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Confluence #1
Child of the River
Where all things flow together...everything comes apart.
Untold millennia ago, the Preservers made the world called Confluence and peopled it with ten thousand extraordinary bloodlines "shaped" from beasts of every sort. Then the Preservers abandoned their creation - leaving behind their law, their bureaucracies...and their trillions of machines, awake or slumbering, in the soil and the water and the air. In the Preservers' absence war came - and a dangerous heresy arose that split the world in two.
But a babe swept in on the great river, cradled in the arms of death - the last and, perhaps, greatest of a remarkable bloodline - and now the end times are at hand. And as Yama grows to young manhood, he will make his way from necropolis to metropolis - and through the labrynthine country of the mind - in search of a past and a lost destiny. Each hairbreadth escape will make Yama stronger. And every unanticipated adventure will bring him one step closer to the staggering truth about his heritage and his purpose...and about a world that is not what it appears to be.
Untold millennia ago, the Preservers made the world called Confluence and peopled it with ten thousand extraordinary bloodlines "shaped" from beasts of every sort. Then the Preservers abandoned their creation - leaving behind their law, their bureaucracies...and their trillions of machines, awake or slumbering, in the soil and the water and the air. In the Preservers' absence war came - and a dangerous heresy arose that split the world in two.
But a babe swept in on the great river, cradled in the arms of death - the last and, perhaps, greatest of a remarkable bloodline - and now the end times are at hand. And as Yama grows to young manhood, he will make his way from necropolis to metropolis - and through the labrynthine country of the mind - in search of a past and a lost destiny. Each hairbreadth escape will make Yama stronger. And every unanticipated adventure will bring him one step closer to the staggering truth about his heritage and his purpose...and about a world that is not what it appears to be.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
November 1, 2009
4.5 stars. Excellent novel that had elements of Jack Vance's dying earth novels, David Brin's Uplift novels, and the standard fantasy hero quest of discovery. The author did a great job of creating a very unique world set in the far future peopled with very cool characters and using it as the back drop of a really good story. Recommended.
April 18, 2014
Boy, did I get this one wrong. You see, I’ve passed this one by, more than once, and I only have myself to blame.
With a series title, Confluence, as well as the title of this first book, Child of the River, it just did not make me think that it was SF. Even when I took a cursory glance at the plot synopsis, it made me think that it was more about gods, prophecies and some sort of mystic pantheon rather than SF. And to me, Paul, winner of the Arthur C Clarke Award, is ‘an SF writer’, and often towards the hard end of the spectrum. Anyone who has read his Quiet War series – that’s what I think of when I think of Paul’s writing. Not a book seemingly about a river.
Like I said, I was wrong. This is clearly one where my own preconceptions steered me wrong: I did the thing I know I shouldn’t do. The title made me assume things I shouldn’t. Now having read it, I must admit that there is a superficial similarity to what I expected, but Child of the River is much, much more than what I thought it was going to be.
Child of the River tells the tale of Yamamanama, a young boy originally floating down the Great River with his dead mother. His origin is a mystery, but he is taken in and brought up by the Aedile of Aeolis, a local clerk. A mysterious stranger and an attempted kidnapping show Yama that he may be important, for reasons that he does not know. He decides that he needs to find out more of his background and uncover the answers to his mysterious past.
Part of this discovery involves Yama experiencing more of the world that he lives in. Much of the book is about this journey. Confluence, with its complex melange of cultures, races and backgrounds, is wonderfully detailed. It rather reminded me of Silverberg’s Lord Valentine’s Castle. With much of its history so long ago much has been forgotten, rather like in Silverberg’s Majipoor novels. There’s even a touch of Chad Oliver, widely regarded as one of the key writers of anthropological SF in the 1950’s, in its depiction of alien races and their cultures.
As Child of the River progresses we discover that whilst its inhabitants live a life that seems rather medieval-Fantasy-like, there is a secret world, an ancient history of technology and artificiality that keeps things going on this artificial world. Here we are witnessing the decline of a civilisation, rather like Asimov’s Galactic Foundation or Peter Hamilton’s Void series (the Edeard sections), where a more primitive society exists than we expect in a science-fictional future. The backstory becomes more science-fictional as we continue to read. Long ago, The Preservers shaped over one hundred different bloodlines before ‘withdrawing their blessing’ in the Age of Insurrection, where these bloodlines overpowered the avataristic machines and issued in a new era of technological decline, in a way reminiscent of Dune’s Butlerian Jehad.
