Product Description

In the far-distant future a flooded and shattered Earth is governed by the iron hand of the Martian Matriarchy. Martian warrior Dreams-of-War is despatched to Earth to guard a young girl called Lunae from an unknown threat. The clone of an extraordinary heritage, Lunae ages with unnatural speed and has the special talent of being able to alter time.

At the half-ruined city of Fragrant Harbour where Lunae resides with her malignant grandmothers and a member of the genetically modified race known as the kappa, Dreams-of-War encounters a host of intrigues centring on the sinister presence of an alien mission station nearby. When her protégé is nearly assassinated, the Martian warrior is forced to flee with Lunae to the flooded northern islands of what was once Japan. But then the child and the kappa go missing en route, leaving Dreams-of-War determined to return to the plains of Mars in order to discover the truth about Martian rule over Earth, and the nature of all the secrets behind it . . .

'Places Liz Williams in the first rank of visionary science fiction writers' Charles Stross

'Liz Williams is this generations answer to Margaret Atwood and Sheri Tepper' Chris Moriarty

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #620537 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

The Guardian, 30.04.05
'Clever, complex and well written, Banner of Souls shows 21st-century British SF finding an instantly recognisable voice'

About the Author

Liz Williams is the daughter of a stage magician and a gothic novelist, and currently lives near Brighton seafront. She received a PhD in Philosophy of Science from Cambridge, and her subsequent career has ranged from reading tarot cards on the Palace Pier to teaching in central Asia. Banner of Souls is her fifth novel.

Customer Reviews

Mess of a story but undeniably memorable
"Banner of Souls" is the sort of book that will certainly etch itself into your memory. As a reading experience it is a clever example of world building usually reserved for the fantasy section - yes, it is that distant. The story itself is fairly thin, based around a machiavellian society where only the females of the species have survived and they are "deadlier than the male" in all senses of the word. Dreams of War is a martian warrior sent to act as bodyguard to Lunae, a child who has the power to shift time. Lunae has been developed to be a "chosen one" and the story develops around her as events lead her to her destiny. The strength of Liz Williams writing is in her richly imagined and developed worlds and there are some great non-hard Sci-fi elements that will more likely appeal to fantasy readers than SF ones. This is the book's main weakness - in reality the backdrop is more interesting than the plot itself and whilst the characters are certainly well developed, it is sometimes hard to keep turning page after page of background when little of it actually impacts upon the plot. That said, Dreams of War is a great character, the story when it gets going has a great denouement and maybe those that admire rich space operas will enjoy taking the time to admire the deep texturing, rather than feeling that they were wading through it!