The Premise
In bygone days, civilized nations brought their worst weapons to bear, and violated the world in an event that came to be known as The Death. Thousands of years later, what was once North America is now a wild, unpredictable country, full of strange creatures, fauna, and countless dangers. Riding into uncharted lands, Per Hiero Desteen - a priest, telepath, and killman by training - searches for remnants of a technology that may be the key to defending his people against the malevolent advances of the Dark Brotherhood.
In Review
Hiero's Journey is one of the rare books that I have returned to more than once. Rare because, what with tens of thousands of wonderful reads waiting to be discovered, it is hard to find the time for stories I have already tread. Yet as any reader can attest, there are those books that possess a special quality that cannot be found in other pages, and even as numerous titles and covers and writers and plotlines crowd the shelf, the bedside table, the to-read pile, the wish list, there comes a time when the appetite seeks a particular sustenance, a certain flavor, a definite menu that may lie in wait amongst those unturned stacks - or may not.
This was my mood when I turned away from the to-read shelf (this latter piece of furniture barely visible beneath the stacks and piles that have erupted from its orderly confines), and walked along the shelves in the living room, where the digested books live. And it was here that my attentions centered upon a worn paperback - whose brilliant, silly cover appears above - and the itch that had nagged my awareness for days ceased, and a chorus of thoughts converged to a simple, undeniable - Yes. Sterling Lanier's book in hand, I selected a comfortable perch, and stepped into a story that resides in my memory like a trip abroad, scenes frozen and treasured with photo-like clarity.
Today, the idea that widespread radiation poisoning could turn the world into some kind of tropical nightmare, one populated with over-sized creatures and terrible mutants, may seem pat or quaint - or, should films such as Them! come to mind, silly. Yet Lanier makes use of this convention to wipe civilization off the map, and gives back to North America something that was lost hundreds of years before you or I fell in love with the printed word: undiscovered country.
Let us pause for a moment, and dwell on this idea. This review will be posted on the Internet, which itself is enabled by electricity, microcomputers, software protocols, countless servers, hardware, wires, and a multitude of manufactured parts and pieces that span the landscape, and connect computer to computer, person to person. Above us, satellites swing along a balance of gravities, like stones sent skimming across a pond, never to be wet again, - and upon this perpetual flotation, they transmit invisible signals earthward and skyward, to each other and to us, telling us all that we need know about the Earth's surface. Including - what lies down there? Or over there, past that mountain range that would be murder to cross? Or there, in that climate which would strip a man's skin in seconds? Or there, behind locked borders and loaded weapons and endless paper trails?
Do you want to explore the world? Then look it up, because someone has done it for you.
Lanier, writing as he was in the sixties and early seventies, may have been aware of present trends, and the direction of society; he was certainly aware, by virtue of the times, of the Cold War's receding presence, the lessening threat posed by mutual nuclear destruction. And, putting his pen to work on the fantastic, he asked the question that is the key to every locked door - What if? - and cast our world into a state that is largely untouched by our upright gait; conceived of landscapes and mega fauna that would swallow a man whole; and dialed back the progress of civilization, and humbled humanity's sense of self in the world. And when his work was finished, he had accomplished something great: the world needed to be explored again.
I spoke of appetite in the opening of this account, yet I did not clarify what, exactly, I craved: I wanted adventure. I wanted to read, above all, about adventure, about journeys into strange, unknown places, about conflict with weird creatures, about discovery and insight and answers that lead to only more questions. And once appetite connected with memory, and finger touched upon frayed, filed spine, and these familiar pages were open before me, I knew that I had turned to the right book.
Within the pages of Hiero's Journey, you will find monsters, some of such incredible proportions that the scenes they inhabit will stay with you for life; you will meet and come to respect Per Hiero Desteen, a priest and killman who heads south into uncharted lands, armed only with training, the companionship of some incredible animals, and a faith that is handled with such honesty, it a welcomed quality to behold; you will see strange, dangerous lands, populated by creatures and phenomena that appear for but a few sentences before slinking away into hidden depths and countless, unanswered questions; and you will bear witness to an adventure that inspires, even as it covers some familiar territory.
A princess is rescued. Evil is met and contested. Unexpected allies appear. New weapons and stratagems are discovered, and employed against the enemy. Lost lands are found. Myths become reality. With each page, Lanier brings it all together, and weaves a story that is fit, juicy, and fulfilling in a way that is all too rare - which is why Hiero's Journey is a rare book, and one that I had to read at least one more time. To say that this book has everything would be to commit a cliche, and after all of the praise I have heaped on this book, I hesitate to cap the account with an ordinary statement. I will be blunt: Hiero's Journey is romantic, exciting, and old-fashioned in a charming way. And like the lands that Lanier describes so well, it is a book that deserves to be discovered by many, and explored.
2/1/07