The world has the remnants of ancient technology in antique artefacts and often excavated in the necropolis where, on this world, the dead outnumber the living. The Preservers have now been deified as a religion, with people like Yama’s boyhood friend Ananda being trained in theology from early childhood.
Not all of the ancient artefacts are friendly. Some are revered without knowing why, which made me rather think of AE van Vogt’s Empire of the Atom, where nuclear power and its workers had been elevated to a religion, and even Arthur C Clarke’s The City and the Stars (one of my favourite novels) which combines a lengthy ancient history with a decaying present-day technology, albeit in our future.
I’m sure that all of these hints of pasts and futures are deliberate on the part of Paul. Child of the River is a book that intentionally works on so many levels. At its simplest, it is a rite of passage novel, as we discover Yama’s rather mysterious past and potential future. His journeys around the world, along the river and through the vast necropolis to the city of Ys downstream are both a physical travelogue and a social development. The rivers itself runs through everything, as a visible metaphor for life. In a rather Dickensian twist, Yama discovers secrets as he attempts to uncover the origins of his mysterious background. Yama discovers that he can control some of these old relics, a most unusual talent. This is because he is the only genetic link between the planet’s present population and the ancient Builders, the ones who created all that they see for the Preservers. This makes him a valuable asset that others would love to obtain, although exactly why is still not clear at the end of the novel, although it is clear that his destiny has a number of possibilities.
The ending leads to revelations and further mysteries, with a rather precipitous cliff-hanger ending. Luckily, the second book, Ancients of Days, is on the next page of this omnibus edition.
In short, Child of the River is a brilliantly revelatory book that, like me, you may have missed before. It’s world-building is terrific and its plot reveals more as you read to keep the reader engaged. It is most definitely worthy of your attention: I’m kicking myself for not getting to it sooner, but am so pleased that Gollancz have published it in a hefty new omnibus edition*: I can’t wait to read the next book in the trilogy…
Recommended.
With a series title, Confluence, as well as the title of this first book, Child of the River, it just did not make me think that it was SF. Even when I took a cursory glance at the plot synopsis, it made me think that it was more about gods, prophecies and some sort of mystic pantheon rather than SF. And to me, Paul, winner of the Arthur C Clarke Award, is ‘an SF writer’, and often towards the hard end of the spectrum. Anyone who has read his Quiet War series – that’s what I think of when I think of Paul’s writing. Not a book seemingly about a river.
Like I said, I was wrong. This is clearly one where my own preconceptions steered me wrong: I did the thing I know I shouldn’t do. The title made me assume things I shouldn’t. Now having read it, I must admit that there is a superficial similarity to what I expected, but Child of the River is much, much more than what I thought it was going to be.
Child of the River tells the tale of Yamamanama, a young boy originally floating down the Great River with his dead mother. His origin is a mystery, but he is taken in and brought up by the Aedile of Aeolis, a local clerk. A mysterious stranger and an attempted kidnapping show Yama that he may be important, for reasons that he does not know. He decides that he needs to find out more of his background and uncover the answers to his mysterious past.
Part of this discovery involves Yama experiencing more of the world that he lives in. Much of the book is about this journey. Confluence, with its complex melange of cultures, races and backgrounds, is wonderfully detailed. It rather reminded me of Silverberg’s Lord Valentine’s Castle. With much of its history so long ago much has been forgotten, rather like in Silverberg’s Majipoor novels. There’s even a touch of Chad Oliver, widely regarded as one of the key writers of anthropological SF in the 1950’s, in its depiction of alien races and their cultures.
As Child of the River progresses we discover that whilst its inhabitants live a life that seems rather medieval-Fantasy-like, there is a secret world, an ancient history of technology and artificiality that keeps things going on this artificial world. Here we are witnessing the decline of a civilisation, rather like Asimov’s Galactic Foundation or Peter Hamilton’s Void series (the Edeard sections), where a more primitive society exists than we expect in a science-fictional future. The backstory becomes more science-fictional as we continue to read. Long ago, The Preservers shaped over one hundred different bloodlines before ‘withdrawing their blessing’ in the Age of Insurrection, where these bloodlines overpowered the avataristic machines and issued in a new era of technological decline, in a way reminiscent of Dune’s Butlerian Jehad.
The world has the remnants of ancient technology in antique artefacts and often excavated in the necropolis where, on this world, the dead outnumber the living. The Preservers have now been deified as a religion, with people like Yama’s boyhood friend Ananda being trained in theology from early childhood.
