Aristoi
Bisexual male protagonist.
. Highly Recommended.
February 13, 2010 | Revid 465 < prev | next >
Aristoi: an ancient Greek word meaning "the best." In antiquity, it referred to the Greek aristocracy who were supposedly superior to common men. In Walter Jon Williams' book, the Aristoi are men and women who have achieved enlightenment.
Enlightenment is determined by a grueling battery of tests. Any and all of the demos (citizens) are invited to take these tests. Few pass. Those who do are charged with protecting the citizen body of the Logarchy. Each Aristoi rules a galaxy of terra-formed planets. The Aristoi provide technology and medicine and encourage education and the arts—all the benefits of an advanced civilization. Disease and poverty are unknown and the average life expectancy is several hundred years.
Some of the Aristoi are concerned about the human genome. They worry that humanity has become too domesticated. The numbers of the Aristoi are dwindling as fewer of the demos take and pass the exams. Not enough of the demos possess the ambition and aggression needed to become Aristoi and space exploration has stalled. Without new planets, human reproduction must be restricted to prevent over-population.
The Aristoi Gabriel has no fear for humanity. Gabriel is an artist, and those demos who chose to live in his domain work as musicians, architects, or artisans of one kind or another. The citizens of Gabriel's domain are mostly satisfied with their lives and Gabriel is happy to have provided his demos with a safe environment to pursue their creative talents.
At a graduation celebration for new Aristoi, Gabriel receives a warning from the Aristoi Dorothy. She's found a terra-formed planet where humans were colonized and abandoned. They live in horribly primitive conditions and suffer from disease, hunger and violence. Gabriel refuses to believe any Aristoi capable of such brutality until Dorothy is murdered in such a way that only another Aristoi can be responsible.
The best science fiction will make me say, "Wow, that was cool." I got to "Wow" on page 22, when Aristoi Gabriel performed minor surgery to impregnate his male lover, Marcus (affectionately nicknamed "The Black-eyed Ghost"). I got to "that was cool" two pages later when Gabriel split his personality to multi-task while performing the surgery. I went all the way to "Wow, that was cool" on page 38, when Gabriel checked on his apprentice who was conducting a Kavandi ritual to develop his own multiple personalities.
That was only the first chapter. There were many more such moments throughout the book. I also enjoyed the novel's central debate—is human achievement born of opportunity, or necessity?
Here's my favorite passage, on page 233. Gabriel is comforting Remmy, a young man on a primitive world whom he just seduced:
"It's a large… world." He'd almost said universe. "It's only here that such things are a vice."
"It's only here that I live." Remmy looked stern. "And I'm a loyal son of the Church."
How to explain, Gabriel wondered, that in another year or so this wouldn't matter—there would be Logarchy ships filling the skies, engaged in freeing these people from their prejudices, their unhappiness, their murderous habits.
Gabriel approached Remmy, lifted a hand, touched his neck. The other man wouldn't look at him.
"You are who you are," he said. "Suppressing one's inner nature is torture and bitterness."
Remmy looked up at him. "Perhaps it's different in Nanchan. But here sodomy's considered a Ketshana vice, not something a true Beukhomanan would do."
"If it matters," Gabriel said, "what we did wasn't technically sodomy."
And that's why I highly recommend this book.
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