Alexander Páez reviews Mecha Samurai Empire, by Peter Tieryas

Alexander Páez has kindly reviewed for us Mecha Samurai Empire, by Peter Tieryas, the sequel to United States of Japan. You can also read this review in Spanish at Alexander's website, Donde acaba el infinito. Hope you like it!

Review Soundtrack: Álex suggests reading this review while listening to the main theme of Mazinger Z, by Ichirou Mizuki (YouTube, YouTube) 

Some years ago, I got an ARC copy of a book at my email. It was an Angry Robot book: United States of Japan by an unknown author at that time, Peter Tieryas. I contacted him by Twitter and since then we speak now and then. With that warm and proximity that is so Tieryas. Now, in 2018, Peter Tieryas has positioned himself as one of the emergent authors that you must read. He has succeeded in the international market as in the anglosaxon. And he hasn’t lost this close touch, this proximity to the readers. The story repeats itself, I got an ARC copy of his new novel and I start reading it as soon as it gets into my Paperwhite. I need more of his world. I need more mechas. I need more sci-fi. Mecha Samurai Empire is this new novel that is also a sequel to the previous novel but both can be read as stand-alone works. Oh, and it was worth. So much.

If the first novel was a dystopia, a homage to a Phillip K. Dick novel, this second one is a novel about war, about humanity, a tribute to the sub-culture surrounding mechas, videogames and probably a more Heinlein-reminiscent novel. In Mecha Samurai Empire, Japan and Germany won the World War II and they divided North America. West is Japanese, a hybrid between Japanese and North American culture, while in the East, the Germany area, it is more divided between non-Aryans and “normal” citizens. You probably already knew this if you read the previous novel. The truce between the Japanese Empire and the German Reich is uneasy, mechas versus biomechs, but they usually stay out of each other businesses. Usually.

Mecha Samurai Empire begins with Mac, a student struggling with his grades, but a guy who is incredibly good at videogames, especially with “portical”, something that grants with a chance to enter the mecha examination program so he can fulfill his dream: to be a mecha pilot. Mac is attended by the state, since both his parents were killed in The Battle of San Diego. They were both mecha pilots.

Peter Tieryas doesn’t write typical heroes. You probably are wondering when Mac will have his chance to save the world, to be a hero. Well, actually on different occasions, but the way Tieryas drives the plot is brilliant. This are not hero worthy situations, most of them are a fruit of chance, or sometimes he is in the right place at the right time. Tieryas also does a lot of criticism to the military structure, with poor leaders that lead to a lot of trooper deaths and so on. While I don’t really care about military criticism (I guess this is an important issue in USA, but in Spain not really) I think it’s very clever because you can take the philosophical exploration and put it into a bigger picture. While I was reading this novel, I reckoned it felt a lot like a Kojima game. A Metal Gear Solid game. It’s about soldiers, but it has a bigger picture. Mac isn’t a philosopher, but he encounters situations that really question his motivations. For instance, he has a German friend, and that is not very keen to the eyes of his companions. 

I have to admit, the best in this novel? The mecha battle. Oh my. So funny, so well written, so epic. This was something the readers wished for more in the first novel. And here we have our wish. Granted by Tieryas. I would LOVE to see a movie about this novel. Mecha Samurai Empire isn’t as dark as the previous work, it’s more war-like, more dynamic, faster. And I really enjoyed the change in style and narrative. It really feels like Tieryas had a lot of fun writing this novel. And you know, mechas vs other things is always a win-win. My recommendation is that you should read it, but don’t expect a new dystopia, this is not (very much) it. It’s a criticism to war, military states and totalitarianism. Another great work by Peter Tieryas.

Novedad en Nova: Estados Unidos de Japón, de Peter Tieryas

Ayer se puso a la venta Estados Unidos de Japón, de Peter Tieryas, una novela que reseñé en su versión en inglés y que recomiendo especialmente. El libro tiene 408 páginas y un precio de 21€ en edición impresa y de 7,99 en formato digital. 

Ésta es su sinopsis:

La deslumbrante novela que el Financial Times recomendó como una de sus lecturas de verano en 2016.

