Kirinyaga is a series of short stories based around one central character, Koriba, a Kikuyu mundumugu (holy man). The year is 2123 and Koriba is about to take the first step towards Utopia. For years he has dreamed of recreating the perfect Kikuyu homeworld on a new planet, Kirinyaga. He, and the others who travel with him, will observe the traditional Kikuyu practices. They will shun all "European" influences and live as their ancestors had, simply, off the land.

After a while cracks start to appear in this perfect existence and Koriba finds himself fighting to maintain the semblance of Utopia.

In Kiriyaga Mike Resnick weaves a detailed tale of the collapse of a dream. As the stories progress the cracks widen and you see the lengths that Koriba is willing to go to in order to maintain the status quo. All the characters are beautifully described, as is usually the case in a Mike Resnick book. By about half way through I found myself getting very irritated with the main character. I wanted to get hold of him, give him a good slapping and tell him to see some sense before he lost everything!

Having previously read, and thoroughly enjoyed, Ivory I was delighted to get another story with an African theme. It is very obvious that the author has a great love of Africa. The world and people are described with a gentle respect that draws you right into the centre of things rather than leaving you as a mere spectator.

Another superb book by Mike Resnick.

Mike Resnick has a writing style that I find a delight. Like my favourite of all authors (Asimov) he tells a story without the telling of it distracting you from the story. I have read too many stories where the writer is trying to be clever with his choice of words, but this is clean and uncluttered.

The story is presented in an episodic manner as a series of short stories that tell of incidents in the history of the planet, Kirinyaga, settled by members of Africa's Kikuyu tribe who left Earth to regain their traditional way of life. It is told from the perspective of their mundumugu (or witch doctor). In these tales we see how he is attempting to recreate the culture of the past, abandoning all the corrupting influences of outside peoples and technologies and how, isolated though these people may be, these influences still affect them.

Resnick's characterisations are wonderfully rich, you really feel the emotions and desires these people have. You want them to succeed and you feel for them when things don't go exactly as planned. The author admits a love of Africa and the cultures of the continent, and here he uses his knowledge to chronicle a future history in a deeply involving manner.

Resnick is a writer of considerable ability and has a very impressive catalogue of books and stories, but this is one of his very best. Buy a copy, read it, I don't think you would be going wrong!