Not all of the ancient artefacts are friendly. Some are revered without knowing why, which made me rather think of AE van Vogt’s Empire of the Atom, where nuclear power and its workers had been elevated to a religion, and even Arthur C Clarke’s The City and the Stars (one of my favourite novels) which combines a lengthy ancient history with a decaying present-day technology, albeit in our future.
I’m sure that all of these hints of pasts and futures are deliberate on the part of Paul. Child of the River is a book that intentionally works on so many levels. At its simplest, it is a rite of passage novel, as we discover Yama’s rather mysterious past and potential future. His journeys around the world, along the river and through the vast necropolis to the city of Ys downstream are both a physical travelogue and a social development. The rivers itself runs through everything, as a visible metaphor for life. In a rather Dickensian twist, Yama discovers secrets as he attempts to uncover the origins of his mysterious background. Yama discovers that he can control some of these old relics, a most unusual talent. This is because he is the only genetic link between the planet’s present population and the ancient Builders, the ones who created all that they see for the Preservers. This makes him a valuable asset that others would love to obtain, although exactly why is still not clear at the end of the novel, although it is clear that his destiny has a number of possibilities.
The ending leads to revelations and further mysteries, with a rather precipitous cliff-hanger ending. Luckily, the second book, Ancients of Days, is on the next page of this omnibus edition.
In short, Child of the River is a brilliantly revelatory book that, like me, you may have missed before. It’s world-building is terrific and its plot reveals more as you read to keep the reader engaged. It is most definitely worthy of your attention: I’m kicking myself for not getting to it sooner, but am so pleased that Gollancz have published it in a hefty new omnibus edition*: I can’t wait to read the next book in the trilogy…
Recommended.
October 5, 2014
I have only read one previous McAuley novel – The Quiet War – which I recall finding quite good but this one disappointed despite being an intriguing idea and setting with good well drawn characters. The problem was how it meandered aimlessly through many small incidents that had little or nothing to do with the plot and, whilst they possibly enhanced the reader’s understanding of the setting, were otherwise little more than red herrings; the story itself could have been told in less than half the pages without much being lost. In fact by the end of the book it feels like it’s only just beginning to get going, making the cliff-hanger ending, that wasn’t really any kind of ending at all, even more annoying.
The setting, as I’ve said, is an interesting one. It is set in a far distant future in which the ‘Preservers’ who have created the world in which everyone lives (and indeed have apparently remade the entire galaxy) have departed leaving their progeny to survive on their own. This they haven’t done particularly well and their technology has largely degenerated to a semi-medieval level, giving a nice cross between science fiction and fantasy. It is an interesting world that could have made the foundation for an excellent book which, sadly, it fails to deliver.
This is the first volume of a trilogy and really only felt like a prologue to that trilogy. If I continue with the others it will only be because the setting was sufficiently interesting for me to be curious about where he is taking it.
The setting, as I’ve said, is an interesting one. It is set in a far distant future in which the ‘Preservers’ who have created the world in which everyone lives (and indeed have apparently remade the entire galaxy) have departed leaving their progeny to survive on their own. This they haven’t done particularly well and their technology has largely degenerated to a semi-medieval level, giving a nice cross between science fiction and fantasy. It is an interesting world that could have made the foundation for an excellent book which, sadly, it fails to deliver.
This is the first volume of a trilogy and really only felt like a prologue to that trilogy. If I continue with the others it will only be because the setting was sufficiently interesting for me to be curious about where he is taking it.
June 20, 2012
This book was given to me as a gift by my older sister who just happened to pick it up in a Wal-Mart for my birthday. It was one of the best gifts she's ever given me, as it turned out I devoured the book and loved it. In fact it took my family three years and several frustrated searches through second hand book stores to locate the next two volumes in the series which I am deliciously excited to read!
January 9, 2019
This is the first of a tightly-connected trilogy, and so while I can review it and recommend it, my review is going to be incomplete until I read the other two books.
Child of the River is an adventure story set in one of the most wondrous settings I've ever encountered. A man-made environment that centers around a mighty river, with detail paid to every culture that lives along the riverside, from the fishermen frog/heron people to the mighty city of Ys, with its machine-wielding guards and seething masses. The entire world exists out of the Milky Way, with the spiral galaxy rising at night.
