"The Day of Their Return"
Oct. 10th, 2004 04:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowI finished The Day of Their Return yesterday, and am continuing with Anderson - Flandry, which contains "A Circus of Hells" and "The Rebel Worlds" (and possibly some additional material; the front matter suggests so).
One thing I've noticed. In several places in his Polesotechnic League/Terran Empire series, Anderson emphasizes the sheer unmanageable hugeness of the Empire. Nonetheless, there are a number of planets and nonhuman races that keep reappearing in the stories; this despite the fact that Nicholas van Rijn and David Falkayn (in the Polesotechnic League stories) and Dominic Flandry (in the Terran Empire stories) are supposed to range widely across human-dominated space. David Falkayn's partner Chee Lan is a Cynthian; another Cynthian is a minor character in The People of the Wind. The latter story takes place largely on the planet Avalon, jointly colonized by humans and Ythrians; we learn, at one point, that David Falkayn was one of the founders of the colony. An Ythrian from Avalon appears in The Day of Their Return, which takes place on the planet Aeneas, which was also a major locale in "The Rebel Worlds". Again, Nicholas van Rijn spends time on the planet Diomedes in "The Man Who Counts"; part of A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows also occurs there. The explanation is obvious, of course; Anderson put a great deal of work into devising his planets and aliens, and that he re-used them is only natural. Still, it sits oddly with his insistence on the size and diversity of the Empire.
Enough of that. The Day of Their Return is set in the time of the Empire, some time after the failure of Admiral McCormac's rebellion (recounted in "The Rebel Worlds"). The people of Aeneas are still restive, and rebellion percolates beneath the surface. Ivar Frederiksen, scion of one of the leading families of the planet, is forced into hiding after a botched ambush of Imperial forces. He takes refuge, first, with a wandering band of Tinerans, then with a riverborne clan of the Kuang Shih, at last reaching the remote Orcans. There, he encounters a religious leader who names him a potential messiah; the underlying religiosity of the various peoples of Aeneas, coupled with the prestige of the Frederiksens and a new revelation concerning the Elders whose relics are scattered across the planet, could make it possible to wrest the planet - the entire sector - from Imperial control. Ivar learns, though, that the whole situation is being manipulated by the powerful telepath Aycharaych, an agent of the Merseian rivals of the Empire, and aborts the plot. (As all this is going on, we are also kept informed of the activities of Chunderban Desai, the planetary governor, who is working to reconcile the Aeneans to Imperial rule; it is, indirectly, through Desai's investigations that Ivar learns of Aycharaych's involvement.)
As often, Anderson pays careful attention to cultures. Four are presented here: the Nords (politically dominant; Ivar springs from them); the Tinerans; the Kuang Shih; and the Orcans. For a first approximation, they might be compared, respectively, to the Roman Republic, Gypsies, Confucian Chinese, and Scots of the time of John Knox. These are approximations only, of course. For example, the Tinerans are not as bound by dietary rules and other regulations as the Romany are. (They are actually presented in a negative light, unusually in Anderson's work. Ivar finds their lifestyle seductive, but it is clear to the reader - if not to him - that he does not really understand them. His culture's emphasis on exclusive monogamy leads him to misunderstand his relationship with a Tineran named Fraina, and his expulsion from the band is triggered by this. Soon after, he realizes that Fraina deliberately engineered this, winding up in possession of most of his belongings. The Ythrian mentioned above, who is ostensibly working as an anthropologist, explains to him that the curious pets - "Lucks" - kept by the Tinerans are telepathic, and that their influence has warped Tineran culture, to their detriment.) Each of these cultures is, by and large, nonreligious - at least in the sense of organized religion; the Orcans come closest, but deem themselves to be philosophical rather than religious. Nonetheless, each has an undertone of spirituality, readily responsive to the rumors of a new prophet and messiah, and it is this that has attracted Aycharaych's attention.
I do not find the story particularly interesting, unfortunately. None of the cultures are all that well developed; the fact that we see them through the eyes of a rather callow young man doesn't help. Nor does it seem that the widespread spirituality - so important to the plot - is powerful enough to have the effects foreseen by Aycharaych. Really, the only items of interest to me are the extension of the Toynbeean underpinnings of the whole League/Empire series (but that deserves a post of its own) and Anderson's insight into various forms of religiosity (but that also merits a separate post).
