Shiva 3000
by Jan Lars Jensen
Originally, I was attracted to this book because a friend of mine was interested in both India and SciFi and I needed a birthday present. Now this book is about India, in the year 3000 or there about, and about SciFi, and more specific: the steampunk kind.
India in 3000 is a very strange land, where Hindu-gods walk the surface and destroy some cities while doing so. It’s a bit of a religious book, and I think that those who know more about Indian myths might enjoy it more than those who are unfamiliar with the pantheon of India. Kama Sutra (those who don’t like the idea of sex shouldn’t read this book), Buddhists and other eastern ways of life are spread out on the pages, making the book really exotic like a Bombay street-market, and philosophical, yet readable.
The India as we know it is destroyed, or completely overbuild by layers of already decaying future housing. But the land has fallen back into some mediaeval period, where modern devices are no longer understood, like in a post-apocalyptic setting. There are hints to some scientific explanation of how things work, but usually, it’s faith and believe that’s making it function. Technology is not the main issue here. Mythology has become more real than real; this society runs on religion.
Yet there are some technological devices that are steampunk. Silken airships for example might fit in any “A thousand-and-one-nights-and-beyond” steampunk adventure. But most impressive I found the Jagannath, who is a God. Or a construct. Or a god-powered construct. Or maybe even a construct powered by faith - it’s not quite clear what it is (and this mystification is more exciting than a straight-forward solution), but it sure is very intriguing mix of religion and technology. The whole structure is depicted as something very steampunkish; retro-technology in a device of the future. It reminds me of artificial intelligence turned the wrong way: where in classic SciFi a robot becomes intelligent, in this case it’s more like an intelligence has gotten an artificial body. An inspiring different angle to look at things.
The story in this book was not that interesting; I forgot a lot of it. But the story is well written and a good and entertaining vehicle for a presentation of a setting that only can be described as weird.
© Yaghish 2004
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