Customer Reviews

Shiva 3000: A Novel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

In this entertaining mix of action, exotica, and psychedelia, readers are plunged into a whirlwind Indian fantasy, a far east that has been enhanced and degraded by technology, so much that the characters believe themselves in the presence of gods. These gods tower over the landscape as huge animate beings, a patchwork of what has gone into their own creation, and (we learn) believing themselves divine. The story concerns a young man who believes he has been appointed the task of killing a popular folk hero of the land. As he travels the transformed subcontinent, he encounters an engineer with a strange gift for seeing the essence of machinery, and who has a past ensnared with those who rule the land. Together, they meet a group of Buddhist monks who have their own interest in the workings of the world and the gods overseeing it. Strangely, nobody seems to know of the world beyond the subcontinent, which leads me to wonder what has gone on to bring this strange time into being. The marvels are continuous - calculating cranes, cities built on mandala-patterns, a serpentine underbelly of the world - and Jensen's style is golden. The novel gets off to a somewhat slow start, but once the plot is rolling, it's hard for a reader to pull out. Fans of better genre material, such as the works of Neil Stephenson and Jeff Noon, will appreciate the writing and characterization. Also highly recommended for fans of Japanese filmmaker Hiyako Miyazaki, who created wonder of a similar caliber in "Princess Mononoke."

Shiva 3000 is a story about an indefinitely far future in which the subcontinental Indian gods have been made real, but apparently through technology long forgotten. The appearance of a Baboon Warrior, the hero of India, shakes up the status quo and causes a young man who desires his downfall to release himself from his own dharma to question the role of the gods made flesh and discover alternate modes of thinking and behavior. Unfortunately, the book ends at a point which makes it too ripe for a sequel. More volumes are obviously to come, but they will be welcome. The book is most reminiscent of Celestial Matters (ISBN 0312863489).

I found this book to be a great read. It is a very imaginative use of Hindu mythology. Although, at first it might seem sacrilegious to bend Hindu mythology in so many ways, I do believe the author had a good understanding of the nature and character of the millions of participants in the Hindu pantheon and cosmos. The plot and its many facets lead to many interesting political and religious interpretations of modern Indian society should one be inclined to seek out such commentary. Unfortunately, unless one is exceedingly well versed in Indian culture and Hindu mythology, I do not believe that they will fully enjoy or appreciate this wonderful and fanciful novel.

This book blew me away! I wasn't expecting such a startling combo of ideas with a flashy writing style. It reminded me of how I felt upon first encountering the fiction of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, that something new was going on and I was glad to be a part of it. Jensen takes Hindu mythology as his starting point but never looks back from there, incorporating visions worthy of "Brazil" or some trippy version of those Ray Harryhausen Sinbad movies, plus speculations on far-future evolutions of a technological society, and novel ideas regarding friendship, love, sex. Some people are going to be upset when the subject is religion I guess but hey, isn't that what art is for, to explore ideas? And the society portrayed in this book is so many removes from any we know today that it's difficult to understand the criticisms some have left here on amazon... but then, "The Last Temptation of Christ" bothered people too, whereas for most, it was just a movie or a book, interesting for what it was but certainly no threat to the underlying beliefs. Hopefully people will read to the end and judge for themselves.

The ending of "Shiva" is fantastic and suggests not only how the world of the novel came to be but reveals the target of the author's criticism: our too-eager rush to let technology slide into our lives. That's what the book was for me anyway, a very original look at the way we let the things around us change our ways, until we hardly recognize ourselves.

I look forward the next by this author.

Shiva 3000 is a rather baroque novel, using the gods among mortals trope, but not gods as such. A man sets out to right a wrong, there is an unstoppable juggernaut, a woman, and other mythological bits and pieces.

It just didn't seem to work for me, but using Indian myths made it worth a look, fantastic archers, or not.

Combining the vision of 'Snowcrash'and the elegance of 'Neuromancer' with a mocking, effortless erudition (Hanuman has long been my favorite god) and wit, 'Shiva 3000' announces the arrival of an avatar in the science-fiction firmament. Whether Mr Jensen will grow into a titan only time will tell, but the birth is dazzling. An almost perfect first book.

This was one of those rare books I couldn't put down. It evokes a wonderful mythical world of heroes, gods and machines. I will be reading the sequel as soon as it is published.

If you want something unique, this may be the book for you. I found it vivid and enthralling. That simply.

Shiva 3000 is a bizarre mixture of good old fashioned pulp fiction combined with psychedelic sci-fi and a dash of orientalist exploitation. It hasn't really got much to do with India as a real place. The 'India' of Shiva 3000 is as unreal as the Raj of Merchant-Ivory films. It is an 'orient of the mind', a western author's romantic and exotic setting for a quixotic quest. It is brim-full of ideas and fantastic devices: a plot by latter-day followers of the Kama Sutra and the out-of-control god-machines being the main examples. It is fun in its own way, but the characters are no more than ciphers, the plot is simply an excuse to pile on the next strange inventions and it is all faintly patronising to India in a way that other sci-fi or fantasy novels set in non-western settings have not been; McHugh's China Mountain Zhang being a worthy example. So, an enjoyable and inventive romp but uncomfortable in some ways.

The first few chapters are a bit opaque, and the books reads for a while like fantasy, but it turns out to be science fiction, indeed, to be as fresh and challenging as sf should be. This is really something new, lively, and beautiful. I was stunned.