The Years of Rice and Salt

Rating:
Summary: Epic novel of alternative history indeed, but...
Review: First of all I must admit that I realy like Kim's books. More important I'm big fan of alternative history books.

That was the reason I was so excited when this book arrived.

This is a good book. You will not be bored with it, there is no
way for that IMHO.

This is also an epic book, because Robinson tried to cover 700 years of our history with divergation point in VIII century, with elimination of Europe from history stage.

Of course it is not easy to put 700 years in 658 pages and to keep a focus. I'm not apsolutely sure that Kim was able to do that with reincarnations, but on other hand who can?

If you want to try something new, but not entirely strange, this book is for you.

But, for that same reason I can't rate this book for five stars.

First of all, this book is still written for America in first place. Of course, now America is not America (Amerigo is never born on this Earth), you don't have Europian's colonist but result is the same: on the end of book you have
world most powerfull nation on planet, in essence this America only improved in everything except maybe technology.

There is nothing wrong with that position of course, but this should be a radical new world, remember?

And for the style of the book... well, style is not the same in whole book. I like idea that with style change (from quasi anciant narator '...and we will tell you in the next chapter' to modern form) author whant to indicate a real change in time, but of course I can be totaly wrong here.

Rating:
Summary: Rich, Multilayered Alternate History
Review: First off, if you are looking for a traditional Alternate History in the vein of "Fatherland" or "Resurrection Day" this may not be the book for you. While it is true that this novel takes place in a world in which Europeans (and hence Christianity) were wiped off the face of the earth in the 14th century, the primary focus isn't a simple "what if?" Rather, Robinson uses this altered world to explore the nature of humanity and civilization. Furthermore, since the novel as a whole takes place over hundreds of years, he uses the mechanism of reincarnation to keep his main characters in play. While this may sound a little hokey, Robinson handles it with a deft touch and provides a tenuous, but palpable link between what would otherwise be a series of short stories.

It is difficult to describe the plot of the novel because, as I indicated before, there isn't one per se. Rather, Robinson explores three primary themes. The first of these is the nature of individual humanity and belief; by juxtaposing Islamic and Chinese culture against a vanished Europe, he points out that on an individual level, people aren't really different across cultures. We all share the same hopes and fears, and even when our desires are expressed in different ways, they all stem from the same root emotions.

This consideration, in turn, leads to his second primary theme: culture. Specifically, is one culture inherently superior to another? There are a great many people who would argue that the death of Europe would have removed tremendous suffering from the world. Robinson argues that this is not the case, since all cultures evolve over time, and since all people are basically the same, war and injustice and suffering would have dogged the planet one way or the other. That's not to say that he thinks history would have unfolded basically unchanged, but it is unrealistic to think that European civilization was more flawed than the alternatives. Compared the European states, Islam and China were equally repressive and totalitarian. Thus, it is only thru trial and error, and the sincere efforts of individuals that progress is made.

Which brings us to the third and final theme: hope. Robinson uses the final chapters, which occur after terrible trial and destruction, to discuss the nature and use of history. He points out that we are not bound by history; no matter the sadness and destruction that we (as a culture) leave in our wake, if we eye the future with hope and good intent then there is always the opportunity to improve upon what came before. At the same time, he argues for using history as a guide, both to avoid past mistakes, and to preserve (or restore) that which is good.

"The Years of Rice and Salt" is alternate history, but it is also much more. It is a thoughtful consideration of the human condition throughout the ages, and, ultimately, an uplifting message of hope in the character if the individual. It is not always an easy novel to read, as Robinson draws from a multitude of unfamiliar cultures and philosophies. Moreover, while his writing is generally rather elegant, he does at times tend to wax poetic. The end result, though, is a novel that is challenging to read and that leaves the reader thinking. It takes alternate history beyond the realm of military what-ifs and plunges it squarely into "literature". Along with Stroyar's "The Children's War", it shows the full potential for counterfactuals to help us understand the world we live in.

Rating:
Summary: Remarkable imagination and research
Review: Unlike previous reviewer, I thought the book was a pretty brisk read. I throughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.
You will enjoy this book too if you like grand, epic stories, richly imagined worlds.

My only complaint is that in the second half the book tend to become a straight-forward history. Still fascinating, but a little out of place.

The recent news reports of historians arguing Zheng He's fleet may have circumnavigated the glob make the book's imagining of Chinese discovering New World doesn't seem so far fetched after all.

Rating:
Summary: Very slow
Review: I read about 75 books a year and have been doing this for the last 30 years. I have only not finished 3 books in my life, This is one of them. It is slow, boring makes no sense. It was suppose to be based on the black plague wipping out 95% of the European people and Aisian culture becoming dominant. What I was able to get though did nothing to intrest me on the characters or the entire premise. Do not waste your time. It was nothing like a Turtledove novel.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: If you haven't considered the impact of the plague on history consider this: in 1630, the plague wiped out most of the population of Milan, decimating it from a city of about 250,000 to 60,000 souls. (Interestingly, cloistered nuns were among those who survived, having been efffectively quarantined. They preserved a great deal of the cultural knowledge that was passed down.)

Now, what if the plague had wiped out 99% of Europeans, and in their place, the Asian empires became the dominant culture of Earth? Kim Stanley Robinson examines this horrifying and alluring hypothesis.

