascinating, harrowing and at times heartbreaking. The only minor flaw in the novel is that after a dramatic opening section it takes Robinson a while to get the story going. It is hardly worth mentioning really. Shaman is an absorbing read. For me, it is one of the novels of 2013 you have to have read.

Book Details
Title: Shaman
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Publisher: Orbit
Pages: 456
Year: 2013
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-84149-999-4
First published: 2013

I've Been Interviewed Again

Just in case you want to know what I was up to last weekend. Jesse, owner of the Speculation book blog has sent me a list of questions each worthy of a lengthy answer. He kindly lets me ramble about books, my blog, my reading habits and science fiction and fantasy in general. The interview can be found here. Go make  your self some tea first, it's quite a long read.

The overlap in reading between Jesse and me (judging form the reviews on his blog) is very large indeed. Quality wise his reviews are a few steps up from mine however, I recommend that you check them out.

The Republic of Thieves - Scott Lynch

This book has the dubious distinction of being on the most anticipated titles of the year for several years running. Lynch's first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, appeared in 2006 and was a huge success. It was quickly followed by Red Seas Under Red Skies in 2007. The pressure was on to deliver the third book  in what is to be a seven volume series, but Lynch struggled with mental problems that kept him from finishing it. The Republic of Thieves was postponed, and then postponed again until finally earlier this year it was announced that a complete manuscript had been delivered. I've been sitting on an advance copy of this book for quite a while now but with the October release date rapidly approaching, I could no longer contain my curiosity. I finished earlier this week and I have to say, Lynch returns in style.

The Gentleman Bastards are in serious trouble after their botched confidence game in Tal Verrar. Locke is dying from a slow-acting poising after tricking Jean into taking the only vial of antidote. He has given up while Jean is frantically trying to save his life. None of Jean's attempts are successful and he is getting desperate when the Bondsmagi once again interfere. For reasons of her own, a magus using the name Patience offers her assistance in curing Locke. For a price. The Gentlemen Bastards are to travel to the city of Karthain, current residence of the Bondsmagi, and rig an election for them. Problem is that the opposing side has also hired someone to run their campaign for them. Locke and Jean will face their old friend Sabetha, once member of the Gentleman Bastards and the love of Locke's life. With the Bondsmagi looking over their shoulder, business and private affairs become a lethal tangle.

Structurally, Lynch chooses more or less the same approach as he did in the previous novels. Story lines set in Locke's formative years are intertwined with events in the present. Where in previous books Lynch abandoned the scenes set in the past, he keeps it up all the way to the end of the novel in The Republic of Thieves. There is something to be said for the structure Lynch chose in the previous book, there is no point in taking a those story lines past the point where they cease to be relevant, but the more balanced story presented in this novel does make for a smoother read. Personally, I also enjoy the chapters on Locke's youth a lot.

The Gentleman Bastards get involved in all manner of complicated schemes of course, they can hardly avoid it, but what the book is really about is the relationship between Locke and Sabetha. Lynch has hinted at their history in previous books but other than that is was a painful subject for Locke, not much was really revealed. A lot of the story line set in the past lays out their developing relationship and the complications that arise along the way. Although Locke has been the main character for two novels now, this book reveals a new layer to his character. It is, as you might imagine, all very dramatic. Lynch captures the desperation of the teenage Locke and Sabetha quite well.

Like all of Chain's students, Sabetha is quite a formidable young lady. In fact, until Locke's arrival she is probably the most talented member of the gang. Something that will cause problems for them in later years. Lynch always plays for high stakes in his writing. He's been hinting at this character for two books and raising expectations. Personally, I liked the way he portrays her. She's as complicated a person as Locke. The way they attract and repel each other worked very well for me.

The title from the novel is taken from a (fictional) play the Gentleman Bastards get sent to perform in by Chains. It's a drama that Shakespeare wouldn't have been ashamed of an it mirrors the drama that unfolds in the story perfectly. The chaotic preparation for their first performance also adds a comical element to the novel that is needed to break the constant strain Locke and Jean find themselves under in other parts of the novel. I guess I do like the Gentleman Bastards in their teenage years best. Reading these sequences do make me wonder if Lynch has enough material to keep these dual story lines going for four more books.

