In Karen Lord’s The Best of All Possible Worlds humanity is descended from four primary planetary group and their cross-breeds. Long-lived Sadari masters of mental discipline, subsume their emotions into strong telepathic bonds; the Ntshune are emotional, masters of the heart, strong empaths; Zhinu are strong with things, technology and trade while Terrans are “unmatched in spirit”, strong in mind, heart and body. Terra (Earth) is quarantined but the rest of humanity can see everything we do and has access to our current arts and literature; Shakespeare and Casablanca are well known.
People on Cynus Beta are a mix of all four with many having been rescued from dire situations by the Caretakers. Our heroine Delerau is half Terran and Ntshune while her counterpart Dllenahkh is full Sadiri.
The Best of All Possible Worlds opens with Sadira, the home planet destroyed and the only Sadiri survivors are mostly men, those who were off planet at the time. Author Karen Ord notes that the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami left mostly male survivors which is the inspiration for her novel. The central question for Dllenahkh is: What shall the Sadiri do to survive as a culture and race? Shall they double down and maintain strict racial purity? Or seek out taSadiri, those Sadiri who do not practice the mental disciplines? Or cross-breed with other humans but raise the children as Sadiri?
To that end Dllenahkh and Delerau are part of a science team visiting the many taSadiri settlements on Cygnus Beta to evaluate potential wives. This sounds horribly clinical, eugenic, although Lord makes it clear that human interests and likes are a very large concern.
You might not think that a wife hunt makes a good plot for a science fiction novel, and if you are looking for action or exotic locales then The Best of All Possible Worlds is not for you. Lord uses the agglomeration of societies on Cygnus Beta to provide plot movement although the biggest events happen inside Delerau’s heart and mind.
Characters
Dllenahkh is complex. It is unfair to say he’s unemotional and he’s no Mr. Spock with logic overriding all emotions. Instead the Sadiri are extremely emotional and the only methods to keep from running amok are to become a mind ship pilot, form a close emotional telepathic bond to a spouse, or serious mental discipline and meditation. That need for a close telepathic bond is the driver for the wife hunt; finding compatible wives is truly a matter of life or death.
We see him as a complicated person but I don’t think we really get to know Dllenahkh.
Delerau is easier to know. She narrates the story and we see events and people through her eyes, struggle with her through the emotional tangles with Dllenahkh and her family. She faces a difficult problem when the science team visits the isolated enclave Kir’tahsg and discovers almost slavery and coerced sexual relations. She decides to run genetic analyses on individuals, when such analyses violate the General and Science Codes. Even though this this has to be a difficult ethical choice for her, it seems distant, remote and I don’t feel we are privy to her decision or its difficulty.
Plot and Setting
The wife search gives Lord a chance to show off around ten different cultures, all on the same planet and all descended from Sadiri. They range from the Faery Queen (yes, the Terran version) to an abandoned underground city to a secretive, monastic, isolated group of adepts. The culture descriptions and the little touches to show the people and their settings were by far the best part of the novel.
Overall
I enjoyed The Best of All Possible Worlds. It was different from anything I’ve read before, even from other science fiction/romance novels. The writing is good and the characters are interesting with a plausible plot and actions.
The Caretakers are so intriguing that it’s a shame we see very little of them. We don’t know who they are or why they act to rescue people. One of them may make an appearance near the end of the novel.
If you like your science fiction full of dire threats and extravegent action then skip The Best of All Possible Worlds. If you like reading about people in impossible but subtle situations then try it.
4 Stars
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