Tuesday, May 5, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Bird King by G Willow Wilson




The Bird King is a 2019 novel by author G Willow Wilson, perhaps best known as the creator and long time writer of the most recent version of Ms. Marvel, Marvel's teen Muslim superhero.  It's also her second novel, and her first in 7 years.  I've only had a taste of Wilson's work through a few volumes of Ms. Marvel that were nominated for the Hugo, and thus in the Hugo packet, but I enjoyed it quite a bit, so I was always planning on getting to her most recent novel at some point.  In fact, I've taken it out from Hoopla a few times, but never managed to get to it due to a glut of other library books that have actual hold times.....until now, where coronavirus has allowed me to get through all of my library backlog.

And well, it's my fault for not getting to The Bird King sooner, because it's truly a tremendous novel.  Set during the fall of Muslim Granada to Inquisitorial Spain, it features the attempted escape from the Inquisition of a Muslim concubine (slave) and her friend, a gay (magical) mapmaker and is based in part upon a classical Muslim poem, The Conference of the Birds (which I had not read or heard of prior to this novel).  It's a story with tremendous characters and really interesting ideas about faith, freedom, and friendship (alliteration not intended), and confronts morality not just in any one particular religion, but perhaps all of them.  Well worth your time.


-----------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------
Fatima was born in Granada to a woman taken as a slave to be a concubine of the Sultan of the Spanish Caliphate.  Now 18, she herself has become such a concubine, but despite her comforts as such, Fatima longs for the freedom she has never known.  Moreover, as a frequently remarked-upon beauty and the property of the Sultan, the only man - and really person - Fatima truly can consider a friend, rather than another person who simply wants something for her, is the mapmaker Hassan.  Hassan has no interest in anything beyond friendship and non-romantic love - for he is not so secretly gay - and thus is the only person Fatima can truly be comfortable with.  Thankfully, Hassan's life is not in danger as a result of his sexuality or friendship with Fatima, for Hassan possesses the strange gift to alter reality through his maps, creating pathways and routes where there was once none.

But when the Christian Kingdom of Spain comes to Granada to demand the Sultan surrender the last vestige of the caliphate, they become aware of Hassan's persuasions and gift and demand he be handed over to their inquisitor.  To save him, Fatima takes Hassan on a dangerous path to escape, aided only by an untrustworthy and frequently threatening Jinn.  But with all of Spain about to come under Isabella and Ferdinand's rule, is there any place left to run?  The only place Fatima can think of to escape to is the legendary island of Qaf, an island from an incomplete Muslim poem that is home to the Bird King.

But if Qaf actually exists, the only way to get there is though the land of their foes, who will kill them for being what they are and believing what they believe, and Fatima and Hassan's friendship, their love, and their lives will be challenged to the very end.....
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The Bird King takes place at the end of the era of Muslim-controlled Spain, where Granada is the last territory of the Emirate under Muslim rule instead of the Catholic rule of Ferdinand and Isabella.  For those unfamiliar with this real historical setting, while Ferdinand and Isabella's Spain was notorious for its imposition of Catholic rule and the Inquisition, Granada was a country that was considered friendly to people of all religions.   We don't really get to see a lot of that in this book, because our time in Granada is short - this is the time of its final surrender and our characters desperately try to flee as a result - but it provides a strong contrast between our initial setting and the goals of our antagonists - led by a woman who is an inquisitor in all but name.  Wilson still makes the appeals of the initial setting known to a certain extent mind you, with the Emirates being tolerant of one of our main characters' "perversions" (read: being gay) and some speeches by the Sultan and others early no, but for the main part lets the Inquisitions' horrors serve as the clear way of showing contrast - and this works quite effectively.

Still, its not like Grenada was a paradise for everyone, particularly our lead character and heroine Fatima.  Fatima was raised essentially as a privileged slave from birth to be the sultan's concubine, and while she may have a lot of things - food, clothes, etc. - that others would absolutely desire, she's never had her freedom - freedom to live where she wants, freedom to sleep with whom she wants, etc.*  Given her status as concubine, and her remarked-upon beauty, she's always been treated as an object from whom everyone wants something, and the idea of romantic love to her just isn't there.  The only exception is of course Hassan, with whom she grew up and who is gay, so she feels he is her only friend - the only one she can trust wants nothing from her and only her company as a person.     
*The Sultan and others mind you contrasts this slavery with the slavery of the rest of Christian Europe, to the extent you believe that self-interested argument.*    

Still Fatima would not have made a reckless move to escape if not for the threat of the Inquisition touching her and perhaps more importantly, Hassan.  It's a selfish desire rather than a heroic one, one driven by her own wants and little taking into consideration the wants of others such as Hassan's at first - something that drives a lot of conflict in this book.  To pull off this escape, when challenged by others at all turns, Fatima constantly turns to faith - faith that there is a place out there for freedom, that the Bird King they imagined is truly real, faith that a better world must be out there and must be possible.  It's not necessarily a religious faith, nor is it - as a character points out - the same as "hope" - it is not merely wishing nor is it something that requires Fatima to have no doubts.  But it is how she constantly pushes forward no matter what towards a better place that must be there rather than taking any of the potential alternatives that might not lead to a happy ending for all.  It's a really interesting idea explained by Fatima's Jinn ally, and it forms a strong central theme of this book.

That's of course not the only theme of this novel, and that's what makes an already strong novel even stronger and worth reading.  I noted above the conflict of religions, but that is a vast oversimplification here: Wilson makes it clear through the story that while the setting antagonists are catholics, there are bad actors of all faiths and beliefs, and people will use even the most moral sounding religions to justify their bad actions....or bad inactions.  So we meet a catholic monk who doesn't want to kill others for their beliefs and a bunch of other characters come together at one point of different races and religions.  Moreover, religion can make room for those who would otherwise be thought of as in sin - again, it's a major theme that Hassan is still devout towards a god who many would say hates him, but the book makes clear that is not the case - in fact Hassan literally makes miracles.

It all combines, along with other themes - the themes of love and family and friendship is something I've totally ignored in this review, but they are important as well - and characters - Hassan, a fjinn named Vikram, the aforementioned monk among others - to form a plot that is very satisfying in its completion and makes complete sense, even as it never really felt that predictable.  I should add that the novel is listed as YA on Amazon but never as such on its back cover or summary, and I don't quite think it fits that designation.  But it's a fantastic book and well recommended, and I look forward to reading more of Wilson in the future.
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