Zulu Heart [Mass Market Paperback]

Zulu Heart is a wonderful read. Steven Barnes has created a world in which the roles of African's and European's circa 1800 America have switched places. This book like Lion's Blood, really gets to the heart of slavery and racism. In both of these books, it's power that is the real culprit. Like our own history, it is economic expedience that helps the power elite justify their views on other races; justification for seeing a fellow human as somehow sub-human.

The book is the continuing story of Aiden and Kai, a former slave and his former master that continue their relationship well into adulthood. The book not only further develops the two friends relationship with each other, it also delves into the difficulties of being powerless and powerful. Both have their pitfalls in Zulu Heart, just like they do in real life.

Even the language used in the book is interesting. Negative thoughts are described as: 'Pale' as apposed to 'Dark'. Barnes seems to suggest that the very language that we use today is subtely racist. I am not schooled enough in the history of the language to know if that's true or not, but it does make for an interesting read and it makes the reader really think.

Barnes is a master story teller that continues to develop and flesh out his characters from the previous book. He's done a wonderful job of maturing both Kai and Aiden as well as adding some new exciting characters. As always, Barnes descriptions of Martial Arts and training are second to none. He has blended an interesting amalgam of Indonesian martial arts, African knife fighting and Fillipino Kali with a smattering of Sufi philosophy. Wow.

This is certainly a series that he could continue for some time and still remain fresh and exciting to readers. ...

Zulu Heart is the second novel in the In'shallah series, following Lion's Blood. In the previous volume, Kai's father has been killed in a slave uprising. Also, his brother, Ali, has been killed by General Shaka, the Zulu Commander of the Bilalistan forces at the Mosque of the Fathers, and Kai then has killed Shaka and taken command of these forces. However, the Zulus have withdraw with Shaka's body to their homeland.

Kai sends his friend Fodjour for help before other Aztec forces trap the Balalistanis within the Mosque. Kai's soldiers hold out for days; morale is good, particularly since Kai offers to free any of the slave soldiers that stay and fight with them. When one soldier finds a back way out, Kai evacuates the compound and lures the Aztecs inside, then sets off most of their stored powder, killing or wounding the entire Aztec force.

When their relief arrives, Kai takes his men back to their towns and plantations, providing money to the men and buying the freedom of the slaves. He also offers land and jobs to his survivors and provides assistance to the widows and orphans. Many proclaim Kai as a hero, but other, more conservative, Muslims blame him for destroying the Mosque compound.

When Kai and Aiden come to the castle of Kai's fraternal uncle, Malik, they find that his uncle's wife is dead and Malik has taken Aiden's sweetheart, Sophia, as his bed slave. Aiden tries to challenge Malik for Sophia, but does not have the skill, so Kai is forced, by his love and obligations toward Aiden and Sophia, to kill his uncle in single combat; actually, even Kai is unable to penetrate Malik's defense, but Malik also cannot force himself to kill Kai, so Malik commits suicide by leaving himself open to Kai's sword. Kai provides a wedding for Aiden and Sophia, giving them money and land in the Wichita territory as a gift. Since Ali is dead, Kai marries his brother's betrothed, Lamiya, niece of the Immortal Empress of Abyssinia.

In this novel, three years have passed in which Kai has taken on his father's responsibilities at Dar Kush, the plantation, and in the Territorial Senate. He obtains secret papers sent by the Caliph of Bilalistan to the Pharaoh of Egypt, but the papers are encrypted. Kai asks Babatunde to try to decrypt them, but the Sufi determines that this is impossible without the original encrypting machine. Since Kai believes the papers to contain vital information on the role of Bilalistan in the forthcoming conflict between Egypt and Abyssinian, Kai travels to Wichita territory to ask Aiden to undertake a dangerous mission to obtain this machine.

When he arrives, Aiden and his neighbors have just fought off a vigilante group trying to capture and crucify Aiden. Kai backs the local Constable in clearing up the matter and warns the town that Aiden is under his protection. Then Kai explains the problem to Aiden and shows him a light-drawing of a strawberry blonde slave that Aiden recognizes as his long lost sister, Nessa. Since large sums have been offered for Nessa in the past and have been refused, Kai has come up with a way to just steal her along with the encrypting machine. However, Aiden will have to pose as a slave and fight in the arena to gain access to the Caliph's palace.

In the meantime, the Hashassin -- the fabled Assassins -- are tracking down the secret papers. They have already found the courier, but he found a way to commit suicide. Now they are checking out people that may have met with the courier. One group focuses on Kai and contacts Fodjour's mother, who has used their services previously.

In addition, Shaka's brother, Cetshwayo, contacts Kai to ask if sufficient mourning time has passed to allow consummation of the marriage between his daughter, Nandi, and Kai as arranged by Abu Ali, Kai's father. The remaining paperwork is quickly completed and Nandi becomes Kai's second wife.

This novel delves deeper into the relationship between the black masters of Bilalistan and their white slaves. Moreover, it also shows something of the role of women in that society. By reversing the racial roles, the story demonstrates the self-justifying excuses and self-serving rationalizations of slave owners, no matter what the race or religion. It provides some serious criticisms of modern day muslim practices as compared to the words of the Prophet, but such faults are also found in Christian societies.

This novel is worth reading on several levels in addition to its satire of slavery in this country. It is a well thought out model of an alternate timeline with laws, mores, customs and folkways deriving from a different tradition. The characters are true to their own worldviews and traditions, even in their follies. This volume is better than the last, expanding the world even further. The next volume should be worth the wait.

Recommended for Barnes fans and anyone who enjoys well-crafted SF tales of other cultures.

-Arthur W. Jordin

The book _Zulu Heart_ most reminded me of was Kim Stanley Robinson's _Years of Rice and Salt_. By comparison, I found Barnes' _Zulu Heart_ eminently more readable. Barnes' easygoing style makes for a luxuriant but fast-paced read. Despite the epic effort undoubtedly expended in turning History on its heel, at no time does Barnes' alternate history, one in which the territory around New Orleans (now New Djibouti) is held by an uneasy alliance of Zulus, ruler-class Abyssinian Muslims, and a small band of rebellious white slaves trying to eke out freedom from Southern agricultural concerns, seem forced. Without giving wind of a conscious attempt at it, Barnes spins a believable yarn in which the outcome of a handful of significant historical events lead to a very different world.

The story takes place during approximately the same historical time frame as the Civil War. The main characters of Kai (the Wakil of Dar Kush), his politically-connected wives Lamiya and Nandi, his dear friend and advisor Babatunde, and the now free / now slave / now free again Irishman Aidan are drawn crisply, are believable, and carry their own weight in the complex plot to prevent an all-out civil war that can't really be won. Here and there the astute reader may be amused to note references to the Ironclad ship _Monitor_ (literarily resurrected as "The Turtle"), the assassination of Abraham Lincoln while he attended a theater performance (attempted on Kai by hashishim during a Zulu chorale), and the double-edged sword of emancipation offered by the North, and the ambivalence of the national government over the question of war or capitulation.

Though the author acknowledges the support and influence of Historical SF master Harry Turtledove, Barnes' book is anything but derivative. If you like Harry Turtledove, you'll like Barnes' _Zulu Heart_. If you liked Robinson's _Years of Rice and Salt_, you'll love _Zulu Heart_. And if you like a novel that forces you to think "what if", you'll buy not just _Zulu Heart_ but the 'prequel', _Lion's Blood_.

Don Muchow, Editor
Would That It Were
Magazine of Historical SF