God's War (Bel Dame Apocrypha, #1)

May 08, 2012 Ceridwen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: grrrrl-power, lgbt, monarchy, reviewed, sci-fi, sexy-nihilists, space-the-final-frontier, the-future-is-now, aliens, netgalley

Cross-posted on Readerling

I have so deleted so many openings of this review. Objectively, if there is such a thing, this is probably a three-star outing - there's an ugly, badly handled time transition about a quarter of the way through the book, and the central mystery is maybe less mysterious and more perfunctory than it could be - but whoo boy, what a world. And more importantly, what a girl. Nyxnessa is a failed bel dame, which on this dusty, war torn planet is something like a Bene Gesserit...more Cross-posted on Readerling

I have so deleted so many openings of this review. Objectively, if there is such a thing, this is probably a three-star outing - there's an ugly, badly handled time transition about a quarter of the way through the book, and the central mystery is maybe less mysterious and more perfunctory than it could be - but whoo boy, what a world. And more importantly, what a girl. Nyxnessa is a failed bel dame, which on this dusty, war torn planet is something like a Bene Gesserit crossed with Han Solo, but more badass than the sum of her parts, and that is saying something. She burns with her whiskey-fueled near-honor, getting by with something more terrible than will. And will is a pretty terrible thing in my book. This is a sticky, bloody little smash-and-grab that rang my bells in just the right ways.

So, can we talk world-building for a minute? I usually make the ward against evil when world-building is invoked, because the term can be code for infodumps up the ass and a coy, heraldic sense of history. Lo! You remember, Bob, how this rock, which is called Tdfkdhkasjja in the old tongue, was the site for the Blahblahblah of K'thizzle. But, when you get down to it, genre exercises that take place on other planets have to let you know the parameters of their cultures, have to set them up and knock them down, and this does so, with feeling. The smart way to go is to drop the reader in the middle of confusing terms and brutal realities, and then assume your readers have access to wikis that will explain what a bakkie is, and if they don't, then for sure they can figure it out. Go, smart readers, go. The language here is stylistic genre, not afraid to cuss or drop a bunch of undefined terms on you, letting you catch up. The planet in question has been colonized by post-Muslim societies - I say post-Muslim because there's a lot of ornament from other religions - like the prayer wheels I associate most strongly with Tibetan Buddhism.

The world itself is Dune-ish, unsuited to humans to begin with, but then even more so because of the holy war that's been raging for who knows how long. Nyx is the brutal daughter of this environment, a scriptured place where the men have been killed for so long, and so thoroughly that these patrifocal cultures have had to come to terms with almost entirely female populations - at least in the two cultures that are at the center of the conflict. All of the central players in this story are on the outs with their cultures in one way or another: too gay, not enough gay, orthodox, believers, non-believers, alien, and so on.

In another mood, this might have felt like the usual suspects school of character development, a Venn diagram of needs and aversions, one overlapping the other - too schematic. I guess even in the right mood it is, because I'm saying this out loud and believe it, but I didn't really care as the story was unfolding. Nyx is such a towering badass, such a bitch, that I was wide eyed watching her cut a swath in the most profane, bloody and personal of ways. She's so shuddering and intimate in her brutality - there was this moment when she freaks, and calls her - for lack of a better word - love interest, and orders him to read to her - she's functionally illiterate - and it twisted my insides. If she's scared and doubting, and she's the scariest, undoubtingest thing ever, then I have cause to fear. Whoo boy.

Did I say love interest? That is not what I meant. She's certainly got a strange watchfulness with her relationship with Rhys, an orthodox man who out-classes her in most ways, his straight, dark-skinned, controlled body and mind in contrast with her sloppy, heterodox brutality. It's godamn sexy to watch them hate each other, need each other, read to each other over their flaws and weaknesses, strengths and wills. As a smash-and-grab, this plot moves over acres of land, into palaces and out into the desert, through disparate cultures, and the way their bodies are read and changed, their sexualities coded and re-coded - hot damn, this is some interesting stuff. This is a world full of people who tape up their knuckles and brawl, and the brawling is like sex and death, and as important as both.

This claims to be the first in a series, and even though the ending is downbeat and uncompleted - almost frustrating as it shakes the central characters loose like water off a shaking dog's back - I see how you are setting it up for the next - I find it almost impossible to imagine coming back to this place, and I mean that in the best way. I don't want completeness from a character like Nyx. I don't want her to sort it out and find peace. I want to keep imagining her cutting this bright, bloody path across the world, drunk and high, tumbling with boxer girls, pining. She's la belle dame sans merci and amen to that.

(I received an ARC from NetGalley.com)
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Sep 26, 2011 Mihir rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Full review originally at Fantasy Book Critic

ANALYSIS: I was interested in Kameron Hurley’s book since I had heard about it late in 2009, I had originally included it in my 2010 anticipated list, however due to certain publishing dilemmas this book was given the pink slip by its original publisher and then was picked by Night Shade books. This delayed the book’s publication by nearly a year and so when I contacted Ms. Hurley for a review copy, she gladly obliged & I dove in wondering how i...more
Full review originally at Fantasy Book Critic

ANALYSIS: I was interested in Kameron Hurley’s book since I had heard about it late in 2009, I had originally included it in my 2010 anticipated list, however due to certain publishing dilemmas this book was given the pink slip by its original publisher and then was picked by Night Shade books. This delayed the book’s publication by nearly a year and so when I contacted Ms. Hurley for a review copy, she gladly obliged & I dove in wondering how it would stack up against my anticipation.

God’s War is divided into two parts, of which the first opens with Nyxnissa entering Faleen after selling her organ and looking for a new job of sorts. She looks up an old acquaintance [if acquaintance is indeed the word] however ends up being introduced to her old comrades who have an ulterior motive in meeting her. The first part thus ends soon after introducing Nyxnissa and Rhys and gives the reader a small but mysterious glimpse of the world of Umayma.

The second part opens a few years later showing Nyx with her rag tag band operating as a mercenary unit and trying to survive in a rather harsh world. They get an assignment of sorts which has every other mercenary, both groups and loners hustling to get more information about the bounty and the target. Something seems amiss to Nyx as the summons come from the Queen of Nasheen. Upon attending the summons, she learns that a visitor from the planet of New Kinaan is missing and if that person is not found or if she falls in to the enemy hands, the war will end very badly for Nasheen. Thus begins Nyx’s odyssey which will see her visit old and new places, meet older enemies and find out what really makes her tick.

