Claire North - Slow Gods

Claire North has a gift for unusual stories that usually meld fantastical elements (humans who relive their lives over and again; people who can take over other people's minds and bodies) with the gloriously normal worlds the rest of us inhabit. In Slow Gods however North has done something a little out of the ordinary for her. This time her novel has a principle character Mawukana na-Vdnaze who cannot die. Or rather they cannot stay dead ("I am a very poor copy of myself"). But they don't live on our Earth, they live in a very complicated galaxy dominated by a powerful corporation known as the Shine and a rather ineffectual UN type body called the Accord.

The interplanetary travel in this universe is conducted by means of arcspace. Gifted humans have to link into spacecraft and guide the ships through "the dark". In doing so they risk their minds and those of their passengers. Most humans can only do it a few times. But for some reason Mawukana na-Vdnaze can do it repeatedly, and with a precision that allows remarkable missions and occasional warfare. The Shine like to use piloting as a punishment. It's a sign of their cruelty.

Into this well thought out universe comes news from the Slow, and unknown alien force of enormous power. They inform worlds that a supernova will consume a densely inhabited part of the galaxy in a few decades, and leave humanity to try and cope. The Shine does little - rescuing handpicked individuals and people they need, leaving the masses to perish. Other planets do more, and pilots like Mawukana na-Vdnaze are in great demand to pilot refugee ships. Every great science-fiction novel is a reflection on our times, and those of us who've felt horror at dozens of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean can only imagine the horrors when billions are fleeing. Some people get a lottery ticket to escape. Others are left. The evacuation of one planet, Adjumir, sees its population desperately scrabbling to save their culture, traditions and history. But what can be saved? At the end those who've survived have begun to lose their songs and language - merging into their new locales.

In response to the failures to rescue people a resistance movement is born, and on some planets the Shine are fought to a standstill. Eventually the Accord is forced to act - not to save people, but to stop the Shine. Mawukana na-Vdnaze plays their own role, as spy, warrior and pilot. Part of the resistance to the Shine that first destroyed his own city.

Slow Gods is a complicated novel in places. I found North's development of Mawukana na-Vdnaze's story hard to follow as it was scattered through the book. But what worked well were interpersonal relations between Mawukana na-Vdnaze and their friends, comrades and lover. Here North plays around with gender (and lots and lots of pronouns) to flesh it all out vividly. 

Ultimately I was left a little disappointed. The book is very much a metaphor for how society reacts to threats. The analogy with the supernova in a few decades time threatening to destroy everything, and the inaction over climate change is obvious and works well. But I found the story itself a little thin and underwhelming. So read it for the people, places and cultures that North portrays. Also a living spaceship made from trees and flowers.

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