SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Imaro by Charles Saunders

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Imaro by Charles Saunders: https://t.co/QRemqg2yzm Short Review: 7 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) December 25, 2018

Short Review (cont): A swords and sorcery fantasy novel/collection of stories based upon African cultures & myths, Imaro is a strong alternate take on the genre as it was in the 70s when this was originally published, 2/some of the typical (gender) faults of the genre (2/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) December 25, 2018

Imaro is a swords and sorcery-style fantasy series of stories written by Charles Saunders originally back in the 1970s.  Meant to be an "anti-Tarzan," featuring a warrior in an alternate Africa in stories inspired by African history, culture and mythology, the stories were eventually cobbled together into a series of novels, which a little while after went out of print.  The "Imaro" that this review is of is of a new edition of the first novel published by Nightshade Books* back in 2006 (which revises the stories and replaces one due to it apparently carrying some disturbing implications given what has happened to its real life inspiration in Rwanda since the 1970s).

*It appears that the second book was also revised and released by Nightshade Books, but that book doesn't seem to have an ebook edition and is now out of print like its original, so I'm unlikely to continue with this series.  

The result is a novel that is an interesting twist on the sword and sorcery genre, which is not really a genre I usually read (it's not really in favor these days I don't think).  The stories included in the novel are very well written, rarely predictable in their plots and for obvious reasons avoid some of the racial implications of stories like Tarzan.  On the other hand, the stories do have some....unfortunate gender implications which were common to the other types of books in the genre, which these days is not particularly satisfying and will turn off some readers.


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The Ilyassai were a clan on the Plains of the Tamburure in the world of Nyumbani, with strict roles for their women and men, to be fit on all costs.  But when a young woman named Katisa broke those rules but exposed the clan's oibonok (sorcerer/shaman) as a follower of the evil Demon Gods, she accepted exile from the clan on one condition: that her half-Ilyassai son Imaro be treated as a normal member of the clan and to be allowed to prove himself in the Olmaiyo, the final rite of manhood, when the time comes.  And so she left Imaro behind with the Ilyassai.

But as Imaro grew, the clan began to resent him for his strange origins, and for the monster of a man he had become.  The result was to begin the forging of Imaro into a great warrior, one whose destiny lay not just contained within the Plains of the Tamburure, but would take him far beyond.

These are the stories of the young man and terrifying warrior who would grow and mature into a man feared by anyone who stands in his way - whether warrior, merchant, or sorcerer - as he begins his quest to hunt down the Demon Gods whose evil first resulted in him becoming who he was, the outsider known as Imaro.
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Imaro is essentially a series of short fiction, ranging from short story size to full novella sized (the stories get longer as the book goes on) telling events as Imaro grows up from a young boy to a full blooded warrior.  The stories are incredibly well written and you can pretty easily understand all of Imaro's choices and feelings, even when the reader is unlikely to be anything like Imaro themselves, and the worldbuilding is incredibly well developed, so that this alternate Africa feels incredibly large and lived in, with diverse varieties of wildlife and human settlements depending upon what the climate is in each area.

And the stories themselves are interesting and different - as Imaro meets newer and different people and learns of different cultures, he also comes into contact with newer and different types of enemies, whether they be other humans or inhuman.  Each story builds upon the others, which is why these stories all work together to form a cohesive novel instead of feeling like just an anthology of stories featuring the same character.  Unfortunately, the final story in the collection ends on a major cliffhanger, and as I said above jump, obtaining the second book to see the resolution of that cliffhanger is basically not possible.

The other problem with Imaro honestly is that while the book fixes racial implications of the materials that may have once inspired it, it shares the gender issues of those works.  There are two female characters of note in the entire 200 or so page book, the first is a captive of war who turns into Imaro's lover only to meet a tragic fate and incense his rage and the second is from a clan who trains its women to be skilled in "lovemaking" to be used as bargaining chips in deals with other clans.  This second woman has some limited agency....but even she is used as a damsel in distress and a prize to be won.  (The cover of the second book as shown by Amazon would seem to suggest the sequels don't fix this problem).

Overall Imaro is interesting and well done, if you like swords and sorcery throwbacks (ala Burroughs), it's well worth a read (if you can find it).  If you aren't a big fan of such or even a little fan, this might not be for you.