Steppe

by Piers Anthony

Thrust naked and helpless at the moment of his death into a world he thinks is hell, a Turkish warrior chieftain discovers that this world, which is a strange recreation of his own, is inhabited by a race of humans known as Galactics. Reissue.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Time Travel, Historical Fiction, Historical, Science Fiction Fantasy

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Though he spent the first four years of his life in England, Piers never returned to live in his country of birth after moving to Spain and immigrated to America at age six. After graduating with a B.A. from Goddard College, he married one of his fellow students and and spent fifteen years in an assortment of professions before he began writing fiction full-time.

Piers is a self-proclaimed environmentalist and lives on a tree farm in Florida with his wife. They have two grown daughters.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alp, a ninth century Uigur Warrior, is snatched from certain death to a time fifteen centuries in the future, where he takes part in a sinister game called Steppe, a game to which he is uniquely suited...

Steppe is an interesting book, to say the least. I've long been interested in Mongolian culture and Steppe fits the bill. The Game, as it is called, is a replaying of history with people playing the role of characters. The players of the Game are celebrities of a sort. As Chris Roberson says in the foreward, Steppe is a forerunner of both reality TV and virtual reality. It reminds me of Implied Space by Walter Jon Williams in that way. As far as stories go, it's a pretty good read. The writing style took me forever to place. It reminds me of Philip Jose Farmer when he's trying to be funny, like in Dark is the Sun or Green Odyssey.

So why only three stars? I'll tell you. Even though the edition I read was only 125 pages long, it still seemed about fifty pages too long. It felt like Piers was trying to stretch a short story into a novel. While I liked Alp and though his metamorphosis into Genghis Khan was well done, I felt like it was padded.

While I enjoyed Steppe, I'd call it good but not great. If you're into pulp fantasy with a Mongolian bend, you'll definitely enjoy it.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Steppe" is the first book that I received from my Planet Stories subscription through Paizo, and I have to admit, I wasn't too keen on the idea of reading a Piers Anthony book. Prior to this, nothing that I had read about Anthony interested me, and compared to some of the other authors that Paizo had put out in this subscription--Brackett and Howard being the ones that really stood out--I was skeptical that Anthony could offer the same flights of fantastic adventure.

"Steppe" is in fact a fun read; more than that, it is an astounding historical document. The reason for the latter is simple: in "Steppe," Anthony sets up the idea of a virtual world in which individuals can act as player avatars and participate in big events. Sound familiar? Of course: even in 1985 (correction: 1976!), when "Steppe" was published, the idea of a virtual world certainly wasn't brand new. What makes Anthony's idea amazing are the mechanics that he describes behind its functionality--and the fact that Anthony, somehow, described some of the very same functionality that is used in online gaming today.

It's incredible how spot-on he is about so many details. He covers things such as game-time versus real-time, and the correlation between the two; in-game currencies, and their real value in the world; the standing of players in a user-based ratings system; and the function of social networking in the popularity of a game and its players. The parallels between the gaming functionality that we know today and the rules that Anthony established for this book in the *mid-seventies* are, to repeat myself, freakin astounding. You could strip this book of its copyright page, hand it to someone, and fully expect them to take it as a contemporary, 21st century work.

I have heard some authors get credit for predicting the rise of the internets and virtual networks, yet never have I heard Anthony's name among them. Read this, and you'll see how close he was to the way things turned out.

As for the story, characters, style, etc of "Steppe," it is all well-wrought, and worth reading. The adventures of the protagonist are interesting, and the many battles that occur throughout are exciting. Anthony mixes pre-industrial, mounted warfare with space-faring technology and comes up with some cool material. Really, "Steppe" is a singular read all around.

Still, my most lasting impression of this book is the insight that Anthony had into social gaming, well before anything like it existed.

[Thomas Arvanitis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting sci-fi novel by Anthony, which takes the familiar time-travel trope of a modern man travelling to the past and using his skills and knowledge of the future to prevail (like "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" or "Timeline") and reverses it. The twist is that a man from the distant past, a Mongol nomad, travels to the future and uses his skills and knowledge of the past to prevail. It's a refreshing twist, and the tactics and motivations used to justify the hero's progress are well-thought out and (mostly)reasonable.
I deducted one star because of the implausible ease with which the protagonist became accustomed to life in the distant future; one more star was deducted for the boring history lessons (even though they were described as cartoons!)

