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The Earth Remembers
Cimarron Langtry joins forces with a mercenary, a giant, a healer, and the new Comanches to fight the army of Clankers that is occupying their land
317 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 25, 2021
Wow, this book is an interesting melange of ideas and mythologies. Torian's novel is basically a "cowboys and Indians" Western with a heaping dose of American (the continent, not the country) history thrown on top. You get Aztec, Inca, Toltec mythologies and history and more.
Then there's the post-apocalyptic backdrop, somewhat inspired by TSR's Gamma World role-playing game (The book was published by TSR, then the publisher of Dungeons and Dragons). So you have talking lizard people, nuclear "Fire Gods" a guy who actually has Apocalypse as a last name, vaqueros and Comanche princesses, and, I kid you not, Sasquatch.
It's a crazy mix, and surprisingly not as compelling as all that sounds. It's almost too much. It's Torian's first (maybe only) book, so there's lots of exposition, and characters providing exposition in their dialogue (never a great thing) and jumping from set-piece to set-piece instead of smooth transitions from event to event in some sort of logical order.
Still, it's a lot of fun, and you'd be hard pressed to find many adventure novels that pay homage to the Toltecs and other American civilizations, and to see them treated as equal to or even superior to the current, dominant American culture (this time the country, not the continent).
And as someone who lives in Texas, it's interesting to contemplate how the myths and locations of the current Texas will be thought of a couple thousand years from now, should St. Davy and St. Elvis have their way.
Also, as the cover makes clear, there are gila monsters with butterfly wings. I mean, they are underutilized, but they are there. So that's cool.
Then there's the post-apocalyptic backdrop, somewhat inspired by TSR's Gamma World role-playing game (The book was published by TSR, then the publisher of Dungeons and Dragons). So you have talking lizard people, nuclear "Fire Gods" a guy who actually has Apocalypse as a last name, vaqueros and Comanche princesses, and, I kid you not, Sasquatch.
It's a crazy mix, and surprisingly not as compelling as all that sounds. It's almost too much. It's Torian's first (maybe only) book, so there's lots of exposition, and characters providing exposition in their dialogue (never a great thing) and jumping from set-piece to set-piece instead of smooth transitions from event to event in some sort of logical order.
Still, it's a lot of fun, and you'd be hard pressed to find many adventure novels that pay homage to the Toltecs and other American civilizations, and to see them treated as equal to or even superior to the current, dominant American culture (this time the country, not the continent).
And as someone who lives in Texas, it's interesting to contemplate how the myths and locations of the current Texas will be thought of a couple thousand years from now, should St. Davy and St. Elvis have their way.
Also, as the cover makes clear, there are gila monsters with butterfly wings. I mean, they are underutilized, but they are there. So that's cool.
October 9, 2015
A great read if you're looking for something a little different. She never wrote another book; I wonder why not?
August 11, 2024
I really don't want to give this book two stars because this cover is great and I really wanted to love it. I got it on my birthday last year - thanks again, by the way - and was just filled with delusions of grandeur. Alas, Susan Torian Olan is not what we would call a great writer, and *The Earth Remembers* is not a great post-apocalyptic novel nor a notable western, just a somewhat fun ride that had my eyes darting in every which direction. I'm sure if it will be more fun to summarize or to tear apart...
