Blood and Iron (The Book of the Black Earth)

For me, there are times when a book crosses a line into territory I find unacceptable. If we go back to the days of Barsoom, Edgar Rice Burroughs had the white hero go to Mars and show the natives how superior Earthmen could be. That was a true reflection of both the racism and sexism of the time. We’re supposed to be better than that in the new century. These are the days of equality.

Except when books like this come along, you might just as well have traveled one-hundred years into the past. In this fantasy, a “European” man sets off in one of the many ships for the latest Crusade. His ship is wrecked and he’s washed up on the shores of this land where magic works. Children are tested and those with the right ability are trained. The best become rulers in the land. So shortly after he lands our hero not only shows himself as having nobility of spirit, he also discovers he’s able to manipulate the magic, achieving results not seen for two-hundred years. When “Europeans” go forth into the land of the savages, they are inherently better people and inevitably superior in everything they try to do.