Thursday, August 12, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Star Eater by Kerstin Hall

 




Every now and then a book comes out with blurbs and reviews that are raving from people you trust tremendously (great reviewers and other great authors, in particular).  Star Eater is the latest of those books, a book that I don't think had too much press leading into it, that has drawn raves from nearly every source I've seen (it has blurbs from Max Gladstone, AK Larkwood, and Andrea Stewart).  The book I've seen draw comparisons to The Handmaid's Tale as well as Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire, which are both tremendous comparisons to live up to, not to mention really interesting works in their own rights (even if I didn't love AMCE).  Oh and it features fantasy cannibal nuns, which is not something you see in many books....

And Star Eater is a really interesting novel featuring strong themes about power and heritage, a very strong lead character (and some solid secondary characters), and a really interesting world.  It's also the type of novel that doesn't bother to ever take the time to explain aspects of the setting, which works to some extent....and doesn't quite in others, throwing me for an unnecessary loop midway through.  Still, it's a tremendous ride from start to finish, especially once it hits the midway point, even if I don't think it pulls everything off by the end.  


--------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------
Elfreda Raughn is a Sister of Aytrium, like her mother, and grandmother before her.  She's not a particularly powerful one, with her control of the magical Lace being only moderate, and her work for the Sisterhood lying in the cultivation of bugs for potential food products.  And after her mother was martyred far too early, Elfreda has grown up consuming her flesh in grief, wanting desperately to be anything else - with her two best friends being involved in the fledgling Resistance group Elfreda knows wishes the Sisterhood gone.  But how can Elfreda be anything else when her magical bloodline will curse any man with whom she has intercourse into a horrible transformation into a Haunt - a monster?  

And so when Elfreda finds herself blackmailed by a faction of Sisters investigating a seemingly corrupt part of the Sisterhood, Elfreda gladly goes along - after all, they promise an end to the horrible Renewals she is forced to undergo to continue the Sisterhood's bloodline.  But the Sisterhood's power and control over Aytrium is immense and long lasting, and goes beyond the flesh they consume for magic, and those Elfreda is spying on will do anything to make sure it remains strong....whether that involve murder, heresy or worse.  And they will happily martyr Elfreda to achieve their goals.  

And then there are the visions that Elfreda has been seeing, that she can't admit to anyone lest she be martyred early herself, visions of ominous omens that are only growing stronger and stronger, as if they are trying to lead Elfreda to something.....
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Star Eater is a tricky book to review, because it is the type of book that basically never info-dumps or stops to explain, and instead expects the reader to figure out what is going on with the setting or magic system as things go along.  And so crucial aspects of the setting aren't revealed until the precise moment they come into play, which can often make them feel jarring....and makes it kind of a spoiler to reveal them in a review.*  Still, certain parts can be revealed here: this is a land where the Sisterhood rules and preserves the land somehow through magical rituals, where the Sisters consume the flesh of their ancestors for magical power (so our heroine consumes her mother's flesh which is preserved in a special place), where those sister's intimate contact with men results in those men turning into monsters....making reproduction of those sisters a ritualized chore done with condemned men, whether the Sisters like it or not.*  

Spoiler in ROT13: Sbe rknzcyr, gur ovt bar vf gung Nlgevhz vf va snpg na vfynaq sybngvat va gur fxl, juvpu vf uvagrq ng ol gnyx nobhg guebjvat crbcyr bss gur "Rqtr" naq fraqvat Unhagf qbja gb "Iragevf", ohg vf arire npghnyyl bcrayl gnyxrq nobhg hagvy gur zbzrag gung Ryserqn qrpvqrf fur vf tbvat gb fvax Nlgevhz onpx qbja gb gur tebhaq.  Juvpu vf jrveq, fvapr gung'f n ovt qrny, naq xvaq bs guerj zr bss, znxvat zr jbaqre vs V'q zvffrq vg rneyvre.  

*The book features LGB characters, but no Trans or Non-Binary characters, and I was kind of curious how such characters would fit into this system, which seems like something that could have been addressed with a line or two, and feels kind of like it should be in books these days.*

In this world comes Elfreda, a girl born into the sisterhood for the third generation, whose mother was martyred at an early age - a martyring that may have been the result of foul play.  El's mother was sympathetic to those outside the Sisterhood, even getting close to the resistance movement, and El shares her sympathies, seeing the Sisterhood's hoarding of power, and its restrictions on its members (and its forced-practices of reproduction).  El knows her two best friends - Finn the guy she loves even though she can't afford to and Millie Finn's sister (who has a crush on El, in addition to being generally polyamorous) - are in the resistance, and that the Sisterhood killed her friends' parents for being in a more dangerous resistance movement. 

And for El, honestly, one of the biggest things is being in control, which is why the hallucinations she's suffering are so hard, or why the renewals (forced reproduction) are so unbearable.  It's also why she finds herself going along with the Sister who tries to blackmail her - the blackmailer's competence is attractive - and is so terrified by the Sisters who so clearly turn out to be the antagonists, who are willing to use the Lace for magical compulsion.  This all makes El a fascinating character for sure, between her goodhearted nature, her emotional feelings for her friends, and her desire for control of herself....in a story dealing heavily with themes of power.  

And that story is fascinating, even if it's often confusing due to Hall's refusal to explain even aspects of the story that probably deserve explanation.  Unsurprisingly, the origins of the power of the Sister is more terrible - and more historically bloody - than the common people are told, and what certain Sisters are willing to do to hold onto it is just as horrifying, just as it is in the real world, even if our own world doesn't feature literal cannibalism of our ancestors and others.  This is a story where the bad guys want the literal flesh of our heroine at one point, and the good guys helping our heroine want only something slightly less, because even trying to do the right thing with power, to make up for the past, requires some possibly devastating sacrifices.  And it's a story where love leads people into making some terrible terrible decisions, especially when love isn't so easy as one man loves one woman, but can be more spread out and universal.  

I'm not sure Star Eater sticks the landing, the final act just feels like it peters out, with the final cost of it all being kind of miniscule in comparison for what all came before.  But the ride, the questions it produces, and the world, even with its strange and sometimes off-putting presentation, make this well worth it, and I won't be surprised if this picks up a few awards nominations.  

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