Ninefox Gambit: 1 (The Machineries of Empire, 1)

Product Information

Fortunately it is rather hard to argue against the standing of Dune, which is considered one of the great sci-fi classics. Yoon Ha Lee has a fantastic imagination and a real knack for adding enough little human asides to keep things interesting. In late February 2021, I decided to start a SFF book club for myself and a few friends, mostly so I could share my love of SFF books with other people. But how far can Cheris trust Jedao, a genocidal traitor who’s nevertheless supposed to be helping her win her battle?

This meant I wasn’t able to immerse myself the way I like to when reading a book, and I was constantly jolted out of the story by not understanding what I was reading and having to move on anyway if I was going to get anywhere. The heads of the Hexarchate have no idea that they are not just playing with fire; they are on the verge of being incinerated.With Ninefox, Lee has turned this elementary concern into a game of chicken he plays with himself, pushing hard to see how many of the essential, structural underpinnings of the universe can be removed before the fabric of stars unravels. I liked Jadao and his role with Cheris, and I love the idea of using a kind of immortal guy as a tactician even though he’s a known traitor. And as the siege wears on and they spend more time together, Cheris begins to wonder if all that she knows about Jedao is actually true – and if such questions are not a sign of her own, impending madness. Somehow, together, Kel Cheris and Shuos Jedao must protect the hexarchate from heretics who have taken over the Fortress of Scattered Needles.

To accomplish her mission, Cheris chooses to access the mind of the renowned general and tactician Shuos Jedeo. But it’s not explained like that…we’re just supposed to sort of infer that all of these made up words work in a certain way.Instead of punishment, she is given an incredibly prestigious assignment: to take back the impenetrable Fortress of Scattered Needles, which has recently fallen under heretic control. The novel was initially hard going but once I wrapped my mind around the concept that maths and beliefs can distort reality, really started to get into the story. A lot of questions, to be sure, and ones that do not exactly get definitive answers – or at least, not in the sense that a threshold winnower’s inner workings are actually explained at any point in time, or ghostlight is defined for the reader. This is compounded by the fact that the setting is decidedly very ‘out-there’ and wildly imaginative, so it can be really had to find your bearings.