Playing God / Sarah Zettel

Playing God

category: science fiction, author:

Sarah Zettel

original copyright 1998,
read in March 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 9 out of 10

Right near the beginning of this book I thought, Surely these people can't be that altruistic!? Then it seems that they were. Then it was shown that they were not... An ideal plot twist that is a complete surprise -- but no surprise at all !

This is great science fiction...

First, there are the humans. They have the technology, they have the good intentions, they want to help the aliens. The aliens need help... or do they? Perhaps one character has it right, that the aliens should be left alone to solve their own problems. The alternative is to create a depressed, degraded, cargo cult culture.

Should the humans help, by protecting the aliens from themselves? The alternative is, to let the alien culture risk taking a path to its own self-destruction. Remember Knut the polar bear? It's that sort of dilemma...

Better yet, we are not given the answer. We have to decide for ourselves.

Then there are the aliens. And they are truly alien -- at least in culture, social standards and personal psychology. These aliens are humanoid, yet radically non-human. They are a mixture of family love and support, with pathological hatred of non-family. They are all female -- until they lose their minds and turn male. (Hmmm... is that a message from the author?!)

The best of the aliens think and act in truly alien ways. And yet we can understand them. Zettel has done an excellent job in creating a complete and believable culture which is truly alien, and where we both sympathise and empathise with the alien characters.

As an aside, both here and in the book: Zettel mentions that humans have met other alien cultures. Where the two cultures are able to communicate, they share an interest in getting along, for mutual benefit. Some cultures are so alien that communication has never been established. In these situations, the two cultures are content to simply ignore one another.

This positive view of cross-cultural dealings may be a bit optimistic. But I would like to think that it will turn out to be true.

Okay, for a lot of the book I was thinking, You have the technology -- now thump them into line! When the book ended... I was very glad that the non-thumping approach had been taken.

This is a somewhat complex book, with a lot of strangely-named characters. If you don't try to identify each character, the plot is more of a straight line. I took the fast-read approach. Now I am tempted to re-read, to identify each character as they take their time on stage. I know that I will enjoy this second reading -- and gain even more enjoyment from this book.

Years ago I read only science fiction. Then I moved to, mostly, fantasy. It's great to rediscover the excitement of a science fiction novel with high technology but a very human (and alien) basis to the story.

I hope that Zettel has continued to write more, excellent books.

..o0o..

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