Kameron Hurley’s book went slightly against my expectations in the sense that it is a far grittier book than I thought it would be; but the ace in the hole is her world building. The world is revealed bit by bit as the pages rush along and the reader realizes that as good as the story is, the world in itself a far more interesting place to ponder about. There are snippets revealed here and there which help the reader in understanding the history and background of the world. In this regards I found the author’s writing to be a bit similar to that of R. Scott Bakker as the history of the world is revealed slowly and the reader will have to piece things together to form the larger picture. However with an advantage that it’s less dense than Bakker’s books. This is a plus (for me) as while I like Bakker’s world-building and his story, sometimes it feels like a chore to read or re-read his books.

Another plus point is that Kameron brings a hardboiled approach to her protagonist and gives the reader further pondering points to this complex tale. The prose is good and will pull the reader in while raising issues about gender, war, faith & the validity of religion. The plot is a bit convoluted at the start but by the end, is wrapped up nicely, the flow of the story is also linear and enough mystery is presented to engage the reader both on the character and overall plot level. The last plus point is that author has rather cleverly given pointers about the world’s history by employing certain specific words and also utilizing them in the proper context.

Now there are a few kinks in this debut novel as well, namely the first part acts a 50 page prologue and can be a bit confusing with all the new terms which are used by the characters, this can be a bit disorienting to the reader however once the second part begins and the actual plot kicks in, that’s where the book really picks up speed. Some readers might be a bit put off by the hard protagonist, however Hurley shows off Nyx as a person with many sides to her and by the end of the tale, the reader will surely sympathize for her if not empathize with her. A slight drawback to this tale could be that while the reader gets a detailed view into Nyx, the same cannot be said of the other POV characters (besides Rhys to a certain extent).

CONCLUSION: Over all I really enjoyed this debut novel which was a fun mish mash of SF and hard boiled noir set on a distant world wherein even with a singular religion, society has disintegrated and men[in this case women as well] fight against each other for causes which they believe to be true. Kameron Hurley paints a rather bleak picture of the flaws of mankind which sees them fighting a war and thus repeating history as we are doomed to do.(less)

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Dec 15, 2011 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, specfic, ladywritten

I picked this up after reading the first few sentences online:

"Nyx sold her womb somewhere between Punjai and Faleen, on the edge of the desert.

Drunk, but no longer bleeding, she pushed into a smoky cantina just after dark and ordered a pinch of morphine and a whiskey chaser. She bet all of her money on a boxer named Jaks, and lost it two rounds later when Jacks hit the floor like an antique harem girl."

That is a kick-ass entry to a story, if you ask me. Hang on, this is a long review.

This is......more I picked this up after reading the first few sentences online:

"Nyx sold her womb somewhere between Punjai and Faleen, on the edge of the desert.

Drunk, but no longer bleeding, she pushed into a smoky cantina just after dark and ordered a pinch of morphine and a whiskey chaser. She bet all of her money on a boxer named Jaks, and lost it two rounds later when Jacks hit the floor like an antique harem girl."

That is a kick-ass entry to a story, if you ask me. Hang on, this is a long review.

This is...science fiction adventure noir, maybe? It's a world of (mostly) post-apocalyptic Muslims of varying degrees of recognizability, in which most technology is driven by insects. Yes. Also, the two major nations of the planet have been at war forever, and partly as a result of this women have come to dominate society. Men get drafted as boys and sent to the front--and women volunteer to fight, too. But on the home front, at least in the country where we spend the most time, women are soldiers and politicians and businesspeople and pretty much everything else. They're also brutal to each other--the main pastime seems to be boxing, and just about every woman we meet has some violent tendencies or history. This isn't a pacifist Hertopia kind of world.

That's one of the things I loved about this book--its bold creation of a world where women dominate, and where women are socially, physically, and in all other ways tough and capable. Setting aside the fact that this is a world where magicians use bug technology to repair amputations and mortal injuries, the women in this world are bad-ass. Or maybe they're just people. It's a sad statement that it's so unusual to read about women in roles that men would usually fill, kicking asses and getting their asses kicked--but it is unusual. And Hurley does a great job of making her women real.

I appreciated so many things about this book--that the dominant religious ideology was Muslim rather than Christian, that the main characters are almost all non-white, that our antihero Nyx isn't a stick figure, and that she doesn't stay pretty. There's a phenomenon in novels and movies that feature "strong" or "kick-ass" women (cf. Tomb Raider, Charlie's Angels, Kill Bill, Underworld, et al)--let's call it the "reasonable facsimile" phenomenon. It's when authors or directors decide they're going to capitalize on a trend provide a strong female role model--and they do so by casting a skinny white girl in a tank top, and telling her to look brooding. Usually the reasonable facsimile doesn't have a realistic or profound story arc, or much character development (if she's a secondary character she may be defined solely by a skill, like rock climbing), or much to do besides fake-fight guys who would kick her ass in real life, because she has wrists like twigs and has clearly come from the Fighting School of Pilates. Seriously, watching Michelle Rodriguez decline from her tough, meaty role in Girlfight to the dumb bullshit action stuff she does now...that's the reasonable facsimile tragedy, right there.

But anyway. I loved that this book doesn't dredge up the reasonable facsimile. Nyx, as a protagonist, is thorny and crude and rebarbative, she's physically large and strong, she carries weight both literally and figuratively. She has a full, complete character arc, a history, and (presumably) a future--since this is the first book in a trilogy. I admit I didn't follow all the political intrigue in this one, but that's me--I tend to read lightly over that stuff, and dwell more in the scenes. And it's possible that some of that explanation got a little convoluted, in an effort to propel us to the ending. I can forgive that, because the world of the book is so original and well-imagined, and because I liked the characters that live in it.

The second book, Infidel, just came out in October. A third is in the works. I have a feeling I'll be reading 'em.(less)

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Oct 24, 2011 ambyr rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: acquiredㅡlibrary, authorㅡfemale, characterㅡlgbt, genreㅡdystopia, genreㅡscience-fiction, protagonistㅡmultiple-genders, westeros-superlative-sci-fi

Orson Scott Card talks a lot in his How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy about exposition, and about how science fiction and fantasy readers react to it with different expectations than non-genre readers. Roughly summarized, his point is that if you open a story with, "She mounted her graazchak," an experienced genre reader will think, "Huh. Okay, there's a creature called a graazchak and it can be ridden. I'll keep that in mind, and keep an eye out for more information about what it looks l...more Orson Scott Card talks a lot in his How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy about exposition, and about how science fiction and fantasy readers react to it with different expectations than non-genre readers. Roughly summarized, his point is that if you open a story with, "She mounted her graazchak," an experienced genre reader will think, "Huh. Okay, there's a creature called a graazchak and it can be ridden. I'll keep that in mind, and keep an eye out for more information about what it looks like and what it does." Someone who mostly reads literary fiction, on the other hand, is likely to react, "A graazchak? What the hell is a graazchak? Does the author expect me to know?" and grind to a halt.

