The Rebel Worlds, III.
A Shalmuan community:
sprawling down a slope;
white drum-shaped houses;
several thousand occupants;
colorful roof gardens;
ways paved with tough moss;
common fruit trees;
cultivation and pastures below;
woods opposite;
"...silvery psuedograss..." (p. 26);
rotting bodies lashed to a hundred crosses;
"...charnel odor." (p. 25);
black clouds of carrion birds and insects.
The crosses are the work of Imperials or their mercenaries, not of Shalmuans. Flandry investigates. One of his bodyguards vomits.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I think any criticism I have for THE REBEL WORLDS is that, really, it's too short. I have suggested that we should have been shown Vice Admiral Kheraskov being received in a private audience by the Empress Dowager to discuss the problem posed by Aaron Snelund--which would have fleshed out the background for the admiral's briefing of Flandry in Chapter II. And I agree with the reviewer's suggestion we should have been shown exactly how Flandry rescued Kathryn McCormac from the clutches of Snelund.
Yes, I know Anderson wrote THE REBEL WORLDS at a time when most publishers set strict limits on how long a book could be. One reason why I appreciate A CIRCUS OF HELLS is because, being 25 to 30 pages longer, Anderson had more "room" for filling in details. But even CIRCUS could have been usefully expanded, to giving us more details about the AI of Wayland.
Those rotting corpses certainly shows us the cruelty and callousness of Aaron Snelund! Far worse than merely hiking taxes on the more advanced worlds of the Sector.
Ad astra! Sean
There's a good evolutionary reason for the gag/vomit reflex around rotting corpses -- it gets rid of possibly contaminated food, and surpasses appetite.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Yes, but EMOTIONALLY what most such persons feel is horror and disgust. I don't think they usually think of getting rid of possibly bad food.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: true, but our natures manipulate us via our emotions. Fear of snakes and falling are other examples.
Note how many cultures have a special caste, segregated from the rest of society, which handles corpses, and often other "unclean" matter.
The "eta" in Japan, for instance.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And by contrast, you reminded me of how Catholic Christianity inculcates as one of the corporal works of mercy the burial of the dead.
I had not known of the Japanese "eta," which I will look up. I did know of the Untouchable caste of Indian Hinduism.
Ad astra! Sean
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