Earthwind

by Robert Holdstock

Pocket Books, 1978. Mass market paperback, 1st American edition. This author wrote science fiction and fantasy with a mythological bent.

"Earthwind" tells the story of two people trapped on the planet Aeran. What has happened to the colonists of this world to obliterate their memories of who and what they were, and to have rebuilt in their place a precise and accurate copy of a stone age culture that had flourished in Ireland during the fourth millennium BC?

Elspeth Mueller, fighting against time as her memory decayed, tried to find out; deformed and embittered by the barbaric rituals of her ‘civilised’ home world, she struggled against her own fear to accept the cruel customs of Aerani society, knowing that the answers she sought lay in those same rituals.

Peter Ashka, his life inextricably interwoven with the I Ching, tried to find out as well - but his quest brought him into conflict with the two authorities that guided his life.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Religion, Novels

255 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Robert Paul Holdstock was an English novelist and author who is best known for his works of fantasy literature, predominantly in the fantasy subgenre of mythic fiction.

Holdstock's writing was first published in 1968. His science fiction and fantasy works explore philosophical, psychological, anthropological, spiritual, and woodland themes. He has received three BSFA awards and won the World Fantasy Award in the category of Best Novel in 1985.

Pseudonyms are Chris Carlsen, Robert Faulcon,Robert Black, Steven Eisler and Richard Kirk.

Reviews

[Len · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel as if I have been hit over the head with a volume of Nietzsche thrown at me by that hooligan Heidegger. It's philosophy versus science fiction and it ends in a frustrating goalless draw.

How did the neolithic Irish culture of Newgrange and the Boyne valley transpose itself on to another world, presumably light years away? Having read the book, I'm none the wiser and I have a feeling that the main reason for that is because Mr. Holdstock was no wiser than I on the subject. The Earthwind seems to have a lot to do with it; however, the meaning of the question really is left blowing in an uncommunicative wind.

At some point in the past a spaceship from Earth carrying settlers crash landed on its planetary destination. Most of the survivors seem to have died in the Alpine mountains of the crash site yet some made it down into the forested lowlands – and created Aeran: a neolithic Irish walled fortress with surrounding mounds, tunnels, passageways and intriguing spiral rock carvings. Over generations the people changed into small furry humans adapted to hunting and warfare. Remarkably, however, their everyday speech remained perfectly understandable in both language and idiom to more recent human visitors.

Which introduces the main protagonists: Elspeth Mueller, Karl Gorstein and Peter Ashka. Elspeth is an independent anthropologist who has come to study the Aerani and their culture, while Gorstein and Ashka represent the controlling power in the galaxy: the domineering yet apparently fearful Electra. Elspeth has been physically abused on her home world of New Anzar: for reasons I don't recall being explained she has had diamonds forcibly inserted into her chest as a form of decoration. She is also described several times as being Black though this seems to have little relevance in the story. Gorstein is a shipMeister. One suspects that is more than simply a commander – an übermensch is a term that comes to mind. Ashka, described as an oriental, is a “rationalist”, a philosopher, almost a Doctor Frankenstein desperately trying to maintain control over Gorstein's potential excesses.

There is no happy ending to the tale. There are multiple cruel deaths and a descent into an accelerating barbarity. You see, for Aeran and the Earthwind time is a malleable thing and it preys on that part of the human mind most subject to change over time: memory. Ashka came close to understanding but died too soon, Gorstein could offer no resistance whatsoever and turned into a slobbering Neanderthal, and even sad Elspeth, despite her intuitiveness, had to succumb to an inevitable fate and surrender her intellect and individuality.

Despite the difficulties in the plot and the pages of philosophical ramblings I still enjoyed the story. It's a long road to Mythago Wood but well worth reading.