I am definitely an experienced genre reader, and I actively seek out that sense of "I don't know what's going on, but I'm sure I'll piece it together given time." God's War provides it, over and over again, from its politics to its bug-based tech to its characters' backstories.

In places, though, the exposition is a little too rough even for me. Sometimes it's small things, like the interchangeable use of "sister" for both Nyx's sister-by-birth and the other bel dames in the opening chapter. If they'd consistently been, oh, I don't know, "gene sisters" and "blood sisters," I would have noted the terms, assumed they'd be defined later, and forged onward. Instead, I found myself flipping backward, trying to work out whether there were two different categories at all. Other times it's bigger things, like the timeskip after the opening chapters, which left me feeling lost and unanchored in time; lacking any clearly defined markers, I couldn't see how Nyx and Rhys's timelines were supposed to align.

But I figured it out eventually, and once the story got going, the exposition got smoother. (Though there were a few places where it erred in the other direction with info dumps--Taite's backstory comes to mind here.) That let me spend more time admiring the uniqueness of the world and, more than anything, the characters. And I fell in love. Nyx, Rhys, Taite, Khos, Inaya--they are all horribly broken and horribly flawed, and I can't look away. I love that their flaws are not sexy flaws--no "too quick to anger in the face of injustice" or "a dark and brooding loner" here--and that the narrative never flinches from them, from Nyx's lack of intelligence (too many blows to the head from boxing?) and Rhys's cowardice and everything else.

I love this for not being the story of how they all set aside their differences and work together, but instead how their differences tear them apart and keep tearing. I love this for telling the story of star-crossed lovers--Nyx and Rhys--kept apart not by external forces but by their own internal beliefs, which they have no interest in moving beyond. I love this for being different, for being new, for never taking me where I expected.

Also the bugs are pretty nifty, and I say this as someone who shrieks and screams for back-up when she sees a spider on the kitchen floor.(less)

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Jun 07, 2012 Wealhtheow rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of Richard Morgan--Nyx is like a lesbian Islamic version of Takahashi Kovacs

Shelves: queer-characters, sci-fi, fantasy, pocmaincharacters

On a hardscrabble alien world populated with what humanity becomes in the far future, a long holy war rages. Both sides have drafted all their men for so many generations that the societies left behind have become nearly matriarchal, populated by females, boys, and the very old or damaged men who survived their war service. Their planet is nealry deadly for humanity, and over the years its colonists have made all sorts of adjustments. Now they scrape themselves regularly for cancers the way mode...more On a hardscrabble alien world populated with what humanity becomes in the far future, a long holy war rages. Both sides have drafted all their men for so many generations that the societies left behind have become nearly matriarchal, populated by females, boys, and the very old or damaged men who survived their war service. Their planet is nealry deadly for humanity, and over the years its colonists have made all sorts of adjustments. Now they scrape themselves regularly for cancers the way modern people go in for dental cleanings, and reattach body parts as a matter of course.

In this strange and brutal place we are introduced to Nyx, a woman who has lost her faith on the battlefield but can't let go of her own version of honor. On the very first page, Nyx sells her womb for cash, then loses it all gambling on a pretty boxer. The upside is, she gets to bed the boxer. (view spoiler) After falling out with her bounty hunting sisters, Nyx gets herself a new crew: a mediocre magician, a refugee shifter, an ex-convict, and a half-breed comm tech. None of them are particularly good or well-respected, but they're bound together by Nyx's unstoppable will. Times are hard, and although they're stacking bodies like firewood in the freezer, the bounty hunts never pay quite enough. Then they get a new hunt: to find an alien gene scientist who's lost somewhere in enemy territory. The stakes have never been higher, because whoever has the alien will probably win the war.

Although the plot is fast-paced, action-heavy and twisty, it's really secondary to seeing inside the characters' heads, most particularly Nyx and her bug-magician, Rhys. Nyx drinks whiskey like water, has sex with anyone she pleases, and gave up on god (or felt given up) years ago. Rhys is a refugee from the country she nearly died fighting, and is so pious he can hardly bear to pray in the presence of women. They're drawn to each other without knowing why or how, but refuse to acknowledge how much they need each other, not even to themselves. The unresolved tension between them didn't really work for me: neither of them respects or seems sexually attracted to the other, and they don't talk much, so we the reader are just told repeatedly that they feel things for each other, and that Rhys is known as her shadow. But as individual characters, they're each very well-drawn, complicated people.

The 'verse Hurley has created here is novel, populated by pitiless, practical people. It's not a pleasant read, really, but it's certainly an interesting one. (less)

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Jul 16, 2012 Lilli Perspice rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction, its-a-freaky-world, series-worth-continuing, reviewed, they-live-on-my-kindle

It was with equal parts terror and delight that I read God’s War.

Let’s face it. There is a certain amount of safety in most fantasy books. We all know the guy with silvery locks, pointy hat and flowing robes is the mentor wizard; the leather-wearing bitchy girl bristling with weapons is the urban fantasy heroine; the scarred up guy bathed in blood monologuing his ass off is the villain. There will be a quest that takes us through spooky forests and to quaint little villages and ancient castles,...more

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Aug 11, 2011 Tominda Adkins rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle

I admit it: science fiction, in most cases, makes me feel dumb. I can't keep up with the politics. I don't follow the gadgets and the power sources. But I did like this book, regardless of feeling like I need to read it twice more to understand the war between Chenja and Nasheen, the magician's powers, the breeding, the gene-pirating, whose side is one whose--all of it, mostly. Likable yet prickly characters, some badass femmes, and an incredible Muslim-themed planet whose main power source rest...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Lightreads rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

Bounty hunter and occasional gene pirate takes a job that puts her squarely in the middle of the centuries-long internecine religious war.

Interesting as hell, but also frustrating and unsatisfying. It would be too obvious to call this gritty, so I'll go the extra mile and explain that I kept asking questions of the world building like okay, seriously, you've been massacring your populations for a hundred years at the front, and yet both societies are still built around sending bodies out to figh...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Hassaan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wow, so this book really blew me away, since truth be told I wasn't expecting it to be this good (pre-reading bias is a terrible, terrible thing. This is proof of it.) So, a little history lesson regarding my interactions with this book (feel free to skip forward if you don't enjoy history lessons, especially when they don't deal with any real history whatsoever):

start.HistoryLesson/
Back in 2011 (to the best of my knowledge), Night Shade Books were doing a free(!) giveaway of God's War (to promo...more Wow, so this book really blew me away, since truth be told I wasn't expecting it to be this good (pre-reading bias is a terrible, terrible thing. This is proof of it.) So, a little history lesson regarding my interactions with this book (feel free to skip forward if you don't enjoy history lessons, especially when they don't deal with any real history whatsoever):

start.HistoryLesson/
Back in 2011 (to the best of my knowledge), Night Shade Books were doing a free(!) giveaway of God's War (to promote the sequel, Infidel, I believe). *click* Done and done, thank you very much Night Shade Books! Fast forwarding to November 2012: "Hey we're promoting Kameron Hurley's trilogy. Come one come all free e-books to stoke your lust!" and I discovered I'd never read God's War. Shame, extreme contrition when I realized I'd judged the book unfavorably back then (for reasons I can't recall now), without even giving it a chance of defending itself; hence the book languished in some dark, dank corner on my computer. December 2012: HOLY *bleep* I'VE STILL NOT READ IT! Popped the book onto my phone and off I go!
/end.HistoryLesson