La secuela espiritual de El hombre en el castillo, de Philip K. Dick, que se ha convertido en uno de los títulos de 2016 más esperados por io9, Publishers Weekly y Kirkus Reviews. 

Hace unas décadas, Japón ganó la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Los estadounidenses adoran a su infalible emperador y nadie cree que la conducta de Japón en la contienda no fuera ejemplar. Nadie excepto los George Washingtons, una facción proestadounidense que intenta recuperar la gloria de los viejos Estados Unidos. Su última táctica subversiva es distribuir un videojuego ilegal que pide a los jugadores que imaginen cómo sería el mundo si Estados Unidos hubiera ganado la guerra. 

El capitán Beniko Ishimura se dedica a captar posibles traidores, cuando un día recibe una misteriosa llamada del general Mutsuraga, y su vida se convierte en una montaña rusa que le llevará a conocer a Akiko Tsukino, una oficial de la policía de Tokio que intenta descubrir la relación de Ishimura con el videojuego que algunos insurgentes están usando para avivar el nacionalismo estadounidense. Pero los orígenes del videojuego subversivo son aún más polémicos y peligrosos de lo que nadie sospecha…

Novedad: United States of Japan, de Peter Tieryas

Ya está a la venta United States of Japan, de Peter Tieryas, de la que hablé en este mismo blog la semana pasada. 

Ésta es su sinopsis:

Decades ago, Japan won the Second World War. Americans worship their infallible Emperor, and nobody believes that Japan’s conduct in the war was anything but exemplary. Nobody, that is, except the George Washingtons — a group of rebels fighting for freedom. Their latest terrorist tactic is to distribute an illegal video game that asks players to imagine what the world might be like if the United States had won the war instead.

Captain Beniko Ishimura’s job is to censor video games, and he’s tasked with getting to the bottom of this disturbing new development. But Ishimura’s hiding something…kind of. He’s slowly been discovering that the case of the George Washingtons is more complicated than it seems, and the subversive videogame’s origins are even more controversial and dangerous than the censors originally suspected.

United States of Japan, de Peter Tieryas

Banda sonora de la reseña: Sugiero leer esta reseña escuchando Big in Japan, de Alphaville (Spotify, YouTube).

No me suele gustar que una novela se desvíe de las expectativas que tengo cuando empiezo a leerla. Tengo tantos libros pendientes que empleo bastante tiempo seleccionando cuidadosamente cuál leer a continuación y me siento decepcionado cuando la realidad no se ajusta a la descripción dada por la sinopsis. Sin embargo, United States of Japan, de Peter Tieryas es un libro que me ha sorprendido para bien en muchos sentidos.

La primera sorpresa es el estilo de la prosa del autor, especialmente su peculiar forma de abordar los diálogos. Grandes fragmentos del libro consisten en largas secuencias de frases cortas, sin apenas indicación de quién está hablando en cada momento. Confieso que esto me descolocó un poco al principio. Pero, tras un par de capítulos, comencé a apreciar su brillantez. Este tipo de diálogo no sólo está más cerca de la forma en que las personas hablan realmente, sino que también es mucho más ágil y le de a la novela una personalidad propia.

La segunda sorpresa son los temas tratados. De la sinopsis y la portada uno podría esperarse una versión ligera de El hombre en el castillo pero con gran cantidad de acción y luchas de mechas. Y sí que hay algo de eso en United States of Japan, pero los elementos principales son bien diferentes. De hecho, la novela se asemeja más a 1984 que a Philip K. Dick, y el autor incluso incluye algo de novela negra y cyberpunk para aderezar la mezcla. Personalmente, esta combinación me gusta aún más que lo que me esperaba del libro y, lo que es aún mejor, Tieryas consigue que funcione sin fisuras. 

