S. P. Somtow, Homeworld of the Heart (Diplodocus Press 2020)
Sajittang is a village with a starport at the opposite end of the galaxy from Uran s’Varek, where pilgrims would sometimes come to see the whisperlyre. One day came a visitor who was more important than all the others.
The old man, Tash Toléon, Rememberer of the tomb of Shen Sajit, welcomes Hokh’Ton Elloran, the Inquestor, who was once Sajit’s lover. The story evolves as the Rememberer tells the Inquestor the story of Sajit, whose songs are loved throughout the worlds since the Dispersal.
He tells the Inquestor about meúr, the concept that the thread of time is spun a multitude of times. Thus, there were more than one Sajits.
Growing up on Attembris, a stranger gives the young Sajit a gift—a songcube. As he grows he finds he has a gift—he can create songs. He and his family are moved to Nevéqilas, where he will receive training with Arbát. Around their breakfast circle are four storage benches, one of them locked. He knocks on it, and something knocks back.
He learns his parents’ secret—they have a doppling kit; they are making another Sajit, which is harám. He names the boy Tijas. Tijas stands in for Sijat, and they take turns inside the box. It seems he has the same gift. He loves the lessons with Arbát and learns Arbát’s secret.
Both boys come before prince Oritec. Their planet is destined to fall beyond. A new pleasure city is built, populated by citizens who had been frozen in skins of stasis. The dopplings search for a certain woman cloaked in shadow, a sacred whore of Aërat. The child collectors are coming, and Sajit has to fight for those he loves.
Beautiful sci-fi. Not my favourite genre, but I had been impressed by one of this author’s historical fiction novels.
It doesn’t get so caught up in the high-tech futurism that it forgets to be beautiful literature. The world-building is a bit tricky getting one’s head around at first—I really wanted a glossary, and I wished there would be no more than 3 strange words or unknown technology to a paragraph—but it’s gradual enough that one is not overwhelmed with questions, and artful enough that it’s not info-dump. I love the description of Sajit’s music—407 divisions in an octave, each with a colour as well as a tone.
Each chapter begins with an excerpt in Highspeech, script and all, from one of the songs of Sajit.
Book 5 in the Inquestor Series, with evocative B/W drawings by Mikey Jiraros
Susie Helme 
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