Favourite Books 1. "West of January"

I was at my first geek convention this summer. One of the panels was a discussion on which books would be best to introduce a non-science fiction reader to the genre. I just finished re-reading my nomination: Dave Duncan's "West of January".

It's in the world-building genre, set on a planet whose day-and-night cycle last two hundred years. Human-kind are there by accident, marooned by navigational error. Our protagonist is a nomadic herd-boy named Knobil, a blue-eyed bastard child fathered by the gun-toting 'angels' as they scurry across the surface of the planet trying to maintain some semblance of civilization. We follow him as he is turned out of his tribe after the death of his mother and adopted father, enslaved after saving a sea-people civilization, deliberately crippled and traded to . . . well, I don't want to give too much away.

Other reviewers found this novel to be dark, cynical, misogynistic, and lacking plot (even though they still agreed it was a good book). Certainly the events that shape Knobil's life and the events that shape the planet's culture are grim and cruel. This is what I like about this novel -- Duncan imagined a world, set his players in place on it, and wrote the consequent story as the planet rotated its way through its 200 year cycle. As we follow Knobil's re-telling of his life-story we can believe that this is the way it did happen, and we anticipate what might happen next. Duncan's description of primitive life, attitudes, and culture are real and fascinating. Again, as we read, we think this is how things really might have been even in our own history. Not bad for a guy that used to be a petroleum engineer.

Duncan's authenticity, however, runs deeper than moving characters around on the surface of an imaginary planet well. Knobil's internal emotional dialog is what really propels the character and the plot. His guilt and inferiority complex, beginning with being the only blue-eyed child in a tribe of dark-eyed people, and continuing with his successive abandonment or betrayal (in his eyes) of his mother, adopted father, wife & children, "true" love, and biological father. In our day and age we'd send him to a therapist to work out his issues, but in a primitive society there is no such thing. Instead, his inadequacies drive him and fuel his accomplishments, eventually leading to the salvation of the entire planet.

This is the strength of this book: its geographical & astronomical, cultural, and emotional authenticity. Duncan spins a wonderful story anyway, which only gets better with successive readings. It's a great book that also happens to be science fiction, and in my opinion a great introduction to all the possibilities of the genre.