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May. 26th, 2009 08:28 pmI read Steven Barnes' Lion's Blood today. I had come across references to it (alternate universe where Islamic Africa dominates, and the new world is settled in plantations fueled by white slaves) a few weeks ago, and decided that I wanted to get it from the library first thing I got home.
I was a little scared to start it, though, for the stupid reason that a world without the Roman Empire is a scary and unsettling thing, and for the more readerly reason that I've read some very crummy switched gender sci-fi that just went for the cheap shots, and I didn't want this to be something similar with reversed race. But I needn't have worried. Really, this is one of the best speculative fiction novels I've read: not only for complex characters and getting deeply into issues of slavery, perceived racial/cultural superiority, imperialism, faith, humanity, etc., but for the more mundane elements of a speculative fiction novel: compelling relationships, good pacing and exciting plot, dramatic action, really good battle scenes. (I didn't know that I cared about battle scenes, but this novel has a lot of fighting (both hand to hand, and army to army) and it was very well done on the individual and the macro- level.)
There are two main characters: Aidan, an Irish slave and Kai, the younger son of a powerful New-World provincial governor. While they are tied together plot-wise (roughly the same age, they grow up as companions and friends(?) and Aidan becomes Kai's personal servant) the fact that they have quite different lives is never ignored. As they grow up, becoming aware of the "real world" often means different things for both of them: a struggle of faith and political/romantic complications for Kai, and a determination to be free and get vengeance for Aidan. And of course the experience of the brutality inherent in the system is quite different. There is a lot of inequality between the two, and I liked this: Kai is frankly the more interesting and introspective character, being educated and having a life that provides space for introspection, and amid mutual betrayals and instances of loyalty he is the one who more often offers (because he can afford to offer) kindness or trust. It takes a lot for him to lose his innate condescension toward Aidan, and even more for Aidan to approach him without wariness and cynicism.
And meanwhile, there are love pentangles, and family conflicts, and political pressures, and an imminent Aztec invasion, and by a couple chapters in I wasn't missing Rome at all.
I was a little scared to start it, though, for the stupid reason that a world without the Roman Empire is a scary and unsettling thing, and for the more readerly reason that I've read some very crummy switched gender sci-fi that just went for the cheap shots, and I didn't want this to be something similar with reversed race. But I needn't have worried. Really, this is one of the best speculative fiction novels I've read: not only for complex characters and getting deeply into issues of slavery, perceived racial/cultural superiority, imperialism, faith, humanity, etc., but for the more mundane elements of a speculative fiction novel: compelling relationships, good pacing and exciting plot, dramatic action, really good battle scenes. (I didn't know that I cared about battle scenes, but this novel has a lot of fighting (both hand to hand, and army to army) and it was very well done on the individual and the macro- level.)
There are two main characters: Aidan, an Irish slave and Kai, the younger son of a powerful New-World provincial governor. While they are tied together plot-wise (roughly the same age, they grow up as companions and friends(?) and Aidan becomes Kai's personal servant) the fact that they have quite different lives is never ignored. As they grow up, becoming aware of the "real world" often means different things for both of them: a struggle of faith and political/romantic complications for Kai, and a determination to be free and get vengeance for Aidan. And of course the experience of the brutality inherent in the system is quite different. There is a lot of inequality between the two, and I liked this: Kai is frankly the more interesting and introspective character, being educated and having a life that provides space for introspection, and amid mutual betrayals and instances of loyalty he is the one who more often offers (because he can afford to offer) kindness or trust. It takes a lot for him to lose his innate condescension toward Aidan, and even more for Aidan to approach him without wariness and cynicism.
And meanwhile, there are love pentangles, and family conflicts, and political pressures, and an imminent Aztec invasion, and by a couple chapters in I wasn't missing Rome at all.
