From Publishers Weekly
The holy citystate of Charn carries on an endless fight against heretics, executing many outright while still others clog its vast prisons and fall before its genocidal military campaigns. But in this amalgam of Calcutta and Victorian London, dissatisfaction is inevitable, as the harsh caste system is reinforced by the theocracy. Clergymen tattoo babies at birth, assigning them their place in life and penance for sins of their past lives. Even the ruling class is imprisoned in its role, as Prince Abu Starbridge finds when he goes among the poor, and as his cousin, Doctor Thanakar Starbridge, learns when he tries to minister to prisoners and soldiers. Readers who get past the opening, a sentimental, portentous and extended Vietnam metaphor, will find that first novelist Park has a dark and powerful, if very romantic vision, recalling at times Brian Aldiss's Helliconia trilogy.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
On a world where seasons last for generations, lives are fixed from birth into rigid castes, and death is but the beginning of the soul's tedious journey through the Nine Hells to Paradise, two members of the elite Starbridge Clan descend from their mountain into the labyrinthine city of Charn and experience the hopelessness of the unprivileged. In sombre and vivid detail, Park's first novel depicts a culturally stagnant society on the brink of violent change. Recommended. JC
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
