Reclamation | The Wild | Dreamfall

Reclamation

• Reclamation
• By Sarah Zettel
• Warner Aspect
• $5.99/$6.99 Canada
• Paperback, June 1996

s Reclamation opens, a secret organization known as the Rhudolant Vitae kidnap Arla Stone from their arch rivals, the Unifiers. Both sides are struggling for dominance over the Quarter Galaxy, and the Vitae believe Arla's backward home world -- the Realm of the Nameless Ones -- may be the key to finding the Home Ground, the planet where life originated.

The Vitae interrogate Arla by coercing Eric Born, an agent in their employ who is also a native of the Realm, to translate for them. But during the interrogation Eric and Arla escape and flee to a neutral colony where they hide with one of Eric's friends. The colony contains a noted genetic engineering lab, and while there they have Arla's DNA tested. They discover that she has very short DNA strings, indicating their race has been engineered.

Believing Arla is safe, Eric leaves the colony and enlists the help of an artificial intelligence to try to find out why the Vitae are interested in Realm of the Nameless Ones. But unbeknownst to Eric and Arla, the Vitae have established a major presence in the colony, and they soon discover that Arla is working for the genetics lab.

While Eric uses his own special talents to tap into the Vitae's most private computer networks, his infiltration doesn't go undetected. Meanwhile the Vitae have become convinced that Eric's native planet is indeed the mythical Home Ground. Now it's up to Eric and Arla not only to prevent their own capture, but to prevent the Vitae from enslaving their people.

In Reclamation, Zettel creates a complex universe filled with fascinating cultures and history. In most of the cultures religion plays a major role, as with the Rhudolant Vitae fanatics who amputate some of their extremities and will only employ the technology to grow them back once they have walked on the Home Ground. The hierarchy of Eric's home planet is also justified and constructed from religious considerations. But while Zettel uses religion mainly to define the cultural motivations, her two protagonists are both considered heretics on their home planet.

And while Eric and Arla are effective protagonists, the truly impressive theme in Reclamation is the unlikely intrinsic value that Zettel finds in their home world, the Realm of the Nameless Ones. It's a primitive world, both culturally and technologically, designed that way by those who created the Realm's "natives." And yet Zettel makes it seem worth saving from the Vitae, who care nothing for the inhabitants, and from the Unifiers, who don't regard the people of the Realm as true humans.

Unfortunately, Zettel doesn't always follow through with details of interest. The real nature of the Unifiers remains murky throughout, and despite repeated references to the ancient and despised Aunorante Sangh, she never reveals exactly who they were or what they did. But on the whole, this is a strong first novel by a new writer worth watching.

Despite the fact that this novel is 452 pages long, Zettel's universe is rich enough that I feel I've only been briefly introduced. -- Clint

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The Wild

Can the galaxy's hottest pilot stop the stars from blowing up?

• The Wild
• By David Zindell
• Bantam Books
• $5.99/$7.99 Canada
• Paperback, July 1996

anlo Ringess, pilot for the Order of Mystic Mathematicians, embarks on a quest into a dangerous region of space called "the Wild" (or more commonly, "the Vild"). Members of the Cybernetic Universal Church are blowing up the stars of the Vild to punch holes in space and thereby transport their huge spaceships across the galaxy. This has the unfortunate side effect of annihilating billions of people at a time. Danlo's mission is to find the leaders of the church and tell them to stop this nonsense at once.

Along the way, Danlo wants to find a cure for the genetically engineered virus that's wiping out the latter-day Neanderthal hunters who raised the orphaned Danlo as one of their own. He also hopes he might run into his long-lost natural father, and perhaps even stumble onto the key to destroying the villainous Silicon God. To complicate things, Danlo has an assassin named Malaclypse Redring hot on his trail. Then there's the problem of Danlo's girlfriend, Tamara, a former high-rent prostitute whose memories of Danlo have been erased by a jealous rival...

Like its predecessors -- Neverness and The Broken God -- The Wild mixes space opera, soap opera and earnest examinations of deep philosophical questions. It's not for everyone. The Wild swirls with energy and invention, exotic settings and intriguing concepts. But Zindell's writing can be stilted and heavy-handed, and the plot moves at considerably below lightspeed when the characters ruminate at length on issues such as love, free will, consciousness, identity, and even the meaning of life.

