Song of Kali
By Dan Simmons

This was not a very comfortable book to read at times. I enjoyed it, if that term is appropriate, and looked forward to sitting down and reading but it is not for the faint of heart. In fact, it was a little stomach churning in a few places! Labelled part of a "Fantasy Masterworks" series (Gollancz), it could be classified as "horror" perhaps, if one wanted to classify at all. In addition, it is unclear if there is any actual "supernatural" element here. A feeling of dread pervades the narrative.

This is a dark, bleak and unsettling story about an American writer who travels to Calcutta with his wife and baby daughter, with the aim of getting hold of a manuscript from a poet long thought to have been dead. The poet, M. Das, disappeared years previously but seems to have re-surfaced with a new work of a quite different nature. The American wants to collect the new work for publication in the USA and also meet Das but he is elusive. On finally reading this manuscript, it may not be something the world should see.

The city is a major character in Simmons' tale and can be a grim backdrop. This is not an India the Ministry of Tourism will like (although the book is set decades ago now).

Left: A depiction of Kali from wikipedia.

As Wikipedia says, she is the "embodiment of the grim worldly realities of blood, death and destruction". She is also the Goddess of cremation grounds. In Simmons' novel, she is all of these things.

There are many horrific elements to this novel but it is well written and fast paced. You continue to read but know things are probably not going to end well, at least for some. I loved a re-read of the Hyperion books last year and I am glad to have a few more of his novels on my shelf waiting for a read (or indeed a re-read).