Banner of Souls

Rating:
Summary: Not for everyone
Review: A very strange story that will not appeal to just anyone. There's a sense of detachment from the characters because they are so far removed from humanity. It is far future and humans have augmented themselves in various ways that make them seem less human, such as the kappa (taken from Japanese myth). In most of known space there is only one gender: female. Children are grown like plants and, I assume, raised by communities. So there is no mother/father/family dynamic. Everything seems detached to me; I had a hard time caring for the characters.

I did like the structure of the book, though. How it switches back and forth in short chapters from the hunter to the hunted. And it is nicely written. Liz Williams is definitely a writer to watch!

Rating:
Summary: powerful but bleak futuristic sci fi
Review: In the far distant future, the surface of Earth is almost totally destroyed with most of the remaining survivors living under the sea. Mars is thriving, but few men live there and these are considered freaks. Women rule with an iron hand. Most people on Mars believe they are the mother planet and earth is the colony.

Martian warrior Dreams-of- War is sent to earth to guard a special child Lunae, who has the ability to shift through time. Yskaterina of Nightworld on the edge of the galaxy is sent to kill the child. The Kami scientists, who were able to separate mind from body, want human hosts so that they can explore the physical realm again. Lunae tries to stop them while Dreams-of War and Yskaterina fight to the death over the only person who can save humanity in the war that might be coming.

In BANNER OF SOULS earth is a bleak place with no hope for much of a future while Mars feels optimistic about is outlook. There are various subplots that add complexity to the tale and at times make it difficult to follow, but each one enhances the prime theme as they seamlessly merge into the story line. The characters are incredible as they are believable products of their environment coming from varying societies so that though the reader may not understand motivations, we can comprehend that consistency of each key player as decisions are made from a respective societal values' set. Futuristic sci fi fans will appreciate this powerful novel.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: how many pages left?
Review: Lots of original ideas, pretty iffy execution.

Some emphasize the feminist credentials of the book, but why? Just because there are no men left on Earth/Mars? If so, the gender aspect just doesn't seem very pronounced or relevant. Could have been all male characters and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. I certainly expected a more radically different worldview there.

But mostly, after a while I didn't really care about what happened to the protagonists. I just couldn't buy into anybody's point of view or stay interested in the plot. Or, for that matter, really understand what the plot was about.

Your mileage may very well vary however. There is so much cookie cutter sci-fi out there that the writer deserves praise for breaking out of the usual subject matters.

Rating:
Summary: Anima Rising
Review: The superb Liz Williams has another winner with her dreamy, impressionistic, but exciting "Banner of Souls." Set in a far future where Earth is mostly water and Mars is where the action is (the worlds are connected by a never fully explained piece of tech called "the Chain"), the tale revolves around Lunae, a young girl who can shift time; the Martian warrior "Dreams of War" (equipped with semi-sentient armor), who is sent to Earth as her protector; and, from "Nightshade," at the edge of the Solar System, comes Yskatarina Iye (equipped with a vast supply of prosthetic limbs along with her arachnid-like animus--ironically, pretty much all that's left of the male half of the human species). She is sent to Earth to remove Lunae from the scene.

The baroque characters are amazingly well drawn (even the minor ones) as they bash about, none quite knowing exactly what's going on (with the possible exception of Yskatarina), among creatures real and not real, alive and dead, human and mechanical.

In a previous book the author has acknowledged the influence of Jack Vance, and that influence certainly appears in this tale, too, with its vivid portrayals of strange worlds, strange creatures, and dry dialog. But this isn't a tribute by any means. It's a fine piece of work in its own right.

There's a banner on the front cover in which readers are advised that Liz Williams is "an author to watch." Just so. More important, she is an author to read. And read again.