Essentially this created world and these created peoples were made by humanity - genetic tinkering, I assume, made the people so that none of them are wholly human. There are bird people with feathered hair, the frog/heron fishermen, and far far more. One of the best characters in this is a dog(?) lady. But humans are long gone, and this world is ancient. There are ruins, legends, and the technology level of most of the cultures is roughly agricultural with occasional flashes forward, because they didn't completely degenerate.
So, so so. Let me put this another way: while the characters in this novel are delightful, the setting is the standout here. It colors the entire book, making every time the protagonist travels an invitation into something new and unusual. It is the reason I've given this book four stars.
The plot and main character are interesting, but thanks to the sense that this is only the beginning of a larger story, it's obviously left incomplete. But here are some details: the main character is a young man named Yama. He can talk to machines, he doesn't know what his bloodline is, and he appears to be wholly human, which makes him a total oddity. He's found as a baby floating down the river clutched in the arms of a dead woman, and raised by the mayor-equivalent of a town that is downriver, remote from the city of Ys. He grows up craving adventure, answers to the mysteries of his birth, and he wants to avoid the fate his adopted father has in store for him: to become a boring clerk working in Ys.
The book spends most of its time following his adventures - he gets kidnapped, he gets unkidnapped, he travels, he gets into lots of trouble, he gets out of trouble thanks to his allies, luck, or skill. Yama is essentially a fun vehicle for the setting - he's clever and determined and for a roughly 19-20 year old, he's pretty smart! Definitely not mature yet, though.
While this book is an unbroken thread covering his adventures as he goes all the way to Ys, it's split into chapters so it feels like a series of episodes. I'd enjoy reading one or two and marveling over the imagery and place and fun, then reading another later, and onwards. A weird kind of short story, except it's all going and building up to something - the Yama of the end of the book has grown and matured somewhat from the beginning.
I liked it a lot, and I'm eager to read the next one! The writing is deft, going from heavy moments back to the adventurous tone easily, and I just, it's lots of fun and I want to see where the ideas develop.
I'd recommend this to anyone who likes adventure stories - because oh man, this is definitely in that vein. Good solid stuff with incredible worldbuilding.
Child of the River is an adventure story set in one of the most wondrous settings I've ever encountered. A man-made environment that centers around a mighty river, with detail paid to every culture that lives along the riverside, from the fishermen frog/heron people to the mighty city of Ys, with its machine-wielding guards and seething masses. The entire world exists out of the Milky Way, with the spiral galaxy rising at night.
Essentially this created world and these created peoples were made by humanity - genetic tinkering, I assume, made the people so that none of them are wholly human. There are bird people with feathered hair, the frog/heron fishermen, and far far more. One of the best characters in this is a dog(?) lady. But humans are long gone, and this world is ancient. There are ruins, legends, and the technology level of most of the cultures is roughly agricultural with occasional flashes forward, because they didn't completely degenerate.
So, so so. Let me put this another way: while the characters in this novel are delightful, the setting is the standout here. It colors the entire book, making every time the protagonist travels an invitation into something new and unusual. It is the reason I've given this book four stars.
The plot and main character are interesting, but thanks to the sense that this is only the beginning of a larger story, it's obviously left incomplete. But here are some details: the main character is a young man named Yama. He can talk to machines, he doesn't know what his bloodline is, and he appears to be wholly human, which makes him a total oddity. He's found as a baby floating down the river clutched in the arms of a dead woman, and raised by the mayor-equivalent of a town that is downriver, remote from the city of Ys. He grows up craving adventure, answers to the mysteries of his birth, and he wants to avoid the fate his adopted father has in store for him: to become a boring clerk working in Ys.
The book spends most of its time following his adventures - he gets kidnapped, he gets unkidnapped, he travels, he gets into lots of trouble, he gets out of trouble thanks to his allies, luck, or skill. Yama is essentially a fun vehicle for the setting - he's clever and determined and for a roughly 19-20 year old, he's pretty smart! Definitely not mature yet, though.
While this book is an unbroken thread covering his adventures as he goes all the way to Ys, it's split into chapters so it feels like a series of episodes. I'd enjoy reading one or two and marveling over the imagery and place and fun, then reading another later, and onwards. A weird kind of short story, except it's all going and building up to something - the Yama of the end of the book has grown and matured somewhat from the beginning.
I liked it a lot, and I'm eager to read the next one! The writing is deft, going from heavy moments back to the adventurous tone easily, and I just, it's lots of fun and I want to see where the ideas develop.
