Book Review: Sos the Rope

Book Review: 'Sos the Rope' by Piers Anthony

5 / 5 Stars

'Sos the Rope' first appeared as a serial in the Summer of 1968 in the digest The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. This Pyramid Books paperback edition (157 pp.) was published in October, 1968, and features cover art by Jack Gaughan.

'Sos' is the first volume in the so-called 'Battle Circle' trilogy. The next volume in the series, 'Var the Stick', was published in 1972. My review is here. The third volume, 'Neq the Sword', was published in 1975. 

The first omnibus edition of Battle Circle was published by Avon Books in 1978, and features cover art of Sos by the UK artist Patrick Woodroffe:

'Sos' is set one thousand years after World War Three (referred to as 'the Blast') has devastated civilization. Nomadic tribes, enjoying a Bronze Age level of technology, wander what was the United States. A network of  technocrats, known as Crazies, maintain small settlements where nomads can, if they so desire, receive schooling, and take positions in maintaining the automated hostels that provide food, shelter, and clothing to the nomads.

The eponymous character is a sturdy young man who seeks status, and access to females, by engaging in combat in the battle circles that are scattered around the landscape. These have been established by the Crazies as a means of settling disputes through ritualized combat.

While he is dedicated to life as a nomad, Sos is considerably brighter than most of his peers, who are content to devote their earthly days to wandering, fighting, eating, copulating, and relieving themselves. Sos perceives that all is not quite what it seems, in terms of the maintenance of the post-apocalyptic society in which he is a participant. 

When Sos meets a talented warrior named Sol, the two form an alliance, one that seeks to fashion the nomad tribes into a nascent 'empire'. However, the alliance is complicated by the clandestine romance between Sos and Sol's wife, an alluring woman named Sola. 

When emotions come to a head, Sos find himself set upon a different path, one that will reveal to him the machinations underlying the world of the nomads and the Crazies.........and leave him as the deciding factor in whether that arrangement continues.........

By the standards of its time, 'Sos' was a five-star novel and it holds up very well today, more than 50 years after publication. The book's short length means the narrative has little room for digressions, the plot stays focused, characterizations are concise, and the portrayal of the postapocalyptic society of the battle circle provided in an economical, but adequate, manner.

It's interesting to compare 'Sos' with another of Piers Anthony's novels from 1968, 'Omnivore'. I found Omnivore to be an utter dud: turgid, self-indulgent, boring. It's hard to believe one author could produce two such different novels. My recommendation ? Skip Anthony's 'Of Man and Manta' novels, of which Omnivore is the first installment, and stick with the Battle Circle trilogy.