Windhaven is a fix-up novel co-written by George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle. While both are authors with respectable catalogues, I’m not personally very familiar with Tuttle’s work. But if this is indicative, it’s probably worth seeking out more.
This story is masterful in its characterization. Each major player feels unique, memorable, and consistent. And as the book spans multiple decades, the characters grow and change in ways that feel true to their essence. Just don’t go into this novel expecting to like very many of them. They exhibit those common human traits that we often idealize out of our fiction: bias, prejudice, hypocrisy, reverence towards senseless tradition. But they feel human enough so that it would be hard to call any of them villains, beyond one particularly nasty sod.
As with most of Martin’s work, tension reigns. The story continuously puts characters in situations where they simply can’t win. A decision needs to be made between two bad outcomes and what they choose often reveals who they are. But the agency the main character and others have is real. The world never returns to a status quo after they’re forced to choose between endangering themselves and others, betraying their inner principles, ostracizing themselves from their peer groups, betraying close personal friends, etc.
Speaking of the world, this one feels harsh and dangerous. Windhaven is set in a world covered almost entirely in ocean, where people have settled on a series of isolated islands. The only way to communicate between islands is through inherited tech that allows skilled operators to glide from island to island. Any time the operator makes a minor error, or the weather is bad, there’s a risk they won’t survive the flight and that the tech will be lost. Hence there is less and less of this precious resource with each generation. This is one of the primary drivers for conflict. While it isn’t lacking, the setting also isn’t fully explored, with only a small subset of islands, cultures, and factions really getting any in-depth exploration. This is suitable to the book’s short length, and gives you plenty of space to fill in gaps with your imagination.
The allegory is neither subtle nor the best exploration of its subject material, which will turn some people off. But I think this is best read as the biography of a fictional character and the most important times in her life, and this book is more than competent in that regard.
Fully recommended.
Plot: 6
Characters: 10
Themes: 7
Prose: 8
Overall score: Good weather for flying.
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