La sorpresa final y más importante es el protagonista principal. Beniko Ishimura es un ejemplo de libro de texto de lo que es un anti-héroe. Es apático, abúlico y perezoso y carece de cualquier rastro de carisma. No parece gustarle a nadie (ni a sí mismo) y uno de los temas recurrentes en el libro es el de cómo es posible que haya llegado al puesto de trabajo que ocupa. Sus motivaciones son insondables, sus reacciones emocionales están completamente desconectadas de la realidad y siempre está pensando en comer y divertirse. Curiosamente, de repente muestra destellos aleatorios de genialidad que le sacan de situaciones desesperadas, a veces por pura suerte. Durante todo el libro permanece como un misterio, especialmente después de cierta revelación final que hace necesario repensar todo lo que creíamos que sabíamos sobre él. Un tipo de personaje muy diferente que me aún me tiene reflexionando bastante tiempo después de terminar la lectura.

Además de estos elementos atractivos, United States of Japan también tiene algunos problemas menores. Hay algunos fragmentos de la novela en los que la trama se desarrolla a trompicones y sólo avanza mediante sucesos inesperados y encuentros improbables. Además, la historia está muy centrada en los protagonistas principales cuando a mí me habría gustado tener una visión más global de unos Estados Unidos dominados por Japón y su impacto en el resto del mundo. Finalmente, debo advertir a aquellos de estómago delicado, porque hay un buen número de escenas en las que se retrata violencia muy cruda y sangrienta de forma bastante gráfica.

United States of Japan es una novela de ciencia ficción inteligente, diferente y muy interesante. No resultó ser exactamente lo que me esperaba, pero al menos en esta ocasión me alegro de haberme visto sorprendido.

(You can also read this review in English/También puedes leer esta reseña en inglés)

United States of Japan, by Peter Tieryas

(Disclaimer: English is my second language, so I want to apologize in advance for there may be mistakes in the text below. If you find any, please let me know so that I can correct it. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.)

Review Soundtrack: I suggest reading this review while listening to Big in Japan, by Alphaville (Spotify, YouTube).

I don't usually like it when a novel greatly deviates from what I was expecting when I started reading it. There are so many interesting books that I spend a lot of time carefully selecting what to read next and I feel disappointed when a novel doesn't fit the description given in the synopsis. However, United States of Japan, by Peter Tieryas is a book that has gladly surprised me in many different ways.

The first surprise comes from the author's prose style, especially from his peculiar way of writing dialog. Big fragments of the book consist of long sequences of short sentences, with almost no indication of who is talking when. I confess that this threw me off a bit at first. But, after a few chapters, I began to appreciate its utter brilliancy. Not only is this kind of dialog more similar to the way people really talk, but it also is much more agile and gives the novel a distinct personality. 

The second surprise came from the topics and themes. From the synopsis and the cover I was expecting a lighthearted version of The Man in the High Castle but with lots of action and mecha fights. And there is some of that in United States of Japan, but the main element is quite different. In fact, the novel is closer to 1984 than to Philip K. Dick, and the author even throws some noir and cyberpunk into the mix for good measure. Personally, I do like this combination even better than what I was expecting and, what is more, Tieryas makes it work seamlessly. 

The final and most important surprise is the main protagonist. Beniko Ishimura is a book-text example of an anti-hero. He is lazy, apathetic and devoid of any trace of charisma. Nobody seems to like him (not even himself) and one of the recurrent themes in the novel is why he is even trusted for the job he does. His motivations are unfathomable, his emotional reactions are completely disconnected from reality and he is always thinking about eating and having fun. Oddly enough, he shows random and unpredictable moments of inspiration that save the day, sometimes by sheer luck. Throughout all the book, he remains a mystery, especially after a final revelation that makes you rethink all that you thought you know about him. A very different kind of character that still keeps me wondering weeks after finishing the novel.

In addition to all these appealing elements, United States of Japan also has some minor problems. My main concern is that pacing is a bit uneven. There are some fragments of the novel in which the plot stutters and only goes forward because of random events or unlikely encounters. Also, the story is very focused on the main protagonists and I'd have liked to have a bigger picture of a Japan-dominated America and its impact on the rest of world. Finally, I must warn those with a weak stomach, for there are quite a number of scenes in which cold, crude violence is very graphically depicted.  

All in all, United States of Japan is an intelligent, different and very interesting science fiction novel. It turned to be not exactly what I was expecting, but at least in this occasion I am glad to have been surprised.

(You can also read this review in Spanish/También puedes leer esta reseña en español)