Thursday, October 13, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Unbalancing by R.B. Lemberg

 



Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on September 20, 2022 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

The Unbalancing is billed as the first full length novel in author R.B. Lemberg's acclaimed "Birdverse" fantasy universe, which previously featured the critically acclaimed novella The Four Profound Weaves.  Now the Unbalancing is not much longer than that novella (I'm guessing the ad press refers to it crossing the word count for the Hugo/Nebula definition of "Novel"), but honestly - that's fine, as The Four Profound Weaves (Review Here) was an incredible queer fantasy novella that was one of my favorite works in 2020, dealing with queerness and the right to choose one's own identity and path in a world filled with authoritarians and others fighting against change.  So I was exceedingly thrilled to hear that this longer story (one that apparently was a full story adaptation of an earlier poem by Lemberg) was coming in the same universe. 

And the Unbalancing is really interesting and really good, even as its very different from The Four Profound Weaves, featuring not a battle for one's right to assert queerness in an anti-queer world, but rather a queer-friendly world in which one queer main character isn't quite sure how they should identify themselves amidst all the options open to them.  The story features a romance between an autistic protagonist, whose ancestor constantly urges to take steps towards power and leadership for the good of all despite their lack of comfort in it, and a woman who does take that power and leadership and tries to use it, sometimes impatiently, to remedy and save a land she sees her predecessor as having failed...and to prove herself despite the abuse she suffered emotionally from a parent growing up.  It's a story that really surprises in how it unfolds, without really any true villains, as it deals with issues of consent, of power, of how people act in different speeds and have different wants, and about mistakes of the past and ways forward in the future.  It is naturally well worth your time, in what little time it takes to finish.  


---------------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------------------
Nearly a Thousand Years Ago, the starkeeper Semberí was gifted into their keeping the Star of the Tides, a being it tethered to the islands of Gelle-Geu in hopes of peace and prosperity.  But the Star has always been asleep, somewhat difficultly, and the Star's nightmares have shaken the islands....and are only getting worse and worse. 

Unbeknownst to the almost anyone on the island, Semberí's spirit has remained on the island, searching for someone who can take their role as starkeeper and calm the Star.  They believe that person to be their descendant, the poet Erígra Lilún, who possesses the capability to hold three deepnames, offering them the strongest possible magic.  

But Lilún has no interest in this role - they do not feel comfortable with power or leadership or even masses of people, and prefer to enjoy the quiet of Semberí's hill and to stop at two deepnames, rather than take three.  Lilún finds themself needing to take things slowly, and doesn't even understand what kind of Ichidi they are, other than the fact that they aren't only male or female.  But when Lilún takes Semberí's advice to go visit and see the newly appointed starkeeper, they find a surprise: Ranra Kekeri, an often brash and impulsive young woman desperate to solve the problem and to fix the Star...and whose assertions of leadership Lilún can't help but be drawn to.  

Ranra's speed is often too much for Lilún, but even so the two of them find themselves drawn together, even as Ranra gets more and more frantic (to Lilún's discomfort) as the Island's safety becomes more and more in jeopardy.  Will their combination be able to save Gelle-Geu?  Or even themselves?  
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While set in the same "Birdverse" world as Lemberg's last novella, The Unbalancing is a very different story.  Here the islands of Gelle-Geu are a generally good place to live, with a people that are utterly accepting of those who are queer, with multiple forms of being non-binary (known here as being "Ichidi") accepted and having their own distinct names based upon how one relates to the M-F spectrum.  Everyone involved in the story is trying to do their best to save their land and/or their people, and even the people who would traditionally be the villain in this type of story, like the Trader who opts to use their trade fleet to evacuate the Island as best as possible rather than to stay and place hopes in the protagonists to save it, aren't actually treated as villains, but instead as reasonable people each trying to do the best for themselves and their people.  This is a story really of two characters, Lilún and Ranra, as they try to find their place in society and in trying to lead their people to avert disaster, rather than of any enemy or villain to overcome...and of course of the romance that grows between them.

And well, except in potential for power, Lilún and Ranra couldn't be more different which makes this dynamic really really work.  Lilún is very clearly on the autism spectrum - they aren't quite fully comfortable in large groups, aren't comfortable with (if not downright scared of) the idea of grabbing power or trying to take a leadership role, and often needs to take time, slow things down and to breathe on their lonesome when things get difficult...even if the timing isn't there for doing that.  They care intensely for their people and their land, and especially care for the idea of consent: whether the Star consented to its current situation 999 years ago (since the Star is sentient), whether their ancestors had consent to plant the Star here when they came to an inhabited island populated by welcoming native peoples, and whether the current plan to save the land and heal the star is one that everyone involved is okay with and understands.  They could have in theory had the power to save the islands and heal the star, but their mentality prevents them from wanting to grab that power, and requires them to have far more time than available...if any amount of time could be enough at all.  This is of course immensely frustrating to Semberí, who is desperate for someone to fix their own mistakes with the Star and sees only Lilún as being close to themselves and with the ability to understand their story to fix it, and is sometimes frustrating for Ranra, who is much more impulsive and aggressive.

Ranra is someone who dealt with an emotionally abusive mother - a mother who was declared mentally ill essentially as a result, but whom she can't quite sever herself from and stop herself from wanting to prove herself.  She stopped herself from taking the most powerful deepname combination - the Warlord's Triangle - which is one known for solitude and dictatorial behavior, but still has tendencies in that direction.  And yet her need to do something, to fix things and to save the land is based upon her caring, and her desperation to both prove herself and in her belief that she has no other choice.  It's an attitude that both pushes her away from Lilún....and draws her in, as she sees in them someone who equally cares even if they can't quite understand Lilún's need to slow down.  And it's an attitude that also at times estranges her from her closest other friend and former lover, and when the solution she devises requires people to cooperate together and become closer, it causes her problems.  

Lilún and Ranra's dynamic is fascinating, and Lemberg takes it all in directions you wouldn't expect (well if you haven't read the poem first), as Lemberg doesn't provide her characters with easy or necessarily happy answers...because there aren't ones.  In the end, the story suggests that people will each have their own ways of trying to do their best for themselves and each other, may find their own identities at their own pace, and that sometimes the mistakes of the past can't simply be healed and may require the possibility of starting over.  I'm really glossing over a lot of interesting stuff that happens here, as this story is honestly perhaps a bit overstuffed, but it works really really well and I do recommend it quite a bit.  

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