I'd recommend this to anyone who likes adventure stories - because oh man, this is definitely in that vein. Good solid stuff with incredible worldbuilding.
June 7, 2010
I had heard that this trilogy was like Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, though this first part turned out to be nowhere near as complex or obscure. Nonetheless, Child was smart, always interesting (if a little linear), and aimed at readers other than sf's standard seventeen year old boy. Sure, it was a bit derivative, but I think of it as a tribute, not a rip off, and the writing was good enough to succeed.
Interestingly, this series was also mentioned in a review of Filaria, and there were moments when I could easily see the convergence between the two. Like McAuley, I was also blown away / influenced by Wolfe's incredible epic, and echoes of Severian will always be there, in the pens of many authors.
Interestingly, this series was also mentioned in a review of Filaria, and there were moments when I could easily see the convergence between the two. Like McAuley, I was also blown away / influenced by Wolfe's incredible epic, and echoes of Severian will always be there, in the pens of many authors.
July 12, 2012
This is a story set in an ancient world with a rich and deep history about a young man of mysterious birth and possible great destiny. Yeah, that story. Nevertheless, it manages to weave a rich tapestry of a world without resorting to plain exposition, and as Yama tries to uncover his origin and destiny we uncover a complex setting and well-defined characters. The atmosphere is somewhat similar to that of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, albeit if anything someone more naturalistic. Highly recommended.
April 7, 2017
I bought this book years ago and had sort of pushed it to the back of my to read list and had lost all enthusiasm I had for it. I picked it up this weekend because it was small, relatively short, and would fit in my purse during my flights to and from Yellowknife. Well, I'm very glad that I picked it up, because it was quite unexpectedly good. Great characters, cool world, and a very rich story. I'm excited to see what book two hold!
December 26, 2022
This book had the feel of a fantasy and I don't like fantasies. There were no wizards, elves or magical experiences, thank goodness, but they would not have been out of place within the story.
Confluence is a world created by the long departed Preservers, who seeded the 'planet' with many alien species, all of which contain some of the Preservers DNA. When the Preservers departed they left a plethora of machines to maintain Confluence.
As a baby, Yama was discovered in a small boat floating on the Great River. He was at the breast of a dead woman, not of his species. He was then raised by a civil servant in the backwater town of Aeolis and destined to follow in his 'father's' footsteps. Yama has other plans. He has never met any other inhabitant of Confluence of his own bloodline and wishes to trace his heritage. Yama also seems to be able to control the machines of Confluence, an ability he chooses not to reveal.
Toward the end of the book I became more comfortable with the setting McAuley has created. Yama's journey of discovery had its moments and I will read the sequel, eventually. The book doesn't attempt to solve the riddle of Yama and I do hope McAuley doesn't drag things out too far.
Confluence is a world created by the long departed Preservers, who seeded the 'planet' with many alien species, all of which contain some of the Preservers DNA. When the Preservers departed they left a plethora of machines to maintain Confluence.
As a baby, Yama was discovered in a small boat floating on the Great River. He was at the breast of a dead woman, not of his species. He was then raised by a civil servant in the backwater town of Aeolis and destined to follow in his 'father's' footsteps. Yama has other plans. He has never met any other inhabitant of Confluence of his own bloodline and wishes to trace his heritage. Yama also seems to be able to control the machines of Confluence, an ability he chooses not to reveal.
Toward the end of the book I became more comfortable with the setting McAuley has created. Yama's journey of discovery had its moments and I will read the sequel, eventually. The book doesn't attempt to solve the riddle of Yama and I do hope McAuley doesn't drag things out too far.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2023
Foarte buna cartea. Da este SF. Fantasy este doar din punctul de vedere al locuitorilor Confluentei care nu inteleg tehnologia avansata si o asociaza cu magie, vrajitore, fantome si spirite! Dupa cum spunea si Clarke: "Orice tehnologie suficient de avansată nu poate fi deosebită de magie."
Mi-a placut mult. McAuley scrie bine, iar traducerea este decenta doar ca e o singura problema... finalul nu exista! Se termina in pom!
@Editura Trei unde sunt traducerile celorlalte doua carti din trilogie? De ce ai decis ca e OK sa traduci doar prima parte din trilogie cand, clar, prima parte nu are final si trebuie citite si celelalte doua carti pentru a afla deznodamantul!
