The God Engines

“It is time to whip a God,” John Scalzi wrote in this Hugo Award-nominated novella, The God Engines. The God Engines, is a lot of things. Dark and cruel, fantasy, horror, and religion all blended in a twisted story of power from a writer customarily known for his charm and humor. But this, this is Scalzi out of his usual comfort zone. There is no charm or humor in this story. This is him reaching into the darker parts of his storytelling ability and bringing forth the cruel and worm filled and serving it on a silver platter.

“Captain Ean Tephe entered the god chamber, small lacquered, filigreed chest in hand. He found blood on the deck, an acolyte spurting one and lying shivering on the other, and a god prostrate in its iron circle, its chains shortened in the circle floor...The God giggled into the iron its mouth was mashed into and flicked its tongue over red lips.”

There is one true God in this land. One God, above all others. He is attended to by the Bishopry, much like a church of believers. This God is nameless, and all the other gods must be defiled and abased below him. So much so that their abasement, and suffering, power the Bishopry ships. The ships are fueled by faith. Because above all things, religion and belief are what give a God the highest power. Ean Tephe is the captain of the Righteous, one of the Bishopry's ships. His job is to control the God powering his ship and cower him.

“Tephe took the whip from the case, stood, and lashed hard into the God, the slivers of iron tearing into its flesh. The God screamed and kicked as far as its chain would allow. Godblood seeped from the gash.”

But Gods are growing bold, fleet-wide. They are attacking and lashing out at their captors and are not cowering in fear as they once did. Tephe is summoned to the council and told of the true God's plan on obtaining more faith. Faith can be found in the fires of a fresh convert.

You can see where the story is going.

Scalzi has crafted a story here that integrates faith and what religion is and how it is interpreted. Who is a god? Is a god one who has more power than another? Are humans Gods to ants? If you are looking at a deity, and consequently whipping them, what is faith then? It is an exciting thought. Maybe the “gods” are not gods, but other extraterrestrial beings, and this is a war for power, with humans as pawns. Scalzi touches on many of these in this tight novella. The plot moves at a brisk pace and keeps the reader engaged. I would have loved for this to have been written as a full novel, as backstory and dialog could be explored more. But as at stands, this is quite an engaging read. Well worth the nomination it received. It goes to show you that Scalzi is not a one-trick pony. He can write both the dark and light of fantasy.

This is a good novella that contains an interesting universe. The brevity of the story means that it leaves a lot of questions unanswered, however this just whets the appetite for a longer novel. I am not sure if there is meant to be a message in the story, other than maybe raising questions about blind observance of a religious doctorine. Having said that, this is not a Religious book although it makes good use of a religious themes; neither atheists or believers have anything to fear here.

An interesting companion read for this might be Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, which touches on (vaguely) similar themes, although from a far more humorous point of view.

It's funny that a short story can offer things that full novels can't due to the shorter time frame. This one is no exception and Scalzi's writing is as engrossing as ever as he tells us about a future space-traveling theocracy that worships a god who has conquered and trapped other gods to be used as the engine (and other duties) of his fleet of ships. There's an interesting slant to the book: it feels as if Scalzi accepts that there is/are a god/gods, but can't stand the idea of religion because what it makes us do, but maybe that's not the case—so lower your pitchforks. Overall a fun read and worth the short time it takes to read it.