S.M. Stirling
Drakon (1996)
Reviewed: 2002-12-09

More than four centuries after the Final War, the Draka rule the Solar System. Speciation is complete, Homo sapiens has been replaced by Homo drakensis and Homo servus. When a wormhole experiment goes wrong, Gwendolyn Ingolfsson, a prime specimen of the Draka master race, is dropped into another universe with a different timeline. Our timeline. Our present time. After gaining her bearing, the Draka strives to create an interdimensional beacon that will allow her kind to break through and bring this world under the Domination. But if all else fails, she will also settle for personally ruling the planet. On her heels are an NYPD cop who follows the trail of dead bodies Ingolfsson leaves behind, and Kenneth Lafarge, an operative of the Alpha Centauri-based surviving human civilization from the Draka's universe.

What is evil?

Is there even such a thing as evil? I doubt that the mad villain who expounds his own wickedness exists outside movies and novels. Do you consider yourself an evil person? Nobody does. Pol Pot was a nice elderly man who wanted the best for his people. But it is quite possible that there are other folks who will call you evil, maybe in some limited context. When it happened to me it was a real eye opener. The term evil is applied reflexively to people who follow goals contrary to our own. Of course the latter is purely subjective. Calling somebody evil tries to elevate a basic us-versus-them opposition to moral objectiveness. The opponent is unfair, ruthless, cruel, vicious, immoral. For our own actions on the other hand, the end justifies the means. I mean we are the good guys after all, right?

The Draka want to subjugate all of Homo sapiens and transform us into the servus species of serfs. From our perspective, they are a loathsome and terrifying enemy, pure evil. The view from the Draka perspective is very different. These are no insanely giggling villains. There is no hate, and generally the Draka are no sadists. They are quite fond and even protective of their serfs, the same way we are of pets and cattle. The Draka are cooly rational. Feral humans are wild animals, dangerous and challenging, that need to be domesticated. The Draka are one of the most impressive inventions of the genre and they should give you cause to think.

If you like strong female characters, Gwendolyn Ingolfsson is enough to give even the most macho male the creeps. A drakensis among plain sapiens, she is like a leopard among a flock of sheep.

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