Good, good books
Feb. 10th, 2006 01:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperOn which I expound on the one-two punch that was City of Pearl followed up by Ill Wind! Now when can I get back to a bookstore...? ;)
There ARE spoilers behind the cuts, folks, so don't peek if you don't want to know plot details on these books!
As previously mentioned, I really enjoyed reading City of Pearl. Most of the authors I read in SF/F are the F side of the genre, so whenever I come across a female SF writer it gives me an extra level of enjoyment. Julie Czerneda remains my SF powerhouse favorite, but I think Karen Traviss is now putting in a good strong bid for second place.
There were some small things I didn't quite like about the book, I'll admit--but they were fairly minor nitpicks. I'll get those out of the way first. The flow of time in the story was a little odd for me to follow sometimes; only a little after the fact, as I read through each chapter, did I start to grasp that the story was taking place across a span of months rather than days. This necessitated less focus on the development of the relationship between the primary characters than I really hoped for--and yet, that also meant a tradeoff of widening the scope out somewhat and making it broader and grander, so I'm ultimately okay with that. Also--I was vaguely distressed that there were pretty much no sympathetic characters among the scientists on the Thetis--that almost universally their only interest was to get data to get back to their employers, and none of them seemed to have their attitudes tempered by acceptance of the fact that they were visitors on an alien world inhabited by other sentient species. The only even remotely sympathetic scientist was the geologist, and he was almost a non-entity.
Nor did it really help that the most major human characters, Shan and Lin, consistently collectively referred to the scientists as "the payload". I realize that might be an accurate reflection of how military personnel on such a mission might be referring to their passengers, but just as a reader, I found it vaguely distressing. For a story where one of the big overall points is stressing understanding between the humans and the wess'har and the bezeri, understanding between the various contingents within the Thetis's own crew and passengers was surprisingly absent. I realize also that setting up the schism between Shan and the scientists was necessary to get her to where she needed to go, and I don't dispute the necessity of having the most vocal of the scientists (Rayat) going against her... but it would have been nice to see at least one noticeably sympathetic scientist who tried to support Shan and was perhaps shot down for his or her efforts.
Now, moving on to the stuff I really did like.
First and foremost... Aras was a fabulous character, and I loved the entire development of the relationship between him and Shan. I loved all the history leavened into his initial appearances, especially the hearkening back to his friendship with Ben Garrod, back when the human colony was first founded. I loved his reaction to Shan's being the first being in a very long time to touch him, knowingly and without reservation. And I loved how he wound up diving without reservation into having to share his c'naatat with her to keep her alive.
Second... I also really liked Shan as a character. Tough as nails in a way that reminded me of Ripley from Aliens; I could totally see Sigourney Weaver playing her. Refreshingly direct, not without her angst, but it's angst that she handles--which I really appreciate in a character these days.
Third... I liked all the little details of life on Bezer'ej that let the reader know that "why yes, you're on an alien world", things like a different level of gravity, a different rotational spin of the world, a longer day, a longer week. The alien wildlife. The differences between what Aras had set up in the human-compatible colony and the actual wilderness outside it.
Fourth... the various alien races. None of them too heavily sketched in (again, perhaps because of the broad scope of the story), but all of them sketched in enough to establish them firmly in the readers' minds. I liked how the bezeri communciated in color and light, how the wess'har are matriarchal and the males carry the offspring, how the isenj have built over their entire homeworld with buildings (a disturbing and cautionary detail for the humans, indeed).
Fifth... the setting up of emotional conflict, and then handling it in a clear-eyed and brisk kind of style. This came through beautifully with Lin's grieving fury at finding out that Shan might have saved her baby and chose not to. See previous comments re: appreciating a relative lack of angst. :)
And all the other little details as well... the colonists being religious and yet not obnoxiously so. Eddie turning out to be an interesting and sympathetic character. Ade being the most sympathetic of the Marines by far, and in another little hint of a reminder of Aliens, getting sweet on Shan and yet never having an opportunity to do anything about it. (Sniff. I still miss Hicks from Aliens and am still vaguely put out that they killed him off during the credits of the third movie!)
And oh my the ending: Shan beginning to change with her own c'naatat, and having to turn her back on her entire species. It'll be interesting to see how she manages to win a place among the wess'har and how her relationship with Aras will continue to evolve.
Very much looking forward to Crossing the Line, now!
Reading urban fantasies these days is a little odd to me because I have one of my own I want to sell. And with powerhouses like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mizkit, jimbutcher, rachelcaine, and Kim Harrison to contend with, it's rather daunting--because I keep having these flashes of "erk, I need to do mine better"! And yet. I read these books because I love this kind of genre so, and I'm hoping to learn something from how the pros are doing it these days. With examples like Ill Wind from which to learn, I'm full of hope that I can eventually beat my own story into shape. ;)
Reactions, in no particular order:
There ARE spoilers behind the cuts, folks, so don't peek if you don't want to know plot details on these books!
As previously mentioned, I really enjoyed reading City of Pearl. Most of the authors I read in SF/F are the F side of the genre, so whenever I come across a female SF writer it gives me an extra level of enjoyment. Julie Czerneda remains my SF powerhouse favorite, but I think Karen Traviss is now putting in a good strong bid for second place.
