| MAZEWAY Jack Williamson New York: Ballantine Books, March 1990 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
|||
| ISBN-13 978-0-345-34032-0 | ||||
| ISBN-10 0-345-34032-9 | 290pp. | HC | $17.95 | |
Led by a gaunt but proud and determined man, a small tribe wanders the African scrubland, just trying to stay alive. The land looks just as it did when humans first evolved there, but for the colossal wreckage of the Sky Cities. Such human civilization as remains is out in the Oort Halo, so far from the Sun that it seems just another star. The Halo is home to a myriad of alien races in an association called the eldren. Fantastic in their variety, they are united in superior technology and in an ethos they call simply the eldren way. (The lack of capital letters is a clue to the nature of the eldren way.)
Quin Dain had killed the monstrous creature that brought down the Skyweb, and was granted probational welcome among the eldren as a result. His son Benn is a young human living in the Halo at a place called Cluster One, the closest thing to a seat of government. He and his family are there on sufferance; like all planetics, or planet-dwellers, they need to breathe and have no contact with nanionic physics, the basis of eldren life. If they wish full acceptance, they must undergo the Game of Blade and Stone. But this is a rough game, not meant for planetics. Benn seeks to qualify, aided by a Hydran whose clone-brother works at Starsearch, probing the galaxy with nanionic senses for sentient life and, if he deems a life-form worthy of contact, inviting it to the Halo.
But something about the newest three arrivals is different. Suspicious, he orders them confined and sends his brother a troubling message — troubling because such discord is unprecedented. Not long after, Starsearch goes silent. Visiting with Benn, the Hydran finds his brother dead, the station dark and empty. His report, strangely, does not raise much concern in Cluster One.
Meanwhile, Benn is determined to venture to Mazeway and try to qualify for the Game. There he meets two other humans: Roxane Kwan, daughter of the man in Africa, and Don Diego Bolivar, bastard son of Chandra Bey, a high official in the lost Sky Cities. Later he finds that the three aliens who had been confined at Starsearch are also competing. And a somewhat shady Delver, of the race native to Mazeway, shows up to promise assistance. Young Benn must put aside his misgivings and give his all to the Game, trusting that its mysterious judges will judge fairly.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY says: "At the end of Lifeburst, Quin Dain had saved the solar system from the Seeker Mother-Queen, and thus earned probationary status for humans in the Galactic Council residing in Sol's Oort Cloud. Now his son Benn must prove to the Council that humans can rise above their lowly, aggressive origins and earn full membership status. Complications arise when Benn's sponsor's clone brother dies, apparently at the hands of membership-seeking aliens with whom Benn must compete. But this book has none of the complexities of plot or character present in the prequel. Williamson ( The Legion of Space ) has returned to the style of his early works, unleashing a hero who merely stumbles through events. Unfortunately, both the major problem and the resolution take place off stage, and Benn's actions make no difference to the plot. (Apr.)"
I think that review is overly harsh. Benn's actions do contribute to the resolution, since he both helps unravel the mystery of the attack on Starsearch and, in the Game, proves humanity's worthiness for membership in the eldren. I enjoyed reading Mazeworld, but I admit that it did drag in places, and that Lifeburst is a better story. Both are worth reading, but take them in order.
To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.