One challenge the author dealt with was the great span of time the novel encompasses--700 years. He treats each chapter as a novella, and this is perhaps what makes Years of Rice and Salt so successful; the novella, handled well, is one of science fiction's best genres. The novel gives thought to the question "Would we get a utopia instead of what we DID get, if Europe had been erased from history?" Interesting question!

In Robinson's vision, the world is turned topsy-turvy; colonization happened from Asia instead of Europe, so the New World was settled from west to east, not east to west. The dominant religions are Islam and Buddhism; Christianity is relegated to a historical footnote. The great science of India is not forgotten as it is today, but comes to full flower. Dynasties that never were rise and fall. What a marvelous canvas for a novel!

Rating:
Summary: The Years of Rice and Salt, or What Could Have Been
Review: Part presumed history, part science fiction, and part mystic, Years of Rice and Salt offers a rich, yet terrifying picture of what might have been. Gifted author Robinson takes the same methodological descriptive approach to past history as he took in his Mars trilogy of future history. This time, thought, it's the Earth in the past rather than Mars in the future. Towards the end of the book, this reader kept looking for more descriptions or projections of how the U.S. and the rest turned out in the book's timeline, but of course that's like Star Trek Next Generation wanting to know what happened to Star Trek Voyager. One precludes the other.

Rating:
Summary: The Years of Rice and Salt, the Book of Eastern Exotica
Review: The main reason I like this book is its detailed exploration of non-western cultures, such as Buddhist and Islamic societies. The other main reason is its vivid depection of eastern philosophies.The way in which this book is presented is reminiscent of Piers Anthony's Geodossy series. This is done using the mechinism of reincarnation with each character having the same first letter in his/her name throughout history. It is as if each character is following a particular archtype.For example, the B-character is sopposedly the many incarnations of the mythical Monkey figure from Jorney to the West.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful, Bold Achievement
Review: A fascinating multi-life alternate history epic -- with interludes in the Bardo, the world of the dead -- this richly conceived, painstakingly researched book deserves notice and comment. A wonderful, satisfying read, full of good things, and a definite award contender. This book has real crossover appeal, as well. A nice change from the Mars saga (with its devolution into dense political science). Don't wait for the paperback...you'll want to own the hardcover!

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating alternate history
Review: This is a complex and challenging novel, covering a group of related characters through multiple lifetimes, over centuries from about 1400 to the present, in an elaborate alternate history in which the black plague almost completely wiped out the population of Europe, preventing the rise of European culture and religion to world dominance. Definitely not a lite read; it takes effort to follow Robinson's alternate history, accompanied by alternate geography and chronology. But readers who have a taste for serious and thoughtful SF will be rewarded for their efforts.

Some highlights from the alternate history: (Contains some spoilers for early sections) about 1400, a mutated and incredibly potent version of the black plague wipes out most of Europe, eliminating it as a political or military force. Christianity is eliminated as a civilization, and the later events are dominated by Chense and Islamic culture. Muslims, some of them refugees from mainstream Islam, gradually repopulate Europe. Meanwhile, a Ming expedition, outfitted to invade Japan, gets caught in a strong Eastern current, misses Japan entirely, and winds up in San Francisco Bay. The expedition is still very much a success, especially when it travels South and discovers the rich mines of Peru. A later Chinese fleet succeeds in conquering Japan.

A group of reformist Muslims, chased by more traditional sects, sails west from Normandy and discovers Manhattan. The Iriquois federation, becoming aware of the presence of alien cultures on both the West and East coasts, forms the North American tribes into a great union, capable of keeping the outsiders largely restricted to the coasts and holding the interior of the continent.

There is more, covering alternate histories of the Industrial Revolution, WWI, and the dicovery of fission, up to an age that look like roughly the present, with increasing global cooperation and, presumably, an alternate Francis Fukuyama to announce the End of Alternate History.

At key events in this timeline, we meet repeatedly the same group of people, recognized by keeping the same initials. The key figures are:

B - A spiritual seeker, frequently a Buddhist clergyman.
I - A scientist or intellectual, fascinated with acquiring knowledge.
K - The activist of the group, at first seeking revenge, at other times power, and ultimately social transformation.

All of these are followed through various lives and deaths, meeting up repeatedly in the Bardo, the between life area of judgment from Tibetan Buddhism. There are some minor accompanying characters, such as S, which is generally a feckless or irresponsible person, often of considerable authority, but these are the main ones.

Robinson has created numerous striking characters from these broad templates: a soldier in Tamerlane's army who ultimately becomes a slave in China, a protective tiger, a servant boy caught in the floods of a Chinese California, a young woman growing up in post-war Islamic France, and many more. It's really a virtuoso trick to fit 600 years of alternate history into one book while still having real characters to live the history, something Robinson has accomplished superbly.

Rating:
Summary: Take notes as you read ...
Review: Problems: Loooong novel, and so sweeping that it is very hard to remember the characters and their relationships as you leap along in time. At times the interminable detailed personal discussions between characters become wearying, and I skimmed paragraphs or even pages. And last, it was not what I expected: more interpersonal stuff than historical stuff.
Virtues: Really neat characters, including an African slave-eunuch, feminist Islamic women, a Japanese explorer who joins a native [North-American] society, a protective tiger. Wonderful ideas, including the encounters in the bardo, the place of waiting and judgement between lives. I loved the ending!
A good book, but not in a hurry.