David Brin's 'The Life Eaters' (spoilers)

[Sidewinder]

The local library had a copy of David Brin's graphic novel 'The Life Eaters'. I read a few pages of it, got tired of Brin's ham-fisted preaching, and skipped to the end. Overall, I am NOT impressed by his work.

To spare the other board members the torture of actually reading the fucking thing, here's the plot:

The mass murders the Nazis committed, turned out to be a form of necromancy (torture and death fuel the spells), and the Aesir appear and lead the Nazis to victory in WWII. In 1945, the ever-rebellious Loki rescues two million people from the Nazis' concentration camps, and then defects to the Allied side; the rescued Jews (improbably) unite with the Arabs, Iranians, and refugees from Vatican City to form a single nation.

In the 60s, Loki joins an Allied serviceman (American?) goes on a mission to nuke Asgard; when the mission goes sour, Loki gives the serviceman superpowers before escaping. The serviceman beats up some Nazis before Thor breaks the would-be superhero's leg.

The war continues into the 70s; by then, the carnage has brought forth gods from tropical regions, who try to kill the Aesir by ordering their followers to set oil fields on fire so global warming will make Earth uninhabitable for the Aesir. By then, the serviceman now serves the Nazis as the superhero "Weatherman" (a lame name, especially when the guy's powers have NOTHING to do with the weather) and the Nazis' enemies as a double agent; when his cover is blown, he goes to the Jewish-Arab-Iranian-Catholic nation of harmony (Ha!) and gets a sword that's blessed by a rabbi, an ayatollah, and a Catholic priest.

Meanwhile, Loki reappears to say Earth is doomed, and that his chosen people must climb up Yggdrasil to survive Ragnarok. The Weatherman and two survivors of the Nazi raid on the Allied base go to Yggdrasil, bringing the sword with them; the plan is to plunge the sword into a pool underneath Yggdrasil, which will take away the powers of all the gods (apparently killing them in the process) and give these powers to the guy with the sword. A brave soldier does the deed, becomes God, and then the Weatherman and a female scientist convince him to give up the gods' powers and become a man again.

Basically, Brin is aping Gene Roddenberry's "Man fights God" spiel, but with NOTHING close to the quality of an average 'Star Trek' episode. He seems to be utterly ignorant of human nature (if you became a god, would you give up immortality and the power of God to become a mortal human again?), and whatever moral the story is meant to have, is nearly invisible beneath the bullshit story.

Has anyone else read 'The Life Eaters'? What is your opinion of Brin's "Captain America+The Mighty Thor-All Entertainment Value" story? (Note: 'The Life Eaters' is based on Brin's novella 'Thor Meets Captain America', available on his website, but Captain America isn't even mentioned outside of the title.)

[Tsyroc]

I've read it but it's been quite awhile since I did so. I still have the book though.

I remember enjoying some of it but in general being kind of disappointed.

Some of the premise was decent but giving the Aesir a weekness to warm weather was kind of lame given all the other stuff they'd been able to dish out and take. It's like Brin was trying to shoehorn his "cool idea" for why there were different gods worshipped in different locations on the Earth. He should have left that part out of this story.



I think part of the reason I bought this book at the time is because I'd always kind of liked Marvel's Invaders and Thor was going through his whole Lord of Asgard, taking over the world bit at the time. So I kind of jumped on buying this when I hadn't read anything by Brin other than a few essays/rants.

[mr friendly guy]

It sounded interesting until sidewinder mentioned the "Jewish-Arab-Iranian-Catholic nation of harmony" and that magic sword which became a deus ex machina.

[Tsyroc]

That's really the problem. The premise sounds interesting but it never quite works out as well as I imagined it could.

[weemadando]

Charles Stross did this WAY better in "The Atrocity Archives".

[Sidewinder]

It sounded interesting until sidewinder mentioned the "Jewish-Arab-Iranian-Catholic nation of harmony" and that magic sword which became a deus ex machina.