[Angus Mcfarlane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't judge a book by its cover....the second of this Holdstock omnibus is not quite what the cover depicts, starting with the implied ethnicity of the protagonist, and her apparent status as a victim. Like the other story in the omnibus, and indeed others in the omnibi, there is something 'second tier' about it: perhaps it's obscure setting somewhere in the future, somewhere in the galaxy, or the willingness to explore an alternative version of reality at the expense of a simple plot. At its heart, this is a contemplation of determinism and the nature of time (again), not only whether the future is pre-determined but also the implications if it is known, partially or in full. Within the augmented reality of this story's world, Holdstock seems to be speculating something about how we are different from our distant forebears, in one sense due to what we have lost, but in another gratefully so. Leaving the question as to whether we should drop the 'crutches' we rely on if the outcomes they provide would be lost by fundamentally questioning their basis in truth. To an extent, this is something Noah-Harari exposes in his recent books (Sapiens and Homo Deus), concluding, I think, that the crutches are worthwhile, or at least necessary, to achieve the cultural outcomes we desire. There was a lot going on an I am not sure I captured all the points he was making, but I liked the twist he took and the warning to take care of what you wish for.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me a solid 8 months to finish this book, which is obviously not the fairest way to evaluate any story. It just kept finding its way to the bottom of my currently-reading stack. Glancing through others' reviews here, it seems like I'm not alone. I almost wish it were obviously worse in some way, but there's actually a lot going for this book: it features a Black protagonist at a time when that was unusual and even more unusual for it to be handled decently well, it's got some mind-bending psychedelic elements which is always fun, and you've got some really out-there worldbuilding with intergalactic i-ching fortune tellers. It's not like you're going to just run into another book like Earthwind.

The problem is that it's a slog. The characters are interested in getting into philosophical debates that would make Ayn Rand reach for her seldom-used bottle of white-out. The Timescape imprint is known for its heady reads, but Earthwind takes that crunchy depth all the way into navel gazing territory.

I can't hate this book: it's really trying to do something, and I've seen some other reviewers say that Holdstock's writing improves. This was only his second novel. But I also can't recommend this book without a lot of disclaimers.

[Ethan Nahté · Rating 3 out of 5]

The opening chapters of Earthwindare a bit reminiscent of the Avatar film. Overall, no a bad book, but I did have difficulty with the plot and characters maintaining my attention.

[Nik Morton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main character is Elspeth Mueller, a lone black Earthwoman who is presently living and studying with the Stone Age natives of Aeran, an alien planet. She is sharing a low-roofed cawl with the young native Darren; all the natives are fur-clad save for their faces above the jawline.

Holdstock is inventive. The natives are naked, as is Elspeth – except for her leather mocks (moccasins); their village is a crog; ‘... her calves were covered with white blisters where yellowspins had fed on her during her light sleep. The blisters were not the result of the bites but her body’s immune reaction to the whip-like parasites that the yellowspins had injected into her’ (p7); she regarded like a nue – hairless humans of either sex (p8) who dwell in the snowlands; blackwings which are huge leathery avians who provide food, bone weapons and decorative garments. Elspeth joins Darren in an exhilarating hunt of blackwings – employing tangleweed as whip-cum-lasso and finally celebrate their success by ‘hanging’ – ‘she didn’t know whether or not she liked the idea of having sex whilst dangling from two whips’ [suspended in trees] (p21). Indeed, she considered that the Aerani ‘communicated, cooperated with and utilised nature without precipitating some drastic ecological change’ (p66).

Elspeth spent her childhood in ‘the sprawling metropolis of New Anzar on Pliedase IV...’ and suffered ‘the ritual mastectomy...’ (p25) which involved sewing two red jewels on her in place of breasts! (This brutalisation is not adequately explained; yes, it’s a ritual, but why?) Later, at some point she volunteered to join a team going to Earth for an archaeological restoration programme in Western Europe. ‘After a three hour war of some centuries before, much that was of historical interest was still buried beneath dust, sand and rubble...’ (p72).

There’s a lot of theorising about the Aerani culture. ‘But imagination is reason’s worst enemy’ (p23).

Another protagonist is shipMeister Karl Gorstein who is on a mission for the Electra, the invaders who have taken over Earth. His ship is the Gilbert Ryle (named after the British philosopher (1900-1976) who coined the phrase ‘the ghost in the machine’. Gorstein is tasked with studying the colony on Aeran and reporting back. He is aided by the ship-board rationalist, Peter Ashka, who uses the oracle to guide the entire crew. The oracle was in effect the tao: ‘Everything is related to everything else, overlapping, intertwining, matter and time as products of the structure of the great tao, each man a fragmentary side effect of that same structure...’ (p37).

It’s probable that Holdstock was influenced by Fritjof Capra’s book The Tao of Physics (1975): Capra contended that “Science does not need mysticism and mysticism does not need science. But man needs both.”

In her studies of rock-markings made by the Aerani culture, Elspeth encountered a rare triple spiral which Darren said it identified the Earthwind (p51). Now she had an absolute goal, to locate the source, the Earthwind... Elspeth’s several discussions with Ashka are almost mind-blowing: to paraphrase one chat, the special triple spiral appears on many ancient taoist works of art – one spiral = ching or change, the second is the shen, the luminous inner spirit, and the third is the ch’i, the moving vitality – which is in us all (p78).