I had already been apparent that the Bondsmagi still had a bone to pick with Locke after his encounter with the Falconer. The fallout from this conflict is the basis for the story line set in the present. Lynch is expanding this a lot further, connecting the motivations and apparent restraint in controlling the world of the Bondsmagi with the attitude of the gods and of course the mystery of Locke's origins. It is a complex puzzle, especially since not all information the Bondsmagi provide can be taken at face value. They are not entirely omnipotent as Locke has already convincingly proven. Lynch is clearly laying the foundations for future novels here.

The Republic of Thieves is a novel that turned out to be worth the wait. As usual, Lynch plays for high stakes, constantly setting up situations that appear almost impossible to get out of (or write yourself out of from the perspective of the author). He manages to do just that every time. One may wonder, as fellow blogger Kenneth has already pointed out, to what extent these high stakes combined even higher expectations from readers have contributed to Lynch's mental problems. A bit more self confidence is warranted I think. Lynch delivered a book fans will love. Structurally it is stronger than the previous volume. Some of the novelty of The Lies of Locke Lamora has worn off of course, but the book is nevertheless great fun to read. Lynch is a very talented author, I already look forward to reading The Thorn of Emberlain.

Book Details
Title: The Republic of Thieves
Author: Scott Lynch
Publisher: Del Rey
Pages: 672
Year: 2013
Language: English
Format: E-book
ISBN: 978-0-553-90558-8
First published: 2013

The Forest - Edward Rutherfurd

I bought this paperback of Rutherfurd's The Forest back in 2001. It's his fourth novel but my introduction to his work. Not being familiar with Rutherfurd's work,  mostly picked it up because of the subject. During my days in college the New Forest had been mentioned several times as an example of how small scale management practices can lead to a very diverse ecology. Rutherfurd focuses more on the history of the place of course, but the two are so intertwined that a lot of what was mentioned in my ecology classes does show up in the text. From then on I have tried to read one of Rutherfurd's books every couple of years. His works require so much research that he only publishes one every three or four years. Currently he has eight novels out, of which I have yet to read two. Maybe I'll try his latest novel Paris (2013) next year.

The Forest describes his history of the New Forest in the south of England almost from its creation as a royal hunting reserve to the present day. William the Conquerer helped himself to this vast stretch of land around the year 1078. Rutherfurd starts his tale in 1099, with the events leading up to the death of William Rufus in 1100. He then follows successive generations of eight fictional families: the Albions, the Puckles, the Tottons, the Martels, the Furzeys, the Prides, the Grockletons and the Seagulls. Each of these families represent different faces of the Forest in different times and often their life intersects with real historical figures. In effect, Rutherfurd is taking the James Mitchener approach to historical fiction.

This novel is the third novel by Rutherfurd set in a relatively small area. His first novel Sarum (1987) describes the history of the Salisbury plain just north of the New Forest. In London (1997) he tackles the history of England's capital. England's history is rich of course but he still runs the risk of repeating himself. As such, this book is slightly more concise than the other two. Both Sarum and London top 1300 in mass market paperback and start in prehistory. The Forest has to make do with just under 900 pages and 9 centuries of history. Although the books are meant to be read individually, Sarum and London in particular have links between them. Given the proximity to the New Forest, Sarum shows up in the pages of this novel several times as well.

The New Forest really is a unique bit of England. Many people would see it as a wilderness, a large stretch of natural forest, bog and heath and Grassland. Nothing of course, could be further from the truth. The land has been managed in a variety of ways, resulting in the landscape we see today. As one fictional ecologist in the final section of the novel points out, the Forest is a dynamic ecosystem where man has played an important part in creating and maintaining certain balances and occasionally upsetting them. What Rutherfurd also shows in the text is that it is constantly under pressure in various ways. Population growth tourism and economic pressures being the greatest threats in modern times.

Although the New Forest was set up as a hunting reserve for the crown, the local population retained a lot of rights for other uses of the forest. They could let their cows and ponies graze at certain times of year, use the underbrush for firewood, turn out their pigs to feed on beechnut and acorn in fall and  to cut peat for fuel to name a few. Many of these rights were linked to cottages or landholdings and have been in effect ever since the founding of the New Forest, although they weren't recorded until the 17th century. Some of them are still in effect, although the system in under threat. These rights gives one an impression of the numerous ways in with the environment was used but that was not nearly all of it.