Din acest motiv nu recomand aceasta carte, doar in caz ca aveti la indemana celelalte doua carti(sau chiar toata trilogia) in engleza
Mi-a placut mult. McAuley scrie bine, iar traducerea este decenta doar ca e o singura problema... finalul nu exista! Se termina in pom!
@Editura Trei unde sunt traducerile celorlalte doua carti din trilogie? De ce ai decis ca e OK sa traduci doar prima parte din trilogie cand, clar, prima parte nu are final si trebuie citite si celelalte doua carti pentru a afla deznodamantul!
Din acest motiv nu recomand aceasta carte, doar in caz ca aveti la indemana celelalte doua carti(sau chiar toata trilogia) in engleza
May 30, 2022
La historia comienza como cualquier historia que se desarrolle en un mundo fantástico, y conforme avanza, se va transformando en ciencia ficción. Adolece de ritmo: la primera parte es lenta hasta la desesperación. La trama se compone de pequeñas historias sencillas, que si bien te integran en el mundo de Confluencia, tienen poco interés. Al final es donde empieza a verse de qué va la trama, aunque todo tiene poco grano y mucha paja. Quizá lo que menos me haya gustado es que, desde casi los comienzos de la novela, se ve claramente cómo está pensada para llenar varios libros, y eso hace que me de bastante pereza continuar con la saga, especialmente si todos los libros son tan 'de relleno' como es este.
April 5, 2020
7/10 en 2009.
El mundo artificial de Confluencia es el hogar de miles de razas alienígenas, moldeadas y llevadas a la consciencia por divinos descendientes de la humanidad, que hace tiempo se retiraron del Universo.
Eso dice la sinopsis. Y además las máquinas que soportan la existencia de ese mundo fallan peeeeeero el protagonista tiene un don para entenderse con ellas. El caso es que va "creciendo" con su don y me lo pasé bien leyéndolo.
Podían haber sido tres estrellas pero me gustó la construcción del mundo Confluencia.
El mundo artificial de Confluencia es el hogar de miles de razas alienígenas, moldeadas y llevadas a la consciencia por divinos descendientes de la humanidad, que hace tiempo se retiraron del Universo.
Eso dice la sinopsis. Y además las máquinas que soportan la existencia de ese mundo fallan peeeeeero el protagonista tiene un don para entenderse con ellas. El caso es que va "creciendo" con su don y me lo pasé bien leyéndolo.
Podían haber sido tres estrellas pero me gustó la construcción del mundo Confluencia.
September 22, 2021
The first McAuley I have read. The setting is quite interesting, as it blends scifi and fantasy seamlesly.
The start of the book is pretty slow and actually the interesting part is the latter half. The latter part is actually really enjoyable and I was annoyed as the book ended! But because of this the book seems somehow floaty and inconsistent.
But because the ending was so good I really want to read the second part.
The start of the book is pretty slow and actually the interesting part is the latter half. The latter part is actually really enjoyable and I was annoyed as the book ended! But because of this the book seems somehow floaty and inconsistent.
But because the ending was so good I really want to read the second part.
August 12, 2022
I've owned this trilogy for years and never got around to reading it. McAuley is very good. He wrote one of my favorite alternate histories and one of the better Mars novels of the last three decades. Why I never got around to this one till now, I can't say, but now that I have, I recommend it without hesitation. It has some of the flavor of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun, but it is very much its own thing. Excellent.
February 10, 2020
I really enjoyed Fairyland, a somewhat over-stuffed biopunk classic but this - biofantasy?- is not quite as good. It's world is well developed, as are the characters in it, but I am finding fantasy hard to get into lately. That said, I will probably read the next two.
January 19, 2019
Fun read
Coming of age, mystery, young love, and a bit of plot. Works for me... and six more words required, too.
Coming of age, mystery, young love, and a bit of plot. Works for me... and six more words required, too.
March 30, 2020
Beautifully written. A fascinating far future tale.
July 18, 2020
Still good the second time
October 28, 2022
Rereading this around 20 years after I first read it, and it's amazing how much better it is after having delved deeper into the works of the authors that it was inspired by. Good work, Mr. McAuley.
May 5, 2023
recenzie pe larg: https://bloguldesefe.ro/2021/07/03/la...
October 8, 2025
A couple of plot errors, but overall a good coming of age story.
It got the extra star for originality points in setting
It got the extra star for originality points in setting
January 25, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in November 2002.
