Book Review: Empty Cities of the Full Moon
written by Howard V. Hendrix
Review by Martin L. Cahn
 Home Page |
 About Demensions |
 Demensions Archives |
 Submission Guidelines |
 Sales Office |
 Contact Demensions |
 Dementia Archives |
Every month, Demensions reviews a different new, or classic, science fiction or fantasy novel. Agree or disagree with our review? Post a note by joining Demensions' Yahoo! Group. Read other book reviews in our Archives.
Liked our review?
Then why not buy a copy of:
Then why not buy a copy of:
If there weren't already a category of "intellectual SF," then Howard V. Hendrix's Empty Cities of the Full Moon would have prompted the need for its creation. As the Denver Post said of one of his earlier books, Lightpaths, this book, too, is "packed with ideas." Although you don't have to have degrees in quantum physics, ancient mysticism, or biotechnology to read Empty Cities, it might not hurt to have a degree in at least one of them.
I'm kidding, of course. Good, hard and intellectual science fiction writers use large words to express large concepts - as well they should. What Hendrix does well that I have not seen many other authors succeed at is take such grand concepts and effectively link them into a coherent story.
On its surface, Empty Cities appears to be a story of a man-made apocalypse and its aftermath. But from virtually the first page, Hendrix takes us on a journey far, far deeper that that. It's a dizzying story right from the beginning and might take novice readers a couple of tries to get through the first chapter or two. Stick with it, though; it's definitely worth the try.
If you're a Hendrix fan, then you've probably read Lightpaths and its two sequels, Standing Wave and Better Angels. It's not necessary to have done so, though. Empty Cities of the Full Moon begins in the universe proposed by that trilogy, but quickly moves to a parallel one. Then the real story begins.
Soon after the shift to "Universe A Prime", Hendrix moves the story back and forth between events in 2032-2033 and 2065. In a rather ironic parallel to current events (and I'm going to explain this much more simply than it appears in the book), a modified biological disease is unleashed on the world creating a pandemic (a world-wide epidemic) that ultimately kills off - or changes - a huge majority of the Earth's population.
What's different about this epidemic is that the disease causes physiological changes in humans that allow them to tap long-dormant, ancient abilities that - as one character in the book explains - include drumming, dancing, dreaming, and shapeshifting. Soul-flying is added later.
In the 2032-33 chapters, society degenerates quickly from being very dependent on all forms of high technology and entertainment, to tearing itself apart as humans are split between those who gain Were- abilities and those who don't. These chapters range across the globe from parts of America to London, South Africa, India, and more.
In 2065, the story stays focused on the survivors who have holed up in the Bahamas, created Merfolk to act as their guard, and killed any were-people who have tried to attack the islands and learn the survivor's secret of genetically created near-immortality. Of course, the survivors also exile anyone showing signs of were- abilities - a few people abjure themselves out of the stronghold, questioning their leader's survival methods.
These two interwoven stories work extremely well once the reader gets used to switching between them. This is especially so toward the end of the novel where in 2033 the survivors are making their way toward the Bahamas and in 2065 some of the same characters and their younger counterparts are heading back to New York City to try to find answers. The two parts are beautifully crafted mirror images of each other, leading to a surprising, satisfying conclusion.
Those answers - to the questions of how the pandemic started, what life for everyone means now that most are were-, and how one of the characters can get back to his home universe - are not easy ones.
Throughout the book, readers are introduced to new and more challenging concepts about humans, the meaning of life, the universe, even multiverses. In a way, Empty Cities of the Full Moon takes the shamanistic aspects of ancient man - psychic, or mystic abilities, the ability to shape-shift and tap into very basic, natural states - and ties them to the high science of parallel universes, black holes, and transcendent evolution.
Intermingled with all of this is what every science fiction (indeed, any) writer must strive to do: Present a wholly human story. Hendrix achieves this through the characters, especially in 2065 when we are introduced to the young lovers Trillia and Ricardo. Trillia is the granddaughter of the survivor's leader, Cameron Spires, a man who literally lives in a bubble because of an immune-deficiency disorder. She uses "headplugs" and other devices to tap into what remains of the vast electronic library of world knowledge. Ricardo, on the other hand, is from the island's version of the wrong side of the tracks, as far as Trillia's family is concerned.
About half-way through the story, Ricardo learns he has contracted a new form of the shapeshifting disease and is banished from the island. Trillia later follows him as they both search for other people who have returned to the American mainland, including Simon Lingham, a longtime associate of Trillia's grandfather; Mark Fornash, a man who predicted much of the pandemic's shamanic effects; Simon's ex-wife, Tomoko, who may have helped create the agent that caused it; and John Drinan, an astronaut from the other universe, trying to find his way home.
Along the way, they also meet up with were- people and other survivors and learn that, as is often the case, stereotypes are just exactly that. In truth, Ricardo and Trillia's journey becomes the reader's journey, despite being interwoven with events from 2032-2033. Indeed, it is Ricardo and Trillia's love of and for each other that grounds the story, keeping it from spiraling too far out of reach for the average science fiction reader.