*The Earth Remembers* is set about a thousand years in the future, which means it's set about a thousand years after nuclear catastrophe. The book takes place in the area where Texas and northern Mexico used to be, which is now controlled by Tesharka, the tyrannical nation that conquered our main character's home-nation of Pecos decades ago. There are only two forces in the area which could oppose Tesharka: a rebellion led by someone named the Prophet situated in the San Cris Mountains and Durango, a country that's friendly with Tesharka but challenged by a vaquero-band led by Diego Laredo. Our main character, Cimarron Langtry, was a member of Diego's band after the Pecos rebellion he was a part of several years before this book was squashed by Tesharka. At the start of the book Langtry is trying to return to Pecos to scout for Laredo and while trying to accomplish some personal quest that we never find out about, but on the way he's stopped by a Tesharka patrol that would've killed him if it wasn't for a mysterious trio consisting of a witch, a giant, and a mercenary. Our perspective shifts to this band and we soon find out that the giant Ixtpan is taking the sorceress, Angelina, to heal the Prophet so his rebellion can continue. They're later laid up in a small town shaken down by Tesharka soldiers and end up running away with a
*The Earth Remembers* is set about a thousand years in the future, which means it's set about a thousand years after nuclear catastrophe. The book takes place in the area where Texas and northern Mexico used to be, which is now controlled by Tesharka, the tyrannical nation that conquered our main character's home-nation of Pecos decades ago. There are only two forces in the area which could oppose Tesharka: a rebellion led by someone named the Prophet situated in the San Cris Mountains and Durango, a country that's friendly with Tesharka but challenged by a vaquero-band led by Diego Laredo. Our main character, Cimarron Langtry, was a member of Diego's band after the Pecos rebellion he was a part of several years before this book was squashed by Tesharka. At the start of the book Langtry is trying to return to Pecos to scout for Laredo and while trying to accomplish some personal quest that we never find out about, but on the way he's stopped by a Tesharka patrol that would've killed him if it wasn't for a mysterious trio consisting of a witch, a giant, and a mercenary. Our perspective shifts to this band and we soon find out that the giant Ixtpan is taking the sorceress, Angelina, to heal the Prophet so his rebellion can continue. They're later laid up in a small town shaken down by Tesharka soldiers and end up running away with a
July 14, 2020
Lonesome Dove meets A Canticle for Leibowitz, with a healthy does of the original Fallout series. (The book even has what are basically Deathclaws, although this one is named Paradox instead of Goris).
The ideas in the book are interesting. The setting is the Mexico-Texas border, centuries after a nuclear war. Elvis is a saint, so is Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. There are new gods who are worshiped alongside some of the old gods. Religions have amalgamated in usual ways.
The writing is just bad. The point of view changes often, sometimes mid-sentence. There are large (and many small) info dumps. The characters are very expository, often speaking to the reader and not to the other characters they are supposed to be interacting with. ("As you know...").
Another example, just from a random flipping of the pages, "The altar was covered in colorful stone mosaic images of strange creatures and symbols." What colors? What creatures? What symbols? There are a lot of non-specific descriptions in this book.
Flipping to a random page again: "He had refused to let her use her stones and magic, because her rituals made him vaguely uneasy." Vaguely uneasy?
I find myself skimming large sections.
War. War never changes.
Update: Now we are in Beneath the Planet of the Apes territory. Worship of an exploded nuclear weapon in an underground cavern.
Update: And Indiana Jones.
Update: Now Harry and the Hendersons. This book really jumped the shark. A big f*cking shark that would make a megalodon seem like a minnow. A Sasquatch literally showed up, did some fighting... and leaves the scene...?
So spoiler, and I do this only because another reviewer said they did not want to spoil the Gila Monster from the cover, but the Gila Monsters with butterfly wings only shows up early in the book, like the first or second chapter. One of the main characters cooks one to eat. That is all. It is maybe one or two sentences. I can't even be bothered to find it at this point.
Bottom line, I wanted to like the book. I kept reading it because of the sunk cost fallacy. There are some good ideas as far was word building go. Characters kind of suck, but if you want to read about an orphan boy who was found swaddled in a Texas flag stop (kind of) a nuclear explosion in the desert, which a reptilian humanoid and a Sasquatch in the fray, then this might be the book for you.
Otherwise, don't be sucked in by the cover. This one is going back to the thrift store.
The ideas in the book are interesting. The setting is the Mexico-Texas border, centuries after a nuclear war. Elvis is a saint, so is Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. There are new gods who are worshiped alongside some of the old gods. Religions have amalgamated in usual ways.
The writing is just bad. The point of view changes often, sometimes mid-sentence. There are large (and many small) info dumps. The characters are very expository, often speaking to the reader and not to the other characters they are supposed to be interacting with. ("As you know...").
Another example, just from a random flipping of the pages, "The altar was covered in colorful stone mosaic images of strange creatures and symbols." What colors? What creatures? What symbols? There are a lot of non-specific descriptions in this book.
Flipping to a random page again: "He had refused to let her use her stones and magic, because her rituals made him vaguely uneasy." Vaguely uneasy?
I find myself skimming large sections.
War. War never changes.
Update: Now we are in Beneath the Planet of the Apes territory. Worship of an exploded nuclear weapon in an underground cavern.
Update: And Indiana Jones.
Update: Now Harry and the Hendersons. This book really jumped the shark. A big f*cking shark that would make a megalodon seem like a minnow. A Sasquatch literally showed up, did some fighting... and leaves the scene...?
So spoiler, and I do this only because another reviewer said they did not want to spoil the Gila Monster from the cover, but the Gila Monsters with butterfly wings only shows up early in the book, like the first or second chapter. One of the main characters cooks one to eat. That is all. It is maybe one or two sentences. I can't even be bothered to find it at this point.