The New Forest housed large populations of various deer species. In medieval times these were important to keep the royal court fed and punishments for poaching were very harsh indeed. The deer had a large impact on the forest, eating large quantities of saplings and the lower branches of trees. Later on timber became more important. As the English fleet expanded, the forest's oaks turned into a valuable assets. Selective felling of trees and the appearance of enclosures to grow trees for use as timber again shaped and changed to landscape. When you think about it, this piece of England was far more intensely used than may people realize. Of course it is never enough for some. The many uses of the land, the way these uses are governed and the ways in which this government is evaded are the backbone of the novel and in my opinion a marvelous set of themes.

Rutherfurd also weaves a lot of history into his tale of course. He is quite detailed on the events leading up to the Spanish Armada attempting to invade England in 1588, the reigns of Charles I and Charles II and the English civil war, and the Victorian era, when industrialization and clashes with the traditional ways of life in the forest and the emerging recognition of the region as a valuable ecosystem. The author lectures on the history of England and the Forest in various places, especially to bring the reader up to speed on what happened in the periods he skips. Personally I think there is no point to reading Rutherfurd's novels if you don't appreciate this sort of thing but it has to be said that he has gotten a lot better at it in the years since writing Sarum. These overviews of England's history are inserted much more seamlessly.

Since reading this novel for the first time back in 2001 I've read several thousand pages of other material by this author. Books like Russka (1991), Dublin: Foundation (2004) and New York (2009) impressed my but even after this reread, The Forest is a personal favorite of mine. It's not often you find a book that points out humanity's relationship to the environment and landscape in such vivid detail. This combination of ecology and history gives this novel something extra compared to Rutherfurd's other novels. This is of course my own personal bias. I like books that show a certain awareness of the environment or explore the implications of upsetting an ecological balance. In that sense the novel is a wonderful read. It makes me regret I haven't visited the region myself.

Book Details
Title: The Forest
Author: Edward Rutherfurd
Publisher: Arrow Books
Pages: 883
Year: 2001
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 0-09-927907-X
First published: 2000

Planet of the Apes - Pierre Boulle

Planet of the Apes by French author Pierre Boulle is one of those rare works in science fiction to come from outside the anglophone sphere and achieve a high level of success. The noevel was first published 1963 as La Planète des singe. There are English language editions with the title Monkey Planet as well. Whoever came up with that title should be introduced to Terry Pratchett's librarian. Planet of the Apes has spawned a move franchise that currently consists of seven movies, with an eight, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, scheduled for the summer of 2014. The moves take he story way beyond the scope of what Boulle envisioned of course, and probably had more of an impact than the book itself. I've seen a few of them and that was enough to spark my interest in the novel. I ended up with mixed feelings about his book. It has some interesting aspects but it is also quite pulpish, especially in character development.

Some time in the far future, a couple sailing the stars at their leisure, discover an interstellar message in a botte. The message contained within, tells the tale of an early interstellar traveler by the name of Ulysse Mérou, who describers his adventures on a planet circling the start Betelgeuse. His tale is one of a society where the roles between man and the great apes have been reversed. Mankind's condition is reduced to that of a mere animal while a society composed of Chimpanzees, Gorillas and Orangutan rules the planet. Without means to leave the planet and captured by the apes, Mérou sees himself put to the task of convincing the apes of his intelligence.

Despite being set more than five centuries in the future from the time it was written, Mérou and  his party have a very colonial outlook on life. They have a hard time imagining any other form of intelligent life besides humanity. There is also a clear element of racism present in the early scenes where the party first meets specimens of the native human population. Disbelieve that humans, and apparently Caucasians ones at that, could be reduced to less than the most primitive tribe on earth. Ironically, Mérou does experience the hunt on them that follows as shocking, while at the same time acknowledging that such hunt occur on earth and that the humans on the planet are no more than animals. It one of the many ethically questionable positions he finds himself in.

Equally problematic for instance, is Mérou's relationship with Nova, one of the native women he encounters shortly after landing. Her physical beauty and complete lack of intelligence are described in detail in the early chapters of the book. Mérou feels somewhat guilty about but nevertheless takes her as a mate. His treatment of her is quite often contemptible and not until she turns out to be pregnant, does he begin to appreciate her as a human being.

Mérou is caught between his own prejudice and the treatment he receives as a prisoner of the apes. The put him through a whole series of tests he recognizes as Pavlov's experiments. On the one hand he despises his fellow captives who perform the tricks exactly as predicted, on the other he feels the pull to conform. Sometimes he is absurdly grateful for what little attention he receives from his captors. More often he is thinking about ways to convince his captors of his intelligence so he can regain his freedom. His treatment is one of the ways in which Boulle holds us a mirror. The parallel with animal tests is clear and the author is not afraid to rub that in.

