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Spy vs. spy | page 1, 2
"Master, it was in the evening of the third day of the southern planting season that the questioner's assistant came for the Doctor to take her to the hidden chamber, where the chief torturer awaited." So writes Oelph, the apprentice to King Quience's personal physician. The "master" he addresses is an unnamed figure presumably in the king's court, and part of "Inversions" takes the form of Oelph's secret reports to this shadowy person. They alternate, chapter by chapter, with another account of palace intrigue, set half a planet away in Tassassen, another fragment of the former empire. The second story centers on a figure named DeWar, bodyguard to General UrLeyn, prime protector of Tassassen. It's not clear until near the book's end what the two strands have to do with each other. Inversions By Iain M. Banks
The Wasp Factory By Iain M. Banks Futura, 184 pages
Excession By Iain M. Banks Bantam Spectra, 499 pages
Anyone might be a spy; we know Oelph is. Has he betrayed his mistress (already, on the first page of Chapter 1)? Is she about to be tortured? The doctor has many enemies. For one thing, she's a foreigner, whose origins are never completely explained. As the king's personal physician, she has his ear. It's an unheard of position for a woman, one she won with her healing skill. Unlike all the other physicians in Quience's kingdom, who believe in humors and bloodletting, she holds with what readers will recognize as the underpinnings of modern medicine: germ theory, scientific method, the importance of washing your hands before cutting into a patient. Dr. Vosill's medical rectitude stands for and reinforces our gradually building sense of her moral rectitude. Oelph, it becomes clear, is in love with her. She seems to trust him entirely, confiding in him and teaching him her medical secrets. So why does he file reports on her, and even steal one of her scalpels to hand over to his "Master"? Who is this master? What binds Oelph to him? Does the king deserve Vosill's devotion? Parallel to Vosill's story, DeWar's gradually reveals layers of scheming and disloyalty. Like Vosill, DeWar has come from a far land -- the same one? -- to serve a ruler in an intimate capacity. As UrLeyn's bodyguard, he often risks his life for the general. Only Perrund, a favored concubine, shares as much of UrLeyn's trust. She lost the use of one arm saving him from a dagger blow. Yet the general's fortunes are falling, and someone close to him evidently wishes him ill. It's a fascinating puzzle to sort out the goodies from the baddies, when Oelph's creepy vision casts a shadow over everyone's agendas. For Banks, the question of betrayal ultimately comes down to motive. If you win your enemy's trust, what do you owe him? What's fair in love and war? By giving his characters a constellation of contradictory loyalties and requiring them to choose, Banks obscures the distinction between good guy and bad guy, allowing him to pack his endings with drama and unease.
Polly Shulman's column on science fiction and fantasy runs every month, alternating with Ann Hodgman on cookbooks, Melanie Rehak on poetry and Jacqueline Carey on mysteries.
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