From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Nov 11 16:58:33 1992
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From: sheol!throopw@dg-rtp.dg.com (Wayne Throop)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: THE INITIATE BROTHER / GATHERER OF CLOUDS by Sean Russell
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Date: 11 Nov 92 07:50:42 GMT
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This sort of massive story is normally not my cup of tea.  Or maybe it
is:  I think of _Dune_ and _The_Dragon_Never_Sleeps_ as counterexamples,
which I very much liked.  But both books in this series are long and
wordy, and the action is slow to develop, and is often off-stage.  But
they caught me up anyway, and I found them very enjoyable indeed.  And
though I'm not sure I'll be able to fully pinpoint why I like these
books as I do, I can point out at least some of the why of it. 

The two books seem to be a single book chopped mid-way for packaging
reasons.  I'm not sure why there was such a long pause between the
release of the two, given the appearance of a single massive work, but
the ways of writers and publishers are mysterious.  It might be wise
to obtain both before reading, though I did not.

The setting is "the orient", or rather "an orient" of the writer's
invention.  Center stage is "The Empire of Wa", with vaguely
Chinese-like geography.  But the character names are vaguely Japanese,
as is the social structure.  The religion is sort of a cross between
Japanese Zen Buddhism and Chinese Confucianism, though the details are
hard to separate out.  There are also barbarians to the north that are
very, very Mongol-like.  I think it was the setting that drew me into
the book for the most part.  It is quite detailed, is obviously inspired
by many disparate sources, but somehow it is assembled so creatively
that it hangs together, and draws the reader's interest. 

I'd be very interested indeed in what others think of the setting of
these books, especially people who are more informed about the "actual"
orient in our world, and can more clearly perceive how the setting was
woven together.  After all, what I take for a clever weaving of
interesting threads may be quick hack work to somebody who knows the
ingredients better.

The plot concerns the complicated intrigues among the newly ascended
emperor, the Shonto House and others of the hereditary-nobility-based
middle-management structure of the empire, the various sects of the
Botahist religion, and the barbarians.  And (wheels within wheels) none
of these factions is monolithic.  Infighting at almost all levels,
between religious factions, between factions loyal to the emperor,
between the Houses, and in various cross-group alliances-of-convenience
crossing "normal" boundaries arbitrarily, all occurs at a blindingly
subtle and furious pace throughout the two books.

As a background plot, it turns out that the founder of the most
powerful religion, Botahara, is prophesied to be reincarnated at a time
to be recognized by certain signs.  And the signs are starting to
appear.  News of most of these signs and portents is rigidly suppressed
by the Botahist Brotherhood, for reasons relating to the ongoing
intrigues they participate in.  Further, Brother Shuyun, the initiate
brother of the first book's title and one of the main protagonists, is
showing signs of more ability in manipulating his chi and in the
Botahist disciplines as any of the brothers known since 
Botahara himself.

The characters are finely drawn, and the long books give them time to
come to life to the reader as more than pawns in a complex plot.
Certainly, the book doesn't suffer from the syndrome that some books
do, that everything the characters do and say is related to the plot of
the story.  These characters make false starts, stop to wonder about
the meaning of it all (and guess wrong), and seem to make their minds
up for reasons other than providing a comfortable ending for the
reader.  

None of the characters has an all-encompasing view of the situation,
and all react and interact responding to what the reader can perceive
as only local aspects of the whole situation.  (Don't you find it
annoying when one character or a small group of characters knows it
all, and lectures all and sundry (including the reader) all about the
Way It Is?)  And even the reader is reminded a few times that the
reader's viewpoint isn't really "objective" or "absolute".

There were also many aspects I didn't like.  As I said starting out,
the length was prohibitive, and it is easy to lose one's place because
slow pacing, complicated plot, and number of characters, can all melt
into a blur so easily for somebody like me who's more used to
a simpler structure.

Further, the underpinning of the reincarnation subplot was jarring
to me.  The mystical and occult powers are thrown into the books
in a matter-of-fact and well-integrated-with-the-story sort of way,
but somehow they seemed out of place in what is primarily a story of
political intrigue and human nature.

And finally, the blurbs on _Gatherer_of_Clouds_ say that it is the
conclusion of this story, but the ending seems to smell of sequelitis. 
The ending also was oddly uncomfortable, as it seemed to do an abrupt
about-face on the relativism and neutral treatment that had been given
to the depicted events so far.  It is unclear to me what the author
intends to do with this universe from now on, but I like what's been
done with it so far. 

On balance, I found the two books to be very well worth reading.

%A   Sean Russell
%T   The Initiate Brother
%I   DAW
%C   New York
%D   April 1991
%G   ISBN 0-88677-466-7
%P   480 pp.

%A   Sean Russell
%T   Gatherer of Clouds
%I   DAW
%C   New York
%D   November 1992
%G   ISBN 0-88677-536-1
%P   604 pp.

--
Wayne Throop  ...!mcnc!dg-rtp!sheol!throopw