The strange world of Confluence is the setting for McAuley's trilogy of the same name; Child of the River is the first volume. It was created by the Preservers, who populated it with diverse creatures derived from Earth's animals raised to human intelligence, and who then disappeared. Confluence is now considerably decayed, full of machines whose purpose is not understood, whose workings follow the Arthur C. Clarke dictum and are indistinguishable from magic; while the Preservers themselves have been mythologised into a pantheon of gods supposedly watching over the fate of the inhabitants.
The central character, the boy Yama, appears set apart from the beginning; Moses-like, he is found as a baby floating down the great River, not in a reed basket but accompanying the coffin of a dead young woman. He is brought up as the adopted son of a village official, but becomes the centre of intrigue when others start to investigate his "bloodline" - he is not one of the common types found throughout Confluence, and so his heritage is unknown. He finds that he experiences a strange communion with the machines around him which marks him out, and he begins to travel to find out who he is and why he is there.
The plot clearly picks up many ideas from Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces, but it is the setting and style which are of greater interest. The latter is distincly reminiscent of Gene Wolfe, a writer greatly admired but not, I think, frequently imitated. There are two sequences of novels which Child of the River calls to mind: The Book of the New Sun and, even more so, The Book of the Long Sun (which is more or less contemporary with this trilogy). This similarity is partly because of connections between the backgrounds of the series, but it is mainly because of the way that the background is expressed in the story. (The down side of this, more obviously so in McAuley than Wolfe, is that exposition of the setting and delight in detail get in the way of plot development.) I would not say that McAuley is as good a writer as Wolfe, not that Child of the River is his best work; it is a little too derivative for that. It is, though, an interesting and worthwhile read.
The strange world of Confluence is the setting for McAuley's trilogy of the same name; Child of the River is the first volume. It was created by the Preservers, who populated it with diverse creatures derived from Earth's animals raised to human intelligence, and who then disappeared. Confluence is now considerably decayed, full of machines whose purpose is not understood, whose workings follow the Arthur C. Clarke dictum and are indistinguishable from magic; while the Preservers themselves have been mythologised into a pantheon of gods supposedly watching over the fate of the inhabitants.
The central character, the boy Yama, appears set apart from the beginning; Moses-like, he is found as a baby floating down the great River, not in a reed basket but accompanying the coffin of a dead young woman. He is brought up as the adopted son of a village official, but becomes the centre of intrigue when others start to investigate his "bloodline" - he is not one of the common types found throughout Confluence, and so his heritage is unknown. He finds that he experiences a strange communion with the machines around him which marks him out, and he begins to travel to find out who he is and why he is there.
The plot clearly picks up many ideas from Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces, but it is the setting and style which are of greater interest. The latter is distincly reminiscent of Gene Wolfe, a writer greatly admired but not, I think, frequently imitated. There are two sequences of novels which Child of the River calls to mind: The Book of the New Sun and, even more so, The Book of the Long Sun (which is more or less contemporary with this trilogy). This similarity is partly because of connections between the backgrounds of the series, but it is mainly because of the way that the background is expressed in the story. (The down side of this, more obviously so in McAuley than Wolfe, is that exposition of the setting and delight in detail get in the way of plot development.) I would not say that McAuley is as good a writer as Wolfe, not that Child of the River is his best work; it is a little too derivative for that. It is, though, an interesting and worthwhile read.
June 19, 2016
This was an enjoyable book that used an expansive vocabulary to help paint the setting. The creatures within were both plausible and interesting. The world was alive even though it was dying. The story was well-written, but the plot was a bit scatterbrained in my opinion. The overall goal remained the same, but the method of achieving that said goal seemed to change every few chapters, especially early on. The path of the story seemed almost random as if arrived by chance. One could say this is a reflection of the randomness of life in general or just the author writing a stream of consciousness (whatever popped into his mind first). The meandering plot allowed for a broader glimpse of the world (though perhaps, unintentionally), which helped to provide animus to the story. I felt the story was rushed at the end and left more questions unanswered than the few it meekly answered. The reader is compelled to read the next novel, Ancient of Days, as the Child of the River lacks a lot in way of closure. This novel is science fiction where science is largely forgotten and the people have reverted to a more fantastical or medieval setting. It has a few elements of steampunk thrown in as well. While this novel isn't perfect, it is very good and most readers that like the genre and appreciate eloquent prose will find this novel worth their while.
