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Kalimantan
  
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Kalimantan (Hardcover)

by Lucius Shepard (Author), Jamel Akib (Illustrator)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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From Publishers Weekly

Barnett, a dealer in jewels, sits down at a table in his store in Banjormasim, Borneo, and invites the reader to hear a first-person adventure set in his country's mysterious interior. An untrustworthy white man named Mackinnon comes across a witch doctor's drug that gives access to a parallel world--at the cost of native lives. One of the victims is a local witch whose spirit moves to the other world and sets in motion the events that will restore a balance. Its echoes of Conrad notwithstanding, Shepard's ( Green Eyes ) story resembles more than anything else the recitation of a dream in which logic is completely discarded and the motivation of the characters remains undeveloped. Atmospheric in setting, intriguing in its premise and somewhat suspenseful, Shepard's tale falls off at the end and fails its characters, none of whom--not even those who die--change or grow during the course of the story.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews

Uncharacteristically rambling, confused stab at the heart-of- darkness theme, from the acclaimed author of Life During Wartime (1987) and several story collections. British expatriate Barnett befriends a young American wastrel, MacKinnon, who disappears into the interior of Borneo and later is reported to be experimenting with dangerous native psychoactive drugs. The Dutch doctor, old Tenzer, sends a request for Barnett's help. When Barnett arrives on the scene after an eerie, portentous journey, both Tenzer and the waidan, the ghost of a female shaman apparently murdered by MacKinnon, urge Barnett to take MacKinnon's drug, enter the spirit world, and kill MacKinnon to halt his awesome and still-growing power. No real harm will be done, the waidan assures Barnett, since the drug confers spirit immortality. Barnett takes the drug and emerges not in the spirit world but into another reality containing, for some reason, a huge crashed alien spaceship and an incomprehensible alien city, both long abandoned. Barnett eventually kills MacKinnon, only to learn that he's been double-crossed by both Tenzer and the waidan. What with all the tedious, meandering philosophical padding: a confusing and uneasy hybrid of fantasy and sf, with the ideas not even half-thought-out. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Kalimantan, Oct 3 2002
This review is from: Kalimantan (Paperback)
The edition in question actually features the lengthy tale called Kalimantan, plus two stories, Solitario's Eyes and The Arcevoalo.

Kalimantan could be treated as some kind of supernatural retooling of Conrad's Heart Of Darkness. One man finds profound experience foraging into the jungles of Borneo while supposedly just going in there to clear up some unfinished business. If there's a problem, it's that the three main characters--one a spirit-form--may not get up to anything that really affects the reader. It's all very lush and green, you can almost see the fronds being pushed aside with each crucial step, and listen to the exotic birds cawing, but this tale of transcendant betrayal is pretty enclosed. The mix of horror, fantasy, and sf in Kalimantan does not really cause an implosion, but ghosts and spaceships, as well as magical(?) daggers that appear to be powered up by alien electronic circuitry, may leave a reader's head spinning, trying to sort it all out.

But if you're going to tear apart Kalimantan based on its odd mix of multi-genre trappings, then you better be prepared to slag some of A. Merritt's best tricks, because once I took this as a descendant of stuff like The Moon Pool, I was comfortable with it. Try and enjoy this as "Merritt jazzes up Heart Of Darkness".

The above just addresses the main extravanza. I should go on to mention that the brevity of the two follow-up stories gave them more focus, and better pace. I especially liked The Arcevoalo, with its circular little fable about a nameless man coming back from death, somewhat transformed by strange visions and a divine purpose, only to be distracted by love, and a newfound empathy for those he is supposed to punish.

If wilderness phantasmagoria is your bag, then you may appreciate Shepard's jungle nightmares. Or, to put a more dubious spin on it, be aware that even though this book features more than one tale, you wouldn't buy it to experience different aspects of this writer's talents. It's all one big trip into the jungle.

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