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steppe, originally published in 1976, was apparently one of Piers Anthony's earlier attempts at incorporating history into a science-fiction/fantasy novel, and one that succeeds moderately well. Fans of history and/or Anthony's flair for game-systems will enjoy the innovative way ancient history of the Asian continent is brought to life in a manner that even the casual reader can follow.

Alp, a chief of a nomad tribe from 9th century AD (think Huns or Mongols), is transported into the future seconds before death by four members of a futuristic society that hope to capitalize on his real-world experience with the events and history of his time period to get an edge in The Game. The Game, a re-creation of the historical events of the warring tribes and cultures of Asia, has participants "play" the role of historical figures, from kings and chiefs all the way down to servant girls, and earn 'points' (wealth and status) as a result of how successful their lives are. However, in this futuristic society, literacy barely exists and the true path of history is known only to the Game Computer, and of course, in part, to Alp. In an attempt to evade being arrested and sent back to his own time (and the demise that awaits him there), Alp joins the Game and hopes to use his nomad fitness, training, and cunning to best the rest of the Galactic participants and earn enough points to buy a pardon for his "illegal alien" nature.

The story, told from the perspective of Alp, simplifies a huge expanse of the history of Asia into game form. Civilizations are portrayed as "giants" and smaller tribes as "dwarves", and the time scale accelerated so a day of Game time corresponds to 1 year of history. In this way, Anthony is able to very quickly cover the rise and fall of Chinese dynasties, along with other Asiatic tribes, such as the Huns and Mongols.

Although the characterization leaves a lot to be desired, Anthony uses his knack for innovative game-systems to keep the reader guessing as to what will happen next. The concepts and true history behind the novel make it a worthwhile read for sci-fi fans, but it's probably not going to be considered a great novel by anyone. It's also a pretty quick read, and kept me wanting to cover "just one more chapter" all the way to the end.

In the Afterward, Anthony explains how he thought this book would never be published due to the educational aspects "hidden" within. He hoped the response from its single US publishing would be favorable, and would spawn another series of history-as-games novels (e.g. one about Ancient Egypt, or the vikings of northern Europe, or the obvious Roman Empire). However, since I've never heard of any of these other history-as-games novels, I expect people were not quite as enamored with the concept as the author. I can see this appealing to SciFi-fans-who-are-also-history-fans but it probably missed a big segment of the SciFi/Fantasy market that just isn't interested in that stuff.

If you're looking for something a little different, and think you might want to get something educational out of it, give Steppe a go. It's not a huge investment and I'd say worth checking out.

[Budd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few months ago, Ross reviewed. Ross was nice enough to send me his copy so I could give it a read as well. I did and was pleasently surprised. I had never read a Piers Anthony story before and didn't know what to expect but I had heard only cheesy things about the Xanth novels.

I won't go over the plot again as Ross did an excellent job at this. I will simply talk about what I liked and didn't like about the novel.

I loved Alp's, a character from the past, response to the people of the future. Alp sees the men as weak and the women as not very womanly. When he escapes into the game it is almost as if it is the only way for him to survive the cultural shock. I also liked that bonds in the game seemed to carry over. Anyone that has played a game knows that your personality shines through your character. The playstation and MS networks are proof that people like to connect as friends to people they meet in game and Anthony wrote this long before video games were networked. I guess he could have observed people in the arcades. Any way, back on topic, the players were able to form bonds with each other, some stronger than others.

I also liked the illustration of nations as giants and dwarves. At first I thought it was kind of dumb, but it worked so well in describing what would happen that it really grew on me. I wonder why no one has done an actual animated film based on the movies in the book to use as an educational tool.

My one complaint about the book is that it is almost too predictable. Even before Ghengis was mentioned, I knew that he would be the obvious conclussion. Because the book was so closely tied to history and educational, it locked itself in and there was not as much room for creativity.