Racism and paranoia are not limited human society, the apes suffer from it too. Boulle shows us a society that is split up in three distinct layers. The Chimpanzees, Gorillas and Orangutan each have their own strengths and their roles in society are defined by it. Mérou has most contact with the Chimpanzees. They are the most intellectual and curious of the three, many of them working in scientific positions. Watching over them are the dogmatic and socially conservative Orangutan. Official science as the Chimpanzees refer to their jobs. Mérou  comes to share their distaste for them over the course of the novel. The militaristic Gorillas are mostly put into jobs that require little intellect and great bodily strength. The three species may superficially be at peace, there is a clear tension between them.

As a science fiction novel, I'm not particularly impressed with the science part. There is a lot of dodgy comments on evolution and the eventual origin of simian society seems to assume that we can bring primates up to the level of human intelligence. They may be our closest relatives, biologically there are still differences. Not only between humans and the great apes but also between the three species of ape in the book. What is depicted in the book is unlikely in the extreme, if not outright impossible. In one scene the native woman Nova, who would go on the be Mérou's mate, strangles a tame chimpanzee. I seriously suggest you don't try that at home.

Boulle didn't set out to write a science fiction novel with the emphasis on science however, so to a point it is excusable. The social commentary doesn't work that well either however. Perhaps if he'd taken a more satirical approach. On that level it doesn't work either. I feel that for the satirical aspect of the novel to have worked, he would have had to exaggerate a bit more. As it is, the novel is terribly blunt in making its point. Most of the time I spent reading it I was annoyed with the characters for something or other.

I can see why Planet of the Apes became a classic but truth be told, I don't really think it merits that status. It is an interesting read in a way though. The Hollywood adaptation of it differs considerably from the original (although the 2001 remake is closer to the book). In fact, the story is changed to such an extent that the end of the novel will come as a surprise to readers who are only familiar with the classic movies. I thought the difference between the novel and he movie adaptation was probably the most interesting aspect of this read. It almost begs the question what a French movie adaptation would look like.

Book Details
Title: Planet of the Apes
Author: Pierre Boulle
Publisher: Del Rey
Pages: 268
Year: 2001
Language: English
Translation: Xan Fielding
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-345-44798-2
First published: 1963

Kim Stanley Robinson Interviewed by Adam Ford

As the regular visitors of this site have probably noticed I've been a fan of Robinson's work ever since picking up Blue Mars in the late 1990s. I have reviewed twelve of his novels for the blog so far. There have been a number of interviews floating around the internet to coincide with the release of his latest novel Shaman. I've unfortunately been unable to obtain an advance copy but it is on its way here now and I expect to read it later this month. This morning I took the time to watch an interview with Robinson conducted by Adam Ford over at h+. It is not about his new book especially but touches upon numerous topics that show up in Robinson's writing, in effect discussing his entire oeuvre. The whole thing lasts some 45 minutes and it is well worth watching to. I've embedded the first of five parts. You can find the rest here.

Palimpsest - Catherynne M. Valente

Palimpsest is my ninth read in the Women of Genre Fiction reading challenge. I picked it mostly because Valente had caught my eye a few times in the last few years but I never got around to reading anything by her. I remember this novel being well received when it was published. It was nominated for the Locus SF, Hugo and Mythopoeic awards and took the Lambda Literary Award home. Quite an impressive list. The novel also served as an inspiration for Valente's crowd-funded novel The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (2011) and it's sequels. In other words, more than enough reasons to have a closer look at it.

Palimpsest is a city unlike any you've heard of. It is a city of wonders, a mystery and a curse at the same time. Only a few people can gain access and only for a single night at a time, before being flung back into their mundane existence. Those who make the passage are marked forever but finding others to help them relive the experience isn't easy. The city keeps pulling them in however, the lure of Palimpsest is irresistible, and for a lucky few, permanent residence in the city appears possible. If they can overcome that challenges the city sets them.

The novel follows four main characters who have been introduced to the wonders of Palimpsest in their search for the city an each other. There is a Japanese woman, an Italian bookbinder, a Russo-American locksmith and a beekeeper from California. Each of them have been introduced to the city though sex with a stranger and it remains their portal throughout the novel. As a consequence their is a lot of sex in the book. Sex in all manner of places, sex between people of the same gender, sex with more than one person at a time. Valente is is poetic in her depictions of the act. Rarely very descriptive or unnecessarily explicit but if you don't like sex scenes in a book Palimpsest is not for you.

