Mother of Demons

Rating:
Summary: A book that has something new every time I read it . . . .
Review: _Mother_of_Demons_ is an excellent book that I would recommend to anyone who likes military science fiction, history, systems theory or zen koans. The basic plot line is human colonists crash-land on a planet that is already inhabited by multiple intelligent races, all of which are based on a mollusc physiology.

As an escapist fantasy, it's not that good - there are enough comments relating to the real world and recent history that the reader can't completely immerse themselves. It is also a bit preachy and I would have liked Indira Toledo to stop with the hand-wringing many pages sooner than she did.

But as a depiction of the main characters (human and gukuy), their hopes and fears and how actions today affect events later on, the book is EXCELLENT. For someone who is very intellectual and trained in analyzing why things went wrong and the results of others' inappropriate or unquestioned actions, the commitment to a decision can be very difficult. That is historian Indira Toledo's dilemma, and I see it a lot in engineers (which is who I work with and my vocation) as well. But sometimes events march on regardless and a decision MUST be made, a course of action MUST be chosen. Flint's portrayal of the difficulty of that choice (for many of the characters facing different choices) and the dilemmas facing different TYPES of individuals (warriors, sages, leaders, soldiers) is wonderful.

Another hidden theme in the book is that day-to-day choices really do matter. A chance comment or a lesson delivered from one person, to whom it may be a "been here, done this, got the T-shirt" moment, can be a life-changing event to the person on the receiving end, maybe for good OR ill. And the Way deserves a whole page all to itself.

What I am really trying to convey though is that as a way to turn off your brain and retreat to another world, this book is not that great. BUT, as a story that is both told well and gives the reader a lot to think about even after the book is finished, it is superb. I prefer the latter to the former, and so I give this book five stars.