Overall- I agree with Ross that it is a 3 star book, maybe 3.5. It was a great introduction into Anthony as I am interested in reading something else by him now. I don't think you have to be a fan of history to enjoy this book, but it probably helps a lot. It was enjoyable though. Age wise, I would say about 13 and up, but adults will likely enjoy the book more than teens.

[Alan Sharp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading a lot of Piers Anthony when I was a teenager. This was not necessarily through choice, but mostly because there were a lot of them in the library. Anthony is something of a prolific author, starting in the 1960s he has rarely published less than three or four books a year, mostly in various book series including his best known Xanth series which, at last count, consists of 47 books and still rising.

However, I recall always finding his books to be a quick and disposable read, and remember little about them. I’m pretty sure this is the first one I’ve picked up in around 40 years, so it’s an interesting way to compare my reading tastes now with those from back then.

Steppe is a fantasy novel revolving around the adventures of Alp, a ninth century Uiger warrior from the Russian Steppes. With his tribe coming under surprise attack from the Kurghiz, he attempts to escape on his horse and, under pursuit, tries to leap a wide gorge. He doesn’t quite make it and he and his horse plunge to their certain deaths.

However, he finds that instead of being dead, he is now in the 24th century, which he initially mistakes for being the afterlife. In this century people play huge games on a galactic scale, through which they can gain prestige and wealth. These games recreate eras from Earth’s history, and current game is called Steppe.

People can buy their way into the game, often running up huge debts with the hope that they can recoup and exceed their expenses by playing well. Meanwhile, others watch the players, often concentrating on their favourites.

One group of players has paid a small fortune to snatch Alp from history using a time machine. They are allowed to do this as long as their actions do not effect history, hence they had to take someone who was on the point of death and therefore would have played no more part in events of their own time. Their idea is to question Alp, in order to gain better knowledge of the actual events of the time, and gain an advantage.

However, Alp realises that once they have all the information they need, they will return him to his own time and his imminent demise. Escaping from them, he heads out into the 24th century world, but not understanding how this society works, he realises his best chance of staying free is to enter the game.

Here, he learns from the game machine, a super computer that keeps control of everything in the game, that if he can be successful and earn enough, he can buy himself galactic citizenship, and not be sent back where he came from.

What follows, in the first half of the book at least, is boy’s own stuff as Alp gets into various scrapes and succeeds through a combination of his natural warrior instincts and a certain amount of cunning. However, Anthony seems to have been a bit too ambitious in the scale of the story for a mass market paperback, so that the second half of the book devolves into essentially just a list of things that happen.

My enjoyment of this book wavers between the good news and the bad news. The good is that what Anthony has done here is essentially write, in the mid 1970’s, about an MMRPG, many years and even decades before such a thing existed. Any way you look at it that’s quite an achievement.

On the other hand, the story is not terribly engaging and filled with deus ex machina moments, as well as being dragged down by Anthony’s various long winded explanations of the actual history his tale is echoing, generally presented in a cartoonish format where every tribe is represented by a single person, either a giant or a dwarf.

Furthermore, and by all accounts this is the case in much of his work, his writing is incredibly misogynistic. I don’t find this that much of a problem in scenes set among the various tribes of the Steppes, I doubt that ninth century warrior society was terribly enlightened in this way, but the same is true of his 24th century society. Women who enter the game are not expected to play any role but wife, servant or essentially sex slave. There is only one even part-way three dimensional female character in the entire book, and even she is defined entirely by the success of her husband, and Anthony constantly belittles the women in his prose.

So, in all, an interesting but highly flawed book. I’m quite glad I read it, but I doubt very much I will be picking up another of his books at any point.

[Amie-Rose Struzik · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting concept that has been completed to a horrible standard. Most aspects of this book, aside from the idea of it, are annoying. Whether that is the writing itself, whereupon everything is drawn out to boring length and anything of any merit is quickly skipped over. whilst reading this book I actually fantasised about rewriting the whole thing and not wasting the idea by having this as its only representation.

It lacks sufficient world building to be convincing, is short of any quality of prose to be charming or enjoyable and is constant in its flawed design.

