"The Shia Revolution", Vali Nasr
Jan. 26th, 2013 06:02 pmOne of the books I picked up in Oxfam in Oxford was The Shia Revolution. Wow, I know nothing about the recent history of most of the middle east.
Jan. 26th, 2013
Kameron Hurley: God's War
Jan. 26th, 2013 08:12 pmKameron Hurley's God's War is one of those books you should read because it's a just different to everything else. It's somewhere between science fiction (the sort primarily about a human colony on another planet) and urban fantasy (the gritty sort, not the romantic sort).
Firstly, I found some of it somewhat awkward. I think some of that was my fault for reading too quickly a book that didn't fit the stereotypes I was subconsciously expecting (I want to read it again). But I think some of that is that the book is in some ways a bit prickly to get on with.
Secondly, if you're concerned about physical/economic/biotechnological plausibility, there are bits that will probably seem very odd if you stop to think about them.
But thirdly, it blew me away with the world Hurley made.
It's set on a colony world with no strong trading links to the galactic mainstream.
The world is Islamic-derived, almost one of the only ones I've ever read about. But it paints a realistic gamut of competing countries and cultures which all share a general Islamic cultural background, but different people and different people have as realistically varied levels of observance as we have in this country.
The main character and many of the other characters are women. But despite a de-facto woman-dominated society, Hurley shows a society which is somewhat different to ours (eg. in how the genders are perceived), but doesn't buy into the idea that men are violent and women are fluffy.
And all sorts of other little details are sketched in enough to give a tantalising glimpse of ideas which are quite different to what I normally see in science fiction. For instance, "magicians" who seem to work with insect-powered technology (I'm not even sure if they're using magic or biotechnology, although biotechnology is advanced elsewhere). The boxing circuit. Really scary biotechnology, hopefully confined to warzones. The cultural norms of a woman-dominated Islamic-derived country in a protracted war of attrition. Etc.
I find it hard to do justice to my contradictory impressions, but it was interesting, you should read it.
Firstly, I found some of it somewhat awkward. I think some of that was my fault for reading too quickly a book that didn't fit the stereotypes I was subconsciously expecting (I want to read it again). But I think some of that is that the book is in some ways a bit prickly to get on with.
Secondly, if you're concerned about physical/economic/biotechnological plausibility, there are bits that will probably seem very odd if you stop to think about them.
But thirdly, it blew me away with the world Hurley made.
It's set on a colony world with no strong trading links to the galactic mainstream.
The world is Islamic-derived, almost one of the only ones I've ever read about. But it paints a realistic gamut of competing countries and cultures which all share a general Islamic cultural background, but different people and different people have as realistically varied levels of observance as we have in this country.
The main character and many of the other characters are women. But despite a de-facto woman-dominated society, Hurley shows a society which is somewhat different to ours (eg. in how the genders are perceived), but doesn't buy into the idea that men are violent and women are fluffy.
And all sorts of other little details are sketched in enough to give a tantalising glimpse of ideas which are quite different to what I normally see in science fiction. For instance, "magicians" who seem to work with insect-powered technology (I'm not even sure if they're using magic or biotechnology, although biotechnology is advanced elsewhere). The boxing circuit. Really scary biotechnology, hopefully confined to warzones. The cultural norms of a woman-dominated Islamic-derived country in a protracted war of attrition. Etc.
I find it hard to do justice to my contradictory impressions, but it was interesting, you should read it.