Worse, while the religious leaders of the Abrahamic religions bless the sword, they preach about how their predecessors were wise to ban the practice of human sacrifice, when the Old Testament has MULTIPLE examples of Yahweh/God/Allah ordering his followers to commit mass murder against nonbelievers, a de facto form of human sacrifice. Seriously, Brin goes on and on about how it's wrong to believe in gods (he hints the ones in 'The Life Eaters' were CREATED by the Nazis' Holocaust-fueled necromancy, and assumed the identities of the Aesir & Co., when they didn't even exist before WWII), yet he specifically spares Yahweh/God/Allah from his rack and iron maiden?

[Battlehymn Republic]

In the original story there was just an Iran-Israel state populated by refugees fleeing from the concentration camps. I'm disappointed they took it farther than that in the comic.

[mr friendly guy]

Also why would the Nazi's welcome Norse Gods when Germans were predominantly Christian. I could suspend disbelief and just go along with it if the story was well told (if that was the only thing).

Hey, how about a story where Nazi sacrifices create Yahweh who goes into Old Testament mode. God creates floods and earthquakes, while allied iron chariots manage to hold off God's host of angels.

We find allied forces reluctant to use nukes as that somhow seems to make God more powerful. Lucifer defects and explains that God's strength stems from suffering and the unthinking masses, thus the suffering from war and devastation wrought from nukes just feed him. The war drags on into the 1960's.

The axis weakens when an outbreak of an evolved version of yersinia pestis starts a pandemic in Germany. Since Yahweh says evolution isn't real they have no idea how it could develop resistance to blessings used by Catholic priests to treat illnesses, having ursurped the role of doctors. Since the axis never developed penicillin the pandemic is devastating. OH, and Nazi scientists who suggests using antibiotics and using several different types to counteract resistance are promptly killed by the Church for their blasphemy.

At this point Yahweh's power weakens. Amazing as it sounds, without blubbering fools supporting it, religion actually weakens.

Finally Lucifer lures Yahweh into an iron room which turns out to a rocket and is launched comic book style into space. Without the belief of his followers sustaining him, Yahweh falls into a coma. American astronauts promptly bury him on the moon so no believers could regenerate him from the strength of their belief.

Slowly God's host weaknes allowing allied airpower with jet engines to take control of the skies and eventually bomb the Nazi's into submission. The Pope and various German officials are trialed by their allies for their parts in the holocaust and executed.

Hey, was that preachy enough? In any event, my take had a more accurate potrayal of Christian doctrine than what Sidewinder described in a previous post.

[Ted C]

Also why would the Nazi's welcome Norse Gods when Germans were predominantly Christian. I could suspend disbelief and just go along with it if the story was well told (if that was the only thing).

Claims that the Nazis were pagan cultists seem to have a thread of truth down beneath all the "they were anti-Christian" BS that Christians try to use to distance themselves from the Nazis. Apparently some Nazis wanted to Aryan-ize Christianity by linking in some Teutonic mythological elements. I don't know if Hitler had any personal involvement in that movement, though.

[Molyneux]

(if you became a god, would you give up immortality and the power of God to become a mortal human again?)

Depends on what the catch is. If "with great power comes great insanity", probably. Otherwise, probably not.

[andrewgpaul]

Sidewinder's synopsis sounds a bit shite, really, and the cover art's a bit boring. On the other hand, I really liked Thor meets Captain America. It sort of reminded me of Charles Stross' A Colder War.

[Pelranius]

I could imagine a joint Jewish Muslim Catholic alliance, if not for the intrareligion squabbles of each faith, which would probably doom the effort from the beginning.

[Tsyroc]

Sidewinder's synopsis sounds a bit shite, really, and the cover art's a bit boring. On the other hand, I really liked Thor meets Captain America. It sort of reminded me of Charles Stross' A Colder War.

Thor Meets Captain America is actually a part of the Life Eaters. I'm guessing that the Life Eaters is Brin fleshing out the story since he'd apparently been getting requests to do so for a long time.

