Ninefox Gambit

This will be a partly-theoretical review of Ninefox Gambit, a sci-fi novel by Yoon Ha Lee.

Ninefox Gambit (Machineries of Empire Book 1) by [Lee, Yoon Ha]

I say partly-theoretical because this is what I *think* I think about it. Because I’m not quite sure. I might change my mind once I understand it better, which I think probably means I need to read this again. So, while I enjoyed this book the first time, I’m hoping to really understand it on a second pass. Ninefox Gambit is hardcore science fiction, this is the author’s debut novel, and it shows.

If you are not a sci-fi fan, if you do not enjoy space operas, if you do not want to spend time learning about a completely different world where names and places and concepts are completely foreign . . . Skip this book.

If you like math and this sounds awesome – and it is, if the critical acclaim this book is winning is any indicator – then buckle up and grab your thinking cap.

The story follows Kel Cheris, a military captain charged with stopping some heretic weaponry held by the Eels that threatens stability of her . . . galaxy? Universe? I don’t know. Either way, she happens to be super talented in mathematics, which enables her to literally calculate the geometrical positions her troop needs to defeat the Eels. Seriously. Some geometric shapes deflect weapons, some control weather . . . my geometry class in high school was never so exciting. And her name is just Cheris; “Kel” is her . . . chosen social class. I think. It basically means she likes to follow orders and do things methodically and sacrifice (death) and war are no big deal. Anywho. When her troops win the battle – which I think is a good thing – her superiors have issues. To win, she broke known protocol by using her improvised geometric attack, and that in itself is considered heretic.

As a result, her troop is disbanded (sent to death?), and she is recruited (forced) to play a game: eliminate the calendrical rot at a perimeter fortress or die trying. FYI, calendrical stability is key to holding their society together, although apparently how many days are in a week is irrelevant – I have no idea why. She’s allowed to suggest a weapon, and tries to be creative. She suggests they use General Shuos Jedao: a general who’s been in a suspended state of not-quite-dead for nearly four centuries. Everyone knows he is brilliant enough to win the impossible battles. He also murdered his own troops. Jedao is considered insane, but Cheris knows he might be the only one capable of figuring out a solution.

What ensues is some mathematically-engineered action. It doesn’t waste any time getting started. Whether she realizes her suggestion was really more of a volunteering or not, Cheris has Jedao’s brain downloaded into her own brain. Apparently this “black cradle” that he was in just holds his brain. Or his essence. Whatever. So she goes off to go fight for her life with the voice of a madman talking incessantly in her ear. Yeah, sure, she’s got a gun that she can shoot at her shadow or reflection – which are Jedao’s image, not hers – but nobody except her can hear him. It’s like instant dual-personality.

Ninefox Gambit is told from multiple perspectives, some of which are easier to follow than others. There are spaceships and cultures and strange names for everything. Places have spatial distortion, people follow unwritten protocol, and servitors (mechanical birds) do pretty much everything people don’t want to do. Weapons depend entirely on the rules of mathematics and the all-powerful calendar. Everyone has creatures and predicted talents that follow them around as a shadow or projection or something – Cheris has an ashhawk with sheathed wings, whatever that looks like.

And, truthfully, that’s about the extent of my understanding. Because it’s all just referred to by name, with no description, I really couldn’t tell you for certain what anything is. Ninefox Gambit expects you to just know what things are. Sometimes there are clues that refer to things, but only vaguely. For example: I’m pretty sure “ninefox” refers to an animal with nine eyes, arranged in 3 groups of 3, but I’m not 100% certain it’s a fox and I have no idea why it has nine eyes. Here is a sample of other random things with no description:

  • Fungal Cocoon
  • Mothdrives
  • Cindermoth
  • Genial Gun
  • “Year of the Fatted Cow, Month of the Peahen, Day of the Onager, Hour of the Greenback Beetle” (seriously, that’s a direct quote that’s supposed to tell us something about the calendar during this particular scene . . . um, what?)

If anyone knows what those things are – and the 1000 other things of similar not-explained-words – please, please let me know.

It’s baptism-by-fire from the first page to the last. Yoon Ha Lee is the mama bird and I have been pushed out of the nest to either fly or crash. I’m pretty sure I’ve both crashed and burned.

I hope that when I read this for a second time I will be able to better understand what is going on and why. If you read the book blurbs – like this one – it sounds like Cheris has done something terrible and is facing a death sentence. That was not the impression I got from reading it. And I thought this often: things are happening that I do not understand. Either the official book blurbs are wrong (doubtful) or I just wasn’t smart enough about this subject matter to pick up on the tiny indicators (if there are any) about what’s going on.

At the end of it, I *think* I liked this book. It was complicated. I’m not sure if it was complicated by design or if it was complicated because this is a debut novel from the author. Maybe both. Perhaps it was too complicated for the average reader; perhaps it was too vague and we’re meant to imagine things as we see fit. Maybe I’ll have a better opinion one day. This is the first of a planned trilogy, so maybe I’ll eventually understand it enough to read the series.

Overall: 6/10 (for now)

 

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