The cover blurb says, "On the planet Snare, the descendants of Islamic fundamentalists war with the descendants of scientists, and the alien natives, for the fate of a planet." Let this be a warning to you against reading cover blurbs.It's not 100% false. We do have the descendants of Islamic fundamentalists. We do have the descendants of scientists. We do have the native intelligent species--though something in me balks at describing beings living on their own planet where they evolved as "aliens." We even have a fourth group, a third human population, a nomadic culture technologically more primitive than either of the other two human populations. We even have some degree of conflict which could have major consequences for the fate of the planet--after all, with no conflict, and nothing important at stake, where's the story?What we don't have is a war amongst these groups--especially not between the descendants of the Islamic fundamentalists and the descendants of the scientists. In fact, the only war is a civil war amongst the Islamics, in which the issue is responsible government, not religious purity. What we do have is a much more interesting story.It's ten years after the accession of a new Great Khan, Gemet, amongst the Kazraks, and he has proved to be both paranoid and repressive. One of his first actions was to kill all his brothers and other close male relatives who are khans, i.e., recognized as legitimate possible heirs. Taxes are so heavy they're grinding the population down into poverty. The army and the upper levels of society go in fear of a secret police-like group called the Chosen. In this atmosphere, a sorceror arrives from the Cantons, bringing word to cavalry officer Idres Warkannan and a few of his friends that one of Gemet's brothers, Warkannan's good friend Jezro Khan survived and escaped, eventually reaching the Cantons, where he has lived lived for the past decade. The sorceror, Yarl Soutan, has a letter from Jezro, and a plan for bringing him back to Kazrajistan to overthrow Gemet. It's not long before Warkannan, Soutan, and two younger men are traveling across the plains and the Rift towards the Cantons. Meanwhile the Chosen Ones, acting on the word of an informant that Warkannan's "investment group" is plotting against the Great Khan, have sent one of their own onto the plains, under the cover of being a cashiered cavalry officer (complete with very real public flogging in a market town where lots of comnee tribesmen will witness it). Zayn Hassan has volunteered for this duty because he knows Idres Warkannan can't possibly be involved in treason, and wants a chance to prove it.As the two groups cross the plains and the Rift, it becomes clear that Soutan has an agenda beyond being the powerful advisor of the new Great Khan, and that a lot of his "magic"--identical to the "magic" employed by the Spirit Rider of the comnee tribe Zayn has hooked up with--is simply solar-powered advanced technology. What's this technology doing on a planet that's otherwise at a 16th- or 17th-century level? Why do the comnee tribes have it when the more advanced Kazraks don't? Why are the tribes longer-lived and healthier than other humans on the planet? And where did Zayn's "demonic" powers of memory, which damn him to Hell after death, and in life mean that the only real fellowship he can have is with the other similarly-damned Chosen Ones, really come from? Along the way, both groups have encounters with some of the lizard-like natives, the Cha'Meech, and more questions also suggest themselves. It's not until they reach the Cantons that some answers start to present themselves, and Warkannan and Zayn each start to find out what real trouble is.This is a more complex story than is apparent from initial examination, and an enjoyable way to spend a few hours.
Interesting that the people who reviewed this negatively tend to like the Deverry books. I sought out the Deverry books having read Snare, and found them to be exceedingly disappointing by comparison. I thought Snare was a well-realised, complex world, with some nice questions about whether and how spirituality emerges from religion (if all the magic of the Tribes is just legacy tech, and their religion made up out of whole cloth, why do the cranes try so hard (as they do) to be Zayn's totem?).I felt the ending was a little too tidy, especially the way she dealt with Soutan. (view spoiler)[We discover it is impossible for Soutan to even try to get at the spaceships, and then he gets his head blown off. Wouldn't it have made it a little deeper if it had been possible, and Soutan had actually had a point rather than just being an evil madman? (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about Snare (2003)?
A very interesting idea,imagining the outcome of a planet being accidentally populated by 3 completely different societies of people, the evolution of these societies over 800 years as well as their impact on the native life-forms. The literary style was not quite to my liking, and the characters seemed to follow templates already decided by the author at the beginning of the book with very little in the way of development through events unfolding in the book. Zayn for example remained a patheti
—OD
A really different book which I really enjoyed. Kerr always focusses a lot on language and I guess you know it has its place in this book but to be honest the story would have worked just as well without it though the near French words like shen made me laugh.I really liked the 3 human cultures in the book and this made the story pretty easy to understand in the beginning, however as things are revealed the plots and motives of the 2 cultures in branching out alone are the kind of reasons I can imagine actually driving people in the future so that all worked as well.I don't want to give away any spoilers so let me just finish by saying good writing as always, good story complex enough but not too complex and really good characters. Well worth a read as a stand alone Sci-fi book.
—Gordon
Quite good! On the planet of Snare, three different groups of humans and a race of aliens live in separate societies. One group of humans is descended from Islamic fundamentalists; one is descended from scientists & engineers, and one is descended from soldiers. Each group sees the world a little differently and has different priorities. As the novel unfolds, the various characters learn more about their history, their beliefs, and each other. It's well-done, and doesn't give away too much too soon.
—Emily
