aptain Eli Dammond is the disgraced veteran of a terrible war between
humankind and the alien ahtra. A rare survivor of the war's most vicious
battle, his lack of wounds mark him--at least in the eyes of the soldiers
under his command--as a coward. Now, an uneasy peace reigns between the
two
races, and Eli is stuck doing milk runs on minor ships, with no allies, no
hope of promotion and a ruined reputation.
As Kay Kenyon's Tropic of Creation opens, Eli is juggling the
conflicting needs of two separate assignments. Having located The
Fury, a battleship which went missing during the war, he is heading an
on-site investigation into whether its crew deliberately crashed it to
avoid battle. At the same time, his own ship has been playing taxi service
to civilians--Cristin Olander, a mathematician travelling with her husband
and teen-age daughter. Olander's father is an influential general, and she
is eager to abandon questions about The Fury if it means she can
get
her daughter away from riffraff like Eli's enlisted soldiers.
Unfortunately, the crash inquiry is soon devoured by another mystery.
The surface of the desert world where the ship crashed is dotted with
strange tunneling vehicles which hint at an ahtra presence. Further
examination reveals a vast network of tunnels underground. What is in
those
tunnels, Eli wonders--an ahtra army, abandoned catacombs, even an alien
city? Seeing an opportunity to salvage his reputation, he wastes no time
going underground to find out.
What he learns, however, is devastating: all the humans on the surface
are about to become victims of the planet's treacherous rainy season. And
Eli himself has become a prisoner of the ahtra who live in the underground
caverns, helpless to warn his crew of the danger.
An alien culture artfully explored
Recently, military SF has been full of competent soldiers who have
fallen out of favor with their superiors. As an example of this genre,
Tropic of Creation is very successful. Eli is admirable in his
struggle for redemption, just because he is so sheerly persistent. In the
face of diminishing odds, he never admits defeat.
In ahtra culture, author Kay Kenyon has created a fertile mix of
ancient
tradition and postwar uneasiness. She tours readers through a complex
world of ancestor worship, sexual taboos, extensive gambling and reduced
fertility. Ahtra views on the upstart humans range from hopes for
cooperation to genocidal paranoia. These differences bring their culture
to
the brink of revolution, and the presence of humans on their world only
makes matters worse.
The ecology of the planet is similarly fascinating. Underground, Kenyon
shows a species living in total harmony with its habitat. On the surface,
rains transform the sterile environment of the desert to a lush and lethal
jungle. The emergence of life on the surface tickles the imagination with
its wild beauty and destructive potential. Watching Eli's soldiers face
off
against this inimical environment is both suspenseful and satisfying.
This is not to say that Kenyon ignores characters at the expense of
setting. This book is filled with vivid, engaging individuals, including
the ahtra who grudgingly befriends Eli and Cristin's teen-age daughter.
Even so, Tropic of Creation may not suit every reader's tastes. It
has some predictable moments and, at times, a horror sensibility akin to
the Alien film series. However, midway through the novel--when the
outcome of the story seems inevitable--the author turns around and defies
all obvious expectations. The result is delightful, making for a wholly
worthwhile read.
