Thursday, January 08, 2009

 

IRoSF on "Mirror of Fiery Brightness"

Lois Tilton over on the Internet Review of Science Fiction has reviewed the Fall 2008 issue of Subterranean in her regular Short Fiction round up, including "Mirror of Fiery Brightness." She wasn't crazy about the story in general, but has some kind words along the way.

An alternate history spy thriller in Roberson's Celestial Empire series. Saito Ren is a covert agent of the Celestial Empire in the South American Republic of Fusang, allied with the Mexican enemies of the Chinese. When agents of the Mexica suddenly assassinate all his agents, Saito is forced to flee, but as he escapes, he becomes increasingly aware that this Mexican move is related to some project called "Tlatlauhquitezcatl," the Mirror of Fiery Brightness, and he is determined to discover what it means.

Roberson's Celestial Empire series has by now become one of the most extensive alternate histories ever. I have read quite a number of the stories set in this rich ongoing milieu and found them uneven; the best are quite good indeed, focusing on individuals caught up in the movement of history and the clash of empires. This novella, however, suffers severely from Seriesitis, as the author has overloaded it with way too much backstory–the backstory of the Celestial Empire, the backstory of the various South American polities, the backstory of the Nipponese in Fusang, and the personal backstory of Saito Ren and the ignoble deed that has haunted him all his life. Buried under all this information, Saito fails to come fully alive as a character, and his immediate problems with people trying to kill him seem almost an afterthought to the history. The author has also overused coincidence and improbability as plot devices to push Saito through his paces in the pursuit of the Fiery Mirror.

Elsewhere, Roberson has stated that this installment in the series is meant to present the Mexica from more of a neutral perspective as opposed to the villains that they appear from the Celestial point of view. It is in the person of the most unlikely possible character, the assassin priest of the Flayed God, that he succeeds, making the very end of the story the most interesting part–and without any intrusive backstory at all.

Has the Celestial Empire really become "one of the most extensive alternate histories ever"? I do keeping writing the damned things, don't I...?

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Has the Celestial Empire really become "one of the most extensive alternate histories ever"? I do keeping writing the damned things, don't I...?


Some think that's a feature, not a bug :)
 
Aw, shucks.
 
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