Land of the Dead by Thomas Harlan
(
Amazon)
Rating:
4.5/5 (between "will enjoy" and "must read")
I picked up this somewhat odd novel at the grocery store while looking for something to read on a trip. (I appreciate the science fiction selection carried by Fred Meyer; the only other chain that seems to make any effort to carry books outside of romance and best-sellers is the NEX/AFFES, which is only available to the armed forces.)
It stars several characters from Thomas Harlan's earlier novels in his
In the Time of the Sixth Sun series (an alternate history science fiction series set in a universe in which a Mexica-Japanese alliance came to dominate the world). I bought the previous book,
House of Reeds (3/5), in a used bookstore before getting to this one (we happened by Powell's in Portland unexpectedly), so I had some familiarity with the characters, but
Land of the Dead and that were nearly completely different.
I've learned since that Harlan has intentionally written each book of the series in a different science fiction sub-genre. Where
House of Reeds was ostensibly a story of empire and colonial uprising,
Land of the Dead is naval combat of the first class. I don't usually like military science fiction (though I do like naval trappings and procedure), but this novel was set apart by its ingenious setting - one that I imagine would appeal to
Christopher's fans, and certainly appealed to me as a fan of ideas like the Tkon, the Old Ones, the Menthar-Promellian War, etc. Discovery, danger, fateful action, and a sense of possibility intertwine excellently - and ever more expertly as the book proceeds to its climax.
My greatest complaint about the book is that its setting seems somewhat under-explained. The internal logic of the series has clearly been worked out to almost excessive degree, but I have, after two books, a very poor grasp of the universe the series inhabits. The characters are excellent, the general shape is intriguing, but the whole eludes me as indistinct.
It is nonetheless a narrative of novel ideas. Those include the most original spatial anomaly I've encountered in the last decade or more, at least one variety of truly foreign beings, and even occasional new ideas about the possibilities of everyday items. (I fear that Star Trek, particularly The Next Generation, may have constrained popular thinking about these items overmuch; a great deal more is likely possible than we usually seem to contemplate.) In all, it's easily the best new novel I've read since the last Harry Potter book, and the best new science fiction novel I've read since
Reap the Whirlwind or perhaps even
A Time To Heal. Few books enjoy the energy of invention displayed here, even if it does take some time to begin moving.
. 
It's a volume in Will and Ariel Durant's "Story of Civilization" series.
