Veena, as pictured on the cover. Can you spot the flaw on the cover? If you read either this novel or Gideon Ira, it should be obvious.
At long last, friend of the blog Adam Lane Smith has released a new entry in his Deus Vult Wastelanders series. This novel is Valkyrie Doll and the Ashen Brotherhood, a story about VE3-N4 or “Veena,” an android who believes in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ but does not have a soul herself, and whose programming compels her to protect humanity and fight the demonic forces of evil in the hellish ruins of what was once America.
But I’m not here to summarize the story, but to gush about its protagonist, Veena. There will be no spoilers.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I read an advance copy sent to me by the author.
One thing that struck me about Veena was how humanlike she felt. At first, I thought that the author was just being lazy — calling her an “android” but making her human in all but name by giving her emotions and the ability to feel physical sensations. However, as I read on, I saw that having humanlike qualities was the entire point of her character, as she feels like she is in humanity, but not of it.
On top of that, Veena witnesses the dark side of humanity, but where a lesser writer would have her conclude that “humanity is the real monster” or some other nonsense, she explicitly rejects that interpretation when a villain brings it up:
The older man laughed. He turned to David. “Where did you find this one? A beautiful face with no substance beneath. Ah, perfection.” He turned back to Veena and favored of her with a gracious smile. “You will be one of my birds, darling. One of the beautiful creatures with remarkable plumage which flit about my palace chirping merry songs and… performing enthusiastic displays.”
When Veena finally understood, her lips curled in disgust. “Are all the men of this city so rapacious, so leering?”
King Rathgan chuckled. “It is the way of men, my dear.”
“It is the way of some men,” Veena corrected him. “I am fortunate to have met men of God before coming to this pit of atrocities. None of them behaved as the swine of Garduk.” She gestured at David and Thomas. “These men serve God, but you only serve your own demented pleasure. You wretched jackals. You feed on each other in wanton gluttony, and when you are confronted with the brutality of your deeds, you grin and bare your wolfish fangs as you rationalize that ‘All men do the same.’ But men of God do not act with such depravity, only vermin such as yourself, and you shall not have your way today.”
And that, I think, is the strength of this character. Veena, rather than using her android nature to make some point about how messed-up and irredeemable human beings are, instead uses the unique gifts of her condition to defend humanity and set it on the right path — that path being the path of Jesus Christ.
I think that a lot of the dreariness of current fiction offerings comes from two poisonous ideas: “humanity has no special place in the universe” and “humanity as a whole sucks, so they do not deserve nice things.” Every seemingly functional society must be a dystopia. Every hero must be morally compromised. If tragedy befalls humanity, it was deserved; it is the height of arrogance and hubris to say otherwise.
I’m happy to see a character — and a novel — that slashes that idea up into tiny little pieces.
Get your copy of Valkyrie Doll today.