Bottom line, I wanted to like the book. I kept reading it because of the sunk cost fallacy. There are some good ideas as far was word building go. Characters kind of suck, but if you want to read about an orphan boy who was found swaddled in a Texas flag stop (kind of) a nuclear explosion in the desert, which a reptilian humanoid and a Sasquatch in the fray, then this might be the book for you.
Otherwise, don't be sucked in by the cover. This one is going back to the thrift store.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 15, 2024
I liked the basic premise of "The Earth Remembers": a post-apocalyptic western with fantasy and sci-fi elements thrown in. The idea definitely had potential, and if a better writer than Olan had undertaken it, the book might have been a classic. Unfortunately, the execution was lacking, and the book was mediocre, at best.
I've seen this book described as a "kitchen sink" fantasy, and it's true: Olan just threw in everything she thought was cool, without considering whether it made sense or not. She thought Mesoamerican religion was cool, so we have a Toltec priestess and constant mentions of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca (who's been reduced to an evil, Satanic god. I wish authors and moviemakers would stop making pagan gods with slightly darker personalities evil, just because they can't imagine a religion without a Satanic figure). She thought New Age stuff was cool, so the Mesoamerican religion in the book is mixed with Buddhist beliefs about reincarnation, harmony, and nonviolence. She thought magic was cool, so the healer, Angelina, has magical powers. She thought dinosaurs were cool, so we have a hidden civilization of lizard-people descended from dinosaurs. She thought the legends of Bigfoot were cool, so we have a Sasquatch and a lost civilization of Sasquatches. While a better writer and worldbuilder (like Neil Gaiman) might have been able to fit all these elements together into a compelling whole, Olan just introduced them with all the subtlety and coherence of a seven-year-old making up a story on the spur of the moment.
Actually, Olan was a pretty bad worldbuilder in general. We're supposed to believe that a human civilization 1000 years after a nuclear holocaust (because what else is going to cause the apocalypse in a work from the late '80s?) can forge weapons of bronze and copper but not iron or steel? That the hidden civilization of lizard-people would know what bombs were, but the humans who destroyed themselves with bombs wouldn't? That people would be sprinkling their dialogue with random Spanish words and speaking in a Texan dialect (using words like "y'all," "buckaroo," and "pardner") when the language should be completely different? That someone would know who King Kong was when there are no movies and historical figures like Elvis are considered saints? Olan also has an unfortunate tendency to tell rather than show. She gives information about her world through long infodumps in the middle of the narrative, and the characters explain things about the world that they all should already know to each other. "As you know, Bob..." dialogue is one of the surest signs of a bad writer.
The villains in this book are so terribly-written and ridiculously evil that they could have come from a grade-school book. The governor (or "guvnor" *rolls eyes*) and military officers of the Tesharka Confederation are mustache-twirling, puppy-kicking buffoons who kill counsel members for spitting out drinks, cackle evilly when they kill people, burn villages for no reason, enslave people, and--are you ready for this?--strip the land of trees for no reason! I'm surprised Olan didn't have a scene with them randomly slaughtering whales and pandas. We never once learn what the ultimate goal of the Tesharka Confederation is beyond taking over the world and making people miserable. Do they want to unite separate countries and territories? Purge the land of a certain race of people? Bring more sophisticated technology to the continent? Make money? We don't know, and considering that Olan wrote chapters from these Tesharka leaders' points of view, that's unforgivable. Not even the most evil people think about how much they love killing and how much they want ultimate power; they try to excuse themselves for doing things that they know are terrible. But Olan apparently didn't know this: the Tesharka Confederation just randomly tortures, slaughters, and enslaves people because they're villains, and that's what villains do.
As an aside, at least there's no rape in this book, or graphic descriptions of torture. Olan did have enough taste to avoid going dark 'n' edgy, and I do give her credit for that.
The only character I really liked was Angelina, and that was because her situation was unique (she refuses to kill a single person, even in self-defense, not only because she's dedicated to nonviolence, but because she would lose her magical healing powers if she did). Cimarron Langtry, the hero, is bland and boring. He has some tragedy in his past, like a lost love and a dead friend, but since it only comes up when he wants to angst, it doesn't make him more interesting. Ixtpan is only around to spout exposition and lift rocks when the heroes are trapped in a cave. I have no clue what the point of Matsemela is: all he does is fight and complain. I also don't know why Olan made him from Africa (or Afria): we never see Afria, and his origin has no effect on his character. Olan might as well have made him from North America (or Noramica). Paradox is awful: she's always acting contemptuous of humans and going on about how much better her lizard-people civilization is; I was constantly hoping she would die. The minor characters are all cliches: the plucky teenager, the strong warrior-woman, the creepy high priest, the traitor to the rebellion, the kindly padre, the reincarnated prophet.
