Snare
Katharine Kerr
HarperCollins
Trade paperback, 630 pages
Reviewed by Al du Pisani, 2003
Katharine Kerr is better known for her fantasies, especially the long and
convoluted Deverry sequence, a series that is modeled on Celtic knot work,
where the story of today is interrupted to show how previous incarnations of
the protagonists failed to deal with the problem, or set it up for
their contemporary incarnations to resolve, for good or ill. Very interesting.
She has also been writing some science fiction books, but with less success,
in my opinion. For instance, Polar City Blues was
the first book I read where I could not make up my mind if I liked the book or
not. Palace, with Mark Kreighbaum, which I reviewed
a couple of years ago, was in some ways incomplete, and read in many ways
as if it was the second book of a trilogy: Started halfway through the action,
did not give enough information about what was going on, and ended in a
way which cried out for a sequel. A sequel that has not been published.
Snare seems to be written in the same universe as was
Palace, but is a much more satisfying book, having a beginning,
middle and end, leaving much open, yet being complete in itself.
The Kazraks are Muslims, followers of the Third Prophet, and living on the
edge of the sea, on a continent. The devout Captain Idres Warkannan
contemplates treason: The Great Khan is a despotic disaster, and needs to be
replaced. And Idres is the man to approach a younger brother of the Khan,
since they served together on the border for some time. This younger brother
seemed to have survived the assassination attempt the Great Khan launched
on all his immediate family, to ensure that there are no rival claimants to
the throne. The brother has fled to the Cantons, on the other side of the
continent, a sea of purple grass away, and only recently has news of his
survival trickled back. So Idres leaves, in the company of a sorcerer he
despise, with his nephew and a cousin, looking for adventure. Idres is too
experienced to look for adventure, but cannot convince his family to stay
behind.
Zayn Hassan is a member of the Great Khan secret service. And an
abomination to the Lord. Trying to find redemption, he is on a mission: To
find traitors on the purple plains. He joins a tribe of nomads, on their
journey from one side to the other of the plains, selling horses on both sides.
Destination: The Cantons.
To guide them across the plains, keeping them out of danger, from among
others, the ChaMeech, the tribe have their spirit rider, Ammadin. Who is
starting to question the rules and tenets that rules their lives. And looking
for truth among the lies.
And the ChaMeech are also moving to the Cantons, looking for a new truth.
And there are the people waiting for the Fourth Prophet, who will be a
woman.
And slowly the facade of lies will be stripped away, and the truth emerge.
A good story, surprising me in many ways, because I was looking for a
different story.
Worth reading.
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