The Dragon's Nine Sons
As he explains in some intriguing back matter to this novel, the first in a loosely linked trilogy, Roberson's uchronia deviated from our timeline in the 15th century, when the Chinese empire we know went on to achieve world domination. This new chain of events has left the Earth of 2052 divided into such strange, half-familiar states as Vinland, Europa and, of course, the main antagonist of the Celestial Empire, the Mexicas. Locked in a cold war for over 150 years, the two big bruisers have taken their rivalries into space. Encounters on Mars have blossomed into a shooting war, and that's where our story begins.
Nine Chinese soldiers—Zhuan, Yao, Dea, Fukuda, Syuxtun, Ang, Cao, Nguyen, Paik—all of whom face the death penalty for various offenses, are selected for what might very well be a suicide mission. After training and some minimal instructions and explanations, they are loaded aboard a captured Mexica ship (rechristened the Dragon) and sent out to the secret Mexica asteroid base called Xolotl. They are to gain entrance by subterfuge, then plant and detonate an atomic bomb deep inside the asteroid, ensuring a big wartime advantage for their homeland.
On the trip out, Capt. Zhuan and Bannerman Yao, the most responsible members of the group, find their hands full with the deadly bickering among the crew, who are a bunch of mutually distrusting rogues. But somehow discipline and camaraderie, however shallow and tenuous, are instilled, and the ship arrives undetected as a Trojan horse.
It's only when the Nine Sons of the Dragon penetrate the hideous bowels of Xolotl that they discover their mission has a major complication: Chinese prisoners that honor demands be rescued.
The Dirty Dozen in space
The narrative conceit of a bunch of criminal losers employed by the authorities for a dangerous mission is an eternal winner. It has found expression in such vehicles as the film The Dirty Dozen (1967) and DC Comics' Suicide Squad. For all I know, there might even be an ancient Chinese version of this trope involving rogue warriors. Given Roberson's extensive researches for this series, he might be playing off such an Asian version of the myth. But in any case, the concept practically dictates the cast and plot and offers a handy apparatus for storytelling suspense. But while Roberson makes good use of his gimmick, the very overpowering-ness of the conceit forces him to shortchange the SF elements a bit.
Because we are focused so tightly on the prisoners and their mission, all we ever see directly of this uchronia are some ship interiors and some military bases. No splendid cities, no farmers at work, no factories or museums. We get some sense of customs and history in the secondhand tales the men tell about themselves (inserted somewhat programatically into the story, but in a relatively charming fashion that harks back to an older style of fiction, as do such omniscient narrative sentences as this one: "And that was the last the two men saw of one another."). But other than this, there is no immediacy about either the Celestial Empire or the Mexicas.
And this latter failure to portray the Mexicas as anything other than savage ciphers does not help. Think of a good World War II film, where the Nazis get some human dimensionality to their villainy. There's none of that here, and, paradoxically, this leads us not to identify strongly with the Chinese heroes but rather to wonder whether perhaps the Mexicas are really all that bad. Surely we've seen the Chinese do such things as allow a massacre of their own citizens for utilitarian reasons.
But within this straitjacket of plot, Roberson inserts as many telling and spicy details of his alternate history as he can, and he delivers a good measure of military suspense. You won't regret accompanying the Nine Sons on their one-way mission.
As if being a talented author did not bring him glory, fame, women and riches enough, Roberson is also a daring publisher of fine tastes, running the firm Monkey Brain Books. Check out their excellent selections. —Paul
- by Paul Di Filippo
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