The blurb states that this is Olan's first novel, but she never wrote anything else. There are plenty of loose ends at the end of this book, as well as a hook for a sequel, but readers and critics must have felt the same way as I did about it, since the sequel was never written. I can't say I mind: I was only mildly curious about what would happen next. Overall, I don't regret reading "The Earth Remembers," but I didn't like it.
I've seen this book described as a "kitchen sink" fantasy, and it's true: Olan just threw in everything she thought was cool, without considering whether it made sense or not. She thought Mesoamerican religion was cool, so we have a Toltec priestess and constant mentions of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca (who's been reduced to an evil, Satanic god. I wish authors and moviemakers would stop making pagan gods with slightly darker personalities evil, just because they can't imagine a religion without a Satanic figure). She thought New Age stuff was cool, so the Mesoamerican religion in the book is mixed with Buddhist beliefs about reincarnation, harmony, and nonviolence. She thought magic was cool, so the healer, Angelina, has magical powers. She thought dinosaurs were cool, so we have a hidden civilization of lizard-people descended from dinosaurs. She thought the legends of Bigfoot were cool, so we have a Sasquatch and a lost civilization of Sasquatches. While a better writer and worldbuilder (like Neil Gaiman) might have been able to fit all these elements together into a compelling whole, Olan just introduced them with all the subtlety and coherence of a seven-year-old making up a story on the spur of the moment.
Actually, Olan was a pretty bad worldbuilder in general. We're supposed to believe that a human civilization 1000 years after a nuclear holocaust (because what else is going to cause the apocalypse in a work from the late '80s?) can forge weapons of bronze and copper but not iron or steel? That the hidden civilization of lizard-people would know what bombs were, but the humans who destroyed themselves with bombs wouldn't? That people would be sprinkling their dialogue with random Spanish words and speaking in a Texan dialect (using words like "y'all," "buckaroo," and "pardner") when the language should be completely different? That someone would know who King Kong was when there are no movies and historical figures like Elvis are considered saints? Olan also has an unfortunate tendency to tell rather than show. She gives information about her world through long infodumps in the middle of the narrative, and the characters explain things about the world that they all should already know to each other. "As you know, Bob..." dialogue is one of the surest signs of a bad writer.
The villains in this book are so terribly-written and ridiculously evil that they could have come from a grade-school book. The governor (or "guvnor" *rolls eyes*) and military officers of the Tesharka Confederation are mustache-twirling, puppy-kicking buffoons who kill counsel members for spitting out drinks, cackle evilly when they kill people, burn villages for no reason, enslave people, and--are you ready for this?--strip the land of trees for no reason! I'm surprised Olan didn't have a scene with them randomly slaughtering whales and pandas. We never once learn what the ultimate goal of the Tesharka Confederation is beyond taking over the world and making people miserable. Do they want to unite separate countries and territories? Purge the land of a certain race of people? Bring more sophisticated technology to the continent? Make money? We don't know, and considering that Olan wrote chapters from these Tesharka leaders' points of view, that's unforgivable. Not even the most evil people think about how much they love killing and how much they want ultimate power; they try to excuse themselves for doing things that they know are terrible. But Olan apparently didn't know this: the Tesharka Confederation just randomly tortures, slaughters, and enslaves people because they're villains, and that's what villains do.
As an aside, at least there's no rape in this book, or graphic descriptions of torture. Olan did have enough taste to avoid going dark 'n' edgy, and I do give her credit for that.
The only character I really liked was Angelina, and that was because her situation was unique (she refuses to kill a single person, even in self-defense, not only because she's dedicated to nonviolence, but because she would lose her magical healing powers if she did). Cimarron Langtry, the hero, is bland and boring. He has some tragedy in his past, like a lost love and a dead friend, but since it only comes up when he wants to angst, it doesn't make him more interesting. Ixtpan is only around to spout exposition and lift rocks when the heroes are trapped in a cave. I have no clue what the point of Matsemela is: all he does is fight and complain. I also don't know why Olan made him from Africa (or Afria): we never see Afria, and his origin has no effect on his character. Olan might as well have made him from North America (or Noramica). Paradox is awful: she's always acting contemptuous of humans and going on about how much better her lizard-people civilization is; I was constantly hoping she would die. The minor characters are all cliches: the plucky teenager, the strong warrior-woman, the creepy high priest, the traitor to the rebellion, the kindly padre, the reincarnated prophet.