Some people have described the novel as erotic but personally I didn't really think that was the case. The four main characters are driven by a need that is not unlike a heroine addiction. They are constantly looking fro the next partner, the next trip to Palimpsest. Some of it is erotic but quite a lot of it is lusting after the city rather than the partner they are with. There is something compulsive about it. Something decidedly sordid. Sex as a price to be paid for what you really want, or, as some have observed, the city as a sexually transmitted disease.

As the story progresses and the obsession of the main characters with Palimpsest increased, a lot of the scenes become downright tragic. the characters cease to care about heir life in our world. They lose jobs and partners, the city disfigures them or drives them to physical and psychological extremes. For much of the novel we are reading about characters on the verge of destroying themselves. One might wonder if the city is worth it.

The characters seem to think it is and Valente does create a mysterious city, full of surreal cityscapes and strange inhabitants. I found it vaguely reminiscent of Miéville's New Crobuzon. Valente adds to that by her use of language. There is lots of imagery and de descriptions are very poetic. Some sentences practically beg to be read again and again. To an extend it distracts from the terrible process the main characters are going through. The story features lost of symbols having to do with finding passage to another places. Trains, keys, maps and dreams to name a few.

Palimpsest is clearly not without its dangers but attracts the characters at the same time. Each of them is damaged in a way and it provides the city with the leverage it needs to draw them in. While they have their own motivations for looking to escape to Palimpsest, they share that none of them makes much of an attempt to function in their own world. The novel doesn't show their own lives at all. They don't interact with anybody not involved with Palimpsest in some way. Their isolation and obsession is pretty much complete.

Valente takes her time in shaping the plot. Introducing the city and all four main characters take up quite a few pages. Just looking at the plot, the novel is a bit thin. Each of the characters is introduced to Palimpsest and ends up wanting it more than anything. Then they find a fairly straightforward way to get it. Not much of a story line for a novel really. If you are a very plot oriented reader than Palimpsest is probably going to be a tough read for you.

I must admit I'm not too fond of novels that use beautiful language for the sake of it. It took me a while to read it as I can only take in so much of this style at a time. Puzzling out the the language is challenging and this is one of the few novels I've recently read that make me feel I'm a second language English speaker. At some points I think Valente does go overboard on the poetic descriptions. Despite that, I enjoyed the novel more that I thought I would.  Novels like these are rare in fantasy and especially in the urban sub genre, overrun as it is by sparkling vampires and sexy werewolves. Valente has created something special here, but it will certainly not be everybody's cup of tea.

Book Details
Title: Palimpsest
Author: Catherynne m. Valente
Publisher: Bantam Books
Pages: 367
Year: 2009
Language: English
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-553-38576-2
First published: 2009

We See a Different Frontier - Fabio Fernandes and Djibril al-Ayad

We See a Different Frontier is an anthology of postcolonial speculative fiction. It's not something that has a high chance of succeeding commercially so it started out as a Peerbacker project in 2012. It managed to gather quite a bit of support, mine included, which enabled to editors to expand it beyond the original length they were aiming for. The volume that was published in august 2013 contains 16 short stories, an introduction by the editors, a preface by Aliette de Bodard and an afterword by Ekaterina Sedia. This afterword in particular, puts the whole anthology in perspective. Don't stop when you finish the last story. Sedia has some very interesting things to say.

Colonialism is an uncomfortable subject for me. I'm from the Netherlands with has a centuries long history of colonizing other parts of the world. The Republic's influence stretched from New York and Taiwan to Sri Lanka and Brazil, although the biggest impact was probably felt in Indonesia, the Cape, the Antilles and Suriname. it brought the country great wealth over the backs of the local population. Massacres, slavery, murder and discrimination, there are a great many black pages in our nation's history. The Netherlands still struggles with its colonial past. Relations with Suriname and Indonesia are strained to put it mildly. Acceptance of our role in the slave trade is grudging at best and the question of whether or not to compensate the descendants of the victims of that trade is far from settled. The colonies may have gained independence or self-government but that clearly is not the end of it.