On with the book, then. Whew, it doesn't hold back on the punches, right from the very first sentence. I was drawn instantly into the bleakness of the world, the angry misery of Nyx and her immense desire to not take anything lying down. The dialogue was crisp, brutal, suitably dark (to match the setting). I particularly enjoyed the religious setup of the various societies,(view spoiler) And all this in the first quarter of the book! Around that point, I decided to stop reading, go out into the real world and get my hands on a physical copy of the book, this was far too interesting to continue reading on small, small print.
Do you hear that? It's the sound of stunned silence, similar to the sound I made on finding out that the two leading SFF book stores in my country weren't stocking it (that's out of a grand total of three, and that is one sob story I don't want to revisit) (none of the three is primarily a SFF book store) (STOP IT). So, couldn't find the book, the shop people weren't interested in getting it for me from abroad, online services were refusing service (Ship a book to Pakistan? *gasp* What an infamous suggestion! Surely you jest, sir! and so forth). *sigh* Back to the old phone. Good thing the book kept getting better.
The later half of the book was a terse affair, with a grim subject matter, gloriously violent fighting and an interesting glimpse into possible directions the series could take into the future. (Yes, I realize I'm being generic to the point of being obtuse but I don't want to shed much light on the various factions and how their beliefs shape their end goals. It's far more satisfying to read it first hand in the book than to see my stumble about trying to do it justice.)

So, summary: Gorgeously realized, aggressively bleak world. Dark, twisted characters, who don't waste precious words while talking. Violent, violent violence (I wanted to use the word tasty, but I fear the mind doctors. Who should focus more on Ms. Hurley whose mind spun out that violence in the first place.). Crisp writing rounds off the whole package. Which brings me onto Infidel... Time to stalk the shop owners till they agree to stock the books, because otherwise I'll soon know where all their loved ones reside...
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Dec 28, 2012 Brandon Wu rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle, sff

This novel boasts one of the most inventive settings I've ever had the pleasure of reading - a far-future world in which the countries we encounter are founded on vaguely Islamic principles, interpreted in very different ways, and whose technology appears to be based on pheromonal control of insects (some have semi-jokingly called this "bug-punk"). In addition to weaving a fascinating world, Hurley also has an unconventional approach to all sorts of interesting themes, not least of which is her...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Chade66 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, read-2012, science-fiction

Well, I have struggled about what to say about this book. I read the first two in the series, one right after the other and I still have mixed feelings about Nyx and the crew.

First off, if you have issues with bugs, this might not be the book for you. If you have issues with the main characters being maimed and killed, this is not the book for you.

My main problem with the stories is that Nyx doesn't ever seem to learn anything. In the first book she is constantly being captured, tortured and mai...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Veronica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library, sf, favorites

On a planet with two suns, two nations have been at war with each other for almost as long as each has existed. Centuries of war have affected each country differently, though both continually loose generations of men to the endless war. In Nasheen, women rule; The Queen's word is God's word, and her laws are carried out by highly skilled female assassins known as bel dames. In Chenja, women are the veiled property of men who are to be cared for by fathers, brothers, or husbands. Each country ha...more On a planet with two suns, two nations have been at war with each other for almost as long as each has existed. Centuries of war have affected each country differently, though both continually loose generations of men to the endless war. In Nasheen, women rule; The Queen's word is God's word, and her laws are carried out by highly skilled female assassins known as bel dames. In Chenja, women are the veiled property of men who are to be cared for by fathers, brothers, or husbands. Each country has specialized breeding compounds to provide a continual stream of fresh bodies for the war, but In Chenja, a woman doing anything other than staying at home and veiled is considered indecent and punishable by laws seemingly based on Sharia law. The women in Nasheen at least get to choose what they will do with their life: breed or fight. Nyxnissa so Dasheem has chosen the latter. A stint at the war front left her half dead, but she was "reconstituted" and joined the law and order of the bel dames, carrying out government-contracted bounties and assassinations. The book opens with her crossing from Chenja to Nasheen after a failed contract kills her partner, selling her womb (quite literally) for a ticket across the border. She is broken, bleeding, and completely out of options.

It's a situation Nyx will find herself in many times throughout God's War, Kameron Hurley's bloody take on religious wars and the damage they inflict on those who suffer them. The titular god bears significant resemblance to the god of the Qur'an, which in Hurley's world is called the Kitab (which means book in Arabic; kitabullah is also used in the book, and this is a direct reference to the Qur'an as kitabullah means "the book of God" in Arabic). No one remembers why the war started, but it continues to be fought over religious and ideological differences (different interpretations of the Prophet's words) between the two nations. None of this really matters to Nyx; the only thing that matters to her is bringing in her notes, assassination contracts handed out by the bel dame council and sometimes even the Queen herself. The main story takes place several years after the opening sequence and concerns a note handed out by the latter behind the back of the bel dame council. Nyx takes the note in hope of redemption, but instead opens a can of worms that could obliterate Nasheen's enemy, Chenja or even Nasheen itself.

Speaking of worms, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the tech on this world is mostly organic and relies almost entirely on the use of bugs by magicians and others who can manipulate organic matter. Cars have organic, living hoses and are powered by red beetles. Organic filters surround entire cities and act as doors, but are tailored to let only certain organic matter through. The war is largely fought with organic bursts, biowarfare that unleashes plagues, disease, and other contagens on anyone not inoculated or caught outside the filters (God help them if something explodes inside the filters). Nyx's world is harsh, and anything organic is profitable, including, and sometimes especially, genetic material or body parts (hence the womb). Also on this world are shifters, people who can shape-shift into various animals. Explaining some of this is worth while because like any good SFF writer, Hurley drops you into the middle of Nyx's world and you had better hit the ground running if you want to make heads or tails of anything. She also uses exposition only when necessary, and parsed out in as little space as possible. A line or three here and there, rarely a whole paragraph. And yet it's easy to inhabit Nyx's world; Hurley is thorough without being pedantic. Nyx is a completely likable yet frequently feckless anti-hero. In this she reminds me a bit of Mal from Joss Whedon's excellent but short-lived tv series, Firefly. She's a lot harder than Mal, but just as bumbling sometimes. She's aslo pretty damn kick-ass; just the kind of SFF heroine I like.

