[ZRB's Cyberspace - Hardcover 'n paperback] The Broken God
How I came to read this book...
I picked up The Broken God from the British Council library in Chennai when I was either in school or first/second yr of college. It was an old hardcover book, with the image of a guy playing a flute on the cover. I read some reviews inside and decided to give it a try, even though the book would have made a good pillow. As usual I had been to the library on a Saturday and started reading it around 7 PM. And I surprised myself by finishing the 500 pager in a single sitting (rather lying down) thru the night. :-) It has been one of the best Sci-Fi novels I have ever read. Now to the book...
The theme...
Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman--a rope over an abyss... - Nietzsche
David Zindell, in one of the finest books I have read, tries to find what the Overman might be and how man can act as a better rope. The story is about becoming something more than a mere human by looking inward to your mind, memories, emotions, etc. Is Overman God? Or is he just a god? And what is god? The questions this book raises and tries to answer are deeply philosophical and anybody would enjoy them, because it is pure intellectual (almost orgasmic ;-)) pleasure to read this book.
The plot...
It is very hard to tell everything about the book in a blog post since the author, David Zindell, packs so much detail in a single paragraph and I could never match his writing, which is so vivid, grand and excruciatingly detailed. I suggest that you pick up the book if you want to read a good book and have enjoyed movie, The Matrix (Part I). :-)
The novel starts sad, our hero, Danlo a human boy, seeing his entire Alaloi tribal village, die of a plague. The tribe is called the Devaki tribe and the members are Neanderthal look-alikes and a sub-tribe of the Alaloi. He buries them, performs the rituals of his tribe for the dead, by singing a song and starts traveling to the city of Neverness, to find a cure for the plague, so that he could save the remaining Alaloi villages. The story is set in a distant future, when humans have managed to conquer the vastness of space with vehicles called Lightships, which I believe can move in physical space as well thru wormholes that it creates.
He is sheltered by an alien (of the Fravashi race), called the Fravashi father, and teaches him many things. The Fravashi father also informs him that the virus that killed his people was created as a bio-weapon a few centuries ago in a war between two religions. And those who created the virus might know the cure too and to meet the members of the religion called, the Architects of the Cybernetic Church, who live in a far off planet, he must become a pilot of the Order.
The Order is an institution where you are taught many arts and sciences of the mind and also to fly Lightships. Here he meets Hanuman Li Tosh, a guy with a dark past. Hanuman killed his father and fled to Neverness to become a pilot. His father is of a religion, which uses devices which erase your memories and knowledge (of bad things), to keep its followers moral, a process called Cleansing.
Hanuman and Danlo become good friends. Meanwhile Danlo meets a girl called Tamara Ten Ashtoreth, a girl specializing in fine arts; dance, music, etc. And the two immediately fall in love. Meanwhile, Danlo comes to know of his own past and how he came to be the only human boy in a village of the Alaloi people.
His human father, Mallory Ringess, once made a mission to the Alaloi village to find the secret of the Elder Eddas. The members of the Order believe that man's journey forward lies not in the future but in discovering a secret encoded in their DNA, imprinted by a god like race called the Elder Eddas. And there is a separate division of the Order that develops techniques and teaches them to students who want to find the secrets imprinted in the human DNA. They call this Remembrance. The mission of Mallory Ringess to the village of the Alaloi was to find the Elder Eddas, because he believed that the Alaloi, living closer to nature as tribesmen, had DNA that was mutated less than the rest of humanity. After returning from the mission, it is said that, Mallory Ringess traveled far into the galaxy and became a god.
Danlo, Hanuman, Tamara and a few of their good friends try Remembrance in a gathering after taking the sacred Khalla drug and Danlo has a vision of the Elder Eddas. He shares this with others and soon Hanuman has it too and they give birth to a religion called Ringism, named after Mallory Ringess. Ringism attracts a huge following, including members of the Order.
Eventually, Hanuman's darker side takes over and he becomes the leader of the Ringists and manipulates them to his own dubious purpose of becoming an immortal god. Hanuman also gives up his fellowship of the Order and asks Danlo to do so. Danlo, aware of Hanuman's dark intentions, leaves the religion behind and decides to follow his mission and find the cure for his people.
Once good friends Hanuman and Danlo are bitter enemies now because of Ringism.
(My memory of the book and Danlo's journey here is a little vague, so I'll fill in the other details later.)
Danlo goes in search of his father into space. Danlo travels to the region of space, called The Vild, where stars are dying, exploding constantly into supernovae. And the light from the supernovae is destroying many other worlds. And eventually Danlo finds that it is human beings who are destroying the stars. And these human beings are destroying the stars to feed themselves. And these human beings are the offspring of the members of the Architects of the Cybernetic Universal Church.
