Steven Barnes, Lion's Blood

[sanguinity]

48. Steven Barnes, Lion's Blood.

It is the 1860's (Gregorian calendar), and North America is being colonized by Egypt, Ethiopia, Vikings, and China; the Azteca rule Mesoamerica. Our story follows the ever-permutating relationship between Kai, the son of an Ethiopian official in New Djibouti (near what we know as Galveston, Texas), and Aidan, his Irish slave and footboy.

People who were frustrated with Blonde Roots and Naughts and Crosses might well enjoy this one -- the historical timeline and resultant world makes sense.¹ Barnes doesn't get around to actually presenting this world's history to us until a hundred pages in, but I rather liked that -- the whole first part of the book is Aidan's abduction into slavery, and our unfamiliarity of the world makes his disorientation more convincing.

In feel, Lion's Blood is a lot like those sprawling historical epics, the sort of thing they used to make TV miniseries out of. Every once in a while, Barnes seemed to hit a note a little too hard -- there's a pseudo-St. Crispin's Day speech, f'rex, that I would have enjoyed better had I no familiarity with Henry V -- but I find that true of historical epics in general. Slavery is a prominent feature of this book, and there is violence commensurate with that, but something about the book's feel makes those scenes easier to read than pretty much every other book "about" slavery that I've read for this comm.² (Also, much in keeping with this kind of sprawling epic: Kai and Aidan are eminently shippable.)

All in all, this was a perfect bit of long-holiday reading. Nice and thick, very readable, very easy to immerse myself in. I'm looking forward to the second in the series.

---

1 Mostly. There's a half-page about a Jewish merchant ship that confuses me.

2 I can't decide if I believe that to be a problem or not.

Comments

[skygiants]

For the most part I really enjoyed Lion's Blood when I read it, but I have to say, the fact that Stephen Barnes puts so much work generally into making the historical timeline seem plausible made the places where it doesn't make sense stand out to me even more - for example, the reference he tosses off about a slave called Leonardo da Vinci despite the fact that, first of all, in this alternate history it seems pretty unlikely that enough of Da Vinci's ancestors could have met up in enough appropriate ways to produce him, and second of all, even if they had by some miracle produced him genetically, he there is no way he would be named Leonardo da Vinci in Barnes' occupied Italy! This is the kind of thing that wouldn't bother me in a book like Blonde Roots where it's all like that, but that nags in a book where it's all supposed to make sense.

On a completely unrelated note, there is also a CD of music that was created in association with the book that I liked a lot too!

[sanguinity]

Yes, da Vinci and Mozart both jarred me, for those same reasons. But they went by so fast that they didn't bug me for very long. Which is mostly what I ask for.

A CD? *goes searching* Insh'allah, by Heather Alexander (who is now performing as Alexander James Adams). Thanks for the tip!

[skygiants]

Yeah, the plot definitely moves fast enough to speed you over the nitpicks and bumps!

You're welcome. :D When I bought it you could get all the tracks for download/purchase off Amazon, though I don't know if that's still the case.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

That sounds really interesting. I've added that to my amazon and bookmooch wishlists and hopefully will acquire it in the not too distant future.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

So far this is the best Reversed Slavery novel I've read (of a vast three or so).

[sanguinity]

Hee. I've got similar vast experience. ;-)

I thought Lion's Blood was the best novel. Blonde Roots reads to me like an altogether different creature (satire); I would highly recommend it on its own basis, but not as a novel, if that makes any sense.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

That makes total sense!