Snare [Hardcover]

Katharine Kerr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2003

The author of the beloved Deverry series (Dragonspell, Darkspell, and The Red Wyvern) turns her hand to a new kind of tale.

On the planet known as Snare, the descendants of Islamic fundamentalist emigrants have created beautiful enclaves, where they can sit on a patio enjoying green grass and "true-roses," but the nomadic tribes live in a much harsher landscape. Where the grass is purple, the trees are orange, and the huge and dangerous sentient Cha'Meech lizards roam the landscape.

Idres Warkannan and his companions seek to find the only man who can redeem their Islamic civilization from its despotic ruler and restore justice to the population. Zayn Hassan, refugee from the despot's service, finds himself living among the tribes of the "comnee," where Healer and Spirit Rider Ammadin, seeing the dangers all around her, is beginning to doubt the gods who are her only protection.

To save herself and her people, Ammadin journeys eastward into war, intrigue, and adventure - and finds more than she bargained for on all counts.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Popular fantasy author Kerr (the Deverry series) once again crosses genres to deliver a large-scale SF adventure, with crowd-pleasing results. Three very different groups of human settlers go, not all willingly, to the planet Snare: a band of Islamic fundamentalists, a group of horse tribes and the pragmatic Cantons people. All descend on Snare's indigenous reptilian species the ChaMeech, and eight centuries of territorial and social turmoil follow. In Kazrajistan, the despotic Gemet Great Kahn rules the followers of the Third Prophet, but a secret rebel organization led by Captain Idres Warkannan seeks to restore the rightful heir, Jezro Kahn, long assumed murdered by Gemet. Warkannan sets out to find Jezro with his nephew Arkazo and Yarl Soutan, a renegade Cantons sorcerer, who claims to be searching for the lost Ark of the Covenant, the settlers' original ship. Meanwhile, suspicious of Soutan and Warkannan, Gemet sends Zahir Benumar, one of his elite warriors, to discover their plans. In the guise of a disgraced soldier, Zahir joins a horse tribe led by the inquisitive Spirit Rider Ammadin, hoping to use the tribe as cover while he follows Soutan's trail. Matters grow more complicated when a ChaMeech named Water Woman asks Ammadin's help and tells her of a powerful sorceress named Sibyl, who may be the last link between Snare's inhabitants and their distant past. Though the ending falls a little flat, Kerr masterfully manipulates the converging plot lines.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Kerr turns from Celtic fantasy to a capable variation on a venerable sf theme: the human settlement on a distant planet that loses space-faring technology. On Snare, areas habitable by humans are limited, but human perversity and rivalry are not. The urban Kazraks follow a variant of Islam; the nomadic Comnee keep their wealth in horse herds. Meanwhile, the planet's aboriginal inhabitants, the Cha'Meech, are suffering from human incursions into what is left of their territory. In due course, the Kazraks start trying to overthrow their despot, but their resistance leader is hiding among the Comnee. For their part, the Cha'Meech have an innovative leader, who may remind historically informed readers of nineteenth-century Shawnee chief Tecumseh. Also on hand is a "sorcerer" who is obsessed with reinventing space flight, knowledge of which is more legendary than historical on Snare. The characterizations aren't up to the level of those in Kerr's Deverry saga, yet this competent performance is likely to please Kerr's fans and win her new ones. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 592 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (April 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312890451
• ISBN-13: 978-0312890452
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,553,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Snare Failed To Capture My Interest, May 5, 2003

By 

"reedekullervo" (Edina, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Snare (Hardcover)

Despite an intriguing premise, Snare was ultimately a disappointment. Katherine Kerr is an accomplished writer and I've enjoyed both her Deverry fantasy series and her occasional forays in science fiction such as Polar City Blues. What's even more frustrating about Snare is that it's hard to identify just what didn't work. The plot about various factions of humans who end up stranded on an alien world is an intriguing one. How those various cultures have survived, i.e. Islamic, scientist, and "comnee" or specially designed humans, and interacted with each other and the alien ChaMeech seems like it would make for compelling reading. There are a number of interesting and sympathetic characters such as Zayn, Ammi, Loy, Jerzo, the Sibyl, etc. Yet as much as I cared about them, the story just dragged along.

