Incomprehensible book review is go
This morning I woke up and lay in bed for an hour, petting Tir, and not wanting to get up and face the giant new hole in Ninja and Roommate. I did get up, eventually - the story is now in a case on the floor where I don't have to look at it.
Catch the Lightning by Catherine Asaro
The cover blurb of Catch the Lightning is, quite possibly, one of the worst and misleading I've ever encountered, probably in an attempt to trick hardcore science fiction readers into thinking this isn't also a romance novel.
Tina is an orphan girl of Mayan descent trying to support herself as a waitress in the '80s in an alternate Los Angeles and do what she can to survive, when she encounters a very strange man - Althor Selei, someone who definitely doesn't belong in Tina's world. Althor is a Jaggernaut, a highly trained fighter pilot with cybernetic implants and psionic abilities who comes not only from the future, but from another universe. An assassination attempt has left him and his ship stranded on earth and, lost and injured, he encounters young Tina and instantly focuses on her, attracted not only by her youth and beauty, but by her latent psionic abilities. Despite the alienness of Althor, Tina's attracted to him as well, feeling a connection to him that she's rarely felt with others because of their shared psionic abilities. And Althor needs the help of people familiar with the area and this Earth to help him recapture his ship, which Tina and some friends are more than willing to do. But when he leaves, he wants to take Tina with him, into another universe and life, one more dangerous than what she's used to, and Althor isn't exactly big on giving the full disclosure as to why, or just what those dangers are.
Tina and Althor in LA is the first half of the book - the second half is once they leave Earth and are in Althor's universe, facing danger in the form of evil Empires and warriors with cybernetic armour and spaceships and whatnot. That's what ends up being cover blurbed, ignoring the first one hundred and fifty pages, which just makes me sigh and roll my eyes, although it is indicative of the problem a lot of readers will have with Catch the Lightning - even moreso than Asaro's first novel. While the book is full of hard science, the driving force, particularly in the first half when Althor is hiding significant parts of the reality he's offering to Tina, is the relationship between Althor and Tina. The hard science parts are really hard, as is to be expected, but they're integral to the world building more than the plot and people who aren't big on the science stuff about cybernetics and space ships will probably be able to skim them without difficulty, while it is impossible for your science fiction fanboy to skim the parts of the novel about Tina and Althor's relationship, because that /is/ the novel. If a focus on romance isn't your idea of a good reading time, Catch the Lightning is really not recommended.
Which is a shame, because it's also a very enjoyable novel that I read through hungrily and quickly, eager to find out what was going on. The political intrigue undercutting everything, the issue of genetic diversity and inbreeding in a future that can only aid reproduction and prevent birth defects to a limited extent, the family issues, Althor's longing to understand the past of his people and Tina's wish that her people had a future, they all add depth to the story, frequently in areas that I haven't seen explored in science fiction.
And the primary plot about the relationship between Tina and Althor is good, too, despite my trepidation about the couple, with Tina's youth and ignorance of the world she's going into. While not much can be done about the youth, it helps that when it's being brought up that it's a potential problem is /addressed/, instead of being swept aside or used as an explanation for what makes her so attractive. Tina's ignorance of Althor's world is counteracted by starting the novel in Tina's, putting Althor in a position of confusion and vulnerability where Tina's the expert. And Tina is, quite simply, likable. The novel is told from the first person point of view, and the reader can see that Tina is bright and fiercely determined to live her own life. Althor, meanwhile, instead of simply being an alpha male, is a man from a culture which is historically a matriarchy, born crippled and deformed, and intellectually and genetically disadvantaged compared to his peers - none of this is immediately apparent, but as it becomes known to Tina and the reader, it makes Althor into a character more complex than he initially appears to be, and a character of a type who isn't usually encountered, in science fiction or romance novels.
Really, as I don't consider the dual nature of the book's genre to be a problem, the only issues are that the first half and the second half of the book don't always feel as connected as they should be. This is obviously a result of the two parts of the book taking place in different worlds and it might be difficult to make them jive without things seeming contrived, but I think they really could have cohered more than they did. The subplots about Tina's family and friends are pretty much dropped without much more than a token resolution or an attempt to replace them with the larger, less personal force of Tina's people, which isn't an effective substitute. But this is Asaro's second novel, and the main plot is strong enough to keep the weaker subplots and arcs from dragging the narrative - those problems end up being little more than minor buzzes of irritation that are easily forgotten. Not terrible, but not perfect, either.
Also imperfect is the ending - Asaro writes forty pages beyond what feels like the natural ending, the more satisfying climax. She's tying up lose ends, reassuring the reader about the state of Tina and Althor's ending, answering questions which are important, but it would have been nice if she'd been able to do that /and/ have the book end when it felt like it should have ended. It was a bit startling to realize there were a few more chapters after the point where things felt like the end.
Catch the Lightning is a fun read, alternating between intimate and character driven, and deadly and fast paced. The writing's engaging enough, and Tina and Althor interesting enough, that Asaro's early novel stumbles are easy to overlook. I didn't find it as interesting as Primary Inversion - Asaro's first novel - possibly because, despite Althor's unusual attributes and Tina's unusual background - I haven't encountered that many characters of Latin American or South American descent in science fiction novels, especially not Mayan - Catch the Lightning doesn't seem to be breaking as much new ground, or going against conventions. But it's an enjoyable novel in its own right and it deepens Asaro's universe, leaving me looking forward to whenever I make time to read the next novel. It's nice to read a novel that leaves me wanting /more/ instead of wondering how the author can utterly fail to improve.
It's also nice to see a couple who, in the heat of passion, are still able to remember condoms. I'm just saying.