There were some small things I didn't quite like about the book, I'll admit--but they were fairly minor nitpicks. I'll get those out of the way first. The flow of time in the story was a little odd for me to follow sometimes; only a little after the fact, as I read through each chapter, did I start to grasp that the story was taking place across a span of months rather than days. This necessitated less focus on the development of the relationship between the primary characters than I really hoped for--and yet, that also meant a tradeoff of widening the scope out somewhat and making it broader and grander, so I'm ultimately okay with that. Also--I was vaguely distressed that there were pretty much no sympathetic characters among the scientists on the Thetis--that almost universally their only interest was to get data to get back to their employers, and none of them seemed to have their attitudes tempered by acceptance of the fact that they were visitors on an alien world inhabited by other sentient species. The only even remotely sympathetic scientist was the geologist, and he was almost a non-entity.
Nor did it really help that the most major human characters, Shan and Lin, consistently collectively referred to the scientists as "the payload". I realize that might be an accurate reflection of how military personnel on such a mission might be referring to their passengers, but just as a reader, I found it vaguely distressing. For a story where one of the big overall points is stressing understanding between the humans and the wess'har and the bezeri, understanding between the various contingents within the Thetis's own crew and passengers was surprisingly absent. I realize also that setting up the schism between Shan and the scientists was necessary to get her to where she needed to go, and I don't dispute the necessity of having the most vocal of the scientists (Rayat) going against her... but it would have been nice to see at least one noticeably sympathetic scientist who tried to support Shan and was perhaps shot down for his or her efforts.
Now, moving on to the stuff I really did like.
First and foremost... Aras was a fabulous character, and I loved the entire development of the relationship between him and Shan. I loved all the history leavened into his initial appearances, especially the hearkening back to his friendship with Ben Garrod, back when the human colony was first founded. I loved his reaction to Shan's being the first being in a very long time to touch him, knowingly and without reservation. And I loved how he wound up diving without reservation into having to share his c'naatat with her to keep her alive.
Second... I also really liked Shan as a character. Tough as nails in a way that reminded me of Ripley from Aliens; I could totally see Sigourney Weaver playing her. Refreshingly direct, not without her angst, but it's angst that she handles--which I really appreciate in a character these days.
Third... I liked all the little details of life on Bezer'ej that let the reader know that "why yes, you're on an alien world", things like a different level of gravity, a different rotational spin of the world, a longer day, a longer week. The alien wildlife. The differences between what Aras had set up in the human-compatible colony and the actual wilderness outside it.
Fourth... the various alien races. None of them too heavily sketched in (again, perhaps because of the broad scope of the story), but all of them sketched in enough to establish them firmly in the readers' minds. I liked how the bezeri communciated in color and light, how the wess'har are matriarchal and the males carry the offspring, how the isenj have built over their entire homeworld with buildings (a disturbing and cautionary detail for the humans, indeed).
Fifth... the setting up of emotional conflict, and then handling it in a clear-eyed and brisk kind of style. This came through beautifully with Lin's grieving fury at finding out that Shan might have saved her baby and chose not to. See previous comments re: appreciating a relative lack of angst. :)
And all the other little details as well... the colonists being religious and yet not obnoxiously so. Eddie turning out to be an interesting and sympathetic character. Ade being the most sympathetic of the Marines by far, and in another little hint of a reminder of Aliens, getting sweet on Shan and yet never having an opportunity to do anything about it. (Sniff. I still miss Hicks from Aliens and am still vaguely put out that they killed him off during the credits of the third movie!)
And oh my the ending: Shan beginning to change with her own c'naatat, and having to turn her back on her entire species. It'll be interesting to see how she manages to win a place among the wess'har and how her relationship with Aras will continue to evolve.
Very much looking forward to Crossing the Line, now!
Reading urban fantasies these days is a little odd to me because I have one of my own I want to sell. And with powerhouses like
mizkit, jimbutcher, rachelcaine, and Kim Harrison to contend with, it's rather daunting--because I keep having these flashes of "erk, I need to do mine better"! And yet. I read these books because I love this kind of genre so, and I'm hoping to learn something from how the pros are doing it these days. With examples like Ill Wind from which to learn, I'm full of hope that I can eventually beat my own story into shape. ;)Reactions, in no particular order:
- I am deeply amused that both this book and Urban Shaman have heroines named Joanne who groove on cars.
- The book throws you headlong into the setting with that sort of breathless "okay, we're running out of the gate now, KEEP UP" feeling to it. We not only are thrown right into the middle of the conflict embroiling our heroine Joanne, we are lobbed all the data we need about the setting and who the Wardens are and what's going on at a fast pace, with a minimum of exposition. Very, very good.
- I was vaguely disappointed that Lewis turned out to have less on-camera time than I wanted. Since he's the main other character mentioned in the back cover blurb and the initial chapters set him up as the only person who can save Joanne's bacon, I was expecting him to have more participation in the plot than he did--especially after the neat backstory scenes between Lewis and Jo that gave us glimpses of their past history. Especially that scene in the lab. WHUFF. And yet, he wound up being an almost peripheral character. After the buildup he got I felt vaguely let down--yet at the same time I kind of liked it as well, because I didn't expect the story to go in that direction, and I enjoyed being surprised.
- DAVID. Again I say, WHUFF. I totally didn't see what he really was coming, nor who he had once served. I should have, too! It made total sense, and I had a big ol' feeling of "well DUH" once that came out in the plot. It also helped make David's attachment to Jo make a lot more sense. Also? WOW, he was hot. :D
- I wonder if any other Lost fans besides me were mentally casting Star as the chick who plays Ana Lucia on the show. Heh. I also didn't see her part in the story coming--and again, I should have. So kudos to Rachel there as well for making that surprising and different.
- OH MY the ending. I didn't see that coming at ALL. Quite the slam-bang conclusion to the first book in a series--KILLING OFF THE HEROINE and then transforming her into something totally non-human. Wow. Well done.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-02-10 09:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-10 09:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-10 09:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-10 09:55 pm (UTC)