While I wouldn't feel comfortable saying that gender politics is a main point of Hurley's story, it plays a significant role. But the novel isn't as skewed as one might expect as she gives voice to the Chenja view of women and the world in the character of Rhys, a Chenjan magician hiding out in Nasheen. The narrative form used allows for Hurley to explore multiple perspectives, and while the novel is certainly tilted in favor of Nasheenian views of women and the world through Nyx, it was nice to be given multiple views. If Hurley can anywhere be accused of too much exposition, it's in the sections from Rhys's POV, mainly because he frequently comments on the differences between Chenjan women and Nasheenian women.

This book stayed with me long after I finished it, and I frequently found myself thinking of Nyx's various horrible situations-how she could get out of them, etc. After I finished God's War, I immediately downloaded the next in the Bel Dame Apocrypha trilogy, Infidel. I just finished God's War today, and I'm already half-way through Infidel. The third book in the trilogy will be released in early November, but I've got a NetGalley advance of it, so come back for a review of the next two books soon. This is exactly the kind of hard SF with a female heroine I look for and rarely find. I highly recommend the Kameron Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrypha. (less)

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Sep 15, 2012 Hari Khalsa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of those rare sci-fi novels that uses the genre to explore our own culture and assumptions by turning them on their head in a far-flung fictional world. The true beauty and success of the narrative is that the book does this without becoming preachy.

This is not a simple book. It explores questions of gender, religion, morality, violence, war, bio-engineering and what it means to be human. The protagonist is an anti-hero... complex, morally ambiguous, someone who I could believe as a...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Jacqie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was quite the ride. Kameron Hurley has created a kick-ass heroine who's not 21, sassy for sassy's sake, doesn't wear spike heels and tight leather pants or have a tattoo.

Nyx is not a good woman. She knows it. She's got some notion of honor, but more of a knack for ugly, dirty survival. Her team is mostly stolen from a rival bounty hunter- another female jack-of-all-trades, specializing in guns, a comm operator, a shapeshifter, and a magician.

The characters and setting in this world are amaz...more This was quite the ride. Kameron Hurley has created a kick-ass heroine who's not 21, sassy for sassy's sake, doesn't wear spike heels and tight leather pants or have a tattoo.

Nyx is not a good woman. She knows it. She's got some notion of honor, but more of a knack for ugly, dirty survival. Her team is mostly stolen from a rival bounty hunter- another female jack-of-all-trades, specializing in guns, a comm operator, a shapeshifter, and a magician.

The characters and setting in this world are amazing. There are some rough analogues to earth-type cultures,mostly Islamic or other people of the book, but each place is definitely its own. There's Chenja, where women are property and men have 20 to 30 wives. There's Nasheen, where women pretty much run the show after sending most of their boys to the eternal war front with Chenja. There's Mhoria, where men love men and women are "deserts of secrets", at least to men. There's tropical coastal neutral Tirhan, which is honestly where I'd probably go to get away from the horrors of desert biological warfare, and there's Ras Tieg, where shapeshifters and homosexuals are stoned and people worship saints.

Hurley doesn't really bother to explain the technology/magic on her world. Magicians seem to be able to manipulate insects, possibly with pheromone control. They also have incredible healing skills. Shapeshifters seem to have some sort of genetic ability, but can shift mass and retain intelligence as a dog or a raven. But you just see the utility of these abilities, not an explanation. You're steeped in the characters' point of view, and they take all this stuff for granted and don't think too much about the whys of it. No info-dumps here. The world is vivid and brutal.

Poor Nyx is drawn to Rhys, her magician. He's a devout Chenjan while she's Nasheenian. Pretty much everything she does is blasphemy to him, but he's got to stay with her to survive. Nyx knows this is pretty stupid when it comes right down to it, but the heart wants what the heart wants. This relationship is pretty much the least interesting part of the whole book for me, though, because Rhys is kind of a prudish ass. I think that in many books, Nyx would be the villain. Certainly her old mentor saw her that way, and saw it as his mission to "end" her.

I was quite interested in Nyx's practical views on government and survival. She didn't know everything, and she sometimes made the wrong decisions. She was really a bitch to Khos for the whole book, and I could never figure out why, unless his big physicality intimidated her deep down and she was compensating for it. Khos was one of the most interesting characters to me, and I wanted to know more about him. There's been a flush of "dark" books lately, and I'm getting tired of people trying to follow this trend. But this book felt like it had to be told the way it was told. There was no pretentiousness, and I didn't feel like it was trying to be grim for grim's sake. This is a frightening world and it breeds frightening people. I totally bought into it.

The pacing on this book was amazing. When I had to put it down, I really wanted to get back to it to find out what happened next. Well-written action scenes, interesting problem-solving, unique characters. I really want to find out what happens next. (less)

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Jul 20, 2012 Perry Watson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, science-fiction

Bug. MAGIC. That's what I like. On the harsh, inhospitable planet of Umayma, two nations are locked in constant, pointless holy war. All the people of this planet are Muslims, apparently, and Kameron Hurley delivers some biting criticisms of them. The people in this book are by far the foulest, cruellest, most brutal people ever imagined. I love it! Interestingly enough, though, I don't think she ever uses the word "Muslim." She always says something like, "people of the book," the "book" being...more Bug. MAGIC. That's what I like. On the harsh, inhospitable planet of Umayma, two nations are locked in constant, pointless holy war. All the people of this planet are Muslims, apparently, and Kameron Hurley delivers some biting criticisms of them. The people in this book are by far the foulest, cruellest, most brutal people ever imagined. I love it! Interestingly enough, though, I don't think she ever uses the word "Muslim." She always says something like, "people of the book," the "book" being the "Kitab," being short for "Kitabullah," meaning "The Book of God," another name for the Quran. Maybe she doesn't want to go the route of Salman Rushdie. Nobody kill her, please. Her books are awesome. There are beheadings, war atrocities, mutilations, and murders, all penned in horrifically gory detail. What makes things even more interesting is the constant presence of bug-based technology. On this planet, they use genetically engineered insects for all manner of things. Weapons (of course), communication devices, surgical tools...anybody want a roach-powered truck? Yeah, me neither. Further, the men and women responsible for all these marvels are the "magicians," who can control these insects to do their bidding by exuding pheremones or something like that. There are also "shifters," who can transform into a single animal form, like a dog, or a bird.

Now, there is a pretty strong theme of what some might call "subversive feminism," but I found it not so. The country in which most of the action takes place, Nasheen, is a matriarchal society ruled by a queen wherein males are usually little more than dust for mill, all sent off to die hideous, pointless deaths in the war. One character describes it as "a genocide of a entire gender." Somebody might imagine the "evil feminist" stereotype creating such a scenario with glee, but Kameron Hurley takes a more serious, logical approach. She fully acknowledges that a society dominated by women can be vastly WORSE than our own more male-dominated society. I have to agree.

