The Years of Rice and Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson

An alternate history that really is an "Alternate History"

To many alternate histories fall into two categories "What if the South Won the Civil War?" or "What if the Nazis Won World War II?"

In this case "What if Europe were decimated by the Black Death?"; now there are times when the story (which is very long) is in danger of collapsing under the weight of its own narrative. There are even times when you need a rolodex to keep track of all of the characters (there are sites on the internet dedicated to this) the simplest advice in this case is to follow closely the characters starting with "B", "P" and "K"

Overall-If I had read this a year ago when I expected everything I read to be a great work of literature I would have given this a much lower rating, however in the little while since I have had a revelation I was entertained and my intelligence wasn't insulted so I had a good time.

interesting premise, awful execution

Reading the summary of this book, it sounded really quite interesting. European society had been killed off by plague and thus Islamic and Chinese societies were the dominant ones on Earth. The book was divided up amongst several stories detailing various time periods and the ways in which scientific discoveries - flight, gunpowder, trains, telescopes, etc were "discovered" in this alternate history. But these stories just got boring and I found myself wanting to skip large sections of them in the hope that the book would get better, unfortunately it didn't.

Didn't live up to expectations

As an alternative history of what would have happened if Europe had been depopulated by the Black Death this book had some real possibilities. Would Islamic civilization, which was still thriving at the time, have taken the lead in the world? Or might China have rose to the challenge? Through the use of reincarnation the author attempts to explore the possibilities but never really succceeds in pulling the reader in, at least not in my case.

A great idea for a book, though.

Alternate Worlds, Alternate History

There is no question that what Kim Stanley Robinson has done in The Years Of Rice And Salt is extraordinary.

The book begins with an event that is literally world changing; the elimination of European Civilization at the hands of the Black Death, enhanced somehow far beyond the killing power it had in our world, where it killed one-third of the population of Europe. In the book, the plague has destroyed the population of all but a miniscule portion of Christian Europe, and the world is left to China, Islam, India, and, later, the natives of the New World. What follows is Robinson's story of what that world might have looked like over a 700 year time span, told from the viewpoint of three recurring characters (more on that below)

This is alternate history at its best. By eliminating Europe, Robinson forces us to wonder how the world would have been different and shows us what he thinks it might have looked like. How well did he succeed ? Well, none other than Harry Turtledove pointed out in a recent podcast interview that there is no right or wrong when it comes to alternate history, because there is no way to test whether an author's theory of a world that might have been. The only question is whether the story is plausible and well written.

The Years Of Rice And Salt succeeds in both respects.

There are elements of Robinson's story that seem implausible -- most notably the reincarnation arc that he uses to tie his 700 year epic together (this is how he is able to have the same characters -- B, K, I, and S -- become witnesses to 700 years of human history). Another seeming implausibility is the way the technological progress in this world-without-Europe proceeds at almost exactly the same pace, and in nearly the same form, as it did in our world. For the most part, though, the world that Robinson presents is one that very easily could have come into existence. It will be difficult for readers in our world to accept the plausibility of the moderated Islam that Robinson lets unfold, but the idea of an Islamic "Reformation" in a world where Islam is the only monotheistic religion and has spread itself all over the world and been influenced by more than just Arab culture is quite believable. Similarly, the rivalries that unfold between Dar-al-Islam and the rest of the world seem to mirror the situation we face in our world today.

The book does fall apart somewhat at the end, most notably in the form of a scientific conference taking place in what would be A.D. 2002 in our world in which scientists from all of the worlds major powers quite simply concoct a plan to ensure that atomic weapons are never developed. This seems somewhat too utopian.

Despite these minor quibbles though, the book is exceedingly well-written. One of my favorite parts comes early in the book and begins with the K character paying for his deeds in a previous life by being reincarnated as a tiger. There are also frequent return trips to what was once known as Europe as various characters tell us what it looks and feels like so long after its people died. And, there are a few visits to a North and South America dominated by its native people, though the glimpses of this world are frustratingly few for my taste.

This one is definitely worth reading.

Imaginative and creatively written vision of a world without "the West"

What would the last 700 or so years have looked like if the Black Death virtually wiped out Europe, instead of "merely" annihilating 30-60% of her population? What if Christianity were suddenly and almost completely removed from the world stage? What if Columbus had not sailed the ocean blue in 1492---would the New World have still been "discovered" and if so, by whom? These are among the questions that Kim Stanley Robinson addresses in this masterfully written work of alternate history.

Robinson uses a couple of interesting writing devices to add a singularly human depth and breadth to his speculative vision. Instead of employing a single linear narrative history spanning three-quarters of a millennium, he uses ten individual yet interconnected books of exploration, conquest, and discovery as the brush strokes with which to paint an overall picture of a world without "the West." The connections between the ten books come in the form of recurring characters whose many names throughout the centuries share the same initial consonants, e.g. "B" and "K." Between the varied stories that comprise the novel these characters find themselves in the bardo--the "space in between"--deliberating on their choices and on the progress of humanity as a whole. The use of these cycles and of recurring personalities in the place of linear history and character development reinforces the absence of the West; the characteristically Asian cyclical nature of time, of history, and of progress provides an appropriate foundation for Robinson's overarching vision.

This is the first Robinson I've read, apart from an anthology that he edited (Future Primitive: The New Ecotopias), and based on how much I enjoyed this I think I'll definitely read more.