Migration, by Julie Czerneda
May. 7th, 2006 11:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperIf you've been following my journal for a while, you probably know that Julie Czerneda is one of my very favorite SF authors. Her latest paperback, Survival, is #2 in the Species Imperative Series. Mostly worthwhile effort--but you'll want to read the first one, Migration, to be clear on what's going on herein.
The Species Imperative series continues to be a solid example of what Czerneda does best--create vivid and memorable alien species. The two major alien characters in Migration weren't quite as cool as Brymn in Survival, but they definitely had their moments. I really liked Fourteen in particular, and how he developed through the course of this installment of the ongoing story. I also liked the lead alien character at the conference Mac attends--since she is a collective consciousness, and written very well.
Slightly disappointingly, however, the human characters this time around don't quite match up to the alien ones. Our hero Mac mostly alternates between angsting over the capture of her best friend Emily by the Ro and angsting over her budding attraction to Nik, the spy-type we saw show up in the first book. The one disappointing quirk in Czerneda's writing from the first book carries over into this one, too--when Mac addresses her thoughts at Emily, Czerneda is inconsistent in making those thoughts first person vs. third person. I wouldn't ordinarily find this a problem, except that she also keeps working Em's name into these thoughts, and it reads really weird when you try to write out someone's thoughts in third person and you're also still trying to address them to an imagined audience.
For example: She didn't mean to do that, Em. Bits like this kept showing up in Mac's thought patterns, italicized to clearly show that they're thoughts, and yet they're in third person. People don't think in third person, and they don't address third-person thoughts to imaginary listeners, either. This comes across as the author addressing Em somehow rather than Mac. I didn't mind Mac constantly talking to Em when she was alone or constantly directing her thoughts at her--coping mechanism for the character, I can deal with that. I just wish that Czerneda would have been more consistent in writing out the actual thoughts. I'm wondering why this got past her editor; it's a quirk that's only shown up in this series. She hasn't done it before.
Meanwhile, Mac also spends a lot of time angsting about the aforementioned Nik, as mentioned. One reviewer on Amazon.com took this as an excuse to slam this book as a thinly veiled romance novel, which isn't fair--yes, Mac and Nik do have a budding romance going, but that's not the main point of this plot. And I do like Nik's periodic appearances, suitably sparse through the book to account for the fact that the man is a spy, and he has plenty to do that Mac doesn't get to witness. The thing that actually knocked me out of the story a bit, oddly enough, was Mac's propensity for regularly thinking of Nik as "yummy". That particular word choice just seemed weird to me--a bit too frivolous a word choice for this woman who's been set up as a hard-headed, no-nonsense kind of scientist who regularly rolled her eyes at Em's attempts to get her paired up with someone. Especially in this book, where Mac's fighting off the nightmares about what happened to Brymn in the first book and how his transformation led to her having to get an artificial arm, and where she's worried as all hell about whether Em is alive or dead. Yet every time Nik shows up in her thoughts, it's "ooh, yummy". Just doesn't fit.
Not that I take issue necessarily with describing Nik as yummy, 'cause, well, he is. I especially like the bits where he shows up to watch over Mac when she has nightmares and winds up holding her during one--very sweet. But "yummy" is a word I'd expect out of a much fluffier heroine in a much fluffier book.
What else... I do have to take issue with the fact that when you get down to it, at least in Mac's part of this plot, not much actually happens. All the interesting stuff is happening away from her, out where the Dhryn are hitting various worlds on their migration. Things don't start getting really interesting until Mac reaches the gathering of delegates in New Zealand and convinces everybody there that a) the Dhryn are obeying a species imperative to migrate, and b) that imperative is actually getting enforced on them by an external source. It would have been nice, though, to see what the hell everybody else at that conference was doing while Mac and her group were doing their research--we barely glimpse the other attendees.
And oh yes--there's a really neat piece of art on the cover of this book, which is described by Czerneda in the book's acknowledgements as Vancouver being destroyed while Mac looks on. However, nothing of the sort actually happens anywhere in the book. Hrmph. :) False advertising!
Now for stuff I really did like.
As I mentioned, the major alien characters--very cool. I liked Fourteen a lot, especially his banter with Kay when the two of them first show up and weasel their way into interrupting Mac's vacation. I also liked the gathering leader--Anchen, that was her name. And the Vessel showing up at the Gathering was a suitably gripping plot development, and helped continue Mac's connection with the Dhryn.
I really, really liked the development of Mudge as a character as well. He got a lot more participation in this book than he had in the first one--and to be honest, I almost expected him to start being set up as a competing romantic interest to Nik, especially when we got a lot of emphasis about Mudge's and Mac's long history. And Mudge lamenting, "Who will I have to argue with?" when he is faced with the prospect of Mac never being around any more. And all of the things that Mudge takes on during the course of the plot to help Mac out. Part of me thinks the poor guy really needs to have something neat happen to him since he started being so useful to Mac all throughout this plot--and although I would habitually vote for the yummy guy, I have to admit I'd be oddly satisfied if Mac wound up realizing Mudge was more important to her.
(Though I don't think that's where this is going, now that I've finished the book. I think it's telling that I was almost disappointed that Mudge and Mac remained entirely platonic through the course of this plot. ;) )
And I liked the ending, where Mac finally convinces the gathering that they have to turn off the signal that they'd been set up to activate, saving Earth in the nick of time.
All in all--not the best work Czerneda's done, but a mostly good, solid read despite its flaws. I'm looking forward to seeing how this wraps up in Book 3!