One of the reasons things dragged was the split story. The reader follows two main groups of people as they both race to locate Jerzo Khan, a potential ruler in exile. Along the way the two groups occasionally interact but they are kept so conveniently seperated that it's hard to generate much conflict to drive the story. The one group is hoping to stop (they think) a deadly assassin and yet as we follow the assassin's tale, you realize that he isn't this bad person after all. You know he'll never kill the Khan, so the worries of the other group seem trival.

The plot is further stewed by the arrival of the alien ChaMeech who add more complications to the plot but never any real danger. They supposedly slaughtered a whole community of humans ages ago hich everyone knows about and resents, yet the characters are so noble they never have any doubts about hooking up with the aliens to hammer out their difference. Admirable? Certainly. Interesting? Not so much.

Ultimately the lack of real danger for most of the characters makes for boring reading. And the fact that they were almost all too good and noble for them to be interesting either. The crazy sorcerer doesn't seem to serve any purpose. He's sort of 'bad' without any motivations. I was also troubled by the haphazard feminist message that was once in a while tacked onto the plot. The culture Zayn was raised in is a patriarchal one, the woman kept secluded for the most part or relagated to minor roles, yet he doesn't have any problem with being the Spirit Rider's servant - I find that hard to believe. I find it also hard to believe that the Khanate would be so tolerant of the Tribes and their ways, yet they are. The reason the crazy sorcerer is 'bad' is because he not only does he attract followers and lead them on with false hopes for the future, he also rapes little girls too. At the beginning of the book there is a flashback to a woman saying the horses are freedom, a point that is dropped for the next 500 + pages, only to reappear at the very end as a point that the horses had made the women of the Comnee free. What!? I'd buy it if that had played a significant role in the story, but it doesn't really, so why was it included in the first place? As with the plot, potential cultutal conflicts ripe for drama end up coming to nothing.

So why, you're probably asking yourself, did I finish it? Mostly because I was intrigued by Zayn. He had actually done some bad things and in a way was trying to find himself, or maybe reinvent himself is a better desscription. The other stories felt incidental to his journey of self-discovery. He was the character with the most hang-ups, the most past, the most problems, therefore his story was worth readng about. An extremely flawed novel that could have been much, much more.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good, worth reading, July 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Snare (Hardcover)

Entertaining book, good and original story line. After finishing the book I got the feeling that something was missing, though I still reckon its worth 2.5-3 stars. I think there probably wasn't enough focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the main characters and when the last "lock fire" command was sent I didn't feel that the suspense was built up enough. Also as another reviewer has mentioned, the inter-racial conflict seemed to dissipate too easily. Overall though I enjoyed it and would recommend it as a good winter (or summer if you're in the North) read.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars delightful world building tale, April 17, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Snare (Hardcover)

Former Kazrak cavalry Captain Idres Warkannan and "high tech sorcerer" Yarl Soutan seek Jezro Khan, the exiled brother of the corrupt ruler of Kazrajistan, to lead a revolt to overthrow the worthless dangerous regime of his sibling. At about the same time, the fanatical Muslim sect The Chosen sends assassin Zayn Hassan to stop Jezro's rumored return.

To reach the isolated region where Jezro resides, the two enemy groups cross a grassy wilderness inhabited by the alien Cha'Meech and by human nomads. On his trek Zayn meets Ammadin, the Spirit Rider healer of a nomadic tribe. Not long afterward, he begins to wonder if his chosen profession and his current assignment are justified. Meanwhile the "magician" Soutan learns of the Hassan mission and his allies send out their assassins to kill their competitor. Soon the Cha'Meech encounter Ammadin, the first step towards the quartet of rivals confronting one another, but where this global conflict will lead to when the events unfold is anyone guess.

The key to this science fiction novel is that the four major societies are complex, feel genuine, and their rivalry definitely feels real. To achieve such a deep objective, segments of the plot slow down in order to introduce and develop the cast. Still the contrast between the groups and the varying ethic stands of the key players on each side of the square make for a meandering yet delightful world building tale that SNAREs the reader and never lets go until the final page.

Harriet Klausner