[Rye]

That sounds like a really cool idea at the beginning, but as the description goes on, it sounds like it totally ignores human nature and the actual cultures involved in WW2. I don't know why the arab nations wouldn't ally with the nazis again if they were even more clearly winning.

Ted C you're probably remembering the Thule society, who certainly did believe in a load of mixed neo-norse/christian stuff and sponsored the party that would become the nazi party, but Hitler wasn't a member of said society and like similar cults he persecuted them and found them subversive.

There were neo-norse elements amongst the nazis, but Catholics were the vast majority and neo-norse kookery never had anywhere near as much influence as rabid nationalism and the traditional Christian views on who were the untermenschen of society.

[weemadando]

Sidewinder's synopsis sounds a bit shite, really, and the cover art's a bit boring. On the other hand, I really liked Thor meets Captain America. It sort of reminded me of Charles Stross' A Colder War.

Haven't read "A Colder War", but the whole thing in the OP, as previously mentioned smacks of "The Atrocity Archives".

[Sidewinder]

Thor Meets Captain America is actually a part of the Life Eaters. I'm guessing that the Life Eaters is Brin fleshing out the story since he'd apparently been getting requests to do so for a long time.

I just finished 'Thor Meets Someone Who Never Appears In the Fucking Story', and I say the only people who'd WANT to finish that wretched thing are hard core masochists, the kind who enjoy being kicked in the groin repeatedly. Brin obviously does NOT understand comic book fans, to whom the contradictory messages of "Gods are evil! They feed off of our suffering! Don't believe in them!" and "God (the Christian one) is good because He doesn't demand human sacrifice (despite Him repeatedly ordering his followers to commit mass murder in the Old Testament)," and the fucking cliche "Man is not meant to be a god," makes 'The Mighty Thor' and 'Captain America' look like Shakespeare.

[Gullible Jones]

I read Thor Meets Captain America, and thought it was... well, decent. But frankly, Brin ought to stick to space opera.

[andrewgpaul]

After the first paragraph, I wasn't expectin Captain America to turn up. By the end, it's obvious that it's a reference to the narrator, who's story will, as he points out, leak out and show America how to win. It implies he'll become as much of a legend for defying the Aesir as they were themselves. How this plays out in the graphic novel I have no idea. Did I miss something? Were the comic book characters ever supposed to have something do do with this story, or are they just a cultural hook to hang a title on?

weemadando, click t'link and you can read it at your leisure.

Sidewinder, I assure you I don't like groin-kicking. Maybe I missed something in the novella. I don't remember any references to God, other than one soldier saying "Jesus!".

[Tsyroc]

Just a cultural hook to hang the title on.

[Tsyroc]

This scene comes fairly early in the book but those of you who read the short story this should seem very familiar.






I guess he kind of looks like Captain America.

[Gullible Jones]

Oy... something about that illustration just looks plain ugly. I'm not sure if it's the coloring, or the faces being kind of off...

[andrewgpaul]

Tsyroc, I went back and read the second page of the short story again. I agree with your comment; "Captain America" does feature in the story, albeit in the person of Chris Turing.

[Ryushikaze]

This scene comes fairly early in the book but those of you who read the short story this should seem very familiar.

It does. Ironically, it reminds me of ROTJ, specifically Vader tossing Palpy into the pit.

Though turning to someone whose spear has just shattered your hands and legs (granted, by your own doing) and telling them you don't believe in them just doesn't have any real kick.

[Sidewinder]

Did I miss something? Were the comic book characters ever supposed to have something do do with this story, or are they just a cultural hook to hang a title on?

If you put the name of a character in the title of a story, that character better be the subject of that story, unless you're writing a satire like 'Waiting for Godot'. If you write a story titled 'Superman Versus Hitler' and neglect to put Superman in the story, you suck ass as a writer.

Sidewinder, I assure you I don't like groin-kicking. Maybe I missed something in the novella. I don't remember any references to God, other than one soldier saying "Jesus!".

I was referring to what happened in the graphic novel, i.e., the "sequel" to Brin's novella.

[Battlehymn Republic]

He was a metaphor for Captain America.