Review: The Santara Commentaries, Book 1: The Padri
Military Sci-fi meets Wyvern Riders. Epic and Awesome.
Imagine the tactical military sci-fi of Jerry Pournelle, e.g. in Janissaries. Take that tactical mindset, put it in the mind of an amnesiac protagonist, and have him direct a motley crew of 17th-century soldiers including swordsmen, musketeers, cannon, wyvern cavalry, elemental magic blasters riding pegasi, and more, against an evil empire. Set this all in an alternate history version of the many islands of Indonesia.
Epic? Yes. Awesome? Yes. Wargame-nerd well-thought out strategies, tactics, and battles? Definitely in this book.
The Story
Our amnesiac protagonist, Yu, is rescued from brigands by two heroes: King Aron of the Sons of Yakob, and Drusus, his wyvern-riding vassal. After freeing him, Aron gives him his gun back, and Yu coordinates the three of them as they take on the remaining brigands.
Yu, having no memory of who he is, begs to join Aron, who, noticing his solid tactical mind, quickly makes him head tactician of his rebel army.
The year is 1621 on the Yakobian calendar. The Sons of Yakob under King Aron go through a series of battles, joining with many of the other factions of Santara, including the Paloean Sultanate, the Puncakians with their pegasus and wyvern mounted spellcasters, and the Sea Peoples. This alliance is called the Padri, and they fight to free Santara from its external rule by the Tionghoa, i.e. the Chinese Empire, which primarily uses musketeers and cannon.
The writing of the story is from Yu's perspective, who is obsessed with military tactics and strategy. We go scene by scene, battle by battle, throughout the Padri's war of independence, as he describes in great detail the strategies and tactics used, the precise disposition of different types of troops, and the results of each battle, interspersed with Yu's personal experiences and dialogue. There's plenty of characters, story, and personality, but there's also plenty of military strategy.
The Characters
‘Yu’—Yuanxi: Our amnesiac tactician, he is surprisingly humble and meek for one who coordinates multiple armies. Constantly analytical, he thinks not only about winning each battle, but also about the greater political situation of their alliance and the effects of the geography of Santara, a series of large islands, on their plans. I found it incredibly refreshing to get a story about an amnesiac who, contrary to the trope, makes no effort whatsoever to recover his old memories, does not obsess about his past in the least, and simply does the best he can.
‘Aron’—Aron bin Atreus Borremeo, King of Dun-a-din: Our central leader, he is noble, trusting, loyal, and religious. He is also a skilled swordsman who leads from the front.
‘Drusus’—Drusus bin Gaius Marius: Our wyvern-riding hero knight, he is skilled with the lance as well as the sword. His wyvern is used to charge into battle, not snipe from a distance. He is also the Despot of Leste, which exists as a vassal state to Dun-a-din.
‘Kochba’—Kochba bin Simon Hamshur, Sultan of Paloe: besides leading the Paloeans, who don't subscribe to Christian principles of mercy for obvious reasons, he is a ground-based magic blaster who shoots fire and ice.
‘Inferna’—Inferna boru Davit Corrolus, princess of Puncak: The older daughter of Puncak's Lord Protector; her father is not seen on-screen much. She is air-based fire blaster who rides a pegasus in combat, and has a traditional evil-sexy-space-princess attitude to her.
‘Paradisa’—Paradisa boru Davit Carrolus, princess of Puncak: The younger daughter, she is an air-based healer in combat, and has a traditional noble-loving-good-space-princess attitude to her.
‘Livia’—Livia Delapore: From the Black City. Our dark goth girl with dark magic who the narrator has a thing for.
Other than the narrator, our main characters are all, in their way, combat hero types. Combat-wise, we end up with a mix of hero-style combat in the vein of the Illiad with large-formation troop movements, a style of battle that would be familiar to players of RTS video games like Warcraft.
The World
We gradually are accommodated to the world through the series of battles and political alliances. Fundamentally, we see how epic a chain of large islands can be, fostering many different cultures and combat styles. Combat-wise, the various combat units are well-balanced in a way that doesn't make the side with magic auto-win. The Tionghoa's numerous musketeers and cannon can hit wyvern riders just fine, meaning airborne blasters are not a shoe-in win and wyvern cavalry have to pretty much be used like regular cavalry: for quick attacks and flanking maneuvers.
The alternate history world is just close enough to the real world to give background on the sides and setting, without our own history getting in the way. While the Sons of Yakob are clearly a stand-in for the Christians, this is never said explicitly, and only the Tionghoa closely match their counterparts in our own history.
Politics
The various factions in the book relate to various Indonesian factions in our history, but put their own political beefs aside to resist the Tionghoa. Political maneuvering is a significant theme in the book, but the factions are fantasy-level enough not to take much real-world political axe-grinding from it. The major scene relating to the politics of our day involves King Aron and the Dunadinians interrupting a ritual infanticide, which I suppose infanticide-supporters might take issue with, as the Puncakians do in the book. However, the Puncakians suspend their human sacrifices for the duration of the war so as not to offend their allies.
Content Warning
As commented above, an interrupted child sacrifice. Fortunately, interrupted, so no gore.
Who is it for?
Anyone who loves tactical military science fiction in the style of Jerry Pournelle. Anyone who loved the epic fantasy battles in Lord of the Rings, whether the books or the movies. Anyone who thinks Indonesia is an epic and awesome place. Players of strategy games like Warcraft, Age of Empires, or Starcraft, who enjoy well-balanced combat between fictional unit-types. Wargamers and armchair tacticians of all stripes.
Why buy it?
Epic adventure. Epic battles. Wyvern cavalry, musketeers, swordsmen, and magic blasters.
The Santara Commentaries, Book 1: The Padri by Michael P. Marpaung can be purchased from Amazon in eBook or paperback.