As for the plot, it concerns a mercenary and bounty hunter Nyxnissa so Dasheen and her happy band of murderers and psychopaths. Nyxnissa is pretty abrasive character. She's a foul-mouthed, immoral, bloodthirsty drug addict and psychopath, but she's also an ardent patriot of Nasheen, and always has that country's interests in mind. Also, Kameron Hurley does a great job of counterbalancing all that Muslim-bashing she does. Nyx, as vile as she is, is an atheist. With all the horrors she's witnessed and/or committed, she finds the idea of an all-powerful loving God laughable. Frankly, so do I. There aren't a lot of female characters I like, but Nyx is definitely among them. Conversely, the most morally upright and civilized character on her team is also the most devout Muslim. Nyx and her team are tasked with tracking down the first off-worlder to visit Umayma in millenia, who happens to be an accomplished genetic engineer. This off-worlder has gone missing, and the Queen fears she will use her sophisticated off-world technology to produce and sell superior weaponry to the highest bidder, which could end the war with the genocide of the Nasheenian people. There's a bit more political intrigue than I'd like, and frankly some of it goes a bit over my head. So theres this one character who might be a traitor, cause she's working with these other guys who might be traitors, and this other character knows more than their letting on...who cares! I'm in it for the gory action, the biting social commentary, and the spellbinding worldbuilding of bugs and magicians.(less)

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Jun 11, 2012 Jedidiah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

Interesting book. I first heard about it when I saw it was nominated for a Nebula this year, and it looked intriguing enough that I decided to check it out. The world-building is good, but it takes a long, long time to get going. Once I hit the halfway point or so, things gradually fell into place and I finished it quickly, but it was definitely hard going early on. The world of the book had a quasi-Mieville feel to me (which, coincidentally, could have been because I was reading Railsea simulta...more

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Jun 07, 2012 Margaret Mcgaffey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There is little simple or sweet about this book. It is a bloody, no holds barred, look at long term, devastating conflict with racial and religious foundations that are largely propaganda or misunderstandings. As if that weren't enough, the different groups also hold harsh beliefs about gender, sparked by being on a planet where survival is difficult even without an ongoing war.

Before you get the idea that this is a sociological rant, though, know that it is personalized through the lead charact...more There is little simple or sweet about this book. It is a bloody, no holds barred, look at long term, devastating conflict with racial and religious foundations that are largely propaganda or misunderstandings. As if that weren't enough, the different groups also hold harsh beliefs about gender, sparked by being on a planet where survival is difficult even without an ongoing war.

Before you get the idea that this is a sociological rant, though, know that it is personalized through the lead characters, each of which has a different stake in how this all comes into play. You see the world and the war through the eyes of a character who has been on many different levels of the conflict, and whose rare viewpoint lets her take people on their own grounding despite race and gender. Which is not to say she has no prejudices, nor that she is not a product of her culture. She suffers from as many internal clashes of culture and duty as external, a process that is both fascinating and traumatic to watch.

No, God's War is not an easy read. It's neither light entertainment nor fluffy, politically correct, feel good literature. What this novel does is offer a look at flaws that exist in our world through the window of another planet where everything is an extreme. It makes you think about things that are swept under the rug and provides a level of realism that is both horrifying and compelling.

I said it was not light entertainment and I hold to that, but there is no question that God's War is entertaining, compelling, and illuminating thanks to rich, complicated characters who are feeling their way around as much as we readers are, and who I wanted to get to know better and hoped for a happy ending. Oh and there are even 'aliens'--off-world splinter races--and something along the lines of magic, and the setting is more Middle Eastern than Western European, for those of you seeking to expand your reading cultures.

P.S. I got this book through NetGalley but the opinions are all my own.(less)

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Apr 05, 2012 Gerhard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

Evocative depiction of civil, internecine conflict on an alien world -- where the warring factions are much closer to each other than they realise -- but it is extremely low on plot. In fact, the book boils down to a series of chase scenes. And boxing matches. However, what makes this such a brutal and tender read at the same time is the exquisitely rendered relationship between Rhys and Nyx. I am a sucker for a great story of doomed love, and Hurley writes with incredible conviction and feeling...more

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Feb 29, 2012 Lawrence Schoen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I started reading God's War out of a sense of obligation to read the titles on this year's Nebula Award ballot, even though I'm hard pressed to even imagine a better offering than China Mieville's Embassytown.

And I'm glad I did. Hurley's novel is a great ride of compelling characters, entertaining worldbuilding, intriguing sociology, and pace-pounding plot threads. Religious elements familiar but different, believable extrapolations/evolutions of today drive much of the book, but the book is no...more

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Apr 12, 2011 Ian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: middle-eastern, bugs

I'm conflicted about rating this book. One one side, the writing is fluid and the worldbuilding is spectacular: the middle-eastern/Islamic cultures are well rounded and believable, and there is no dumbing down for the Western reader (if you don't know what a dhoti or a burnous is, get ready to google a lot in the first few chapters; also, a bel dame is not a French pretty woman); and the planet itself is a carefully crafted scenario, with its mostly desertic setting, the harsh suns, and the incr...more

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Apr 06, 2011 Frida Fantastic (book blogger) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction, ebooks-speculative-fiction, all-time-favourites

God’s War takes place on a brutal desert planet with a centuries-long holy war fought between Muslim colonists. It makes Herbert’s Arrakis seem like a nice place to retire. It’s a world filled with a black-market organ trade, underground boxing rings, and writhing insects that enable magicians to put bodies back together.

As most of the boys die for the war, it’s dames like Nyx that run the town. She and her team of bounty hunters are on the hunt for an alien with knowledge that could end the hol...more

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Mar 27, 2011 Benjamin added it · review of another edition

Shelves: bedside-reading

The following sentence is very nerdy: I got an electronic copy of this book for free through a Night Shade Books promotion from io9 for their online book club. And I decided to do that because I started to get curious about various etext formats and readers. (Which is also a pretty nerdy sentence.) I ended up reading this book on iBook on my iPhone, which was a fine experience--the screen only shows a small amount of text at a time, but then I didn't have to worry about losing my place. (When re...more The following sentence is very nerdy: I got an electronic copy of this book for free through a Night Shade Books promotion from io9 for their online book club. And I decided to do that because I started to get curious about various etext formats and readers. (Which is also a pretty nerdy sentence.) I ended up reading this book on iBook on my iPhone, which was a fine experience--the screen only shows a small amount of text at a time, but then I didn't have to worry about losing my place. (When reading a paper book, I sometimes use a bookmark to show the line I'm on.) So, having heard nothing about this book or this (new) author, what did I think of the book?

