In the distant future, man's follies have left the Earth a wild and dangerous place. Artifacts of a time of technology still endure, but their meanings are hidden beyond the veil of time. Enclaves of peace and knowledge still exist, but even there, knowledge is passed by rote rather than through true understanding. And inside these Citadels, all are taught that Inside is good and Outside is bad. For one apprentice, though, the Outside is intent on coming in, and it needs help.

I found this novel refreshingly short - I finished it in under one day. However, overall I was not terribly happy with it. Certainly the fact that the version I read is a translation of the original French has something to do with it, but I found the language cumbersome. The author was very fond of using similes to put descriptions on the horror of a battlefield, or the decay of the last vestiges of civilization, but economy doesn't appear to be in Walther's toolchest. Often where a single description might suffice, he piles to two or three or four stilted, overwrought descriptions. After a while, this became annoying. Our young hero's sexual exploits and fantasies are also tangential to the overall story arc. And exploits is really too grand a term for the encounters he has... or thinks he has.

The included author's note indicates that The Book of Shai is a response to Ayn Rand's "Anthem"... and perhaps what we have is a novel that was done simply as a reaction to a single theme in another novel... and because it's overall purpose is not to tell a story, but to tilt against a single theme in another author's work what we end up with is a fractured story where the characters are not fleshed out, the protagonist's purpose is not clear, and even in victory we don't really understand what was real and what was a waking dream.

Read 2/2008 ( )