CLAIRE NORTH Slow Gods. Reviewed by Robert Goodman

Claire North’s new novel might be science fiction, but the problems her characters face have many resonances with those of our world. 

Since the time-looping The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, Claire North has explored many of the more popular corners of speculative fiction, each time bringing her own spin to well-loved subgenres. More recently (prior to a few retellings of Greek myths) North was leaning into the science fiction end of the speculative fiction spectrum with books like the dystopian 84K and the post-apocalyptic Notes from a Burning Age. In her latest book, Slow Gods, North moves into the realms of modern space opera, and once again brings something new to the table.

Mawukana na-Vdnaze (Maw for short) is a ‘very poor copy’ of himself. How he came to be that way is explained in the first section of Slow Gods. Although whether he is a ‘poor copy’ or something entirely different is a question for readers to discover. Maw grew up under a repressive and highly stratified regime called the Shine, a society based on the idea that ‘[a]ll are born equal and by their labours shall they rise’, but this, and the idea that the system was ‘about fairness’, is a con. The Shine is a society in which most live in debt, and learning and ambition have been ‘ground down by powerful, comfortable men’.

Through an accident that happens in ‘the dark’ that is used to navigate between worlds, Maw becomes both something more and something less, but also breaks free from the Shine. Soon he finds himself encountering very different, more open cultures. He is also brought in to help efforts to face a supernova event that will destroy hundreds of settled planets. Most of those planets form a very loose affiliation known as ‘the Accord’, which allows them to participate in some collective decision-making and support. Inside the Accord there is a movement to try and bring down the Shine, which has become both more insular and more belligerent in the face of the impending danger to its empire.

With its multiple worlds, multiple species, and snarky artificial intelligences (known as quans), Slow Gods feels like a successor to the universe of Iain M. Banks. But added to this are some of the gender politics and political manoeuvrings of more recent space operas by authors like Ann Leckie. While North plays in this space and uses similar tropes, she does so in her own unique way to explore a range of political, social and emotional ideas.

This is typified by North’s approach to gender. In North’s universe there are multiple genders depending on the planet and its culture:

There is some dispute about how many genders there are on Adjumir. Most textbooks written for off-planet education concur that there are eight, with another four genders that are either regionally specific … or deliberately open, such as ‘le’ (‘one who is in a place of change, seeking’).

When Maw tries to explain the two fixed genders of the Shine (he and she), it shocks the Adjumiris:

‘So … the important thing is your genitals?’ Gebre blurted, when I explained this. ‘As in … even if you can’t see someone’s genitals, they are the first thing that is on your mind when you meet someone? It is their defining characteristic, above ethics, work, aptitudes, hobbies, hopes, loves et cetera?’

The irony is that even the Shine has additional genders, using the terms hé and shé for the elite exemplars of their gender.

Maw himself is an enigma – both human and not. In some senses, he is most human when other people are observing him as human. Maw is a creature of ‘the dark’, the uncanny otherworld that most cultures of North’s universe use to jump between worlds (some prefer to avoid it altogether and go the slow way) that sends many pilots mad. Maw’s outsider status gives him the ability to observe and comment on the idiosyncrasies of human behaviour (in some sense reminiscent of Douglas Adams):

There is a peculiar manifestation of social cohesion that I have, with some dread, observed in most societies that I have visited: ‘small talk’.

It is fascinating how many people experience a measurable psychological response to the smallest of small talks. ‘Isn’t the weather foul?’ or ‘I see the shuttle is late again’, and ‘Oh I know’ comes the reply, and if you were to scan for blood pressure, sweat production, hormonal response, etc., you would observe noticeable relaxation.

North uses her science fiction stylings to consider large, real-world issues. There is the question of how we deal with a long-term threats, what you might consider in trying to save the culture of a civilisation, the plight of immigrants, and managing a threat of mutually assured destruction. Readers are likely to see parallels with the threat of climate change, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine (and the resistance to that invasion). This is the sign of a good analogy – giving readers a safe, fictional space to consider these issues from a new perspective. But North also explores more universal themes – the nature of love, what we owe each other and our children, and the nature of personal sacrifice for a larger cause. These are not dealt with in a didactic way, they are inherent in the set-up of North’s universe and play out through Maw’s journeys, relationships and experiences. And they are the bedrock (and in some ways the call to action) on which Slow Gods is built.

As Maw says in his introduction:

I should claim that I understand love.

This last is most important and I am trying.

I am always trying.

Is that not enough?

Claire North Slow Gods Orbit 2025 PB 432pp $34.99

Robert Goodman is an institutionalised public servant and obsessive reader, who won a science fiction short-story competition very early in his career but has found reviewing a better outlet for his skills. He was a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards for many years and reviews for a number of other publications – see his website: www.pilebythebed.com

You can buy Slow Gods from Abbey’s at a 10% discount by quoting the promotion code NEWTOWNREVIEW.

You can also check if it is available from Newtown Library.

Tags: artificial intelligence, Claire | North, gender, multiple worlds, science fiction, space opera, speculative fiction, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August