The leader of the Aerani consults their oracle – the Earthwind – and while there are surprising similarities, they ultimately are destined to conflict, especially when Elspeth discovers the distinct nature of Aeran and its effect on the humans on its surface.

Holdstock tinkers with memory, time-displacement, and psychic energies. When a character states ‘it began to make sense’ (p73) that depends on several factors, not least the reader’s attention span!

[John Tetteroo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aardwind is de tweede roman van Robert Holdstock na ziende blind. Het is de eerste waar ik helemaal doorheen gekomen ben. Nu moet ik eigenlijk terug en opnieuw proberen door zijn andere werk heen te komen. Ik begin dus maar met de makke, als je opzoek bent naar een plot die zich ontvouwt dan ben je bij dit boek aan het verkeerde adres. Deze roman heeft een andere agenda dan met jou een zoekspelletje te doen. Je moet dit boek lezen als een reis, die begint vanuit je gemakkelijke stoel maar al snel ontaard in een hellevaart met aan het einde meer dode protagonisten dan in de Game of Thrones en de overlevers zijn opnieuw geboren holbewoners.

In Aardwind probeert Holdstock je iets te laten inzien. Al had ik wat moeite om uit te vinden wat het precies was. Ik denk dat het belangrijkste is dat je moet uitkijken met wat je wenst en dat mensen voor hun obsessies of overtuigingen vaak de dingen offeren die in beginsel deze obsessie of overtuiging nog enige waarde verlenen. Na het offer is de obsessie zijn kracht kwijt en was alles voor niets. Daarnaast dat de natuurwetten die wij voor zeker aannemen, misschien wel niet opgaan in de rest van het universum of zelfs maar in andere tijdsgewrichten. Het lijkt erop alsof de kolonieplaneet een mysterieuze afwijking herbergt die ook in het verleden van de Aarde opgeld gedaan heeft. Denk ik...

Want dat alles blijft wat vaag als Holdstock zijn hoofdpersonen laat komen tot inzichten, inzichten die nogal vergezocht en warrig blijven. Mooi dat een van de protagonisten een lucide moment had, jammer dat de schrijver dat niet echt weet over te brengen. Een lichte afgunst jegens de protagonist kan ik niet onderdrukken ook al wordt hij niet veel later in zijn buik geschoten en sterft hij smartelijk in de modder.

Dat is wat mij aan het boek gekluisterd houdt. De alomtegenwoordige wreedheid die onderdeel uit lijkt te maken van de natuur heeft zich teruggeplant in het leven van de mensen. Onverschilligheid jegens het lijden van een ander gaat gepaard met onverzoenlijke haat als gevolg van een schending van de maatschappelijke regels. Het is mooi beschreven door Holdstock, de trauma's uit het verleden vervagen samen met de opgebouwde beschaving en worden vervangen door de nieuwe wetten van de natuur. Daarnaast voert Holdstock een geheel nieuw universeel geloof in de Tao ten tonele, zoals uitgelegd door rationalisten door middel van I Ching, Botjes, Runen en de Tarot.

Voor ik mijzelf verlies in deze review over Aardwind, roep ik de aardgeesten aan om u te voorspellen dat U eens dit boek zult lezen. Wat niet betekent dat dit boek op uw weg zal komen, maar als dat het geval is, dat u het dan zult lezen en met mij zult kunnen concluderen dat dit boek echt niet zo slecht is als de vorige reviewers deden voorkomen, maar helaas ook niet zo goed dat ik het tussen mijn toppers ga bewaren op de speciaal daarvoor ingerichte plank in mijn Billy kast. (Tenzij U op Aerean woont, want dan komen alle voorspellingen altijd uit, zij het niet zoals u geïnterpreteerd had)

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Slow and struggled to keep my attention. Some very interesting concepts that felt under explored or under explained. It's age also shows.

[Isabel (kittiwake) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gorstein said softly, leaning forward so that his intensity seemed to confine the rationalist, 'Whenever our race comes to depend on something it becomes weak. Dependence on machines or upon each other . . . it's weakness, and it's exploitable. The use of oracles is a weakness, Peter, it's a sign of our lost ability to think things through . . . every oracle in the empire predicted the downfall of the old Empire, and we all fell down.

[David Burkam · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the beginning of his writing career and before his brilliant Mythago Wood books, Holdstock wrote a couple of more standard sci fi novels, of which this is the second. It contains some faint signs of what will emerge from his mind in another six years. But the plotting here is slow, the prose somewhat ponderous. Skip it and read (or reread) his later masterworks.

[Pierre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aardwind

[Marko]

I have the german edition: Erdwind