{"id":32722,"date":"2020-06-02T19:57:04","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T23:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/?p=32722"},"modified":"2020-06-04T20:24:18","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T00:24:18","slug":"mazes-of-power-by-juliette-wade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/non-fiction\/mazes-of-power-by-juliette-wade\/","title":{"rendered":"Mazes of Power by Juliette Wade"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mazes<\/a>The Grobal Race rules the eight cavern cities of Varin, but its strict rules for membership are based on blood and birth, creating nobles who have become increasingly inbred. This genetic bottleneck has left them more susceptible than the other castes of Varin to an illness called Kinders fever. An outbreak would devastate their diminished population. So when the Speaker suddenly falls ill at the annual Announcement proclaiming the state of the Grobal Race\u2019s health, the nobles in attendance panic, fleeing from the grand ballroom before a performance of the controversial new symphony The Catacomb<\/em> can begin. But seventeen-year-old Tagaret of the First Family is determined to hear the symphony, even if it means muckwalking among the Lowers to watch a later performance. Despite his discomfort in associating with other castes, Tagaret enjoys the concert and falls in love with a fellow Grobal in attendance, Della of the Sixth Family.<\/p>\n

With rigid rules governing what kind of interaction is appropriate between genders, there are political consequences for Tagaret\u2019s chance meeting with Della. Tagaret soon discovers just how dire those consequences are when a high-ranking Grobal dies from Kinders fever, setting into motion the competition for Heir to the Throne. Selected to represent the First Family, Tagaret is ensnared in the complex political web of Grobal society. While Tagaret is an unwilling participant, his megalomaniacal brother Nekantor is obsessed with the First Family\u2019s prestige and schemes to gain more power.<\/p>\n

The return of their mother Lady Tamelera from being stationed at another cavern city further complicates matters. Reunited with her abusive husband Garr, Tamelera finds herself stripped of her last symbol of safety when Garr forces her to end her relationship with Eyli, her Imbati bodyguard and servant. Against Tamelera\u2019s wishes, Aloran, a recent graduate of the Imbati Service Academy, is assigned as her new servant. Although he is unsure how to navigate their tense relationship, Aloran still does his best to honor his duty to Tamelera, all while grappling with his own role in the city of Pelismara.<\/p>\n

With a huge cast of characters, Juliette Wade\u2019s debut novel Mazes of Power<\/em> (The Broken Trust<\/strong>\u00a0#1) promises rich political intrigue in a secondary world entirely divorced from our own. Wade is also the host of Dive Into Worldbuilding<\/a>, a YouTube conversation series on worldbuilding as a craft, and describes worldbuilding as<\/a> \u201cany time you are creating a sense of place while storytelling.\u201d Indeed, the opening line of Mazes of Power<\/em> immediately establishes the alienness of the world of Varin: \u201cTagaret believed in music the same way he believed in the sky.<\/em>\u201d Wade doesn\u2019t hesitate to layer on more details about the fantastic cavern cities and Varin society, where a person is born into one of seven occupation-based castes, each with its own norms and expectations. Aside from the Grobal Race, there are also Arissen, the officers; Imbati, the servants; Kartunnen, the artisans; Venorai, the laborers; Melumalai, the merchants; and Akrabitti, the Undercaste, who perform undesirable labor like trash collecting and taking care of dead bodies. The caste system also has an element of class to it: although money is virtually meaningless to the wealthy nobility, it is a major decision-making factor for all other castes. Aside from caste-based divisions, Grobal society is also very structured when it comes to interactions between genders and between the twelve noble Families. Grobal society is so strict about gender roles that the ascension of the first-ever lady cabinet member is a major political scandal.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, much of the worldbuilding advertised in Mazes of Power<\/em> doesn\u2019t make it to the actual page. In Mazes of Power,<\/em> Wade uses an extremely high-context style that leaves much of Varin unexplained.[1<\/a>] <\/a> Readers are immersed in Pelismaran society and expected to piece together the clues for a bigger picture of the world, which itself is high context: much of the story is spent on characters reading between the lines of what\u2019s said to them to decipher their next political moves. For better or worse, the reader must figure out the significance of social cues and transgressions.<\/p>\n

