During a fifteen year journey away from earth, Isol makes two startling discoveries: alien technology that can transport her across the galaxy
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I'm glad you liked it, and I'm glad you kept reading despite it being outside of your comfort zone. I have a feeling this book will give a LOT of people issues, but like you, I hope they soldier on. :) I haven't started it myself (I've got one book to finish, another to start, before I get to it), but I figure it'll take a little while to read for all the reasons you mention.
If her prose interested you, I'd HIGHLY recommend MAPPA MUNDI, which is more of a modern-ish day SF/thriller with characters that absolutely WILL get under your skin in a good way, and/or KEEPING IT REAL, which is the first of a urban fantasy/cyberpunk series involving a cyborg chick and a rock star elf. Very fun. :)
Yeah. I checked the reviews on goodreads and yikes! A lot of people are not big on this book. I liked it though, and hope you do when you end up getting to it.
Thanks for the recommendations. Unfortunately they don't have copies at my library, but maybe I can check them out through ILL :)
Yeah, it seems that this book and its sequel are quite difficult for most casual readers to deal with (I had trouble with the sequel, but then again, I didn't know it was a sequel when I read it), but her later work is more accessible. :)
K. WHERE in the text does it say she was on a 15 year journey?? or do we learn that after like the 4th chapter (which is where I am)?? I am not fond of books that require reviews and back cover synopsises to assist with understanding a specific plot point.
The information should be in the text darnit. (Sorry, I am having a hard time with this book can you tell?) argh.
It mentions it a couple times in dialog if I remember correctly. I think the first mention of it is on page 18 when Corvax says "Fifteen years in deep space seems enough time to send anybody crazy."
Reading your review has just pointed out something I failed to consciously notice till just now! One of the more sympathetic "characters", in terms of being easy to connect with in some fashion, is the Abacand - who isn't human, and it's even explicitly mentioned text that it's a stock AI personality so not even particularly unique nor (I think) conscious. Yet reading it it's hard to remember that this one isn't - it blurs the lines between human and not-human even more.
I really agree with you on the Abacand. One thing I found interesting about the book is when you learned to accept the the physical forms of the characters (Isol as a ship. Zephyr as a human woman. The Abacand as a computer) and focus on personality, there didn't seem to be that huge of an effort to make Abacand seem less human than the forged or even Zephyr. Yes she was AI, but she seemed just as much of a character as anyone else. In fact, I found her easier to relate to then many of the other characters in the book. Makes you kind of wonder how much "humanness" can be artificially created.
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If her prose interested you, I'd HIGHLY recommend MAPPA MUNDI, which is more of a modern-ish day SF/thriller with characters that absolutely WILL get under your skin in a good way, and/or KEEPING IT REAL, which is the first of a urban fantasy/cyberpunk series involving a cyborg chick and a rock star elf. Very fun. :)
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Thanks for the recommendations. Unfortunately they don't have copies at my library, but maybe I can check them out through ILL :)
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K. WHERE in the text does it say she was on a 15 year journey?? or do we learn that after like the 4th chapter (which is where I am)?? I am not fond of books that require reviews and back cover synopsises to assist with understanding a specific plot point.
The information should be in the text darnit. (Sorry, I am having a hard time with this book can you tell?)
argh.
btw - thanks for the review (calico_reaction sent me here.)
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And you're welcome :)
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Reading your review has just pointed out something I failed to consciously notice till just now! One of the more sympathetic "characters", in terms of being easy to connect with in some fashion, is the Abacand - who isn't human, and it's even explicitly mentioned text that it's a stock AI personality so not even particularly unique nor (I think) conscious. Yet reading it it's hard to remember that this one isn't - it blurs the lines between human and not-human even more.
Reply
I really agree with you on the Abacand. One thing I found interesting about the book is when you learned to accept the the physical forms of the characters (Isol as a ship. Zephyr as a human woman. The Abacand as a computer) and focus on personality, there didn't seem to be that huge of an effort to make Abacand seem less human than the forged or even Zephyr. Yes she was AI, but she seemed just as much of a character as anyone else. In fact, I found her easier to relate to then many of the other characters in the book. Makes you kind of wonder how much "humanness" can be artificially created.
Reply
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