The American Science Fiction Fans seem to have discovered Korean Science Fiction. We here in Germany have done so, too (I know about at least one short story anthology and one novel which has also been awarded for the Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis last year ("Tausend Arten von Blau" of Cheon Seon-Ran).
After reading the review of Ian Mond (my favorite Locus.reviewer), I bought and read the book as well.
When I told a friend of mine that I cannot put this novel down, he was surprised: But it's from Korea, isn't the tradition to tell stories different and therefore maybe not always full of suspense?
But not, this has no Cixin-Liu-like paragraphs which make me want to yawn.
The story
I have read so many post-apocalyptic stories. Some stuff is always the same, some is not. Some stories offer something new, some do not.
I gather the Orbs (and the twists in the last third of the novel which I will not spoil) are very creative and innovative. It's cool. It's also cool to not only experience how Korea treats the threat, but also (from a Korean point of view), how other countries like China and USA are handling them.
The danger the Orbs bear is easy to understand and to imagine. The typical loss of civilization leads to other problems. The goal of Jeong-su (first finding his parents in the chaos, then surviving) is very clear.
The protagonist
That's an evil one. A very plausible, literally very interesting one. My oldest child (I retold the story to her, leaving out all the sex stuff and the splatter) really detested him.
Ian Mond seems to really dislike him as well.
I cannot really agree with them. Yes, sometimes it's difficult to bear how Jeong-su treats other people, especially the young man who is forced to spend time with him due to reasons that would spoil too much here. That's a toxic relationship if I have ever read about one. Wow.
But most of the time, Jeong-su just acts in a very plausible (but not really brave and very selfish) way. But wouldn't many of us do so? There seem to be an overproportion of these two types of humans in most post-apocalyptic stories:
Either the brave, nice one who helps people and sacrifices a lot to stay true to his human values (and, usually, the one of the readers).
Or the very evil one, who starts to murder people the minute there is no civilization around any more.
There are some of the first part and some of the second part in the novel, but Jeong-su seems to be in the (for me) very plausible middle of it. He does not actively murder anybody, but he nevertheless is not without guilt for some evil stuff that happens.
He is capable of love and complex feelings, of grief and loss, but he mostly thinks of himself and his own well-being.
I really enjoyed how well carved this character is, even as I did not enjoy reading about some of his actions. And of course his homophobia (which seems to mirror the homophobia of a big chunk of Korean society around 2009) is difficult to bear, but still: plausible.
What it really might be about
From my point of view, no horror or science fiction idea can stand on its own without having anything to say about our life, our circumstances, our world. It has to open rooms in my head (or my heart, or both).
This novel is a perfect example, of course it's not really about Orbs that multiply around earth, absorbing living human beings. No matter how cool the twists are (and they are really really good).
This is about us, about how we live our lives, how we enact with other people. Of course we could tell ourselves: We are are not like Jeong-su. We might not live in Korea. We are not forced to sleep with prostitutes to get promoted.
Okay, we might not be forced to anything that extreme, but aren't there a dozen little things we do without wanting to, because "it's expected"?
This might not be Korea, which as a country is culturally a bit different from USA or Europe, but we have as well our social No Gos or the corset of what is demanded by us by society.
One thing is for sure: Our lives aren't endless either. We will all die one day. Even without the Orbs in our world, shouldn't we choose wiser how to live and what to experience? Or do to other people?
Recommendation?
Yes. But a warning. The protagonist is evil on purpose. I think that the homophobia is also shown on purpose and (mostly?) in a way that should make readers question this way of thinking.
But I am not sure of the misogynie. Is this really on purpose? There is no paragraph that shows that it's just the figure who thinks that way. There is no single woman in the book who is more than a shrieking, frightened or absolutely hysteric, loud human being. Not a rescue for me as a woman. Is the author aware that all the women he shows are this way? Maybe. I am not sure. Just give it the benefit of a doubt. but it's hard to read, especially if you are a woman.
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