Book Review – Whipping Star
Author: Frank Herbert
Cover Artist: Stephen Youll
Publisher: Tor
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: January 2009
Whipping Star is the last of Frank Herbert’s non-Dune books Tor has been reprinting in recent years. This 1969 novel is the fist full novel in the ConSentiency universe. Up to this point there were only two short stories in this setting. I discussed both of them in my review of Eye. Like these short stories Whipping Star has the unusually observant BuSab agent Jorj X. McKie for a main character. This universe is also the setting of what I consider to be Herbert’s best non-Dune book. The Dosadi Experiment.
Whipping Star is a far-future science fiction. The universe contains many intelligent species and to govern them the ConSentiency has been created. This intergalactic government evolved into something of a nightmare though. It grew to be so effective that laws were conceived and passed at such speed that no proper though could be given to their need and the effects. To slow down to machinery the Bureau of Sabotage, of BuSab, was created. Their motto: “In Lieu of Red Tape”. A quite unorthodox approach to checks and balances but for the ConSientients it seems to work.
At the opening of the novel McKie is called in to work on the case of the Calabans. Calabans are a rather mysterious group of sentient aliens, but also of vital importance to the ConSentiency. When they first appeared in the ConSentiency they introduced jumpdoors. A jumpdoor allows almost instantaneously travel between two points in the galaxy, making even the fastest spaceships obsolete. Unfortunately the mind of the Calaban seems to be beyond human comprehension, or any other ConSentient for that matter. Nobody knows how the jumpdoors work or why the Calabans do what they do.
Now the Calabans are disappearing and they are leaving a trail of destruction behind. Every Sentient who has ever used the services of a Calaban either goes mad or dies when the Calaban disappears. With the ConSentiency completely dependent on their jumpdoors that means just about anybody is at risk. The crises reaches a climax when the last Calaban around is found to be in the service of one of the richest women in the universe. Bound by a legal agreement it serves as a subject for torture for its mistress’ entertainment, the Calaban, the creature introduces itself to McKie as Fanny May, is, in her own words, headed for ultimate discontinuity. Not that anyone really understands what that means, but if the most obvious meaning is correct, the universe is in trouble. It is up to McKie to figure out what makes the Fanny May tick, and how to prevent ultimate discontinuity.
Herbert usually puts a lot of scientific and philosophical ideas into his stories. This one, somewhat atypically, is fairly focussed on communication and language. How to communicate with an alien who’s view on the universe is completely different from yours? All though the novel McKie, who is considered very good at such things, is aware of the subtle differences between the species making up the ConSentiency. Language is a tricky thing, translating one culturally culturally loaded concept into another culture’s framework is never a precise fit. Of course McKie’s problems with Fanny May go way beyond that.
“About time you called,” McKie said.
“About time I called?”
“Well, you certainly must’ve gotten Furuneo’s message quite a …”
“What message?”
McKie felt as though his mind had touched a grinding wheel shooting off ideas like sparks. No message from Furuneo?
“Furuneo,” McKie said, “left here long enough ago to …”
“I’m calling,” Siker interrupted, “because there’s been no sign form either of you for too damn long, and Furuneo’s enforcers were worried. One of them… Where was Furuneo supposed to go and how?”
McKie felt an idea blossom in his mind. “Where was Furuneo born?McKie realizing what the Calaban’s interpretation of going home is.
The conversations between McKie and the Fanny May are probably the best part of the book. The reader has to work hard to follow them though. Herbert managed to describe an entity who’s thoughts are so alien that one wonders if Fanny May really is the creation of a human mind. I thought it was a fascinating read. There are readers who thinks the novel spends too much time on it though. I think Herbert put in enough adrenaline-fueled, race against the clock type of action but I can see why not everybody agrees with me. With Herbert’s focus on the communication/language theme it is not quite as dense in ideas as some of his other works, making it a good place to start if you consider reading Herbert’s none-Dune works. I would recommend reading it before the Dosadi Experiment in any case, even though they can be read independently. Whipping Star eases you into the the ConSentiency universe, which is not a bad thing considering the next book in the series is a more challenging read.
I thought Whipping Star is one of the more interesting novels by Herbert I have read. It is not a very heavy read like some of his other works, but definitely worth my time. The short tempered McKie makes for an interesting character. There are some parallels with Lewis Orne, main character in The Godmakers and the short stories I reviewed here, but McKie is much better developed. His humanity gives the reader a firm anchor in the ConSentiency, with it’s numerous alien characters. This book has reminded me a reread of The Dosadi Experiment is past due. Sometime next month perhaps.
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