On the positive side, Wade keeps the high context consistent and does an excellent job of filtering details. Only things that would stand out to someone living within the world are highlighted, not for the reader\u2019s benefit, but as part of the characters\u2019 perceptions of the world. However, the detail that is<\/em> provided ends up being murky and raising more questions than it answers. Even after I finished reading the book, I had a hard time imagining what the cavern cities actually looked like, aside from the image of a few towering elevator shafts and the contrast of a harsh sun on the surface. I picked up that there was flora throughout, but I was distracted by questions of how plants grew without sunlight\u2014and if they did survive on other nutrients, how that would affect the way they looked, and what the city of Pelismara was made out of. If there wasn\u2019t sunlight, or there was only limited sunlight, then what did the cities use as lighting? A few words suggest that the city runs on electricity\u2014but how is it generated? The mention of a hair dryer also suggests technological comforts of our time, but the history of their invention is a complete mystery.<\/p>\n

All these details affect the images and atmospheres I visualize as I go through a new world. Much of the excitement of a secondary world is, after all, the way it differs from our own. Even with a high-context approach, other recent work has quickly established setting in more effective ways<\/a>. Military science fiction is a subgenre already laden with jargon, but Joel Dane adds a further layer of speculative future technology and culture on top in Cry Pilot<\/em>:<\/p>\n

The connection crashes. It doesn\u2019t matter, though: the appointment information is already on my cuff. They expect me in thirty-five minutes. That\u2019s the first test. If you\u2019re not willing to drop everything, the corporate military doesn\u2019t want you.<\/p>\n

As I slip toward the exit, my pulse thumps along with the music. A low note creeps up my spine, and then I\u2019m in the bustling, bright corridor. Boutiques and caf\u00e9s march toward the atrium with elevators servicing the highest floors of the tower. Chattering families browse the shops and rowdy kids play wall-hockey.<\/p>\n

Late afternoon in a Freehold tower.<\/p>\n

I grab redbean rolls at a warung and eat in the elevator. A projection on the wall shows the streets outside the tower: maintenance bots spark, adboards flicker, and mobile homes cling to the undersides of a tangle of highways. A crowd of kids chases a sweets caravan along a curving track, and a flock of new-generation sparrows dives through freight cables.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all behind me now. (ebook)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In just under 170 words, Dane establishes a powerful sense of both the time and place of the setting while dropping hints about social expectations, kinship structures, cuisine, economy, and transportation. I kept wishing for dense paragraphs of details like this through Mazes of Power<\/em>, but only descriptions of the elevators and sun toward the end of the book left me with a strong impression. There\u2019s also very little sensory detail, leaving me with only a psychological understanding of the narrative.<\/p>\n

Mazes of Power<\/em> brands itself as sociological science fiction. Wade defines sociological science fiction<\/a> as \u201cscience fiction that sets its major focus on society and its impact rather than on other elements like gadgets, technologies, or frontiers.\u201d Examples include The Left Hand of Darkness<\/em> by Ursula K. Le Guin and the Imperial Radch<\/strong> series by Ann Leckie. Varin society is indeed the highlight of Mazes of Power<\/em>. There are fascinating hints of different communication systems and cultural norms, even within the same city. Servants, for example, communicate using their eyes through \u201cgaze gestures\u201d that nobles are oblivious to. But even with a focus on characters\u2019 roles and decision-making processes, I found the large cast of Mazes of Power<\/em> difficult to keep track of. I prefer my characters distinct enough that I don\u2019t feel compelled to check the list of characters every chapter or so, but that was what I was doing while reading Mazes of Power<\/em>. Tagaret, Nekantor, and Aloran, the viewpoint characters, did have their own motivations and voices, but the secondary cast features several characters who seem to play no part other than to support the viewpoint characters\u2019 storylines. For example, Ben\u00e9l, a distant cousin of Nekantor and also his lover, is little more than a comfort object for Nekantor. Lady Selemei, despite her notoriety as the first lady cabinet member, doesn\u2019t do much beyond slipping information to Tagaret. Every non-Grobal character felt like an NPC in a video game with scripted dialogue and interactions. Although I was intrigued by details like gaze gestures, I ultimately wanted to see more<\/em> details, like interactions beyond nobles, if only to highlight how different the nobles are. I caught glimpses of the bright cultures and vocations of artisans, officers, and even trash collectors. Why not include those parts of Varin society, too, for a broader sociological picture?<\/p>\n