Danlo Ringess is entirely too marvelous a hero. A nebula-sized computer/goddess called the Solid State Entity wants to settle down with Danlo in a cozy seaside cabin. He melts the hearts of his foes with soothing notes from a bamboo flute. He's kind to animals, doesn't eat meat and survives cybernetic ordeals that would drive lesser mortals hopelessly insane. He's also bland, humorless and at times surprisingly dense.

Zindell's 1988 debut novel, Neverness, combined a thoughtful, original premise, rugged adventure and colorful characters in such a way that readers could overlook the sometimes ponderous prose and epic lapses in logic. In this, the second volume of the author's three-book Requiem for Homo Sapiens set in the Neverness world, the novelty has worn off. Zindell has filled The Wild with mythic resonances. Unfortunately, with the author determined to pad the story to four volumes, it's full of something else too.

Fans of Zindell's first two books will probably enjoy The Wild despite its flaws. Newcomers to the series are advised to read Neverness before deciding whether to embark on this bumpy journey into The Wild.

I have great respect for Zindell's imagination and intelligence, but it's way past time for him to move on to something new. -- Curt

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Dreamfall

Joan D. Vinge explores the heritage of one of her most famous characters

• Dreamfall
• By Joan D. Vinge
• Warner Aspect
• $22.95/$27.95 Canada
• Paperback, June 1996

at is a half-Hydran, half-human who has the Hydran Gift: a range of "psion" talents. But his Gift is but a fragment of the psi powers that full-blooded Hydrans possess. After existing all his life among humans, most of it homeless in a maze of slums, Cat is now registered, a citizen, and has a chance to explore his alien roots as a member of an archeology team on the Hydran homeworld, Refuge.

On Refuge, humans have herded the remnants of the Hydran race into Freaktown, a small reservation, while they colonize and exploit Refuge's resources. Chief among these is the data reefs. Held sacred by Hydrans, the reefs are thought-residues of mysterious, atmosphere-dwelling cloud-whales, which are mined for revolutionary technologies by the Tau Corporation. The archeological team, part of a Tau-sponsored cultural initiative, is sent to examine the last unexploited reef.

As he takes his first curious steps into Freaktown, Cat collides with a member of the radical Hydran resistance movement. His archeological mission is derailed as he finds himself embroiled in a conflict riddled with bigotry and greed. Both humans and Hydrans view Cat with suspicion because of his mixed blood, yet he is compelled to try to reconcile the conflict, which careens ever closer to genocide.

Dreamfall is the latest in the Cat series by Joan D. Vinge. In this book Cat encounters fullscale Hydran culture for the first time. This will be of special interest to readers who have followed Cat out of the dregs of Oldcity and have seen only glimpses of this psionic people. While Vinge has seeded the novel with detailed descriptions of Hydran society and physiology, this installment is also a stand-alone book and is supported very well by a self-sufficient storyline.

Vinge does anthropologic science fiction fairly well, and her multi-racial, multi-cultural societies are believable and complex (see also her books Snow Queen and Summer Queen). In Dreamfall she keeps the pace of the plot metered and progressive, twining it nicely with anthropologic description.

Overall, Dreamfall exhibits most of Vinge's strengths. What's missing, however, is a strong cast of characters. Except for Cat, the field is lightweight, lacking the psychological and physical descriptions that would turn an okay book into a really good book. The plot advances almost too quickly, but manages a page-turning quality nonetheless. At the tale's end though, the tale's lacks the punch that would give this novel an explosive kick. Characters meet their fates or meet their makers, yet nothing seems quite consequential unless it happens to Cat directly. The mood is set, though, for Cat's next adventure, and perhaps that is Vinge's main message.

Cat is an interesting fellow, and his personal exploration was paralleled against the grander scale of racial conflict. However, I closed the book feeling like I had dived for something shiny at the bottom of the pool and come up too shallow. The conceptual stuff was pretty good, though, and worth the price of admission. -- Tamara I.

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