War Of The God Queen by David Hambling (book review).
In some ways, ‘War Of The God Queen’ is another version of the familiar story outline where a modern and relatable person finds themselves thrown into another time and place. Author David Hambling has the protagonist of the novel, Jessica Merton, compare herself to the title character of Mark Twain’s ‘A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court’ once or twice. There are definitely notes of commonality for sure. Having been thrown thousands of years into the past, Jessica is able to use what she knows to her advantage. I also found myself in mind of John Carter of Mars from the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels. Jessica, like John Carter, possesses a talent that makes her exceptionally useful to the people she finds herself among. Whereas the warriors could only temporarily kill the terrible Spawn, Jessica has learnt a magical chant that prevents the Spawn from regenerating when killed, boiling their remains away into mere vapour.
While the magic is useful, Jessica isn’t a D&D wizard lobbing fireballs around the place, which is what keeps the story grounded in the world of HP Lovecraft. Even with her assistance, it appears that the nomads she lives with can do a little more to slow down the advancing monsters. After a group of warriors rescues women trapped behind enemy lines, the turnaround occurs. Although it never becomes completely clear why, the Spawn and their human helpers are pulling women from different time periods to act as mothers for some sort of monstrous brood. There are clear echoes here of stories like ‘Shadow Out Of Innsmouth’ and especially ‘The Dunwich Horror’, as well as all sorts of body horror stories in more recent films and books.
The novel’s portrayal of men and women is perhaps its best feature. What we might call, for want of a better term, gender politics is not something Lovecraft excelled at, and, on the whole, his successors have rarely progressed much further. After all, you could argue humanity itself is nothing in the face of true cosmic horror, so how could it possibly matter whether the protagonist wears a skirt or a pair of trousers?
Fair enough if you’re writing a short story where the character will be dead, mad, or otherwise inconsequential after a few pages. But if you’re writing a novel, let alone a series of novels as Hambling appears to be doing, then the believability of the characters really matters. The rescued women come from many times and places, including ancient India, nineteenth-century France, and Brazil, in what seems to be some decades ahead of our time. All of the women have something to contribute to what becomes a study of women’s roles through history. The approach differs from a typical social studies paper, as each character contributes their unique skills and perspectives where applicable.
Izabel, the Brazilian from our future, is a case in point. During her era, both men and women primarily dedicated their lives to recreation, participating in various sports or participating in adventure games. At first, it looks as if she has no useful practical skills, particularly when compared with the trading skills of Timi or the medical expertise of Lu Zhu. But her physical strength, dexterity, and, above all, her appetite for adventure make her an exceptional warrior.
Of course, Hambling doesn’t just allow these women to fall effortlessly into leadership roles like white saviours among a tribe of backward savages. In actuality, the people of this era perceive the women differently, with the exception of Jessica, dubbed the ‘goddess Yishka’. Many are suspicious; some are anxious about the changes they bring to their way of life; and a few seek to take advantage of the situation as best they can.
Amir, the leader of the nomads, enters the picture. Portrayed as a sort of Bronze Age Omar Sharif, he’s handsome and stoic, so at first there’s the sense that he and Jessica will provide a thread of romance through the supernatural adventure, but they don’t. Rather wonderfully, their relationship remains one of mutual respect and dedication to the matter at hand. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses, but together, they propel the story forward as the two main characters.
Amir’s centrality somewhat tapers off towards the end as other male characters elevate the challenges from mere survival into diplomacy and organised warfare. However, he remains an important character and, in some ways, offers a critique to emblems of civilisation that the ‘women out of time’ have brought to his world. The struggle for survival in a dangerous world fuels his misogynistic views on gender roles. Similarly, his concern that a settled life will steer his people away from the warrior’s honor and toward the trader’s love of money is not unfounded. Jessica may be giving his people the knowledge they need to beat the Spawn, but she is also bringing about the end of their traditional way of life. Amir certainly adapts, but he also appears to recognize that his time is running out. At least among the men, the nomads possessed a level of equality, allowing anyone to challenge their chieftain if they believed they would prevail. Jessica is nudging the nomads into a world of politicians, generals, and wealthy merchants that have their own, much less transparent aristocracy.
However, it appears that neither the Spawn nor their human servants fully come to life as characters. I get that Hambling wants the Spawn to remain alien and inscrutable, but, for the most part, he describes them as either mindless or savage. The Spawn throw themselves into blenders to reproduce, or chuck themselves into traps so that others of their kind can get past them. They are certainly a terrifying enemy, but they don’t come across as anything more than cannon-fodder. However, their ability to regenerate and the way their energy fluctuates with changes in the stars, reminiscent of the’stars are right’ motif in Lovecraft’s ‘Call of Cthulhu’ novella, endows them with an otherworldly weirdness that elevates them beyond mere beasts.
Still, the novel’s brilliance lies in the way Hambling balances an adventure story with sidelights on the roles of men and women over time. Despite the ever-widening cast of characters, Hambling maintains a precise pace and ensures the convincing and effective writing of most of them. There’s a short prelude that ties Jessica’s story to the events of an earlier Hambling effort, ‘The Dulwich Horror’, where Jessica seemed to disappear down a black hole. So, while there’s something of the action-packed pulp fiction mythos of the late Brian Lumley, there’s a whole other layer interwoven into the story that brings in contemporary themes and considerations. If there is such a thing as a feminist take on HP Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos, it’s going to look something like what Hambling has written in ‘War of the Gods Queen’.
Neale Monks
September 2024
(pub: Ryefield Press, 2024. 374 page paperback. Price: £12.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-65745-939-7)