I first read Eric Van Lustbader back in the 1980’s, when he’d just
written his Sunset Warrior trilogy. It had some good bits, but
overall I wasn’t impressed, and I stopped reading him. It’s possible
that the books went over my head, as my brother liked them then and still
likes them now. Anyway, I heard Van Lustbader’s name every so often
through the years, until a couple of years ago I picked up a fat
paperback called The Ring of Five Dragons. I was a bit
skeptical, but I needed something to read, so I bought it–and was
pleasantly surprised. Indeed, I liked it well enough to buy the sequel
when it came out, but for one reason or another the sequel languished
unread until just recently, when I discovered that the third volume in
the series was imminent. It had been long enough that I’d forgotten much
of the details, so I dug The Ring of Five Dragons out again,
and dove in.

And once again I was alternately amused, bemused, and enthralled.

Let me say a few words about the plot, and then I’ll try to explain my
reaction to this truly weird book.

I suppose I can best describe the plot as the irresistable force meeting the
immovable object. The irresistable force is the V’orrn, a spacefaring
race that has been travelling through the galaxy for eons since their
home world was burned to a crisp by a supernova. The heart of the V’orrn
race is in the V’orrn fleet, apparently, but from time to time as new
planets are discovered a contingent is spun off to exploit them.

Enter the immovable object, the planet Kundala. Before the V’orrn
arrived, Kundala was a joyous planet under the special protection of the
Goddess Miina. But some of Miina’s worshippers rebelled, Miina withdrew
her protection, and the V’orrn arrived to kick butt.

It’s now about a hundred years later. The V’orrn are still in charge.
All but one of the Ramahan abbeys that led the worship of Miina are in
ruins, destroyed by the V’orrn; the only reason the remaining abbey is
still standing is because the abbey leaders have been feeding information
to the V’orrn about the Kundalan resistance.

But if Kundala has changed, the V’orrn have changed, too. The V’orrn are
raised to be contemptuous of the races they conquer–but some of them are
strangely attracted to the Kundalans and their ways, including the V’orrn
regent, one Eleusis Ashera. More, it begins to appear that the Ramahan
religion is true, and that the old prophecies of a messiah, the
Dar-al-Salat, are coming true. And if that’s true, then Kundala appears
to be the center of the universe.

So much for the plot.

There’s a lot to like in this book, amid the numerous subplots. The tale of
the corruption of the remaining Ramahan abbey is particularly good, and
chilling. The story of the Dar-al-Salat is equally compelling. The
backstory unfolds like a mystery novel, and quite satisfactorily.

But then there are the weird things, which make it difficult for me to
take the book seriously. V’orrn names, for example, often include weird
spellings with tripled letters–name like “Stogggul” and “Rekkk” and
“Khagggun” and “Salamuuun”. I can’t complain that they are
unpronounceable–there’s a pronunciation key in the back of the book–but
they aren’t pronounced like you’d think they should be. He could just as
easily have chosen a more phonetic spelling.

Then there’s the vocabulary, with which he does strange things–for
atmosphere, I assume. The V’orrn and the Kundalans, though similar of
appearance are two different races, and apparently neither of them are
human; at least, the words “man”, and “woman” are never used. He uses
“male” and “female” instead, which is jarring. Similarly, instead of
days he often has the V’orrn speak of “sidereal units” (because, of
course, only V’orrn days are really days, and V’orrn days have no
relation to the rotation of the planet Kundala). A little of this kind
of thing is OK, but he takes it too extremes–as, for example, he
invariably uses the word “quotidian” instead of “daily”. Let me tell
you, when you run across the word “quotidian” three times in thirty
pages, you notice.

Then there’s the “science”. As I say, the V’orrn and the Kundalans are
two separate races, though they look like. Although they are never
called “men” or “women”, Kundalans appear to look much like we do.
V’orrn look mostly like Kundalans, but they are completely hairless, have
two hearts, two stomachs, and one lung, and are slightly larger.

So tell me, how is it that the V’orrn soldiers can father bastards on the
local Kundalan girls? They can, and they do, and nobody seems to think
that this is at all unusual.

So honestly, what with the names, and the language, and the
improbabilities, I found myself shaking my head or rolling my eyes
regularly while re-reading the book–but the headshake or eye-roll was
generally accompanied by a chuckle at Van Lustbader’s audacity. I have
to wonder whether it’s supposed to be a little absurd!

This is going to be a multi-volume series, of unknown length (unless the
third book ends it, which I doubt), and I want to make a prediction.
Given Kundala’s remarkably place in the cosmic scheme of things, and the
length of time that the V’orrn have been travelling, and the vaguely
Hindu/Buddhist feel about a lot of the fantasy details, I’m going to bet
that Kundala is, in some sense, the V’orrn homeworld remade–that at long
last, and after eons of genetic tinkering that have changed them almost
out of recognition, they have returned home. We’ll see.