There is no question that what Kim Stanley Robinson has done in The Years Of Rice And Salt is extraordinary.
The book begins with an event that is literally world changing; the elimination of European Civilization at the hands of the Black Death, enhanced somehow far beyond the killing power it had in our world, where it killed one-third of the population of Europe. In the book, the plague has destroyed the population of all but a miniscule portion of Christian Europe, and the world is left to China, Islam, India, and, later, the natives of the New World. What follows is Robinson’s story of what that world might have looked like over a 700 year time span, told from the viewpoint of three recurring characters (more on that below)
This is alternate history at its best. By eliminating Europe, Robinson forces us to wonder how the world would have been different and shows us what he thinks it might have looked like. How well did he succeed ? Well, none other than Harry Turtledove pointed out in a recent podcast interview that there is no right or wrong when it comes to alternate history, because there is no way to test whether an author’s theory of a world that might have been. The only question is whether the story is plausible and well written.
The Years Of Rice And Salt succeeds in both respects.
There are elements of Robinson’s story that seem implausible — most notably the reincarnation arc that he uses to tie his 700 year epic together (this is how he is able to have the same characters — B, K, I, and S — become witnesses to 700 years of human history). Another seeming implausibility is the way the technological progress in this world-without-Europe proceeds at almost exactly the same pace, and in nearly the same form, as it did in our world. For the most part, though, the world that Robinson presents is one that very easily could have come into existence. It will be difficult for readers in our world to accept the plausibility of the moderated Islam that Robinson lets unfold, but the idea of an Islamic “Reformation” in a world where Islam is the only monotheistic religion and has spread itself all over the world and been influenced by more than just Arab culture is quite believable. Similarly, the rivalries that unfold between Dar-al-Islam and the rest of the world seem to mirror the situation we face in our world today.
The book does fall apart somewhat at the end, most notably in the form of a scientific conference taking place in what would be A.D. 2002 in our world in which scientists from all of the worlds major powers quite simply concoct a plan to ensure that atomic weapons are never developed. This seems somewhat too utopian.
Despite these minor quibbles though, the book is exceedingly well-written. One of my favorite parts comes early in the book and begins with the K character paying for his deeds in a previous life by being reincarnated as a tiger. There are also frequent return trips to what was once known as Europe as various characters tell us what it looks and feels like so long after its people died. And, there are a few visits to a North and South America dominated by its native people, though the glimpses of this world are frustratingly few for my taste.
This one is definiately worth reading.
