1995 post-apocalyptic fantasy. Charisat is the greatest of the cities
in the Great Waste, and a centre for the trade of Ancient relics. Khat
and Sagai are relic-dealers, as much as they can be when (as
non-citizens) it would be illegal for them to use coinage. But a
Patrician demands Khat's services as a guide in the Waste…
My word this holds together well. Khat is a krismen, human-like
beings created by the Ancients for unknown reasons, but now regarded
as unthinking inferiors. And there's a lot of that: Charisat is
strictly hierarchical, with its Patricians and its Warders (magicians
whose magic drives them mad); and one of the ongoing themes here is
that Elen, a Warder and Patrician, regards the authorities of the city
as basically on her side, while Khat knows from experience that they
aren't on his, so when Elen casually wants to take him to see the
Chief Warder Khat's main thoughts are of how to escape. Each of them
gradually learns the reality of the other, beyond the stereotypes
they've had all their lives.
There's splendid world-building of course, but I also give points for
not making a city in the desert a pseudo-Arabian one – there are
some physical concessions to the heat, but politically it's rather
more like Rome in the days of dictatorship, with magicians and
fortune-tellers and ghosts.
I can see paths here that Jemisin would later follow in the Broken
World series, about the mindset that being a slave or something like
it forces you into, but I find Wells a more engaging writer – and
there's a story here beyond the story of being a slave, because the
masters here don't intend to be cruel, they just don't even notice
that there's a problem and become cruel as a result.
Things get off to a bit of a slow start, but the pace picks up
effectively as the story goes on, and I like all of these people even
with their blind spots.
Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.