Weekly Reader: Song of All Songs: Earthcycles Book 1 by Donna Dechen Birdwell; Science Fiction Novel Has Beautiful Setting, Great Characterization, But Slow Moving Plot

 Weekly Reader: Song of All Songs: Earthcycles Book 1 by Donna Dechen Birdwell; Science Fiction Novel Has Beautiful Setting, Great Characterization, But Slow Moving Plot

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Song of All Songs by Donna Dechen Birdwell is a Science Fiction novel that has much to offer. It's set in a post Apocalyptic world but isn't focused on the gloom and doom. Instead it has a beautiful setting with a reverence to nature. It has brilliant characterization with protagonists who go through great struggles on their journeys. However, the plot meanders and there are long stretches where not a lot happens leaving the results of a book that visually is impressive to picture but verbally needs work.

The setting of Song of All Songs is not a unique one in Science Fiction. Post Apocalyptic Earths reduced to agrarian societies are nothing new. Since Mary Shelley's The Last Man, and even before that mythology and religious texts like The Epic of Gilgamesh, Ragnarok, The Mahabharata, The Ramayana and The Book of Revelation, have described in graphic details about a world devastated by war and environmental destruction with only a handful of courageous survivors  (if the world is lucky enough to have survivors.).

 One of my first experiences with the genre was reading Stephen Vincent Benet's 1937 short story,"By The Waters  of Babylon" in high school. Coming from a religious background and fully aware of the only recently ended Cold War, I was traumatized to the point of having nightmares reading in the story about the journey of John, son of the High Priest, to the Palace of the Gods by the Oudi-san River. When John gets there, he learns that the Palace of the Gods is the remnants of a decimated New York City after it had been destroyed by war. (Interesting fact about the story, since it was published in 1937, it predates public knowledge of atomic weaponry. However, Benet accurately described a world destroyed by such an event. He specifically mentioned a weapon causing much of the devastation. Some believe that Benet was referring to mustard gas, which affected much of the soldiers and civilians during WWI.)

The problem with books and stories in this genre is that if the events are set too far in the future or the world is left to complete ruins, the Reader not only is aware of it but is constantly on the lookout for signs. Reading the book almost becomes a code as they look for context and clues to interpret what the author is really referring to. For example when a character says that something is a magical portal and the Reader realizes that the character is looking at a computer or they are reading what they call a religious text and the author is describing a shopping list.  After a while, the Reader gets confused about discovering the clues of what the characters are referring to rather than what they are actually doing in the book. They lose sight of the setting and characters to search for the details for their intended meanings.

Birdwell doesn't make her version of the world after the end any easier to interpret. She provides no context clues to imply what she is really referring to or what the characters are really seeing or experiencing. The protagonist, Meridia Einkorn, is on a mission to find various stones that sing. She can also see pictures and colors in the stones. What does that mean? Are they actually smart phones and she can access videos? (If they are, what are the odds that they would still work after centuries of not being used?) Are they instruments, or other devices, like music boxes, that make music? Is it possible that in the absence of technology and other barriers between humanity and nature, have humans evolved to the point that Nature has given them intuitive abilities? Can Meridia really hear stones sing?

We also learn that her love interest Damon photographs photons but is lately interested in what he dubs biophotons in which he can see light around living things. He is often looking for what he calls snails to help with the photos. Are snails film or batteries? When Damon says that he takes photographs is he using a camera or is he painting them and using the word photo because he doesn't know the other word and snails are paint? Like Meridia has he received intuitive abilities because of his connections to nature?

There is one moment that is obvious. Meridia, Damon, and their allies go to a place with many "mirrors" and see pictures of the history of their world including its end. While the mirrors are not specifically identified, more than likely, they are televisions or computers. It's the one moment of clarity in a book that is somewhat dense and unwieldy in its descriptions.

In this situation, the Reader is left with two options: 1) Continue looking for clues or 2) Take everything at face value. Either way is valid and it depends on what you are looking for when reading a Science Fiction novel. If you are looking for a more concrete interpretation for meaning, this book should be avoided. But if you want a Science Fiction novel that is more poetic and metaphorical and you want to get lost in the more spiritual connections that the characters have to nature then this book is definitely on your list.

The setting is striking and it explores the characters' interaction with their environment beautifully. Merdidia's connections to the stones are explored rather well and the idea of hearing sounds and seeing colors in them is evocative. In fact, this world's life cycle is arranged in stones like passages of time like "Amber'' or "Mica." Whatever the stones are meant to represent, they are clearly important to these people and the stones are representative of the community and if Meridia finds them, she restores the soul of the communities.

While the setting is left to interpretation, Birdwell clearly cares about her characters. Nowhere is this more evident than in how she writes Meridia. In one graphic chapter, Meridia is raped by a member of her community who is also related to her by blood. This encounter leaves her pregnant and emotionally scarred.

 Recently, I reviewed another book (to avoid spoilers I won't give the name), in which a woman unwillingly has a baby by questionable means.  For lack of a better word, she had been violated. However, the book does not go into how this experience should at least have left her emotionally wounded. There is no anger or sadness over what happened without her consent. She gets all googly eyes at the prospect of a baby and becomes instantly maternal. Her assailants are forgiven and we are led to believe that the end justifies the means. It is a wish fulfillment and a dangerous one at that, as though saying as long as it ends with a baby, then the parent's well being doesn't matter.

Birdwell handles this subplot much better. Meridia is left reasonably traumatized by the rape. Even though her assailant was close to her before, she doesn't feel the same way for him. She is troubled by the memory and it leaves her scarred through the rest of the book. In fact,her kinsman is exiled from the rest of the community because of his actions. While Meridia is given the suggestion to abort the pregnancy, she decides to carry it to term leaving the choice solely up to her. This book handles sexual assault in a strong way showing how it can leave the survivor pained, frightened, and broken. 

However, this book shows another side to abuse survivors. Meridia is a very active character and potential leader to her community. She leads friends and family through various locations and shows tremendous strength in retrieving the stones. She also becomes empathetic towards other's pain. She is at first wary but accepts Damon into her life when he proves to be a better person than her exiled kinsman. She also befriends a woman whose father had been exiled previously and understands the conflicts concerning her parents. She is able to persevere despite the trauma that had been inflicted upon her.

Plot is not a strong point with Song of All Songs. There are various plots such as the search for stones, an impending war between two villages, and the conflicting words of two prophets. The majority of the book features characters moving from one location to another. This is less a plot driven book than it is a means to introduce the Reader to this post Apocalyptic setting and the characters that inhabit it.