Wardini book review: Turncoat by Tihema Baker

Turncoat – Tīhema Baker (Lawrence and Gibson, $35).

Turncoat – Tīhema Baker (Lawrence and Gibson, $35).

Reviewed by Louise Ward, Wardini Books.

Set somewhere around 2507AD in a world that has been colonised by an alien race, a young human strives to make Earth a better place for his people.

Daniel is 21 revolutions old and has ascended to Rank 1 after three revolutions of training. He returns home to Earth to his home city of Wellington, noting how shabby it is in comparison to his surrounds while studying on the planet of Kappeetar. His mother is human, leader of New Zealand, his father alien, an allowance officer.

Arriving at the terminus in Wellington, Daniel spots an old friend and fellow human, Hayden, and is shocked at his down-at-heel appearance and the fact he is in some sort of conflict with one of the terminus’ vendors, who is threatening to call the Keepers.

Daniel extricates Hayden from the situation and they go for a quick catch-up. This meeting is pivotal in Daniel’s decision to join the world’s governing body, the Hierarch, in order to effect change for humans from within. Daniel is recruited into the Chamber of Covenant Resolutions, determined to force the Hierarch to honour the Covenant of Wellington.

This is, of course, an allegory for the colonisation of Aotearoa. Daniel hails from a human/alien partnership, and the differences between his parents’ physical features and cultures are made apparent from the start.

Humans are demonstrative, affectionate, aliens much more formal. Daniel’s name is mispronounced by his alien colleagues, (Denial, Dan-yell). He is appalled at the number of aliens who think humans are exploiting the Covenant for their own gain, even though prison and poverty statistics refute this. Daniel is not always identified as human as he presents as “coated”, an inheritance from his alien father.

The novel is sly and smart, and incredibly funny. Humans in the Clan Lounge still sing the ancient classics: Rhapsody of Bohemia, Never Gonna Give You Up and the one about “an ancient vehicle component known as a wagon wheel”.

Language, customs, health, child rearing – all the consequences facing a colonised culture living under a misinterpreted or ignored treaty are explained through Daniel’s experience, cleverly translating the issues facing Māori into a wider context to make it absolutely clear that the question being asked of Pākehā is: What if it were you?

Turncoat is an exceptional book, asking its readers to consider the opportunities that truly honouring a covenant/treaty can present. It is beautifully plotted and original, comedic while deadly serious, and excitingly genre defying. It’s a speculative science-fiction satire allegory, an Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlister, and an eminently readable and thoroughly entertaining read.