In college, I often used the word "classic" (with my friend Andrew) to signal some sort of hoary cliche, e.g., "That farmer becomes hero quest? Classic." With that in mind, some of this book might be described as classic, particularly the characters: a misfit group of bounty hunters, each with a secret past, led by a hard-bitten warrior-assassin with a secret love for the innocent--kind of classic. While the characters might be classic, I would have to describe the plot as convoluted and possibly contradictory: the bounty hunters have to find an alien, but they're being hunted by other bounty hunters and an elite national intelligence agency (of sorts)--and maybe someone is double-crossing someone else. (We actually get the POV of several of the "good guys," but we never see the world as the "bad guys" see it, and consequently, the villains here aren't really comprehensible; which is too bad because there's hints of moral conflict that we don't really get to suss out.)

But what really sets this book apart from the average urban fantasy (which it resembles in many ways) is the setting, which isn't some city with secret magic, but a distant planet (two suns!) that seems to have been colonized in the far future by different groups of Muslims. In fact, two of these nations are and have been at war for a long time, which might ring some Iran-Iraq War bells. We only get glimpses of the history of the world, but we can see that some things here are pretty different from the Iran-Iraq War: for one thing, the war is largely fought with biological weapons; for another thing, almost everything technological here is related to or uses bugs of various sorts (so, for instance, the cars they have are bug-powered, the lights they use are often glow-worms, etc.); for a final thing, there are certain people who have power over these bugs and other people who can transform into certain animal shapes.

This might sound sort of Mad Libby, as if Hurley spun a wheel until she got Bug Tech--Muslim Planet--Werewolf--Bounty Hunter; and if you're looking for hard science fiction, the shapeshifters and bug controllers (called "magicians") will put you off; but as far future science fantasy, this combination is interesting and novel enough to really engage the sf reader who is interested in alternate worlds and not a stickler for the conservation of mass. (But seriously: if you turn into a bird, where does your mass go?)

I don't want to spoil any of the plot (which might make more sense to you) or any of the characters, but there is one thing which I want to add which is not a surprise. When we're introduced to the alien (who the bounty hunter-heroine-assassin has to hunt down), it's pretty clear (or seems likely) that the alien is merely a human from a different colony world, and that maybe this one Muslim planet might be one planet among many. And the alien never really seems totally alien--after all, she's here to do what a lot of the other characters are interested in doing, which is figuring out the weird mutations that allow people to control bugs and turn into animals. But I think Hurley deserves some credit for trying to think of other people--other cultures--as aliens and to work through what that might mean.

(Also, I'd advise readers to be careful when classifying certain aspects of this world as invented; for instance, the word "bakkie" gets used for the cars on this planet, which might seem like a made-up word, but is really South African for "pickup truck." I knew that sounded familiar for some reason, and it clicked after I read that Hurley spent some time there (and after a Google search to make sure). That some of her crazy future world is reality re-purposed doesn't take away from the achievement of this engagingly strange world.)(less)

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Mar 21, 2011 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel is big and intense, albeit slow going at the beginning. When I read Kameron Hurley’s Big Idea post at Whatever, this was the part that grabbed me:

"Thing was, Nyx isn’t the sort who likes to be used. So when the inevitable bounty hunter story starts, we are not dealing with bounty hunters as we know them anymore. We’re not in a world we can immediately recognize. The day is nearly thirty hours long. The suns give everybody cancer. Nobody can remember a time without war. Bugs power the...more This novel is big and intense, albeit slow going at the beginning. When I read Kameron Hurley’s Big Idea post at Whatever, this was the part that grabbed me:

"Thing was, Nyx isn’t the sort who likes to be used. So when the inevitable bounty hunter story starts, we are not dealing with bounty hunters as we know them anymore. We’re not in a world we can immediately recognize. The day is nearly thirty hours long. The suns give everybody cancer. Nobody can remember a time without war. Bugs power the world’s technology and make up the primary food source. Magicians build weapons of war. The world is a contaminated ruin, and most folks die young.

But it’s a world of intensely passionate and powerful people, the kind of people we imagine could be great heroes, avengers. Or monsters.

That’s what God’s War is about. A world at war. The people who police it. The joy and terror and fear and awe of living on after the end of the apocalypse, when everybody says the world has ended… when the war has just begun."

I dug the idea of it being based on Assyrian law and generations-long wars and their impact on a society that’s so far removed (and yet at the same time, not so far) from our own. Hurley does a great job of establishing atmosphere and dropping you into wholesale (bumps, bruises and disorientation) into her planet. As I said before, it starts slow and part of that is getting your bearings but once you’re oriented it takes off. You get pulled in to the cultural conflict and character backstory and complicated political agendas – not to mention casual, not-so-casual violence.

Part of the reason I found it so engrossing is that it’s not so entirely foreign that you can’t imagine how a society gets there. The violence and consequence are nothing less than biblical and if, like me, you grew up trying to sort out the contradiction of the Old vs. New Testament this makes a compelling read. Other than the bug tech and casual interaction with aliens, there are parts of the world where this kind of violence and generational war/hatred goes on today. It’s a look at violence and the impact on how people function that you don’t always see in fiction and makes you re-evaluate the news you’re watching. Smart, engaging fiction. Hard to beat.(less)

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Mar 09, 2011 February Four rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is possibly the first apocalyptical SF book I've read set in a distinctly Middle-Eastern type of setting. It has bugs for the ick factor (I'm not a fan of them), and it has a really strong kick-ass female protagonist (I'm a HUGE fan of them).

The world-building is detailed in the gritty sort of way (though I did find myself wondering what regular people did and how economies continued to work with such a vicious war going on.) The politics of race are unfortunately very vivid and ring...more

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Feb 24, 2011 Trevor Pope rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I will start this review with a couple of confessions. First session, the author is a childhood friend, so my review may be a little biased. Second confession, I am usually a fantasy over SciFi reader. I often lose patience with over zealous social commentary and/or the over-explanation of advanced/weird technology.

Onto the actual review:

I'm not a writer. I muddle through some creative writing, world-building, and the like in an effort to find some creative outlet for the ideas that float around...more I will start this review with a couple of confessions. First session, the author is a childhood friend, so my review may be a little biased. Second confession, I am usually a fantasy over SciFi reader. I often lose patience with over zealous social commentary and/or the over-explanation of advanced/weird technology.

Onto the actual review:

I'm not a writer. I muddle through some creative writing, world-building, and the like in an effort to find some creative outlet for the ideas that float around in my head. With that said, my opinion is hardly educated or refined. With that said, I would classify this review as an "eye-ball" or "gut" test. I know when I like something, maybe not the nuisances that resulted in my reaction, but I am aware of the stylistic things that I enjoy.

