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Book Review: "The Settlers Of Catan"

Molinaa Mehta |
November 17, 2011 | 9:40 p.m. PST

Staff Reporter

Gable brings the board game to life by giving it a backstory (Amazoncrossing via Facebook).
Gable brings the board game to life by giving it a backstory (Amazoncrossing via Facebook).
You played the popular board game, now lo and behold there is a novel that tells you who the settlers of Catan really were. Penned from the plot ideas of game creator, Klaus Teuber, author Rebecca Gable’s novel is a quest: an adventurous journey, a spiritual quest and the quest for love.

The book follows the lives of the people of Elasund, a small coastal village that is raided by neighbors where food stores are pillaged, women and children are stolen and livestock is killed. Forced to survive the harsh winter without supplies in a barren land, the Elasunders decide to seek out the mythical island of Catan and settle there. Led by two best friends Candamir and Osmund, they set out on a perilous voyage in search of Catan with no knowledge of its location. Finally, with no water or food supplies and no hope of survival, they are washed ashore Catan by a violent storm. Soon, the Elasunders begin exploring the island and select a site to build their settlement. As they go about establishing their society, conflict arises – should they adhere to old customs and traditions in a new land?

In an interview between author Rebecca Gable and Klaus Teuber, Gable stated that she wished to emphasize in her novel “how very special Catan is” and show what a “mythical and wonderful” place it is. And that is precisely what she does in this 600-page novel. The size of the novel may seem daunting but don’t let that intimidate you. Most of its pages contain elaborate descriptions of the physical beauty of Catan along with an in depth description of the community created by the settlers. Gable’s knowledge as a historical fiction author is evident through her portrayal of the lifestyle of the people with vivid details about everything from their religious beliefs to the tools they used and the type of ships they sailed in. At times, this can get frustrating for the impatient reader but such a style of descriptive narration serves to achieve her goal of showing what a perfect island Catan is.

Gable assigns every character a set role in the community and this is used to bring about conflict in the plot. Again, her descriptive style of writing gives the main characters dimensional depth. Candamir, the protagonist, is a courageous young man whose experiences of being responsible for his family and facing the horrors of the voyage to Catan as well as the behavior of the people around him makes him question the pagan law. His Christian slave, referred to as the Saxon or Austin, is the voice of reason in the novel, bent on spreading the Christian faith and freeing the settlers from their barbaric pagan customs. Osmund, Candamir’s best friend, is a true believer of the pagan law and is in love with Siglind, whom Candamir also fancies. Thus, several conflicts arise with the questions of what customs to follow, which spiritual path to believe in and whether to choose love or friendship.

The best aspect of the story is the characters’ relationship with each other. Regardless of the conflict between them, Gable shows them as people who look out for each other even if it means some sacrifice on their part. Hence, Gable’s main strength is her ability to write in a way that creates conflict in the novel and at the same time brings out the goodness and unity among all the characters, thus making the story more realistic and in sync with a time period where people were rigid about laws for kindness and goodness laid down by their gods.

As much as the book makes good historical fiction come to life through the imagery in the writing, its most disappointing aspect is the lack of connectivity between the board game and the story. Whereas the board game starts with the settlers building their settlements and roads in Catan, one quarter of the book is dedicated to their life in Elasund, something that Gable could have covered in a few pages. The author also indirectly reveals that she probably hasn’t played the game as she shows a shortage of sheep in the novel whereas anyone who has played Settlers of Catan knows that there are always too many sheep. Furthermore, building roads is an integral part of the game and Gable fails to include this anywhere in the novel. This lack of correlation undermines Klaus Teuber’s main purpose of novelizing the game: to give Settlers of Catan a story that people can relate to while playing the game.

Despite some of its drawbacks, "The Settlers of Catan" is definitely a one-time read novel as its simple and clear language along with relevant description of the history of the people of Catan would be appealing to those who like the historical fiction genre and those who enjoy playing the game. 

 

Reach reporter Molinaa Mehta here.

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