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Kirinyaga
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Author:
List Price:
$19.00
Price:
$17.10
Availability:
Usually ships in 24 hours
Rating:
4.0 / 5
Release:
Tuesday, May 25, 1999
Publisher:
Del Rey
Sales Rank:
163010
Binding: Paperback
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Hailed for his grandeur of imagination and superb worldbuilding, winner of and nominee for more than fifty awards for his outstanding work, Mike Resnick has rightfully won a place as one of science fiction's master storytellers. Now, in Kirinyaga, Resnick presents the haunting and utterly compelling tale of one man's utopia.
By the twentieth second century in the African nation of Kenya, polluted cities sprawl up the flanks of sacred Mount Kirinyaga. Great animal herds are but distant memories. European crops now grow on the sweeping savannas. But Koriba, a distinguished, educated man of Kikuyu ancestry, knows that life was different for his people centuries ago--and he is determined to build a utopian colony, not on earth, but on the terraformed planetoid he proudly names Kirinyaga.
As the mundumugu--witch doctor--Koriba leads the colonists. Reinstating the ancient customs and stringent laws of the Kikuyu people, he alone decides their fate. He must face many challenges to the struggling colony's survival: from a brilliant young girl whose radiant intellect could threaten their traditional ways to the interference of "Maintenance" which holds the power to revoke the colony's charter. All the while, only Koriba--unbeknownst to his people--maintains the computer link to the rest of humanity.
Ironically, the Kirinyaga experiment threatens to collapse--not from violence or greed--but from humankind's insatiable desire for knowledge. The Kikuyu people can no more stand still in time than their planet can stop revolving around its sun.
Deeply moving, swiftly paced, and profound in its implications, Kirinyaga is Mike Resnick's most triumphant work to date. His Fable of Utopia is the book every science fiction reader will want to own and savor for years to come.
From the Hardcover edition. |
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Amazon.com Review
Kirinyaga: A Fable of Utopia collects Mike Resnick's famous Kirinyaga stories and ties them together in a thematic arc that has novel-like continuity. The story focuses on Koriba, a mundumugu (sort of like a witch doctor and a wise man rolled into one) of the Kikuyu tribe. Koriba feels that his tribe has been corrupted by "European" technology, so he helps to establish a small, utopian planetoid named Kirinyaga where the Kikuyu can return to their roots, farming the land and worshipping the god Ngai without technological or cultural interference. As utopias go, Kirinyaga experiences its fair share of problems--both from within and without--each of which is detailed in the individual chapters and stories. The writing is not stylish but the stories are all excellent, and Resnick does a good job of integrating the traditional Kikuyu way of life into tales that any culture can appreciate. Readers looking for a novel may come away a bit disappointed because this book is really a collection of stories, but as far as collections go, few are better than Kirinyaga. |
Customer Reviews
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Not Free SF Reader, Monday, September 03, 2007
A collection exploring the conflict between an aboriginal people and an advanced technology. In this case, an African group, the Kikiyu, and European advanced technology.
This book looks at some stories of what happens when a group of these people are moved to live on an artificial habitat suited to them, and also of the character of their people that must have understanding of the technology while they do not.
Kirinyaga : One Perfect Morning With Jackals - Mike Resnick
Kirinyaga : Kirinyaga - Mike Resnick
Kirinyaga : For I Have Touched the Sky - Mike Resnick
Kirinyaga : Bwana - Mike Resnick
Kirinyaga : The Manamouki - Mike Resnick
Kirinyaga : Song of a Dry River - Mike Resnick
Kirinyaga : The Lotus and the Spear - Mike Resnick
Kirinyaga : A Little Knowledge - Mike Resnick
Kirinyaga : When the Old Gods Die - Mike Resnick
Kirinyaga : The Land of Nod - Mike Resnick
Kenya piss off.
3.5 out of 5
Demon baby killer Maintenance.
4 out of 5
Reading not for local girls.
4 out of 5
Hopeless hyena hunters.
3.5 out of 5
Hyena poo bad, Wanda.