I forced myself to consume the descriptions of women and children as satirical ways to highlight the immorality in certain ways of thinking, to be able to read the constant repeated prattle of women being best when stupid and subservient, and how a 9 year old girl should mature until only 13 to be suitable for marriage. I did think that perhaps this is gently disguised fetish fantasy rather than just a reflection of history, because there felt no need for women in the 26th future imaginary utopia to continue being so subservient and willing to sleep with anything that asks them to?

Read the book if you want, I nyself did afterall, but if you find it a waste of time, don't be surprised.

[Mirko · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first this book is exactly what you hope a pulpy but intellectually ambitious vintage SF will be. There is a classic cover - in my case the 1980 Panther Science Fiction Fred Gambino illustration featuring a spaceship hovering over a primitive, savage-looking man holding a sword with an alien planet looming in the background. It is utterly and instantly memetic.

And then it starts at a cracking pace with lean prose. A 9th century Russian steppe dweller is kidnapped by time travellers from the 24th century who make him play in a virtual reality RPG where horses are actually spaceships and the whole future society is an aimless post-scarcity cultural vortex. It actually has the air of Outsider Art-style writing.

But then Anthony gets stuck with a complicated psuedo-recreation of 9th-10th century Steppe history. I couldn't follow after p100 and skipped to the end. The outsider-ness gets too out there. The curse of vintage SF strikes again...

[Heath Lesjak · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history lesson well wrapped in a science fiction outer story. I enjoyed my time with it, especially the world building that somehow superimposed historical events onto a galaxy-wide game. The idea that an amazing computer (the Game Master) was capable of manipulating and tweaking the events of the game to keep it in line with history was perhaps my largest doubt. But that didn't stop me from letting go and just enjoying the romp.

[Złota Pochodnia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was reorganizing my fun-stuff closet and came across this book, which I hadn't read in thirty years or more. It's about a Uigur chieftain from the 9th century who gets pulled forward in time about 1700 years to a future where people play a game set in... 9th century Asia. I started reading it on a whim and blew through it in three days. Fun, fast read, and it actually gives a pretty solid overview of about five centuries of Asian history.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

First half was interesting and fun, had some good social maneuvering scenes, but the second half became a summary of events that clearly suffered from Anthony's "history lesson disguised as a space opera idea" and fell flat.

[Todd Muhlenkamp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unique and entertaining. This is what I have come to expect from Anthony.

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. It was a bit of a confusing mess but it read very quickly. And while the historical aspects of it are well wrought, it was just too clumsy overall.

[MarkD60 · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was better the 1st time I read it than the 2nd time I read it. Accurate history mixed with fictitious characters. Reminded me of a Michner novel.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting idea to start with but a slog to get through given how short it is.

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/561956.html[return][return]Our hero, a ninth-century Uighur, is yanked far into the future by players of a massive interactive game called Steppe, in which the history of Central Asia is simulated between the years 841 and 1227 at a rate of a game year for every real day that passes. The author takes the opportunity to regale us with much history transcribed painstakingly from Rene Grousset's Empire of the Steppes (thanks to Mike Schilling for that tip-off).[return][return]Well, one has to be honest and admit that neither the plot, nor the setting, nor indeed the characterisation are quite as well-rounded as the couple depicted by Boris Vallejo on the cover, whose relevance is as minimal as their clothing. (Note how the gentleman holds his long upright pointy thing in one hand, and clutches another weapon at groin level with the other.)[return][return]For some reason, rather than have the whole game of Steppe a computer-generated environment, Anthony chooses to try and rewrite the Central Asian landscape into a space opera setting, so that the horses are spaceships, rough terrain equates to nebulas, camps are actually on planets. It's not as well done as he managed in the five-volume Bio of a Space Tyrant series (and that set rather a low bar to exceed, featuring as it did the bizarre decision of Turks and Greeks to settle on the same asteroid when they had the whole solar system to choose from, purely so that they could reproduce the Cyprus situation in space).[return][return]It's never clear whether the characters are supposed to get marks for recreating the historical record or deviating from it, and this is where Anthony really does run into difficulty with writing a decent story; he cannot choose between history lesson and plot. (A cantankerous afterword complains about his treatment by his publishers.) The women of the future are apparently "unversed in the refinements of pleasure" (this phrase is actually used), but fortunately our time-travelling hero is around to put them right by doing it the old-fashioned Turkic way.[return][return]Perhaps not the best book I've read all year, but I did at least find it much easier going than Dhalgren.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eurasian barbarian chieftain Alp is plucked from his time to land in the future. The inhabitants there (then?) run a massive, star-spanning cross between an MMORPG and a reality TV show set in the Dark Ages, and a couple of them hoped to snatch Alp as a point of reference to get a leg up in the game. Undeterred, Alp breaks free, and enters the game himself. There, he uses his knowledge and experiences to carve out his own personal virtual empire.

