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Tuesday, 30 January 2007 14:23 |
| | David Forbes |
Celts in space, descended from ancient Atlanteans, meet explorers from Earth and then plunge into interstellar warfare with evil space empires.
That, in a nutshell, is the story Patricia Kennealy-Morrison tells in her novel "The Copper Crown" (Roc, 432 pp., $5.49).
Sometimes books with fairly out-there concepts can, with good writing and strong characters, be amazing or at least a lot of fun.
Then
sometimes theyëre just incoherent crud ÇƒÓ badly formed, badly executed
and almost laughably awful. "The Copper Crown" falls into the latter.
A little
background: recently in this column, I reviewed Jean Markaleës "King of
the Celts," an insightful attempt to unravel the historical figure
behind the King Arthur legends. In that review I mentioned
Kennealy-Morrisonës Arthur in space saga as "dreck."
 An acquaintance
then informed me that while her Arthur saga wasnët good, her most
famous fantasy work, "The Keltiad," of which this book is the first
part, was much better and that I should give it a read.
Sorry, but my opinion of Kennealy-Morrisonës writing remains unchanged.
Interestingly,
the author got her start in music journalism in the 1960s, gaining a
measure of fame as the editor of Jazz and Pop Magazine in a field then
dominated by males. She had a somewhat stormy relationship with The
Doorsë Jim Morrison and they exchanged marriage vows in a Pagan
handfasting ceremony a little over a year before his death. Beginning
the 1980s, she started to cut out a niche as fantasy author, her books
focusing around the same universe in which this series is set.
This series in
particular has a reputation better than it deserves. Iëve seen "The
Copper Crown" on several "best of" lists, mostly for books by women
with strong central female characters.
The main
character in this book is Aeron Aoibhell, Queen of the Kelts (the book
spells it with a "k," which is closer to the pronunciation). Aeron
rules a space empire founded by descendants of Earthës Celts, who,
using ancient technology, fled Ireland at the beginning of the medieval
era to avoid persecution by Christian priests, particularly St.
Patrick. Theyëve since founded a powerful empire in space. A team of
explorers from Earth shows up and makes contact. Meanwhile, war is
brewing with two other space empires, one based loosely on Egypt and
another, the Phalanx, on a hodge-podge of cultures.
Now immediately,
some questions popped into my mind. Putting aside the historical matter
that by all odds Ireland witnessed a fairly peaceful mixing of its
early Christian and Pagan traditions, if the Celts in that time had
such technology, wouldnët it have been easier to end the persecution by
simply, oh I donët know, taking over Europe instead of fleeing out into
space? Itës just the first of many jaw-dropping (in the bad way) plot
points. Fantasy requires a suspension of disbelief ÇƒÓ it does not excuse
sloppy plotting.
It doesnët stop
there. I could even forgive a somewhat convoluted plot in a space opera
setting such as this if at least had great characters, some epic twists
and great battle scenes.
Nope, the
characters are made of sturdiest cardboard. Aeron is perfect, at least
depicted in that light by her author. Ditto for her consort Gwydion.
Theyëre great fighters, compassionate, make all the right judgments and
care for nothing but the welfare of their people. They do magic too ǃÓ
big, cinematic magic. I kept waiting for at least one of them to have
acne or a speech impediment. Any flaw or trace of depth would have been
welcome.
Give me the
actual heroes of Celtic myth, who tended to be more deeply flawed and
bound the more powerful they were, any day. Perfect heroes arenët just
unbelievable ÇƒÓ theyëre awful boring.
Well actually,
itës mentioned that Aeron did once kill off an entire planet to revenge
the slaying of some family members. But instead of a tragic act of
vengeance or rage, which might actually have been interesting, the
author portrays this as some sort of justice. Uh huh.
Yes, there is a
betrayal on the Keltic side, but itës so mapped out and so predictable
that it has little real sting or impact. Everyone else is as cardboard
as the two main heroes, following them into war in awe. I wouldëve
liked to see Aeron have to struggle with leading her people, have to
make deals or pull strings to get her way. You know, actual interesting
political struggle. But nope, all the good guys just fall into line
because sheës wonderful.
The Keltsë
society as well is pitched as ideal. Never mind the fact that Celtic
societies, despite their rich culture and many virtues, were riven by
war and feuding. Here everyone gets along! Not only that, no one
starves or wants, because, as the Kelts explain to the
oh-so-unenlightened earthpeople ÇƒÓ itës against the law for them to.
Wow, so social ills are whipped just by a hereditary aristocracy legislating against them? Who knew it was so simple?
But even as I
gritted my teeth through everything else, the plot rumbled towards war
and, military history junkie that I am, I held on some small shred of
anticipation that the battle scenes might at least be entertaining.
Nope, once
again, all the conclusions are too foregone and the action without real
vigor.
Kennealy-Morrison manage one semi-riveting duel, but even that
loses its bite by the end.
All in all, the
Kelts in this book resemble more the incoherent rant about the Druids
and Stonehenge in "This is Spinal Tap" than anything deriving from
actual history or resembling good fantasy.
Ironically
enough, just before Kennealy-Morrison began her fantasy career,
long-time sci-fi author Julian May published a superb series, beginning
with "The Many-Colored Land," that used Celtic myth in a much different
sci-fi setting. She bought realistic characters, believable
motivations, brilliant plot twists and an epic sweep to her tale,
binding it all up in a tightly-written narrative that left the reader
yearning for more.
If you want to see the improbable combo of Celtic myth and fantastic sci-fi done right, read that.
Note to the
author: fantasy does not excuse haphazard plotting, turgid writing and
flat characters. If anything, it makes doing all those things well more
essential than ever.
ï
David Forbes, who writes book reviews and covers news for the Daily Planet, may be contacted at marauderAVL-at-hotmail.com.
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