The Years of Rice and Salt

by Kim Stanley Robinson

Hardcover, 658 pages

English language

Published March 2002 by Bantam.

ISBN:: 978-0-553-10920-7
OCLC Number:: 47894803
ISFDB ID:: 22722

(7 reviews)

With the incomparable vision and breathtaking detail that brought his now-classic Mars trilogy to vivid life, bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson boldly imagines an alternate history of the last seven hundred years. In his grandest work yet, the acclaimed storyteller constructs u world vastly different from the one we know…

It is the fourteenth century and one of the most apocalyptic events in human history is set to occur — the coming of the Black Death. History teaches us that a third of Europe's population was destroyed. But what if? What if the plague killed 99 percent of the population instead? How would the world have changed? This is a look at the history that could have been — a history that stretches across centuries, a history that sees dynasties and nations rise and crumble, a history that spans horrible famine and magnificent innovation. These are the years of rice …

This is a universe where the first ship to reach the New World travels across the Pacific Ocean from China and colonization spreads from west to cast. This is a universe where the Industrial Revolution is triggered by the world's greatest scientific minds in India. This is a universe where Buddhism and Islam are the most influential and practiced religions and Christianity is merely a historical footnote.

Through the eyes of soldiers and kings, explorers and philosophers, slaves and scholars, Robinson renders an immensely rich tapestry. Rewriting history and probing the most profound questions as only he can, Robinson shines his extraordinary light on the place of religion, culture, power, and even love on such an Earth. From the steppes of Asia to the shores of the Western hemisphere, from the age of Akbar to the present and beyond, here is the stunning story of the creation of a new world.

4 editions

krysztophe@bw.diaspodon.fr reviewed The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson

Uchronie : la Peste Noire fait de l’Europe un désert.

5 stars

L’idée est simple : au lieu de liquider un tiers de la population européenne, la Peste Noire de la fin du Moyen Âge ne laisse personne, et l’Europe devient un désert. Évidemment l’Histoire prend une toute autre tournure : le Nouveau Monde est envahi par les Chinois et les Arabes ; la France est recolonisée depuis l’Andalousie par les soufis et la Scandinavie par la Horde d’Or ; la science moderne apparaît à Samarcande ; les Indiens font la révolution industrielle et s’étendent aussi vite que les Européens au XIXè siècle ; la Guerre Mondiale est pire que celles que nous avons connues…

Comme dans la trilogie de SF martienne, Robinson veut que le lecteur s’attache aux personnages malgré une histoire étalée sur des siècles. En science-fiction il pouvait allonger leur vie grâce à la médecine, mais ici l’expédient est plus radical : ils se réincarnent. Après tout, le bouddhisme et l’Islam influencé par le bouddhisme le permettent. On suit donc K., B., I., P., S. au fil des siècles, de leurs changements de noms (ils ne conservent que l’initiale), de sexe, même, de leurs sauts d’une civilisation à l’autre, et de leurs réunions dans le bardo, entre deux réincarnations. Chacun est un archétype (K. le révolté, I. le scientifique…). Il n’y a pas vraiment d’intrigue, les personnages sont tous emportés par l’évolution du monde tout en faisant parti des minorités qui font l’histoire. Contrairement à la plupart des livres, on peut réellement craindre pour leur vie à chaque page.

Version complète : www.coindeweb.net/blogsanssujetprecis/index.php?post/The-Years-of-Rice-and-Salt

Robin Shipton reviewed The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson

Review of 'The Years of Rice and Salt' on 'LibraryThing'

5 stars

A book about our place in the world and the eternal question of how to live well, disguised as a novel. It's a long read, best savoured slowly over a stretch of time. It's too easy to become impatient and rush through to the "good bits" of action and excitement, and miss the thought-provoking substance.

It is less a fantasy or science fiction work than a tribute to our potential as a species, seen through an Eastern lens that is not often considered in Robinson's English-speaking target audience.