Shepherd, Joel: Crossover
Crossover: A Cassandra Kresnov Novel
Writer: Joel Shepherd
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 457
Disclosure: free from Pyr Books
I think the bold print on the back of the book says it best:
MEET CASSANDRA KRESNOV. SOLDIER. LOVER. FIGHTER. PASSIONATE. COMPLETELY ARTIFICIAL.
There’s a lot to like in Joel Shepherd’s debut novel. I’d say it’s a cross between the television shows Alias and the new Battlestar Galactica, but that would be simplifying it a bit, despite the similar elements. This book is a political, science fictional thriller with a close examination on what truly makes a person human. And there’s plenty of intricate setting detail, as well as a multi-ethnic cast that should intrigue anyone reading. Also? Pretty cover!
One of the most appealing aspects to this book, for me personally, was the characterization of Cassandra Kresnov, Vanessa Rice, and the human relationships that played out, especially between these two women. Shepherd has a knack for capturing the human spirit-there are pages when the naturalness of the dialogue just bleeds off the page. Shepherd also has a knack for humor and creating individual character voices.
Cassandra is certainly sympathetic. Despite the fact she’s synthetically made, and the most dangerous GI ever built (a hunter-killer model), this is a woman who is seeking what it means to live a normal life and to enjoy life’s many pleasures. And even when her past catches up with her, and she’s forced back into a role that she was created for, Cassandra remains the strongest and most sympathetic character in the book. Her story is definitely the most fascinating, her emotions the ones that grabbed me the most. In fact, I personally wish this book had been written solely from her point of view. But that would’ve been incredibly difficult due to the scope of the story and the fact that there are some scenes where her point of view wouldn’t be reliable.
There’s also some interesting science fictional world-building to this. Example: Vanessa is a woman who alternates between a heterosexual cycle and a homosexual cycle every five years. Can I have a short story focusing just on this, please? That one detail is wonderfully intriguing and telling about the future in which these characters live. I also liked how, despite the advanced technology of this planet, that there are still “holdovers,” like paperback books. I don’t care about the logic of this, because Shepherd sets up political systems where, according to one ideology, history and culture is welcomed and not shunned in the face of increasingly advanced technology.
I did have some stylistic issues with this, some of them being indicative of a debut writer: there’s lots of telling, lots of info-dumping (though I really don't know how on earth you can convey so much info by showing, because that'd make the book twice as long), an excessive use of pronouns instead of names and an excessive use of fragments, the latter which I normally like but had a problem with here. Also, in the first chapter, we get the things that workshop-powers-that-be say writers should never do: open a story with someone waking up, and describing that individual via use of a mirror. Oops? Clearly, these aren’t hard and fast rules, cause after all, plenty of writers do this and they, like Shepherd, are published. But the first chapter was a bit slow, and while it sets up the world and a nice contrast for what Cassandra is trying to do with her life, there could’ve been more exciting ways to start the piece. Oh well. Once you get past the first chapter, the book moves at a good pace, and I’ll note that chapter two is not for the squeamish. :)
So despite my stylistic issues, the book was a fun, easy read. Something I can definitely recommend to people (I’m always particular in blanketing recommending something, so I’ll say if you like fast-paced, complex politics and technologies with a human core for stories, you’ll like this), and I look forward to reading the next book in this series. Or trilogy? There’s at least three, I know that much. Whatever Shepherd's up to, this is a promising start to what could be a really fun series. And I think that now that Shepherd has his world and characters under his belt, we’re going to see some interesting stuff in the second book.
And this is totally random, but this is another one of those books that I could see working really well as a movie or a television series. :)