At the start of Tobias Buckell’s Crystal Rain I wasn’t sure if I had picked up a science fiction novel or a fantasy novel. Azteca are coming over the mountains, invading Nanagada for fresh sacrifices for their gods, who have physical form. John deBrun lives in Brungstun, the first town from the mountains, where he gets separated from his wife and son. He must go on a quest for the mythical Ma Wi Jung, which will save Nanagada from the Azteca and their Teotl gods. Sounds very fantasy like. Slowly Buckell introduces more technology, steam age level stuff. Some dirigibles. Trains. Still could be fantasy, much like China Miéville has industrial revolution level technology in his books.
It is science fiction though. The Nanagada are a polyglot collection of colonists and refugees from Earth. Or rather, the descendants of those people. The largest group of people are Caribbean-descended, which gives this series it’s dominant speech patterns and culture. They vaguely remember they came from the stars, and groups of Preservationists spend a lot of time digging up old technology and looking to put it to use.
The gods are the Teotl and the Loa. All are forms of an alien species. Teotl have set themselves up as gods of the Azteca, and model the society on the bloodthirsty Aztecs. The Loa have priestesses, but aren’t worshiped in the same manner by the Nanagada. While not requiring sacrifices, they do try to prevent people from recovering more old-father
technology, a policy that leaves Nanagada vulnerable to the Azteca.
While I don’t think this will be considered a classic S.F. novel along the lines of an Ender’s Game or Neuromancer, it’s a pretty damn good read. The pacing for action is pretty fast, but kept slow for characterization. I thought the slow reveal of John deBrun’s background along with the history of the world was fairly expertly accomplished. The world and it’s culture were really interesting. Too often I think when S.F. includes a different culture as a basis, it’s a very white-ified
version. Nanagada’s people are black (mostly), they are intelligent, and they are mostly non-stereotypical. They don’t act like white people with bad accents. I liked the slow turn for Oaxyctl, the Aztec spy. He humanizes them, and I liked that he didn’t dehumanize his opponents. He’s pretty much the only insight into the bad guys in the novel. For the most part they remain a faceless overwhelming menace.
On the negative side, the transition from star-faring humanity to industrial level technology left some gaping holes that didn’t make logical sense to me. Perhaps Buckell answers some of these questions logically in book two, Ragamuffin, or on his blog. Why would one group of humans voluntarily (more or less) take up Aztec sacrificial ways? It’s sort of explained, but I don’t think it makes a whole lot of sense. How did the history of the downfall get lost when at least one group of people has lived for the entire four centuries since it happened? If the councilors didn’t lose all their memory, it would seem like far more of the history would be available (though not the technology).
I’m pretty happy with the book though. I’ll definitely be picking up the sequel (when it comes out in mass market form that is, I’m spending too much on my trade paperbacks and hardcovers).
Title: Crystal rain
Author: Tobias S. Buckell
Cover creators: Todd Lockwood (artist)
Series: Benevolent satrapy; 1
Imprint / publisher: Tor / Tom Doherty / Macmillan
Format: Mass market paperback
Length: 358 p.
Publication date: June 2007 (originally February 2006)
ISBN-10: 0-7653-5090-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-5090-9
LC classification: PS3602.U2635 C79 2006