The Species Imperative series continues to be a solid example of what Czerneda does best--create vivid and memorable alien species. The two major alien characters in Migration weren't quite as cool as Brymn in Survival, but they definitely had their moments. I really liked Fourteen in particular, and how he developed through the course of this installment of the ongoing story. I also liked the lead alien character at the conference Mac attends--since she is a collective consciousness, and written very well.
Slightly disappointingly, however, the human characters this time around don't quite match up to the alien ones. Our hero Mac mostly alternates between angsting over the capture of her best friend Emily by the Ro and angsting over her budding attraction to Nik, the spy-type we saw show up in the first book. The one disappointing quirk in Czerneda's writing from the first book carries over into this one, too--when Mac addresses her thoughts at Emily, Czerneda is inconsistent in making those thoughts first person vs. third person. I wouldn't ordinarily find this a problem, except that she also keeps working Em's name into these thoughts, and it reads really weird when you try to write out someone's thoughts in third person and you're also still trying to address them to an imagined audience.
For example: She didn't mean to do that, Em. Bits like this kept showing up in Mac's thought patterns, italicized to clearly show that they're thoughts, and yet they're in third person. People don't think in third person, and they don't address third-person thoughts to imaginary listeners, either. This comes across as the author addressing Em somehow rather than Mac. I didn't mind Mac constantly talking to Em when she was alone or constantly directing her thoughts at her--coping mechanism for the character, I can deal with that. I just wish that Czerneda would have been more consistent in writing out the actual thoughts. I'm wondering why this got past her editor; it's a quirk that's only shown up in this series. She hasn't done it before.
Meanwhile, Mac also spends a lot of time angsting about the aforementioned Nik, as mentioned. One reviewer on Amazon.com took this as an excuse to slam this book as a thinly veiled romance novel, which isn't fair--yes, Mac and Nik do have a budding romance going, but that's not the main point of this plot. And I do like Nik's periodic appearances, suitably sparse through the book to account for the fact that the man is a spy, and he has plenty to do that Mac doesn't get to witness. The thing that actually knocked me out of the story a bit, oddly enough, was Mac's propensity for regularly thinking of Nik as "yummy". That particular word choice just seemed weird to me--a bit too frivolous a word choice for this woman who's been set up as a hard-headed, no-nonsense kind of scientist who regularly rolled her eyes at Em's attempts to get her paired up with someone. Especially in this book, where Mac's fighting off the nightmares about what happened to Brymn in the first book and how his transformation led to her having to get an artificial arm, and where she's worried as all hell about whether Em is alive or dead. Yet every time Nik shows up in her thoughts, it's "ooh, yummy". Just doesn't fit.
Not that I take issue necessarily with describing Nik as yummy, 'cause, well, he is. I especially like the bits where he shows up to watch over Mac when she has nightmares and winds up holding her during one--very sweet. But "yummy" is a word I'd expect out of a much fluffier heroine in a much fluffier book.
What else... I do have to take issue with the fact that when you get down to it, at least in Mac's part of this plot, not much actually happens. All the interesting stuff is happening away from her, out where the Dhryn are hitting various worlds on their migration. Things don't start getting really interesting until Mac reaches the gathering of delegates in New Zealand and convinces everybody there that a) the Dhryn are obeying a species imperative to migrate, and b) that imperative is actually getting enforced on them by an external source. It would have been nice, though, to see what the hell everybody else at that conference was doing while Mac and her group were doing their research--we barely glimpse the other attendees.
And oh yes--there's a really neat piece of art on the cover of this book, which is described by Czerneda in the book's acknowledgements as Vancouver being destroyed while Mac looks on. However, nothing of the sort actually happens anywhere in the book. Hrmph. :) False advertising!
Now for stuff I really did like.
As I mentioned, the major alien characters--very cool. I liked Fourteen a lot, especially his banter with Kay when the two of them first show up and weasel their way into interrupting Mac's vacation. I also liked the gathering leader--Anchen, that was her name. And the Vessel showing up at the Gathering was a suitably gripping plot development, and helped continue Mac's connection with the Dhryn.
I really, really liked the development of Mudge as a character as well. He got a lot more participation in this book than he had in the first one--and to be honest, I almost expected him to start being set up as a competing romantic interest to Nik, especially when we got a lot of emphasis about Mudge's and Mac's long history. And Mudge lamenting, "Who will I have to argue with?" when he is faced with the prospect of Mac never being around any more. And all of the things that Mudge takes on during the course of the plot to help Mac out. Part of me thinks the poor guy really needs to have something neat happen to him since he started being so useful to Mac all throughout this plot--and although I would habitually vote for the yummy guy, I have to admit I'd be oddly satisfied if Mac wound up realizing Mudge was more important to her.
(Though I don't think that's where this is going, now that I've finished the book. I think it's telling that I was almost disappointed that Mudge and Mac remained entirely platonic through the course of this plot. ;) )
And I liked the ending, where Mac finally convinces the gathering that they have to turn off the signal that they'd been set up to activate, saving Earth in the nick of time.
All in all--not the best work Czerneda's done, but a mostly good, solid read despite its flaws. I'm looking forward to seeing how this wraps up in Book 3!
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 07:04 pm (UTC)Which is already out in Canada, but not quite yet here. I've had to stop hanging out in Julie's discussion group to avoid spoilers! Gah.
(Though it amuses me since many of the bit characters in Julie's books are based on people from her online discussion group; evidently, she takes names from there when she needs 'em. Periodically, she'll go, "Oh, by the way, <random person>, mind if I use you and kill you off in the latest book?" To which the usual reply is, "Cool!" So periodically, I see doomed scientists or agents or whatever who are people I know from her group...)
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Date: 2006-05-07 07:12 pm (UTC)Delighted to see there's another Czerneda reader on my Friends list. :D And hee about her swiping names for people!