I'm on the fence about this one. The action is great, the developments are interesting, and the game concept is amazing. Kind of a pre-cyberpunk way of jacking in to a virtual experience. On the other hand, Anthony often stops the narrative as Alp watches cartoon effigies duke it out on TV, representations of in-game standings. No, really. Those sections are a dull history lesson, too much exposition to catch my interest, and they begin to drag after a while. Anthony also has confusing terminology to represent in-game and real-world increments of time.

Unexceptional and kind of forgettable, but it has enough good moments to entertain you for a few nights. Very light and fluffy kind of reading.

(Full review found here.)

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent idea is turned into a pretty dry book.
Piers channels Philip Jose Farmer in this story about a warrior from the times of the mongul hordes is brought through time to be used in a future war game that is based on his time period.

He soon realizes his that his only way to survive is to help his patrons, but also ensure that his minor 'character' in the game progresses through the various levels and eventually 'wins'.

Some cool stuff, but pretty dry and too much over explained and everyone but the hero stays fairly one dimensional.

[Joel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frankly, this was just ok. Piers Anthony is one of those authors that can really grab me (the Incarnations of Immortality series) or lose me on the first page (any Xanth book after number 7). Steppe falls somewhere squarely in the middle. The story was interesting, but I would have just preferred a well-written history book.

[Scythan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The summary at the back of the book misled me; it didn't say that the majority of the book would be about a virtual reality game that teaches history. I wasn't much interested in the subject matter, so I wasn't too interested in the book either. I'm sure it would be great for someone else as it's well written, but not for me.

[Ameliedanjou · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a goofy book (not like his Zanth books!) that I'd put in a category with _Mixed Doubles_ by Daniel de la Cruz, because they take historical characters out of context, then try to recontextualize them in the time-traveling future. If you are interested in Mongolian/steppe cultures and sci-fi and RPGs, well this throws them all together. Kind of a hoot, actually.

[Miguel]

I found this book in a Little Free Library in Spokane and took it with me to Spain. I remember really enjoying it, then one night it feel asleep in my arms, in the common area of an albergue on the Camino Primitivo. The next morning I left in a rush and forgot it.

I'd like to think another pilgrim picked it up and finished it.

[Lynnette · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don't know your history for the steppes or the era of Ghengis Khan, this book will give you all the details in such a way you will never forget it. I have read this book at least 10 times and I still get new things from it. I plan on reading it again soon.

[Eyjólfur Örn Jónsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, if a bit on the strange side. It took me a while to get started but once I got into it I really had a good time reading it. Not to be read for its literary value as no one could mistake it for the next Journey to the center of the earth but nevertheless a lot of fun.

[Aven · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sci-fi story about the rise of Genghis Khan -- a bit obvious in its attempt to teach history (as the author himself admits in a postscript) but I like history, so quite enjoyed it. It's a quick, fun read.

[Michaelbaena97]

Meh, could do without the cartoon history, though I guess that was at least half the point of the book. Ending seemed rushed and the love interest seemed forced and pointless. Not the best Piers Anthony read.

[Chas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Possibly the best book Piers wrote in my opinion. Great historical reference (I have no idea how accurate), with great tie in to sci-fi themes.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great, a hidden history lesson. =) I read this book sometime back in the 90's, though.

[Steel · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my Favorites of all time!

[SciFiOne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grade C+