This anthology touches on a lot of this uncomfortable truths. The stories are written from to point of view of the colonized. It is a direct opposite science fiction's tendency to transplant the myth of the American frontier into space or a secondary world. A lot of science fiction and fantasy is seen though the eyes of explorers, conquerors and settlers. Expansion is glorified and the cost of it to others is often seen as either inevitable and an acceptable price or a minor footnote in the story. There is something very attractive about the chance to start over, build for yourself instead of taking over what others have been building on for centuries. What more does the western mind need than a blank slate, unexploited resources and a self reliant attitude? There's a fair few novels in the review index that cater to this taste to some extent. Only the slate is rarely blank. Cultural and ecological havoc is nearly always the result. The cultural aspect is examined from various angels in this anthology.

The stories in this collection deal with some very complex issues. Where, for instance, is the line between respecting local custom and cultural appropriation? There is no sharp distinction between the two. Or should we perhaps use cultural assimilation as a more neutral term instead? How about suppressing cultures? Whole languages and cultures have been destroyed by banning the use of a language, forcefully relocating people from their familiar environment (or simply destroying that environment) or by removing children from their families to raise them as considered fitting by the colonial powers. These are blatantly destructive actions but not the only ones that put pressure on a culture. The assumption of a new language or the influence of the dominant culture's media output continue to chip away at local cultures long after the colonists have given up power. On the other hand there is the question to which extend you should hold on to certain cultural practices. Cultures are dynamic and change due to inward pressures as well as contact with other cultures. Can you actually revive or even preserve a culture under pressure? At what point does a culture become an idealized version of its historical self?

Once you realize the complexity of the issues involved admiration for the editors' selection sets in. The quality of the writing in this anthology is remarkably high but as usual, some stories had a bigger impact on me than others. One of the ones I particularly liked is Old Domes by J.Y. Yang, a story that among other things, deals with the question why so many places that were once part of a colonial empire don't appear to have much of a history before the colonists arrived. Yang's story is set in Singapore, a place that had been inhabited for centuries before the arrival of the British in 1819. There is a melancholic atmosphere about the story but the exploration of how history is written attracted me the most.

Ernest Hogan takes us in a completely different direction with his story Pancho Villa's Flying Circus. It is something of an alternative history set in the second decade of the twentieth century. As the title suggests features the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, albeit briefly. Hogan takes on the early stages of Hollywood, and shows us his version of what would become the dominant force in cinema in later years. It's a quite brutal piece of writing really. It leaves the reader feeling distinctly paranoid.

Them Ships by Silvia Moreno-Garcia evokes quite different emotions. The protagonist is a girl from the slums of  Mexico City. When an alien invasion rolls over the world her life changes completely. It is a form of captivity but with clean clothes and three meals a day. While some of her fellows are planning rebellion, she sees opportunity. It is a very practical attitude and gives the story a cynical aftertaste.

Sandra McDonald's Fleet uses a post-apocalyptic setting. The story takes us the island of Guam, for centuries at the mercy of various colonial powers but now completely cut off from the rest of the world. Despite the horrors the world has inflicted on the island, a lookout for ships from the rest of the world is organized with strict instructions to bring any outsider to the Elders directly. Without giving the clou of the story away, it is quite a horrific tale.

The final story of the collection is Rochita Loenen-Ruiz' What Really Happened in Ficandula. The story is inspired by a real event in the Philippines during the American occupation of the archipelago.  Essentially the story is about the kind of violence that can occur as a result of vast cultural differences and ignorance. The author alternates snippets of of past events with the life of a girl raised in a colonial society as a second rate citizen. She is about to disembark on a new planet carrying the history of her people, ready to start a new life. The question that she ask herself is whether or not she should bring history along. An interesting feature of the story is that in effect, she becomes the colonist.

We See a Different Frontier is a fascinating piece of reading. It tackles a theme that is so hugely complex that there are countless of ways to approach it and the stories the editors reflect that. The diversity in these stories is stunning. The anthology offers no easy answers but makes the reader aware of issues that are rarely raised in science fiction. In her afterword Ekaterina Sedia mentions that the collection left her 'a bit whiplashed' and that is not far from how I experienced it. These stories are challenging and thought-provoking, qualities that good speculative fiction in my opinion needs to possess, but at the same time they manage to cover ground most readers of the genre will be unfamiliar with. This anthology is one of the best themed anthologies I've had the pleasure of reading. It deserves a larger audience than it is likely to get.

Book Details
Title: We See a Different Frontier
Editors: Fabio Fernandes and Djibril al-Ayad
Publisher: Futurefire.net Publishing
Pages: 213
Year: 2013
Language: English
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-9573975-2-1
First published: 2013