I suspect that while people who have those fancy degrees will enjoy the book all the more due to their understanding of the higher concepts, this is a novel that will make any reader think about how far humans have come, how much further we might go - and whether that is actually the journey we should take.
Or should humans take another look back at our ancient past, opening the veil between universes in ways no technology could have ever imagined?
I'm kidding, of course. Good, hard and intellectual science fiction writers use large words to express large concepts - as well they should. What Hendrix does well that I have not seen many other authors succeed at is take such grand concepts and effectively link them into a coherent story.
On its surface, Empty Cities appears to be a story of a man-made apocalypse and its aftermath. But from virtually the first page, Hendrix takes us on a journey far, far deeper that that. It's a dizzying story right from the beginning and might take novice readers a couple of tries to get through the first chapter or two. Stick with it, though; it's definitely worth the try.
If you're a Hendrix fan, then you've probably read Lightpaths and its two sequels, Standing Wave and Better Angels. It's not necessary to have done so, though. Empty Cities of the Full Moon begins in the universe proposed by that trilogy, but quickly moves to a parallel one. Then the real story begins.
Soon after the shift to "Universe A Prime", Hendrix moves the story back and forth between events in 2032-2033 and 2065. In a rather ironic parallel to current events (and I'm going to explain this much more simply than it appears in the book), a modified biological disease is unleashed on the world creating a pandemic (a world-wide epidemic) that ultimately kills off - or changes - a huge majority of the Earth's population.
What's different about this epidemic is that the disease causes physiological changes in humans that allow them to tap long-dormant, ancient abilities that - as one character in the book explains - include drumming, dancing, dreaming, and shapeshifting. Soul-flying is added later.
In the 2032-33 chapters, society degenerates quickly from being very dependent on all forms of high technology and entertainment, to tearing itself apart as humans are split between those who gain Were- abilities and those who don't. These chapters range across the globe from parts of America to London, South Africa, India, and more.
In 2065, the story stays focused on the survivors who have holed up in the Bahamas, created Merfolk to act as their guard, and killed any were-people who have tried to attack the islands and learn the survivor's secret of genetically created near-immortality. Of course, the survivors also exile anyone showing signs of were- abilities - a few people abjure themselves out of the stronghold, questioning their leader's survival methods.
These two interwoven stories work extremely well once the reader gets used to switching between them. This is especially so toward the end of the novel where in 2033 the survivors are making their way toward the Bahamas and in 2065 some of the same characters and their younger counterparts are heading back to New York City to try to find answers. The two parts are beautifully crafted mirror images of each other, leading to a surprising, satisfying conclusion.
Those answers - to the questions of how the pandemic started, what life for everyone means now that most are were-, and how one of the characters can get back to his home universe - are not easy ones.
Throughout the book, readers are introduced to new and more challenging concepts about humans, the meaning of life, the universe, even multiverses. In a way, Empty Cities of the Full Moon takes the shamanistic aspects of ancient man - psychic, or mystic abilities, the ability to shape-shift and tap into very basic, natural states - and ties them to the high science of parallel universes, black holes, and transcendent evolution.
Intermingled with all of this is what every science fiction (indeed, any) writer must strive to do: Present a wholly human story. Hendrix achieves this through the characters, especially in 2065 when we are introduced to the young lovers Trillia and Ricardo. Trillia is the granddaughter of the survivor's leader, Cameron Spires, a man who literally lives in a bubble because of an immune-deficiency disorder. She uses "headplugs" and other devices to tap into what remains of the vast electronic library of world knowledge. Ricardo, on the other hand, is from the island's version of the wrong side of the tracks, as far as Trillia's family is concerned.
About half-way through the story, Ricardo learns he has contracted a new form of the shapeshifting disease and is banished from the island. Trillia later follows him as they both search for other people who have returned to the American mainland, including Simon Lingham, a longtime associate of Trillia's grandfather; Mark Fornash, a man who predicted much of the pandemic's shamanic effects; Simon's ex-wife, Tomoko, who may have helped create the agent that caused it; and John Drinan, an astronaut from the other universe, trying to find his way home.
Along the way, they also meet up with were- people and other survivors and learn that, as is often the case, stereotypes are just exactly that. In truth, Ricardo and Trillia's journey becomes the reader's journey, despite being interwoven with events from 2032-2033. Indeed, it is Ricardo and Trillia's love of and for each other that grounds the story, keeping it from spiraling too far out of reach for the average science fiction reader.
I suspect that while people who have those fancy degrees will enjoy the book all the more due to their understanding of the higher concepts, this is a novel that will make any reader think about how far humans have come, how much further we might go - and whether that is actually the journey we should take.
Or should humans take another look back at our ancient past, opening the veil between universes in ways no technology could have ever imagined?
Comment about Martin L. Cahn's review of Empty Cities of the Full Moon by joining Demensions' Yahoo! Group.
This review has been read [an error occurred while processing this directive] times since 12.01.01.