Customer Reviews

Snow Brother

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To begin with a warning: this is a fairly typical (if there is such a thing) S.M. Stirling novel. If graphic (though never gratuitous) sex and violence bother you, you really shouldn't read it. If you don't listen to me and do so anyhow, please don't write a review whinging about how disappointed you were, as some unfortunate people seem to do around here. It's not for children, it's not for idiotic people who think that everyone on the planet, now and in the future, should speak 20th century American English. But if you're a person who likes fully developed cultures and the characters who live in them, who likes beautiful description and interesting plot, this is a novel for you. Three thousand years in the future, the ill-tempered descendants of USAF personnel, bred up into one of the most dangerous mounted forces ever to ride the earth (think Mongols with compound bows and an incredible level of discipline), tangle with forest dwelling anarcho-syndicalists (think hippies with more sense and no shortage of guts). The contest is more even than one might think. Sound intriguing? I thought so. Now go buy the book!!!

It's been many years since I read this, when I was a teenager. I didn't exactly find it enjoyable at the time - the protagonist is not 'good' by most definitions (she could have been worse?), unpleasant things happened (rape, murder etc.), and, well, it just existed in shades of gray that, at the age I read it, I was not entirely happy with.

Half a lifetime later, I still remember that book.

It's a tale of a peaceful little village up in the mountains that's just been invaded by barbarians, who then hunker down and occupy the place. Much of the book is about how the villagers deal with the occupation and mount their own resistance. It's about the weak versus the strong, about caring for people who you really shouldn't, about a rough, tough barbarian who's silly enough to fall in love.

I've read and forgotten a lot of generic fantasy novels where the Heroes and Proponents of All That Is Good lay into the Forces of Darkness and win, because that's how the plot has to go.

Sh'kaira(sp?), and her lover playing twisty little flute-songs, has stayed with me.

I was surprised at the protagonist of the story who is a barbarian queen that prefers female flesh. All told, an exciting read (and I don't mean just suspenseful either). As a male reader, I usually have problems identifying with the female warrior/amazon. However, I have no problems here.

This early Stirling novel displays many of the things about his writing that critics have found fault with: the extremely violent and sex-crazed heroine reappears in *Saber and Shadow* in a more positive light. This is a post-nuclear holocaust tale which is a part of the "Fifth Millennium" series which Stirling created with Shirley Meier and Karen Wehrstein.
As with many of Stirling's novels, an extremely militaristic culture takes on peaceful craftspeople and, of course, wins. I have not seen the earlier version of this, and this is a review of the later revision.
Stirling's fans will enjoy this; others might avoid it.

This book concerns a war band from a tribal society raiding a nearby peaceful village. When the band goes back to their own territory with the loot and slaves, they are harried by a mysterious force called the "Snow Brother."

My first complaint regards the treatment of female warriors. That can be a tricky situation for fantasy writers, and this book does not accomplish it very well. The idea of a primitive, warlike society in which the females are fully equal, maybe even superior, to men in respect and ability is a bit much to swallow. This is taken to the extreme when the female main character Shkai'ra sexually assaults male and female prisoners, just like the male members of her band. I found that to be absurd.

This leads into my next complaint. Shkai'ra is theoretically the protagonist of the novel, yet she reveals herself by her deeds to be an utterly loathsome monster. Perhaps we are meant to think she did not rape those people because she is a woman. However, she also either actively participates in or tacitly approves of torture, slavery, cannibalism, and human sacrifice. At one point, one of her followers tries to rape a girl but has some trouble because he's so drunk. Shkai'ra is totally oblivious to the girl's suffering. Her only reaction is to giggle at the "comical sight." Scenes like that almost made me throw down the book in disgust. This is not a character one would root for.

My last complaint is that the book is not really complex enough to warrant its 290 pages. About a hundred pages is spent on the warband's time in the village after they've conquered it. During this time nothing of real importance is accomplished; it could have been told in twenty. The only really interesting idea is the Snow Brother itself, and that hardly shows up at all.
This could have been a novella.

Some of the linguistics are interesting. This takes place far in earth's future, and there's some mileage to be found in trying to figure out how the earth got that way and what the cities of old are now called. But all in all, this was not a great book. The idea of a barbarian woman hero was twisted into a corrupt and sickening thing. If you like Xena, you will not like Shkai'ra.