When I finished God's War this morning, I can definitively say that I enjoyed the book from cover to cover. I never lamented a scene that didn't fit, a character action that didn't fit. Two things stood out to me. God’s War avoided the two pitfalls I mentioned above.

Despite some weird tech, powered by bugs and magic, the author never mires the story in a long, dissertation on how the stuff worked. For the world and its characters, it was normal, as normal as a car or a microwave is for us. So why interrupt the story to explain tech that probably doesn’t make sense in terms of our science and engineering. Congrats to Kameron for avoiding that trap and maintaining the suspension of disbelief by not explaining a damn thing!

Now, God’s War is chock full of social commentary. But it’s done in such a way where you get sucked out of the story and scream at the book “ OK! I get it… Our planet/society/cultured is effed up! Move along, nothing to see here!!!!” In fact, it challenges a lot of our mores and morals by intricately weaving the world and characters together and never breaking the 4th wall. I’ll use the example of Avatar. It was a beautiful movie visually but I was knocked out of the story and world about 15 minutes in as the stream of commentary on our world, e.g. the raping of the world for resources, treatment of indigenous peoples, etc. Not that these things don’t belong in our literature, and entertainment.

I just appreciate them more when I’m not bludgeoned about the head and neck with them while I enjoy a moment’s entertainment. Again, Hurley avoids the trap while delivering a blistering look at our world. In particular, I loved the strong, independent Nyx and her struggles throughout the book to find herself in a world that said she should be something different.

So, in my inexpert opinion, Hurley’s work was both imaginative and thought provoking. It entertained and taught with flair and style. I know that I haven’t been critical of any aspects in this book but let’s face it, it’s easier to say what you didn’t like about something than articulate what worked well. I wouldn’t say that this book is for everyone, you have to be ready to have your comfort zone tested and your buy-in to the world ready in order to enjoy God’s War.
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Jan 28, 2011 Robert Verde rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a pretty brutal book, the protagonist is a person who is next to impossible to empathize with, the story is harsh and driven by conflict, but the book is fascinating nonetheless. Sci-fi with this combination of strong female protagonists and a world based on Arabic/Semitic themes is rare.

Books it reminded me of, at least in part, include Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself, N. Lee Wood's Looking for the Mahdi, and for the Middle Eastern themes; George Alec Effinger's A Fire in the Sun.

I...more

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May 20, 2011 Steph rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Talented young author, Kameron Hurley, turns out an ambitious & thought provoking Dark Sci-Fi novel, that examines our current & past global social problems. This author either did an extensive amount of research or knows a great deal about theology & the Islamic culture. A very introspective, yet objective, look into religion & the very real social issues we still face. And although I can appreciate and admire the quality of work that went into writing & constructing this bo...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Beth Cato rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, fantasy, science, nebula

This book first came to my attention as a Nebula nominee earlier this year and then was recently selected as a book club read. I found God's War to be completely different from my usual reads: aggressively dark, defying all genre conventions, and fascinating at every turn.

This is science fiction in that it takes place off Earth, but on a world that was colonized 3,000 years before by Muslims. At this point, faiths have diverged amongst different nations, with some more conservative than others a...more

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Jul 01, 2011 Efseine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

This book has one of the most fascinating and innovative settings of anything I've read in the genre, a thoughtful (and extremely scary) look at a future that's not as implausible as I want it to be - aside from the magic, of course. And how delightful that magic was, a bug-based brand I've never seen before, well-drawn and utterly fitting for the desert setting.

It's also basically the definition of gritty. Oftentimes such things feel overblown but this never does, probably because the situation...more This book has one of the most fascinating and innovative settings of anything I've read in the genre, a thoughtful (and extremely scary) look at a future that's not as implausible as I want it to be - aside from the magic, of course. And how delightful that magic was, a bug-based brand I've never seen before, well-drawn and utterly fitting for the desert setting.

It's also basically the definition of gritty. Oftentimes such things feel overblown but this never does, probably because the situation - a thousand-some-years war on a nearly uninhabitable planet - lends itself to gritty stories. I'm not sure what other kind of story could be told in this setting, actually, making the gritty elements necessary instead of thrown in for that extra-special-dark effect.

One of the best things about this setting is that almost none of the people in the book are white, and those characters who are white don't have privilege because of it (the opposite, in fact). Another delightful side-effect of the setting is that most characters, main and backdrop alike, are women. It kind of shocked me at first that almost everyone Nyx runs into is a woman, until I remembered what a natural extension it was of the situation, and then berated myself for being shocked, because why shouldn't these magicians and owners of cantinas and boxers be women? It makes you examine your preconceptions more than a little.

The characters themselves are as well-drawn, or nearly so, as the setting. Nyx is a really stark look at the sort of woman a society like this might breed, a more realistic portrayal of the kick-ass type than you usually get in fiction (which often prefers to coo in delight over physically strong women while bestowing upon them only surface flaws, never drawing attention to the harmful effects of their rabid individualism). She's likeable and unlikeable by turns, but you understand why she is the way she is, even if you don't always respect her choices.

Rhys also fascinated me - it's not often that a writer focuses on someone who's a mediocre magician, rather than a super powerful one. Nor do writers often give you a thoughtful and nuanced portrayal of a religious character whose views will utterly repulse many readers (including me, more than once) while keeping you from ever hating the character himself.

Hurley's prose is spare but not boring because of it, as she often showcases a talent for evocative imagery, and it has an interesting rhythm that carries you through the story. It also fits the characters and the setting so perfectly I don't know that another style would work nearly as well. Unfortunately it does falter in the last quarter or so of the novel, particularly during some of the action scenes, where she resorts to very choppy, "this person did this, this person did this, this person did this"-style narration.

The plot was also not as strong as it could have been, either. Once it got going it began to feel a little repetitive, with Nyx and her team-members constantly being captured by one of their enemies, escaping, being captured again... Some of the convoluted factions involved became confusing rather than adding to complexity. Towards the end I ran out of some of my enthusiasm for it, making that last quarter of the novel much less gripping and impressive than the rest.

Still, God's War is the kind of interesting, well-written, scifi/fantasy novel I'm always looking for, with better racial and gender politics than most books in the genre. I didn't love it, though I wanted to, but I certainly enjoyed it, and Hurley clearly has wads of potential. I'm excited to read the next one.(less)

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Dec 07, 2012 Kam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

It seems like such a long time since I last read a straight-up, proper sci-fi story. I have, of course, read novels that are grounded in science, but I do believe the last one I read that might be considered truly sci-fi would be Ernest Cline's Ready Player One sometime in September; the last sci-fi novel I read that was set in outer space was The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold, and that was all the way back in August. After I finished Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore I was very de...more

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God's War (Bel Dame Apocrypha #1)

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