October 4, 2016
Tahle kniha (sáhl jsem po ní v rámci akce "seznamujeme se se spisovateli moderních space oper") mě nějak neoslovila, což není ani tak způsobeno její kvalitou, jako prostě tím, že to prostě nebyl můj šálek jihlavanky. Nebylo tam nic, co by mě zaujalo... tedy kromě toho, že ačkoliv je kniha sci-fi, je její příběh ryzí a ničím nekořeněné fantasy. Máte tam mladého nalezence, který pátrá po své minulosti, prochází bizarním světem, čelí nebezpečím, objevuje své magické (tedy vlastně technické) schopnosti, nachází přátele (vyloženě drdistický tým složený z bojovnice a zlodějíčka) i protivníky - a než se vlastně něco stane, kniha skončí a "pokračování příště". Nahradit mimozemské civilizace božstvy a techniku magií, tak se vůbec nic nezmění. Koukal jsem, že to někteří lidé tuhle ságu srovnávali s díly Gene Wolfa - a ne, tak nudné to není. Jen je to prostě věc, kterou mám pocit, že jsem četl už mockrát ve všech možných variantách a nebylo tam nic, co by mě nějak překvapilo nebo zaujalo.
January 10, 2015
This is an atmospheric first novel in a trilogy set on an alien world inhabited by a large number of separate human species (or sub-species). The book begins with the strange and almost supernatural appearance of the baby who will become the protagonist. As he grows older he becomes increasingly curious about his own strange and apparently unique bloodline.
The strength of this book lies in its atmosphere and the author's ability to evoke a strange setting on a world of decayed technology that has almost a magical feel to its inhabitants. The story I found less involving and it took me ages to read this book because it did not keep drawing me back. I was also reading this in single volume with the other two books of the trilogy, which made the whole thing too big and cumbersome to carry around. I may look for the second book on its own and read that.
The strength of this book lies in its atmosphere and the author's ability to evoke a strange setting on a world of decayed technology that has almost a magical feel to its inhabitants. The story I found less involving and it took me ages to read this book because it did not keep drawing me back. I was also reading this in single volume with the other two books of the trilogy, which made the whole thing too big and cumbersome to carry around. I may look for the second book on its own and read that.
September 23, 2014
An excellent world-building first book of a SciFi trilogy with a believable story and great characters! Teenager Yama is endearing and grows up under our eyes to a bitter and vengeful young man and eventually to a wisdom beyond his years (at the end of the trilogy). The professor McAuley's background in biology shows at every page, as the details of the fauna and the flora of the man-made 'world' are described in astonishing and sometimes extremely boring detail. I must confess to skipping a lot of descriptive pages, especially in the second and the third part of the trilogy, when the novelty wears off and I just hoped to find out the key to the riddle. All in all, an excellent book that was somehow diluted to become a trilogy (a good trilogy, nevertheless).
April 8, 2010
I had some difficulty following parts of this book- which is not my norm. But I found it was worth the effort. The author had an unusual approach of letting the characters unearthly characteristics reveal themselves in the context of the story, rather than laying them out in an obvious way. There was no "Thaw was a mixture of a walrus and a man..." Instead, he referred to Thaw as a man, but through contextual revelations, we read about Thaw's tusks, or the moonlight glinting off of his loose, grey skin." The world he created was amazing, and the approach was interesting. A classic hero tale, I'm looking forward to finding out what happens in the second book.
March 1, 2021
Paul J. McAuley channels Gene Wolfe in this convoluted, difficult series, still enjoyable. A prophecy, foretold millennia ago, in teenage boy, Yama, living on outer space ark, abandoned by creators. He navigates world of old technologies he can control, called by other names or described in odd ways - Gene Wolfe touch that everything is not what seems.
Boy had Biblical beginning, found as baby on raft. He matures, sorting out world and destiny while Confluence is on brink of civil war. Takes awhile to assimilate Confluence and strange technologies left by progenitor race. Once you do, you are in for wild ride. McAuley makes big, exotic, space opera.
Boy had Biblical beginning, found as baby on raft. He matures, sorting out world and destiny while Confluence is on brink of civil war. Takes awhile to assimilate Confluence and strange technologies left by progenitor race. Once you do, you are in for wild ride. McAuley makes big, exotic, space opera.
January 8, 2015
Prima parte dintr-o trilogie destul de neinteresantă, deși trebuie să recunosc, McAuley are o imaginație impresionantă. Multe „seminții”, multe personaje destul de bine conturate, multe aventuri, totuși nu ca în HP sau LOTR. Din păcate sunt multe oportunități ratate. O carte bună pentru împătimiții de trilogii SF.
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