Oddly enough it was the book Calculating God by Robert Sawyer which hit the nail on the head as to why I have always been a fan of 'whodunnit 'literature. The need for justice. For the bad guy (or girl) to be caught in the end. I have never been a fan of books where there was no meting out of justice at all.
Then there was Donald Trump. And somehow, science fiction, somehow, seemed as apt. Books which set in another future time provided commentary on the challenges and situations we find ourselves facing now. Although I do recall trying to re-read 1984 by George Orwell after his election and not quite succeeding.
But as an effort to re-invigorate this blog I have decided to try to write more about books which I read. And today, I have read Carnival by Elizabeth Bear. It was fabulous.
So, where to start?
Gender. I realised when reading Karen Lord's The best of all possible worlds recently that I do in fact enjoy characters which do not conform to the gender binary. In that book, it is a gender ambiguous character. In this book it is both in terms of sexuality and gender roles. The main characters are a homosexual couple, Angelo and Vincent. Their world does not permit homosexuality and yet they are reunited, after a 17 year separation for a mission to New Amazonia. As the name might give away, that is a planet where women are the dominant gender. And on that world it is better to be a "gentle" man, which is to say homosexual one infers. In that sense is a sweet love story. I also enjoyed the character of Kii. Although while the characters in the book assume Kii to be male, somehow I felt that Kii was neither male nor female (or if impossible to conceive without gender binary, I somehow assumed Kii to be female rather than male!)
Power. New Amazonia is dominated by women, but is equally characterised by a wide range of factions and disagreement. The Coalition, for who Vincent and Angelo are emissaries, are ultimately controlled by the Governors. Who turn out to be Artificial Intelligence who ultimately ensure that ecological limitations are respected, with all the ruthlessness one would expect from AI. A surprising power actor in the book turns out to be the Consent. As well as Kii. (In fact, it is not clear to me why the book has the name it has, 'The Consent' may have been the better name IMO). Themes are how much power humans can be trusted with. There is also, in my view, a hint of including the idea of our need for a transcendental power.
Power also becomes a factor determining honesty in relationships with the people one loves.
Finally, what also struck me was a red thread of genetic manipulation as warfare.
Ultimately, an excellent read. I will definitely read Elizabeth Bear again (this was my first).
