Hiero's Journey

3 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
The Metz Republic is one of humanity's most advanced outposts as the world recovers from nuclear apocalypse. But a mysterious force is closing in, increasing the depredations of the Leemutes - mutated, often intelligent animals. Per Hiero Desteen is sent out to find a tool to help the Republic fight back - an ancient analytical machine. But his road is long and dangerous, despite allies he finds along the way.

Review
I was introduced to Sterling Lanier's work by a relative, and enjoyed both books of the Per Hiero Desteen series. There's not really a lot that's new here, but the world (a post-apocalyptic North America) is well thought out, and the characters engaging. It's an interesting, if moderately practical look at how things might develop, though our hero has an ability to develop new mental powers pretty readily. To be fair, the enemy counters them just as quickly.

The book does suffer from the sexism of much of the work of the time (though it was then starting to die out), and the woman's role is largely to ‘ooh' and ‘aah' and stand by her man. There's also a pretty uncomfortable scene in which the men in the story are unknowingly pimped out (i.e., raped), but hey, everyone had a good time, right? When I read this as a teenager, it probably didn't bother me. Now, it's a glaring flaw in an otherwise decent book, if one that quite a few books of the time share (i.e., that men are always up for sex, even if they don't consent to it).

It wasn't until near the end of the book that I read the ‘about the author' bit and realized for the first time that Lanier was the editor who first bought Frank Herbert's Dune, so it's nice that he got his own chance at publication. All in all, a smooth, easy read, if somewhat flawed.