Beyond questions of craft, what disappointed me the most about Mazes of Power<\/em> was the way it doesn\u2019t consider the fact that it is<\/em> sociological science fiction, and is therefore rooted in sociological understandings of our own world. The epigraph sets up expectations that, although Varin society is very different from our own, it reflects it: \u201cVarin is a place where humans have always lived on an alien world. It is also your home.\u201d<\/em> But, while I got the impression that Wade wants the reader to understand those parallels in terms of individual power, I experienced a narrative that was ignorant at best of the institutional power imbalances that it replicates. Despite their premise, secondary worlds can never be truly divorced from our own world. Readers, whose lenses have been shaped by our existing systems of power, complete the work of storytelling by bringing their own expectations and understandings to the table when they read a work. More than anything, I wish Mazes of Power<\/em> examined itself more as a narrative that I ultimately found to be racist, sexist, biphobic, ableist, and apologetic of slavery and abuse. I do not have the background to speak to whether Mazes of Power<\/em> renders a culturally sensitive caste system compared to modern ones, though, so caste will remain a gap in my comments.<\/p>\n

Any piece of sociological science fiction must first immediately be aware of the loaded implications of the term \u201crace,\u201d even if the secondary world has no history of racial violence, but especially if the piece is intended for audiences where racial violence is<\/em> real history. I cringed when I saw the noble caste described as \u201cthe Grobal Race.\u201d I didn\u2019t find Wade\u2019s justification for the term \u201crace\u201d<\/a> to be particularly compelling, either: \u201c[The Grobal] are the only Varin group that uses the term \u2018race\u2019 in any way. It fits them because, genetically speaking, they are the only group that is fully cut off from every other group.\u201d If you believe that race is a marker settled simply by blood quantum<\/a>, then yes, \u201crace\u201d is a fitting term here. But that\u2019s quite an essentialist take on race for a sociological work. As the recent popularity of genetic tests like 23andMe has shown<\/a>, genotype and race often do not correlate, or may differ in surprising ways. Socially speaking, race is a category based on social status and perceptions rather than blood.<\/p>\n

Equating race and blood quantum in the narrative also has the side effect of creating a creeping atmosphere of White[2<\/a>] <\/a> supremacy that I couldn\u2019t ignore, even if it was unintentional. As a person of color in the United States\u2019 current political climate, it\u2019s hard for me to read about a select group of people in power concerned with the preservation of their race through blood purity and eugenics and not<\/em> be reminded of White supremacy. I was particularly disturbed by the following exchange that occurs after Tagaret attempts to discredit Nekantor (emphasis mine):[3<\/a>] <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t expect to be treated like a child anymore, Tagaret. Our duties to the Grobal Trust, and to the continuity of the Race<\/em>, have nothing to do with our personal desires. I learned this, and so will you. These are the responsibilities of our exalted station.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u2026]<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung Nekantor,\u201d [Erex] said. \u201cDidn\u2019t you hear about Sangar of the Eighth Family? One might wonder whether you truly care for the future of the Grobal Race<\/em>. Be careful.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I can\u2019t help but recall the \u201c14 words\u201d of White supremacy<\/a>:<\/p>\n

We must secure the existence of our people and a future for [W]hite children.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It may very well be the case that Wade has intentionally created this parallel and plans to undermine the Grobal caste in the next book. Tagaret having a major turning point toward the end of the book that makes him more open-minded certainly suggests the possibility. But I can\u2019t judge a book by my hopeful speculations of what will happen next\u2014I can only judge what\u2019s on the page. Although Varin society doesn\u2019t use skin color to distinguish race, there is still a very strong correlation between skin color and caste. A search of the book reveals the following references to skin color. I have put the names of Grobal characters in bold:<\/p>\n