Well this was strange. And good. But mostly strange. And really, really good.
Early on I called this trilogy a New Weird Space Opera. Now, I happen to love the New Weird genre, and I happen to love space operas, so this seems like a good thing to me. But if you're someone who needs to understand every detail and know HOW exactly everything works, like most New Weird, this isn't the book for you.
Let's start with space opera side of things, because that's generally more straightforward. Captain Kel Cheris is yanked from the front lines (an engagement where the forces under her command won but with very heavy casualties, which seems to be pretty much standard operating procedure) to give her recommendations on retaking a key fortress that's turned to heresy and revolted against the Hexarchy. Her suggestion? Bring back the preserved mind of the Kel's greatest general, whom Kel Command keeps around for just such an occasion. Things get interesting in that the general, while an unmatched tactical genius, went insane in his last engagement before undeath and destroyed the men and women under his command by the millions for reasons unclear. And they need a living being to provide an anchor for him, and since it was Cheris' idea, she gets the job. So now she has an insane dead genius in her head talking to her, and she/him is in charge of the operation to retake this fortress.
So far, so good. Let's get into the weird stuff. Now we get into this idea of "calendrical warfare." The Hexarchate runs on the High Calendar - some kind of effect, spread and reinforced by the adherence to it by the Hexarchate's subjects. The High Calendar gives the forces of the Hexarchate access to some truly exotic powers and abilities, making them extraordinarily effective in combat. The fragility of this system is that if someone doesn't properly adhere to the calendar - commits heresy, in other words - the effect goes away. So in the act of seizing the fortress in question, the heretics aboard ensured that the Hexarchate's most effective weapons couldn't be counted on to work against them.
Back to the space opera side of things. The High Calendar is maintained by "remembrances" where the population collectively observes certain holidays. They do so by torturing people to death in specific ways on those days. So you might say this is a society in need of change.
This is overall a super interesting and extraordinarily imaginative book. The first in the trilogy is dominated by the relationship between Cheris and the (kinda) dead and (allegedly) insane General Shuos Jedao. Later books bring other characters to the forefront, as momentous things happen, great changes occur, and consequences are confronted. Lots of people you might come to care about will not make it - this book as a huge body count.
It's also very inclusive. Gender is treated as very fluid, as is sexuality. It took me a while to realize that one major character was trans, and then I kept forgetting about it because it didn't really come up in his day to day life. It was just a thing. It was refreshing to read.
And this isn't even getting into the servitors - AI servants that tend to most of the menial tasks in the hexarchate and no one really notices or thinks about. But they have ideas and a society of their own.
All in all this was probably the most original book I've read since The Library at Mount Char. Highly, highly recommended.
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