I think that may have been the most incoherent pile of words I have ever written about someone else's writing, including the paper I got 60% on in second year. It's like nothing in my brain is firing correctly today. Goddammit it.
Catch the Lightning by Catherine Asaro
The cover blurb of Catch the Lightning is, quite possibly, one of the worst and misleading I've ever encountered, probably in an attempt to trick hardcore science fiction readers into thinking this isn't also a romance novel.
Tina is an orphan girl of Mayan descent trying to support herself as a waitress in the '80s in an alternate Los Angeles and do what she can to survive, when she encounters a very strange man - Althor Selei, someone who definitely doesn't belong in Tina's world. Althor is a Jaggernaut, a highly trained fighter pilot with cybernetic implants and psionic abilities who comes not only from the future, but from another universe. An assassination attempt has left him and his ship stranded on earth and, lost and injured, he encounters young Tina and instantly focuses on her, attracted not only by her youth and beauty, but by her latent psionic abilities. Despite the alienness of Althor, Tina's attracted to him as well, feeling a connection to him that she's rarely felt with others because of their shared psionic abilities. And Althor needs the help of people familiar with the area and this Earth to help him recapture his ship, which Tina and some friends are more than willing to do. But when he leaves, he wants to take Tina with him, into another universe and life, one more dangerous than what she's used to, and Althor isn't exactly big on giving the full disclosure as to why, or just what those dangers are.
Tina and Althor in LA is the first half of the book - the second half is once they leave Earth and are in Althor's universe, facing danger in the form of evil Empires and warriors with cybernetic armour and spaceships and whatnot. That's what ends up being cover blurbed, ignoring the first one hundred and fifty pages, which just makes me sigh and roll my eyes, although it is indicative of the problem a lot of readers will have with Catch the Lightning - even moreso than Asaro's first novel. While the book is full of hard science, the driving force, particularly in the first half when Althor is hiding significant parts of the reality he's offering to Tina, is the relationship between Althor and Tina. The hard science parts are really hard, as is to be expected, but they're integral to the world building more than the plot and people who aren't big on the science stuff about cybernetics and space ships will probably be able to skim them without difficulty, while it is impossible for your science fiction fanboy to skim the parts of the novel about Tina and Althor's relationship, because that /is/ the novel. If a focus on romance isn't your idea of a good reading time, Catch the Lightning is really not recommended.
Which is a shame, because it's also a very enjoyable novel that I read through hungrily and quickly, eager to find out what was going on. The political intrigue undercutting everything, the issue of genetic diversity and inbreeding in a future that can only aid reproduction and prevent birth defects to a limited extent, the family issues, Althor's longing to understand the past of his people and Tina's wish that her people had a future, they all add depth to the story, frequently in areas that I haven't seen explored in science fiction.
And the primary plot about the relationship between Tina and Althor is good, too, despite my trepidation about the couple, with Tina's youth and ignorance of the world she's going into. While not much can be done about the youth, it helps that when it's being brought up that it's a potential problem is /addressed/, instead of being swept aside or used as an explanation for what makes her so attractive. Tina's ignorance of Althor's world is counteracted by starting the novel in Tina's, putting Althor in a position of confusion and vulnerability where Tina's the expert. And Tina is, quite simply, likable. The novel is told from the first person point of view, and the reader can see that Tina is bright and fiercely determined to live her own life. Althor, meanwhile, instead of simply being an alpha male, is a man from a culture which is historically a matriarchy, born crippled and deformed, and intellectually and genetically disadvantaged compared to his peers - none of this is immediately apparent, but as it becomes known to Tina and the reader, it makes Althor into a character more complex than he initially appears to be, and a character of a type who isn't usually encountered, in science fiction or romance novels.
Really, as I don't consider the dual nature of the book's genre to be a problem, the only issues are that the first half and the second half of the book don't always feel as connected as they should be. This is obviously a result of the two parts of the book taking place in different worlds and it might be difficult to make them jive without things seeming contrived, but I think they really could have cohered more than they did. The subplots about Tina's family and friends are pretty much dropped without much more than a token resolution or an attempt to replace them with the larger, less personal force of Tina's people, which isn't an effective substitute. But this is Asaro's second novel, and the main plot is strong enough to keep the weaker subplots and arcs from dragging the narrative - those problems end up being little more than minor buzzes of irritation that are easily forgotten. Not terrible, but not perfect, either.
Also imperfect is the ending - Asaro writes forty pages beyond what feels like the natural ending, the more satisfying climax. She's tying up lose ends, reassuring the reader about the state of Tina and Althor's ending, answering questions which are important, but it would have been nice if she'd been able to do that /and/ have the book end when it felt like it should have ended. It was a bit startling to realize there were a few more chapters after the point where things felt like the end.
Catch the Lightning is a fun read, alternating between intimate and character driven, and deadly and fast paced. The writing's engaging enough, and Tina and Althor interesting enough, that Asaro's early novel stumbles are easy to overlook. I didn't find it as interesting as Primary Inversion - Asaro's first novel - possibly because, despite Althor's unusual attributes and Tina's unusual background - I haven't encountered that many characters of Latin American or South American descent in science fiction novels, especially not Mayan - Catch the Lightning doesn't seem to be breaking as much new ground, or going against conventions. But it's an enjoyable novel in its own right and it deepens Asaro's universe, leaving me looking forward to whenever I make time to read the next novel. It's nice to read a novel that leaves me wanting /more/ instead of wondering how the author can utterly fail to improve.
It's also nice to see a couple who, in the heat of passion, are still able to remember condoms. I'm just saying.
I think that may have been the most incoherent pile of words I have ever written about someone else's writing, including the paper I got 60% on in second year. It's like nothing in my brain is firing correctly today. Goddammit it.