https://www.amazon.com/VOKHTAH-Suns-Vokhtah-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00B14OF2I/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=vokhtah&qid=1584895243&s=books&sr=1-1
“They were now just two frail iVokh pitting themselves
against the might of the wild.”
Vokhtah is a difficult but rewarding
book. If you like unusual conceptions of
extraterrestrials, this is for you. Once
you’ve read about half of it, the complexities begin to clarify themselves, but
two readings are needed for complete understanding. For example, it took me quite a while to grasp
that the Blue and the Messenger were the same individual, and I also didn’t
realize that there were two traders’ caravans wending their way to Needlepoint
– I thought the Junior and the Messenger were in the same caravan and I got confused. Part of the problem is that the characters
don’t have names, only titles. In her
end matter, the author addresses this – it seems there is a taboo in this
culture about enunciating your real name.
Vokhtah is a grim and forbidding planet;
it has two suns, one a hot white star and the other a red dwarf. Sometimes they both shine at once, creating a
climate of extremes. The planet is
populated with an assortment of mostly vicious and predatory lifeforms and that
includes the intelligent ones, who prefer to consume their food animals live. It’s a tribute to the author that she can
take these basically repulsive intelligent lifeforms and make them sympathetic. And I would recommend that any human ship of
exploration steer clear of the planet Vokhtah – humans would probably be seen
as prey animals!
My guess would be that the Vokh
evolved from bat-like creatures – their ability to echo-locate is mentioned briefly. They have wings (which contain their lungs),
so most of them can fly. They have two
hearts. And they are telepathic hermaphrodites
with seemingly magical inner powers, like mind-healing and also mind-killing (their
Healers are also trained as assassins).
There are two variant species – the Vokh (large and dominant) and the
iVokh (meaning literally “small Vokh”). The Vokh have a serious flaw – breeding is
consummated by means of violent rape; nobody wants to bear an offspring because
the “female” always dies in childbirth (this doesn’t occur with the iVokh).
However, the people have a strong
sense of honor and obligation – if you accept help from someone, you incur an
obligation and if you don’t fulfill it, you are ostracized. In the second half
of the book, after the episode at the Little Blue River, the main characters –
the Messenger and the Apprentice – are shown developing a sense rare in these
people – empathy, an ability to relate to and care about others with whom one
has a relationship, beyond the obligations of the code of honor.
All this just scratches the surface
of the author’s astonishing creation. I
should also mention that the book is a cliff hanger, and no second volume has
yet appeared.
I must say a few words about the language. Unfortunately, the Kindle version has no
Table of Contents and so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the author
provided a brief treatment of the language in the end matter. It seems to have no pronouns, and verbs are
consistently rendered only with the present participle form, all of which helps
to create the alien language effect. Certain
words used in the text are self-explanatory, like “ki” for “no” and “s’so” for
“yes.”
There is one etymological gaffe
that I can’t help commenting on – the explanation of the word “boot” (a
foot-covering). The character doesn’t
know what the word “boot” means and it’s explained as a contraction of “bucket
for foot.” And yet that derivation would
be impossible since the iVokh aren’t speaking English. You have to assume that the Vokhtah words
reflect a similar construction, which the author could have fabricated.
But that’s only a quibble – don’t
be deterred! This really is an amazing
book and while the culture may not be palatable to everyone (you need a strong
stomach sometimes), I definitely recommend it to any serious reader of science
fiction.
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