The portrayal of the aliens in this book was delightful, from their
nervous tentacle sucking to their frustrating lack of empathy for their
Sacred One. Most chapters featuring the Drapsk left me with some
chuckles, if not outright laughs. Their reaction to any use of the
M’hir, with antennae suddenly pointing in the direction of the user, was
downright hilarious. It was such an alien, though logical, way of
thought. They felt completely real, and made fierce allies. The Retians
also got a better portrayal this book compared with the previous one,
with their mud-filled streets and the mud-strewn eggs. Unfortunately, I
can’t say the same for Clan politics. The beginning, where Sira and then
Barac are hiding out left me cold and barely interested, and while the
ending was satisfyingly energetic, it kept me wishing to go back to the
alien storylines. At least Sira is growing on me; where I wasn’t fond of
her in the last book, and started with the same feeling here, her
actions when she finally accepted her role, and afterward, give me
confidence that she might be an enjoyable character in the next book.
It’s unfortunate that her telepathic powers could be so easily
influenced, depending on whether the author needed her to be able to
escape or not. I also like the chapter structure better than I did last
book, every second one from the first person point of view, the next an
external narration. Continuing from the previous book, it’s an
interesting choice, and was effective, though at times confusing since
it featured many different characters who had little to connect them.
Spoiler review:
The author tries to advance the Clan politics using the story of an
alien species’ search for its connection to the magical realm. She is
not entirely successful at the Clan part, but is immensely successful at
the aliens. I said this again and again during my reviews of
Reap the
Wild Wind, Riders of the Storm and
Rift in the Sky –this author had made
some very satisfying aliens. They look alien, they feel alien and they
behave alien. Without eyes, just antennae, the Drapsk are hilarious in
that they do everything they can to accommodate Sira, while completely
denying her freedom, and sucking in their tentacles in embarrassment for
doing so. They know they are going against her wishes, but must do it to
accomplish their goals, and pretend it’s in her best interest as well.
Probably a quarter of the book is taken up by Sira’s attempt to get
away from the Drapsk after they heal her. The author has created a
M’hir-sensitive alien race that has the technology to sever her
connection to the M’hir. I wonder if that’s how their planet got severed
from the mystical realm. I absolutely loved the way they behaved like
dogs looking from person to person as if for a treat any time they were
in the presence of the Clan while communicating or traveling through the
M’hir. They would stop what they were doing, and focus their antennae on
the person involved, sometimes focusing from one to the other. Near the
end, when Sira sends them all through the M’hir to meet the council, she
notes that it was like they were in heaven!
The beginning of the
book left me cold, similar to almost the entire
previous book when it
dealt with her point of view. Sira and Morgan are hiding out on the
planet Poculus, away from the Clan and away from each other, for the
most part, to avoid her Choice until she’s built up his shields enough.
In the previous book I never got a good sense at how many human
telepaths there were, or even why there were human telepaths. The author
doesn’t do a great job at describing how they are different from the
Clan in that way. They have mental shields that can be tested, and
Morgan can sense the M’hir (but maybe only thanks to Sira’s transfer of
power). The Clan just seems to be a more powerful version of a human
telepath.
Of course, Sira and the Clan are physiologically alien
compared with humans, though there are probably a lot of physical
similarities. Presumably they can have sex and maybe even reproduce. In
the end, Morgan survives Sira’s power of choice, something that matures
her body in a different way compared with humans, and which comes from
her Ohm’ray ancestors (who I still find to be way cooler than any of the
Clan).
Disturbed by the appearance of her cousin Barac and her
sister Rael, Sira and Morgan meet up in a native village on Poculus,
where Morgan gets into a stupid drunken fight and Sira is kidnapped, her
reproductive organs removed, sewn up again, and left for dead. Morgan
finds her, and she transfers her rage into him, such that he goes on a
wild hunt for those responsible. I think the story would have been
better if he’d gone of his own accord. It didn’t add much to Morgan’s
search that he had Sira’s rage. It threatened to overwhelm him at times,
but didn’t seem any worse than any other anger could have been, had it
remained his own.
