Nicky Drayden’s debut novel packs a lot of imagination and inventiveness in its comparatively short space – artificial intelligence, gender identity, oppressive government, gods amongst humans, just to name a few in just over 300 pages. The publisher blurb provides a summary, but the novel is so much more.
In South Africa, the future looks promising. Personal robots are making life easier for the working class. The government is harnessing renewable energy to provide infrastructure for the poor. And in the bustling coastal town of Port Elizabeth, the economy is booming thanks to the genetic engineering industry which has found a welcome home there. Yes—the days to come are looking very good for South Africans. That is, if they can survive the present challenges:
A new hallucinogenic drug sweeping the country . . .
An emerging AI uprising . . .
And an ancient demigoddess hellbent on regaining her former status by preying on the blood and sweat (but mostly blood) of every human she encounters.
It’s up to a young Zulu girl powerful enough to destroy her entire township, a queer teen plagued with the ability to control minds, a pop diva with serious daddy issues, and a politician with even more serious mommy issues to band together to ensure there’s a future left to worry about.
Fun and fantastic, Nicky Drayden takes her brilliance as a short story writer and weaves together an elaborate tale that will capture your heart . . . even as one particular demigoddess threatens to rip it out.
The first element of the novel that stood out for me in Prey of the Gods is Drayden’s voice. She tells her story through multiple points of view, but her own voice is a definite and powerful through-line, regardless of who is the focal character. The second element was the setting – near future South Africa. Not many novels in the US SF market are set outside the United States for all that the genre is about “expanding boundaries”, so it was a refreshingly pleasant change of locale.
There is a large cast of characters and initially, it isn’t clear how, when, or if these character’s paths would intersect. Infused in each of these characters, especially those characters who are disguising themselves as gods, is a mythic resonance. Each character has a weight beyond the page they inhabit. Muzi is a young man unsure of his sexual preferences, introduced as he’s about to undergo a traditional circumcision ceremony and soon gains powers of command. Sydney is a goddess hoping to regain the great powers she once possessed. Nomvula is a young girl coming into great power she can barely comprehend. Stoker is a politician who, in secret, is a drag queen with aspirations of becoming a singer like Riya Natrajan, the most popular music artist in South Africa. Another character’s chapters are simply ones and zeroes.
The South African setting is also replete with technology from “twenty minutes into the future:” Artificial Intelligences who assist some of the characters, most prominently Muzi; genetically modified dik-diks, deer like creatures that roam the South African landscape; or a “character” whose chapters are ones and zeroes, one of many AIs who do the first logical thing when they gain sentience – examine their indentured relationship to humans.
As I said, Drayden throws a wide net with this novel in an attempt to tackle many themes that would be sufficient for one novel for each of those themes. She is somewhat successful in bringing those themes and plot elements together in a cohesive whole of a novel. I hate to level a criticism at a debut novel that it is too ambitious, but I can’t help but feel that way. The introduction of each character was very well-done, I found myself initially sympathizing and empathizing with their plights, and most strongly with Muzi. As the novel moved from the introductions of the characters to the midpoint of their stories, I found the stories losing my attention a bit. If only, Muzi and Sydney, for example, were focal characters for the novel, I would have had a more enjoyable reading experience. Again, this is just my thought so it could be the timing of when I read the novel.
Drayden is a writer with a lot to say, and through her characters she says it fairly well. Her imagination seems to know no bounds and the thematic borders between near future Science Fiction and mythic Fantasy blend together quite well in The Prey of Gods.
Recommended.
© 2017 Rob H. Bedford
Trade Paperback, 400 Pages
Published by Harper Voyager, June 2017
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
http://www.nickydrayden.com/
Excerpts:
http://www.nickydrayden.com/the-prey-of-gods/chapter-sample/
http://www.tor.com/2017/05/12/excerpts-nicky-drayden-the-prey-of-gods/
I really want to read this. Ive been more into scifi lately whereas I use to only read scifi. I Just havent had the time with the ARCs I have to get to and the buddy reads Ive been participating in but will make it a goal to read before 2018. Great review.