Danlo returns with new knowledge about the exploding stars and reason why there are so many supernovae in the Vild. He is promoted and made a Pilot of the Order of Neverness and given the ring that every pilot wears. And his lightship is called the Snowy Owl. While Danlo's quest takes a step forward his personal life is a mess. Hanuman somehow manages to erase Tamara's memories about Danlo, when he is away on a journey to the stars. And now the woman he loved and was loved by no longer recognizes him.
Danlo leaves in despair and meets Hanuman and asks him why he erased Tamara's memories of him. And Hanuman says that he did it to have Danlo back as a Ringist. Hanuman, as it turns out, didn’t erase Tamara's memories completely, but copied it to a computer and promises to restore it if Danlo agrees to return to Ringism. Here we are introduced to Hanuman's deepest self, when he says that Life of a human being is not about pleasure and harmony, but it is filled with pain and chaos. And to escape the pain and chaos one must no longer be a mere human and turn into a god. Danlo is able to resist Danlo's tempting offer and decides to leave with a pain-filled heart. At this time, Hanuman throws a box of chess pieces to the floor, which Danlo had made with his hands and presented to Hanuman. And the God piece (King) breaks into two.
The book ends with Danlo meeting the Fravashi Father on a beach and playing a sad Devaki song on his flute.
What does the book have for me...
This novel is a feast to those who like to exercise their brain over questions of morality, religion, emotions and most specifically "Why are we here?”
This book is not light reading. Those who marvel their skill at finishing 3 Hardy Boys novels in an afternoon or a Sydney Sheldon/Michael Crichton on a lazy Saturday morning, be ready to reread this novel at least 3-4 times before you fully understand the beauty of Zindell's work.
This novel has everything.
There is a lot of Science Fiction. However, the "space travel" element does not take over the other sci-fi stuff. On the contrary, in many cases, the reverse is true. And I specifically loved this book for that. There is a lot about the nature of consciousness itself. And since I was interested in NLP at that time, this intrigued and boosted my interest towards this book. Wormholes, a universal syntax to represent all knowledge using pictorials called Ideoplasts. Remember how people learn new topics in Matrix. Matrix borrowed from Zindell. The students no longer spend time learning or practicing basic skills, but download that basic knowledge directly into their brain. I think that is cool, where you can start right away by advancing what already exists and all prior knowledge that exists is learnt in a few days.
There are a lot of religious references. Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam. The names of characters are from almost all known religions and regions. The Devaki tribe living in coastal areas obviously refers to Dwarka and its people. Danlo's pain at the loss of Tamara is "Desire is the root of all evil". The human beings feeding on the stars of the Vild, taken right out of the anti-abortionist and anti-contraceptive beliefs of Christianity. And the statement "there is no god but God" is straight out of Islam. And the question about "Who/what is god???"... Isn’t that more religion than you can ask for???
There is occultism, but with a touch of science and integral to the plot. The Order of Scryers, which is nothing but a decent name to a "crystal ball gazer".
There is a lot of philosophy, especially Nietzsche. A lot of deeply philosophical questions are asked and answers tried.
There is love. The love between Tamara and Danlo has something otherworldly about it. It is not the everyday "Prince Charming meets Princess Cute". Especially given that Tamara seeks to be an Artisan, an Order that seeks to help remembrance thru the fine arts of dancing and music and thru sex. This was particularly interesting to me for obvious reasons ;-). Who wouldn’t want to become a god by making love?
There is mysticism and religion. Ringism. The search of god. The seeking of godhood. The Order of Cetics for example tries to read your thoughts thru your body language.
And all of these come together to accomplish something greater for the novel. My favorite is the merging of Kamasutra, Hindu mysticism and the Order of Artisans. Tamara, an Artisan, knows everything about the positions in Kamasutra and uses the lotus position with Danlo to raise his "Kundalini". I know you know of the Kamasutra, but the Kundalini is what the Siddhas talk about a lot in their songs. It is supposed to be the power, rather a massive source of energy, within every human being, lying dormant, and thru Yoga and Pranayaamam you can wake it up and with that power you can destroy and make things as you see fit. I came to know of Kundalini from Sujatha novels and a reference to it by Zindell was surprising to say the least. The Kundalini is supposed to start from the tip of ur spinal cord and flow thru your spinal cord like a upright serpent all the way to the brain.
Finally...
I could go on writing about "The Broken God", but to enjoy it in all its beautiful glory, I suggest that you hit Amazon.com and order the book. You will not regret either the money nor the time you spend. I'll also post my thoughts and some of the things I found very interesting in this book and its sequels later.
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Posted by zrb to ZRB's Cyberspace - Hardcover 'n paperback at 4/19/2005 03:34:00 AM
posted by zrb | 6:47 AM
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