Premee Mohamed’s The Siege of Burning Grass brings her well-known foci of insects and intensely interesting characters to a story of defiance, pacifism, war and resistance.
Time is a flood; truth is a dragon
Alefret has a problem, a rather large one. A pacifist in a vast and consuming empire consumed by a war against an implacable foe, when pacifism is seen as an act of treason that cannot be tolerated. Incarcerated in a former school, Alefret spends his days watching people get executed rather gruesomely, and being the subject of the not so loving ministrations of a nameless Doctor. This is how he counts the endless days present and future. He holds onto his idealism as his last shield, his last hope. When will it be his turn to die? Even with the miracle of his regenerating leg, it’s only a matter of time before they decide to eliminate him? But yet, Alefret must try and live, day by day, in the meantime.
This doom cycle of days changes, however, when it turns out the Varkal Empire could use a self-professed pacifist to help get an operative into the heart of the enemy Med’ariz’s floating city. There must be resistance in their city, and a pacifist like Alefret surely would be known by that resistance. So, it is thus that Alefret can be useful at last. Finally, the pacifist being medically experimented on might have use in the field, instead of sitting and eating and being poked at and wasting resources badly needed by the Empire. And, perhaps, said pacifist might truly confront his own pacifism and beliefs, in a war zone. Especially given who he is paired with for this mission.
This is the story of Premee Mohamed’s The Siege of Burning Grass.
It’s a dark book, let me get that out of the way right now, and it may not be for everyone. This is not unknown in Mohamed’s work, to be honest, and if you have avoided some of her work before on content warnings, this book probably will fit that pattern for you, and as well written as it is, you may want to give it a pass. It fits rather neatly into the same sort of reactions you get from her stories and novellas. Medical experimentation, violence, capital punishment and of course lots of insect and biological stuff. Caveat Lector. Reader Beware.
Okay, carrying on.
The Siege of Burning Grass is strongest when it comes to theme. “War, what is it good for?” isn’t quite the question (although that is a question this, and all good wartime stories come to grips with). The real questions and themes are around pacifism–can you have an ethical pacifism that can be seen not to be undermining your own society? (This makes me think of the starvation experiments on conscientious objectors here in Minnesota during WWII.) And what are the limits of pacifism and conscientious objection? As Alefret goes from prison, to a journey across the war-torn landscape, and finally to the floating city, his pacifism is sorely and severely tested.The costs of pacifism in a total war and what that means in practice. This is especially true once he finds others who would resist the war and its tyranny, but have far bloodier ideas in mind for how to stop the war. How can Alefret reconcile participation in actions that follow his goals, but violate his ideals?
Next, meet Qhudur. Qhudur, quite simply, is a piece of work and ranks high on Premee Mohamed characters I would never, ever want to encounter in real life. Zealot doesn’t even begin to describe his devotion to the Empire, its goals, and his mission. He is very much the plot driver for most of the novel, first driving Alefret with him toward the city, and then when Qhudur’s own secret plans are unleashed, becoming the full-on antagonist for much of the remainder of the book. I don’t think that is too spoilery to say, because upon meeting him, the sheer force of who and what he is like, as contrast to Alefret, made it clear to me that their conflict finally unbridled, pacifist versus zealot, would be the capstone of the book.
And then there is of course, the meaty worldbuilding. There is plenty of strange biological creatures and technology to be had in this semi-steampunk, semi-biopunk sort of ’verse. So we encounter a variety of creatures harnessed to various ends by the Empire, and get to see that countered by the very different tech that the Med’ariz use. Wasps, Shot lizards, War Pteranodons and much more to be discovered by the reader as the necessary tools of this war. And of course, the fact that the Med’ariz are living in a floating/flying city to boot does bear some mentioning. It is a puzzle as to how it fits in this world that the reader must figure out. The weirdness and sense of not belonging that Alefret and Qhudur undergo when they finally reach their destination is palpable and it feels a bit like a shoe on the other foot for them since we’ve experienced a lot of that strange dissociation as we’ve gotten to know their very familiar and yet very different world.
And there is so much more. I loved the bits from a myth cycle Alefret continually quotes, giving history and depth and breadth to the culture. There is a real sense of history to Alefret’s story, especially on the long journey to the city, that we gradually and inexorably uncover. Qhudur, too, for all having the outward layers of a zealot driven to complete his mission, has a lot more to him than meets the eye, and developing character in their engagement with a very strange world is an effective technique for the author to bring both alive at the same time.
The Siege of Burning Grass is a book that rewards patient and slow reading rather than skipping merrily through it. The author is engaging with weighty subjects here and you want to take this patiently and think about the central themes again and what is going on. The book is very quotable, full of words that show depth of thought. Consider the quote I started this review with, for example. And Alefret is even aware of the narrative and that he is telling a story, because he mentions that if he had full control of the narrative, he would have edited it differently. It’s a very literate book and reading and knowledge transmission are important to both sides in the war, to both peoples. The phrase that “the truth is the first casualty of war” is not one explicitly mentioned in the book, but more than one character on one side of the multi-sided conflict sure thinks about that problem. And when we get to see what each side thinks about what is going on in the war and how it does not resemble the other side’s perspective, it is a rich examination of what war and conflict do to the truth.
While, in the end, I feel that Mohamed is writing to an explicit political point in the same manner (but a different theme) as, say, Robert Jackson Bennett’s Vigilance, it is not hitting the reader over the head with that politics quite as much as Bennett’s book did. Instead, Mohamed gives a very nuanced and sympathetic approach and perspective to Alefret trying so very desperately to hold onto his beliefs, despite what the Varkal throw at him, despite the travails on his journey with his murderous and dangerous companion Qhudur, despite everything, trying to be what he thinks is an ethical and good person. It’s a serious and strong piece of politics mixed into the violence, darkness, horror, and yes, the bugs in The Siege of Burning Grass. The book burrows into your skin, into your mind, even as it entertains.
