Scalzi, John: The God Engines
The God Engines (2009)
Written by: John Scalzi
Genre: Science Fantasy
Pages: 136 (Hardcover)
John Scalzi is on my must list. Well, mostly. I buy MOST of his books sight unseen, and when I heard that The God Engines was Scalzi's foray into fantasy, I didn't need much else to encourage me to click the "pre-order" button on Subterranean's website. And even though I'm following my crazy lists to determine reading order, I wanted something short and quick to read between Mary Doria Russell's Children of God and Octavia E. Butler's Kindred (both of which are heavy in terms of theme), so Scalzi was the perfect choice, clocking in at 136 pages, so I curled up and finished it in a day.
The premise: ganked from Subterranean Press: Captain Ean Tephe is a man of faith, whose allegiance to his lord and to his ship is uncontested. The Bishopry Militant knows this -- and so, when it needs a ship and crew to undertake a secret, sacred mission to a hidden land, Tephe is the captain to whom the task is given.
Tephe knows from that the start that his mission will be a test of his skill as a leader of men and as a devout follower of his god. It’s what he doesn’t know that matters: to what ends his faith and his ship will ultimately be put -- and that the tests he will face will come not only from his god and the Bishopry Militant, but from another, more malevolent source entirely...
Review style: short and sweet, just like the book. NO SPOILERS!!! Because really, I can't talk about the book THAT much without spoiling it, and why spoil something that's so short? So read on with no worries.
First and foremost, I think this book has been slightly misrepresented. Between Scalzi and Subterranean, I was under the impression that this was Scalzi's fantasy debut. And my definition of fantasy, when it's not coupled with the words "urban" or "modern" pretty much means castles and magic and wizards and non-human hobbity creatures and so forth. So I was in for a bit of a surprise when I started reading and learned that this story? Takes place on a starship. And other planets. Which to me, makes something science fiction, and from there you just have to decide if it's space opera (big epic battles in space!) versus science fantasy (lots of fantasy-esque world-building on planets, some magic).
In this case, I feel we have a strong case of science fantasy. It's simply not big enough to be space opera, and even if it were, the existence of gods and the use of gods and their power pretty much negates "space opera" as a viable genre application (though one could make an argument for Star Wars being space opera, and then factor in the Force as a form of magic, but I digress). And let me tell you, I absolutely LOVE the use of gods and their magic in this space opera-esque universe. I love that faith is a form of magic, and how the loss of faith can have disastrous consequences. I also love the world-building and the hierarchies between the differing gods and how their follower work together (or apart) for their own gods' well-being. Sure, the book reads super fast, and it'd be easy to gloss over the absolute coolness of what Scalzi is doing with the gods, but trust me, you shouldn't. If you're paying close enough attention, you might start to wonder what Scalzi is saying about religion in general, if he's saying anything at all. And the end, well, let's just say you're gonna be left wanting more. In a good way, IMHO.
Two nitpicks, and Subterranean, you might want to take note of the one: on page 10, fourth full paragraph, the priest Andso's name is misspelled as Ando, which annoyed me greatly because I kept trying to read the priest's name as "Ando" anyway, so yeah, I noticed.
I also found the transition--well, lack thereof--between pages 63 and 64 really jarring. The scene on 64 made me wonder if it was a flashback that occurred prior to the scene that ended on 63, or if it really happened after, but if it really happened after, it felt too much like an immediate after of the scene ending on page 47. So I stumbled a bit, and flipped back and forth trying to get my bearings, something I shouldn't have to do in a story so short.
Also, the opening didn't do much for me, but that's a preference thing.
My Rating
Buy the Paperback: or in other words, find a cheaper copy. Here's the thing: for me personally, it's "worth the cash," BUT!!! This is an expensive book: $20 for a 136 page hardcover. Don't get me wrong, it's a very NICE hardcover with some LOVELY illustrations, but I can't recommend you plop down $20 for something so slight without totally falling head-over-heels for the book in question. That said, this is very fun and very good. I enjoyed the world-building very much, and the book sticks with you long after the end. This edition is really for collector's, so if you're a Scalzi fan who MUST HAVE EVERYTHING HE WRITES, then yeah, grab it. Just be warned that contrary to marketing, this is actually science fantasy, not fantasy. It's a fair distinction to make, because while it's very different from Scalzi's Old Man's War books, it's still, IMHO, science fiction with a very strong fantasy twist. A wicked COOL fantasy twist and a fun one at that, but not enough of one to simply label the book as fantasy. George R.R. Martin is fantasy. Neil Gaiman is fantasy. This? Is not fantasy. But still, it's very, very good. It just got a Nebula nomination for "Best Novella," which I think is deserved, so make your own decision about how much you do or do not want to pay for this, but definitely read it when you can. It's worth that much. :)
Cover Commentary: I'm so happy with this cover I could cry. Seriously. When this title was first announced, I pre-ordered ASAP. And then, Scalzi posted the cover art in his blog, and I wanted to curl up and die (I was also wishing I hadn't pre-ordered the thing sight-unseen). I kept hoping it was a joke, but as time went on, it became clear it wasn't. But, something changed, that or the less expensive copy (aka, the one I pre-ordered) got a far better, less-cheesy cover, and for that, I'm immensely relieved and grateful. Also, I think the depiction of the god better represents the crafty, almost Gollum-like character we meet in the book, and I quite like the coloring and the font here as well.
Next up: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, and you'll get Kindred by Octavia E. Butler later this week. :)