One thing I've noticed. In several places in his Polesotechnic League/Terran Empire series, Anderson emphasizes the sheer unmanageable hugeness of the Empire. Nonetheless, there are a number of planets and nonhuman races that keep reappearing in the stories; this despite the fact that Nicholas van Rijn and David Falkayn (in the Polesotechnic League stories) and Dominic Flandry (in the Terran Empire stories) are supposed to range widely across human-dominated space. David Falkayn's partner Chee Lan is a Cynthian; another Cynthian is a minor character in The People of the Wind. The latter story takes place largely on the planet Avalon, jointly colonized by humans and Ythrians; we learn, at one point, that David Falkayn was one of the founders of the colony. An Ythrian from Avalon appears in The Day of Their Return, which takes place on the planet Aeneas, which was also a major locale in "The Rebel Worlds". Again, Nicholas van Rijn spends time on the planet Diomedes in "The Man Who Counts"; part of A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows also occurs there. The explanation is obvious, of course; Anderson put a great deal of work into devising his planets and aliens, and that he re-used them is only natural. Still, it sits oddly with his insistence on the size and diversity of the Empire.
Enough of that. The Day of Their Return is set in the time of the Empire, some time after the failure of Admiral McCormac's rebellion (recounted in "The Rebel Worlds"). The people of Aeneas are still restive, and rebellion percolates beneath the surface. Ivar Frederiksen, scion of one of the leading families of the planet, is forced into hiding after a botched ambush of Imperial forces. He takes refuge, first, with a wandering band of Tinerans, then with a riverborne clan of the Kuang Shih, at last reaching the remote Orcans. There, he encounters a religious leader who names him a potential messiah; the underlying religiosity of the various peoples of Aeneas, coupled with the prestige of the Frederiksens and a new revelation concerning the Elders whose relics are scattered across the planet, could make it possible to wrest the planet - the entire sector - from Imperial control. Ivar learns, though, that the whole situation is being manipulated by the powerful telepath Aycharaych, an agent of the Merseian rivals of the Empire, and aborts the plot. (As all this is going on, we are also kept informed of the activities of Chunderban Desai, the planetary governor, who is working to reconcile the Aeneans to Imperial rule; it is, indirectly, through Desai's investigations that Ivar learns of Aycharaych's involvement.)
As often, Anderson pays careful attention to cultures. Four are presented here: the Nords (politically dominant; Ivar springs from them); the Tinerans; the Kuang Shih; and the Orcans. For a first approximation, they might be compared, respectively, to the Roman Republic, Gypsies, Confucian Chinese, and Scots of the time of John Knox. These are approximations only, of course. For example, the Tinerans are not as bound by dietary rules and other regulations as the Romany are. (They are actually presented in a negative light, unusually in Anderson's work. Ivar finds their lifestyle seductive, but it is clear to the reader - if not to him - that he does not really understand them. His culture's emphasis on exclusive monogamy leads him to misunderstand his relationship with a Tineran named Fraina, and his expulsion from the band is triggered by this. Soon after, he realizes that Fraina deliberately engineered this, winding up in possession of most of his belongings. The Ythrian mentioned above, who is ostensibly working as an anthropologist, explains to him that the curious pets - "Lucks" - kept by the Tinerans are telepathic, and that their influence has warped Tineran culture, to their detriment.) Each of these cultures is, by and large, nonreligious - at least in the sense of organized religion; the Orcans come closest, but deem themselves to be philosophical rather than religious. Nonetheless, each has an undertone of spirituality, readily responsive to the rumors of a new prophet and messiah, and it is this that has attracted Aycharaych's attention.
I do not find the story particularly interesting, unfortunately. None of the cultures are all that well developed; the fact that we see them through the eyes of a rather callow young man doesn't help. Nor does it seem that the widespread spirituality - so important to the plot - is powerful enough to have the effects foreseen by Aycharaych. Really, the only items of interest to me are the extension of the Toynbeean underpinnings of the whole League/Empire series (but that deserves a post of its own) and Anderson's insight into various forms of religiosity (but that also merits a separate post).