The blurb states that this is Olan's first novel, but she never wrote anything else. There are plenty of loose ends at the end of this book, as well as a hook for a sequel, but readers and critics must have felt the same way as I did about it, since the sequel was never written. I can't say I mind: I was only mildly curious about what would happen next. Overall, I don't regret reading "The Earth Remembers," but I didn't like it.
January 4, 2010
I liked the TexMex Scifi of this book. Good characters, especially the lizard-like sidekick.
December 3, 2021
Luin tämän TSR:n julkaiseman post-apokalyptisen tarinan muutama vuosikymmen sitten. Hämmästyttävästi Susan Torian Olanin kehittelemä maailma ei suoraan liittynyt mihinkään firman roolipeliin, vaan oli oma itsenäinen kokonaisuutensa. Pidin sen omintakeisesta ja aika villistä maailmanrakennuksesta joka yhdisteli post-apokalyptisen fiktion kuvioita ja myyttejä.
October 29, 2010
The back of the book states "A one-of-a-kind Tex-Mex futuristic Western." One of a kind is correct.
We have the following story lines in this novel:
1)Post=apocalyptic: Northern Hemisphere destoryed centuires ago; a small segment of the lands known as Texas and Mexico have survived. Civilzation is armies with bows and arrows and swords--no firearms have been re-discovered.
2) Magic. Angelina has magical healing powers; Ixtpan can communicate with animals.
3)Ancient presumably extinct races. Mutant miniture two-legged descendants of dinosaurs. Angela is a Toltec priestess. Falling Eagle, a shaman we meet later in the book is a re-incarnation of an Aztec chieftain. Oh, and 70 pages before the book ends, we add a talking Bigfoot.
4)Straight Western conflict with one state attempting to conquier the other with horseback armies with bows and arrows and swords.
These four segments make an un-even mixture. Had Ms. Olan written a fantasy; a Western; or a post-apocalyptic novel, the results might have been better. Instead she tries to do too much and the different elements do not mix well. Also, most of the characters are one-dimensional. For example, one of the main four characters--Matsemela is described as "a brutal mercenary" and in 317 pages we learn very little esle about him.
And it is very episodic. Long descriptive passage. Insert action scene. Resume with more description.
The ARe some bits of pices of good writing her. I would be interested in a more traditional Western or historical novel from this writer--the mixture is just not brought together well enough.
I would recommend this only for those who really, really have read a lot of post-spocaplyptic literature and want to try something definitely unusual. Or, and readers who like to read first novels.
There are a lot better end of the world novels out there--try Alas, Babylon or On The Beach or A Canticle for Liebowitz. All are much better than this was.
We have the following story lines in this novel:
1)Post=apocalyptic: Northern Hemisphere destoryed centuires ago; a small segment of the lands known as Texas and Mexico have survived. Civilzation is armies with bows and arrows and swords--no firearms have been re-discovered.
2) Magic. Angelina has magical healing powers; Ixtpan can communicate with animals.
3)Ancient presumably extinct races. Mutant miniture two-legged descendants of dinosaurs. Angela is a Toltec priestess. Falling Eagle, a shaman we meet later in the book is a re-incarnation of an Aztec chieftain. Oh, and 70 pages before the book ends, we add a talking Bigfoot.
4)Straight Western conflict with one state attempting to conquier the other with horseback armies with bows and arrows and swords.
These four segments make an un-even mixture. Had Ms. Olan written a fantasy; a Western; or a post-apocalyptic novel, the results might have been better. Instead she tries to do too much and the different elements do not mix well. Also, most of the characters are one-dimensional. For example, one of the main four characters--Matsemela is described as "a brutal mercenary" and in 317 pages we learn very little esle about him.
And it is very episodic. Long descriptive passage. Insert action scene. Resume with more description.
The ARe some bits of pices of good writing her. I would be interested in a more traditional Western or historical novel from this writer--the mixture is just not brought together well enough.
I would recommend this only for those who really, really have read a lot of post-spocaplyptic literature and want to try something definitely unusual. Or, and readers who like to read first novels.
There are a lot better end of the world novels out there--try Alas, Babylon or On The Beach or A Canticle for Liebowitz. All are much better than this was.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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