THE BRITTLE RIDERS

In McCormick’s fantasy/SF novel, a lone mystic gathers allies to defeat the hordes of a sadistic warlord on a fantastical future Earth.

In the far-flung future, Earth is now called Arreti. The humans (referred to as “makers”) are gone, replaced by their final creations. Following a tragi-comical contact with aliens (“Sominids”), who were friendly but refused to share any of their technology or wisdom, mankind slipped into an existential funk. Scientific genius Edward Rohta countered with the implementation of “brands,” genetically modified, intelligent beings (typically blended with animal DNA) who took over roles such as laborers, warriors, sex workers, and spies from the indolent Homo sapiens. Brands were not meant to live long or reproduce, but these fail-safes…failed. Now the makers are gone, killed by particularly hostile brands. The North American Midwest has become a patchwork of bizarre beast-clans, fauna fiefdoms, goblin-esque guilds, and other motley creatures. Tyrant warlord Xhaknar, created to be a GMO “super soldier,” conquers and subjugates the plains with his hordes, guided by his cruel programming. He is opposed by Geldish, a rare “wizard” whose brand was granted powers of levitation and psychic cognition for use in mining ops. Geldish gathers representatives of other “fringe” races (including the seductive Succubus and the equine Llamia) under the banner of the “Brittle Riders.” Xhaknar is mostly amused by the feeble resistance effort—but Geldish has a secret plan. Readers who can hack pathways through the eye-glazing terminology and jargon (“Geldish and BraarB looked at the eight dead, dismembered Naradhama and smiled. Just then, two haven-lords appeared from the shadows”) will be rewarded with a densely populated high fantasy yarn that casts a gimlet eye on the genre’s tropes and excesses. While the title suggests a sequel, this saga installment works fine as a standalone.

Densely packed, SF-tinged high fantasy that mildly satirizes the genre.