Sira, for her part, travels through the M’hir
in a desperate attempt to get away from any Clan, to the beings who
wanted her to help them in their Contest –the Drapsk. They heal her and
bow to her every wish, except when she tries to leave her room, or
escape them and go searching for Morgan. It seems that a contract, to
them, is something they won’t let her break at any cost. There is Maka,
Maikiri, and of course the less-influencable Copulup (with a wonderful
name!).
While the Drapsk were adorable (I still can’t get over
their tentacle sucking when they know they’re being naughty), Sira was
not. It was only after she finally decided to help them willingly that
she became more than merely tolerable. As one of three contestants, she
observes a human magician, who does nothing more than sleight of hand,
and an alien being who is dying because it was removed form its own
kind. Sira recognises the latter for what it is, and uses the M’hir to
transport it back to its homeworld, which is also connected with the
M’hir –something she is astounded to learn.
And because she wins
the contest with this display of power, she is asked to try and
reconnect the Drapsk world to the M’hir, their Sacred Way. She succeeds
after a couple of tries, which were almost anti-climactic, it was so
easy for her. Yes, she nearly gets trapped there, but I didn’t feel the
urgency I think it was supposed to convey. The Drapsk also inform Sira
about beings that live inside the M’hir, which she refuses to believe
until the beings try to keep her there, which would mean death for her
body.
The interlude chapters detail several stories, which limits
the amount of storytelling. We get some politicking by unknown parties
who are doing experiments with Sira’s organs, her sisters looking into a
plot to steal human telepaths to try and reproduce Sira’s Choosing,
Barac searching for Sira and getting caught by Bowman, teaming up with
Hiudo, and getting brought to the experiment site. Of course, we get to
watch Morgan search for Sira’s organs.
After the wonderful days
on Drapskii, we move on to Ret-7, a place that was barely touched on in
the last book, and a planet that remained mysterious even after Morgan
was captured and then rescued by Sira. It was described as being muddy,
but I had no idea what that meant until this book. Morgan has to
navigate a mud highway, and Sira has to get around on the muddy,
orgy-filled Retian streets, filled with fertilized Retian eggs floating
down the muddy streets to the ocean. Another super-interesting alien
species and planet. I loved the semi-sentient fungus that takes an
interest in Sira when she’s incapacitated.
While Sira is the
most powerful of the Clan, her power is stymied all throughout, which is
the only way the story could be properly told. Between the Drapsk
devices and her near-continuous injuries, she’s barely able to
communicate mentally or move through the M’hir. After Morgan finds the
laboratory, and Barac is transported by the power of choice to the same
laboratory, Sira ends up there, too, having tracked Morgan’s activities
and picked up the Drapsk in her adopted clan and Huido, as well as
Bowman, who has been investigating the missing telepaths.
After
clashing with a member of the council, Sira destroys all of her stolen
organs, and Bowman closes down the laboratory. But the council member
escapes, and Sira is almost killed. She’s rescued by friendly Scats, one
of the villain species from the last book. As she’s healing, she finally
Joins with Morgan, their presences combining through the M’hir.
Eventually, everyone converges at the Council, which Sira convenes along
with calling every Clan member from everywhere, so all of the Mhiray are
present when she challenges her father and wins, taking over leadership
of the Council, bringing the Clan into the Trade Pact. Sira vows to make
changes, and as she’s been warring with her old self throughout the
book, I have no doubt things will.
The battle of minds was quite
exciting, which was good, because the entire politics around it was a
lot less interesting. It continues to remind me of the end of
Rift in
the Sky, which was such a departure from what had come before. This is
more consistent, thankfully, but still holds less interest for me than
the alien races and planets.
Still, I wonder where they go from
here, since the Joining has taken place, and Sira is head of the
Council. We’ll see.
