Rebel Sutra
A novel by Shariann Lewitt

There are things in life that bug me. Stupid people with driver's licenses, for example. Itchy ankles when I'm trying to sleep. People who call while I'm watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And science fiction novels that start at the end and tell the entire story as one giant flashback. So why, why out of the three books I read for this review did all three of them start at the end? I picked these books randomly off the shelf at my local bookstore, knowing nothing about them or the authors, and through some unexplained cosmic joke all three novels utilized the same hackneyed technique to plunge the reader into the world of the characters. Out of these three, one was incomprehensible in its jargon; one was... nice, although not thrilling; and one was Rebel Sutra.

I should explain right off the bat that a sutra is a collection of knowledge, not necessarily a sex manual. So this book is the collected knowledge about a group of rebels; my math textbook would be the Algebra Sutra. Or something like that. (And yes, I did learn that just for this review, thank you for asking.)

What this book mainly leaves me with is a jumble of unrelated thoughts. But since I'm writing a review (not a rambling post to the message board), I had better get down to business.

The book starts with the aforementioned technique of beginning at almost the end, backing up to tell the story, and then playing out the denouement (look, I know French words!) in "real" time. Woven into this story are three narratives. The first one we read is from Della, a member of the Changed, a genetically engineered society that holds itself separate from and superior to the "mere" humans living down the Mountain from them. She tells her story for the benefit of her son Anselm, whose own tale takes up the bulk of the novel. Anselm is the product of Della's liaison with the human Arsen, a radical agitator for change in the power struggle between humans and Changed. For centuries humans have lived by the beneficence of the Changed, who provide just enough heat, power, and rations for subsistence on the icy/volcanic world Maya. All the while the Changed live in pampered splendor inside their Dome, high up on the Mountain. Their lives are comfortable and passion-free, revolving around their coexistence with the Exchange, a remarkable Artificial Intelligence. There is speculation in the book about the personality that inhabits the Exchange, the "ghost in the machine," but no concrete answers are found. Chalk one up for ambiguity, I guess.

The third voice in the story is Auntie Suu-Suu, a mysterious Tinker who gives Della shelter and training when the girl temporarily runs away from the Dome at age twelve. Suu-Suu also turns up to influence Anselm when he takes freedom to the Mountain. In the interim, she inserts snippets of her commentary into both Anselm's and Della's narratives, slowly giving us a picture of the Empire that spawned the world of the Changed, and now twists and turns on itself with no remembrance of Maya's existence. Suu-Suu holds mysteries and secrets close to her heart, and only in the final chapters do we learn the full scope of her "Tinkering".

The plot centers around Anselm's desire to follow in his martyred father's footsteps and free the humans from the domination of the Changed, but the book is really about his emotional journey from rebellious but promising boy to charismatic but sensitive rebel leader (Han Solo, anyone?). Raised as Della's son, with no inkling of his true paternity, he leaves the Dome when he discovers that the truth is dangerous, and that it is threatening to come out. (Humans and Changed can breed, but their offspring are sterile "mules", and are anathema to both groups.) He makes his way down to the human town of Babelion, where he is lauded as the son of his famous father and expected to take over that man's role in the rebel movement. Instead, Anselm utilizes his outsider status to view Babelion and the movement with a clinical eye, and decides that while change needs to happen, it is only going to come by a different method. He studies his world from all angles, finally submerging himself in the religious rites of the (Hindu based) Temple to try to gain synthesis of his ideas and conflicting loyalties. He goes through all the classical trials of a seeker for truth -- education, training, deprivation, great personal loss, a physical journey that almost kills him, a huge epiphany - and emerges with the ability to do unflinchingly what has to be done to save his world.

The jacket bills this book as a love story between a man and a woman, but that's a big lie. This is really a love story between a boy and his fate; between a boy and the father he never knew; between a boy and his planet. And while I could have wished for a little more explanation of some of the religious concepts, I think the message of those concepts comes through loud and clear to anyone who can get past the confusing first chapter (which almost wasn't me).

RE-READ FACTOR: Middling. While I'd like to revisit the ideas expressed in this book, I'd rather find out the further adventures of Anselm in a sequel (see below).

SEQUEL FACTOR: High. Although the novel could work as a one-shot, it is open-ended enough to allow for an entire series.

Strong Chick Factor: Goodies and Baddies are distributed fairly evenly over male and female characters. Auntie Suu-Suu is definitely a powerful figure, and I loved the Guardian captain -- kickin' ass with her bad self. Sulma is the object of young Anselm's affections, and does more than almost anyone else to set him on his eventual course.

-- Jen Hopper

Rebel Sutra, published by Tor Books, is currently available in hardcover.

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