3.5 out of 5
Witchdoctoring can be stressful.
3 out of 5
Maybe the elephant had the right idea, given this whole witch doctor thing.
4 out of 5
My friend mundumugu, he taught me what to say
My friend mundumugu, he taught me what to do
Computer taught me different, though.
4 out of 5
Kirinyaga magic vs medicine decision.
3.5 out of 5
Old ways holdout, with heffalump.
4 out of 5
4.5 out of 5
Rating: 5 out of 5
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Mixed Reaction, Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Overall I liked this book. I found it entertaining and though-provoking. The author notes explicitly where you should be stopping to think so you don't have to work too hard. The underlying philosophy of the book comes from Daniel Quinn's "Ishmael", and those readers who are familiar with Quinn's work will get more out of it than those who aren't.
Now for some observations/criticisms:
First of all, the book fails to stop at the end. The epilogue contributes nothing at all to the story, although it does satisfy our curiosity about the fate of the narrator. I'll spoil it for you now: he never learns. Skip the epilogue; it's a waste.
Second, very little of the credit for this book can go to Resnick. As I mentioned, the philosophical underpinnings of this book are those of Daniel Quinn, and the basic premise of the narrative was issued as a challenge to the author by Orson Scott Card. Resnick's role here was not that of architect, but merely assembler of other's thoughts. The parables that the narrator/protagonist tells are very clever, and Resnick deserves credit if they are his own. However, I would be surprised if they were not traditional African fables.
My third issue is about the author's afterword, not the book itself, but it cannot be ignored. In it Resnick proclaims this book 'the most honored science-fiction book in history'. To back this up he gives an individual account of each chapter (they were originally published separately over serveral years) and the various awards. In the telling he counts 'Hugo Award winner' and 'Hugo Award nominee' as two different awards. ?? Same goes for 'Nebula nominee' and 'Nebula preliminary ballot'. Please. All this bragging simply points my attention to one fact: the book as a whole has not won any awards.
How, then can he justify his claim? It's a dubious bit of doubletalk that would be the envy of the scummiest politician. "The most honored science-fiction book in history" translates into English as, "A collection of many stories published at such a time and in such a way so as to be elligible for more award nominations than any single sci-fi book in history, and then republished as one work".
I guess his phrase just has more of a ring to it.
Rating: 3 out of 5
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no science, just mediocre fiction, Tuesday, July 05, 2005
I bought and read this book in large part based on the reviews I had read on Amazon.com. I should have paid more attention to the negative reviews, and less to the glowingly positive ones. For one thing, I found the dialogue stilted and not believable. If the people of Koriba's tribe (group? extended family?) on Kirinyaga were all as intelligent as portrayed, it seems highly unlikely to me they ever would have signed up for the odyssey. More importantly, the "science" in this supposedly science fiction novel is pathetically weak. There is no discussion or explanation of the concept of terraforming a "planetoid." How does "Maintenance" (who are they?) manage to make incremental "orbital adjustments" so as to modify the planetoid's weather? And when Maintenance does manage to do this, what happens elsewhere on the planetoid? It was never clear whether Koriba was responsible for the entire planetoid or just one part of it. How does Koriba's computer manage to operate forever without electricity? How do spaceships manage to come zooming down to Kirinyaga so soon after an inhabitant ventures into the Haven area? Presumably this implies ships are parked in orbit very near the planetoid; isn't this so expensive as to be impossible? The list of unexplained and unbelievable technical aspects to this story is endless; basically, the reader just has to ignore all of the science issues, completely suspend disbelief, and focus solely on the basic premise of the story: the ups and downs of attempting to recreate "utopia." Even there the story does not hold together, for it begs the reader to believe there is a single definition of utopia: Koriba's definition. And that utopia cannot allow for change or development. In the end the story is little more that that of a blind, bigoted old man trying his best to force HIS personal view of what is best onto others. This book is not even close to what the author proposes in the prologue: the most honoured story in all of science fiction. It's certainly not good science fiction, and it's not even good fiction.
Rating: 2 out of 5
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