However, Cheris has a saving grace-she’s considered a math prodigy, and in a society where the physics runs off the careful mathematics of the calendar, she’s considered a very valuable resource. This puts her in hot water with the Kel (general army faction), who do not appreciate her dip into quasi-heretical formations, and Cheris is at risk of being shipped off to the Vidona (the, uh, ‘re-education ‘ faction).
And because so much of the Hexarchate relies on the High Calander, heretics are ruthlessly prosecuted.Īt the start of Ninefox Gambit, we are introduced to Kel Cheris: an army captain who commits a close heresy to keep her company alive. However, if another set of beliefs start seeping into the system, things start slowly breaking down, causing a phenomenon known as calendrical rot. And if more ‘exotic’ technologies are required, a different set of rituals can be invoked in order to facilitate their use in local space. If the main empire keeps to the same calendar, most day to day activities run smoothly. Certain technologies can only be run if certain rituals, feast days and remembrances are kept. And in the Hexarchate, it’s the calendar that dictates the laws of physics. The empire of the series title is the Hexarchate: a highly structured, expansionist society that is run by six factions. The ‘magic’ here is that people and society can work on changing the laws of physics: but only if everyone goes along with it. The Machinaries of Empire series is best described as a space opera, with a setting that fulfils Arthur C Clark’s old adage that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” So it’s not going to be a walk in the park. This is compounded by the fact that the setting is decidedly very ‘out-there’ and wildly imaginative, so it can be really had to find your bearings. One of the most commonly made comments about the first book, Ninefox Gambit, is that it can be very difficult to understand the first time around, because the author, Yoon Ha Lee, just refuses to hold your hand. But since I cannot avoid the latter books at all, I’m not going to guarantee that everything is going to be 100% spoiler-free. Usual disclaimer: as I am reviewing a whole series at once, I am not going to get too heavily into the plot points of the latter two books, just the first.
I had read the books one by one as they had come out, but I had never sat down and binge-read them before.Īnd honestly, now that I have done that-while adding the more recently published short story collection-I think the series is even better. This was all triggered by last years’ Cannonball Book Exchange, where ElCicco was kind enough to send me the three main entries in the The Machinaries of Empire series.
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