A Son of the Rock

Night Shade Books, 2011, 288 p.

God’€™s War is set on an isolated theocratic world named Umayma which has few off-world connections and four main countries, Chenja, Nasheen, Ras Tiega and Mhoria. These are all Islamic type theocracies but with varying degrees of rigour, especially in their attitudes towards women, and alcohol is freely available, at least in Nasheen.

The environment of the planet has altered humans’ make up. Ras Tiegans, for example, can shift shape, though there seems to be no consequence attending this ability, neither energy deficiency nor any other debilitation. Technology is mediated by insects (Hurley usually calls them bugs) controlled by people called magicians.

Chenja and Nasheen have been at war for centuries -€“ most men are at the front (though women are sent there too) and society is dominated by females. A few bitter old men, former soldiers of course, add a touch of background. Nasheen is a monarchy – the current ruler is Queen Zainab – but an organisation whose members are known as bel dames is a rival power in the land.

The protagonist, Nixnyssa, is a former bel dame, disgraced and now turned bounty hunter -€“ she kills deserters and the like and cuts off their heads. The Queen engages Nyx and her team to find and retrieve – or kill – an off-worlder called Nikodem who may be able to provide one side or the other in the war with the crucial advantage to win it. Opposed to Nyx are factions within the bel dames, trying to find Nikodem for their own reasons. Bizarrely, boxing – yes, pugilism – is one of the aspects of the plot.

Hurley has invested a lot in her scenario but less in her characters who frequently amount to no more than one attribute. In addition, at the level of the prose, authorial care can break down. Several times Hurley employs one phrase or other in consecutive sentences, a trait which, to my mind, is clumsy at best and better avoided. Towards the climax typos begin to escalate, as if she was rushing to her conclusion. The novel is also slow to develop.

God’€™s War is a deliberate attempt to reverse the usual gender stereotypes -€“ the profoundly unsympathetic Nyxnissa is said to be a sexual omnivore (but we actually see very little, if any, sex in the novel) and relishes violence while Rhys, one of her male companions, is a God fearing prude and a crap magician to boot. The novel panders to the usual blood-and-guts hungry audience though.