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desayunoencamaYesterday I finished CROSSING THE LINE and also read THE WORLD BEFORE. I don't have the next two books yet, but as you might imagine (given that I read the first three in two days) I am quite liking these.
Her aliens are great, and are non-human.
I love her matriarchal society, and the lateral instead of hierarchal wess'har gene-transfer stuff. (Reminds me of Butler's ooloi.)
Her individual crises of loyalty, honor, purpose, etc. are all spot on, I think.
However, I do have a few quibbles... Mostly with her Terran politics and a few other details that're not quite consistent (to my mind).
So much is so 20th century...
Earth political structure
There are a few little jokes about America no longer being a viable power in the worldview she's constructed, but there's also no evolution of sociopolitics extrapolated into the future. her political structure has remained static, even as technology has advanced. There are some examples of this with the corporations paying for the expeditions instead of governments, but the corporations have disappeared by the time there is contact with the aliens... And everyone on Earth speaks English, and there's a weird non-miscegination at work, too. Little niggling inconsistencies that would throw me out every now and then.
Religion
OK, so there are these Christian colonists who've left to live a different way of life. And Shan is supposedly a Pagan, but except for one "blessed be" she is a religious, as is everyone else except the colonists. There is no talk of religion back on Earth: conflicts, which ones now hold dominance, etc. Or how the contact with aliens change, if at all, certain concepts (for humans, especially back home on Earth). There is a great moment with Aras having theological discussions with Ade, Shan, Josh, etc.
Also, how can a group of Christian fundamentalists who take a genebank of all of Earth's animal life with them to save it not have a Noah's Ark reference. It seems inconsistent with their own theology!
Journalism
OK, Eddie's a fun character, but I just can't believe that the system of filing news stories will still be the same so far in the future. It's archaic and anachronistic. I mean, look how things like youtube, blogs, and so on are changing how and where we get/send news. Without even dealing with things like hardwired feeds, etc.
Genetic manipulation.
Her alien gene-manipulation and the virus and everything are well done. But there are the occasional mentions of her being gentically pure because she's a pagan, that's just not really dealt with in any consistent fashion. For instance, the marines are all connected through some nanotech that's never explained. At the same time, when one of them goes offline, there's never any consequence (something that's dealt with very well in John Scalzi's trilogy).
(And no one is ever out of range of whatever is emitting these signals, or has a system malfunction, or anything like that. Aside from Eddie not being able to file his stories or the non FEU being able to access the alien communications tech.)
And the swiss, is a cute joke, but just so implausible that even Shan gives up on it at one point to use more modern wess'har technology. It is a symbolic tool, but... a bit ridiculous.
Despite these quibbles, though, it's a great series.
Her aliens are great, and are non-human.
I love her matriarchal society, and the lateral instead of hierarchal wess'har gene-transfer stuff. (Reminds me of Butler's ooloi.)
Her individual crises of loyalty, honor, purpose, etc. are all spot on, I think.
However, I do have a few quibbles... Mostly with her Terran politics and a few other details that're not quite consistent (to my mind).
So much is so 20th century...
Earth political structure
There are a few little jokes about America no longer being a viable power in the worldview she's constructed, but there's also no evolution of sociopolitics extrapolated into the future. her political structure has remained static, even as technology has advanced. There are some examples of this with the corporations paying for the expeditions instead of governments, but the corporations have disappeared by the time there is contact with the aliens... And everyone on Earth speaks English, and there's a weird non-miscegination at work, too. Little niggling inconsistencies that would throw me out every now and then.
Religion
OK, so there are these Christian colonists who've left to live a different way of life. And Shan is supposedly a Pagan, but except for one "blessed be" she is a religious, as is everyone else except the colonists. There is no talk of religion back on Earth: conflicts, which ones now hold dominance, etc. Or how the contact with aliens change, if at all, certain concepts (for humans, especially back home on Earth). There is a great moment with Aras having theological discussions with Ade, Shan, Josh, etc.
Also, how can a group of Christian fundamentalists who take a genebank of all of Earth's animal life with them to save it not have a Noah's Ark reference. It seems inconsistent with their own theology!
Journalism
OK, Eddie's a fun character, but I just can't believe that the system of filing news stories will still be the same so far in the future. It's archaic and anachronistic. I mean, look how things like youtube, blogs, and so on are changing how and where we get/send news. Without even dealing with things like hardwired feeds, etc.
Genetic manipulation.
Her alien gene-manipulation and the virus and everything are well done. But there are the occasional mentions of her being gentically pure because she's a pagan, that's just not really dealt with in any consistent fashion. For instance, the marines are all connected through some nanotech that's never explained. At the same time, when one of them goes offline, there's never any consequence (something that's dealt with very well in John Scalzi's trilogy).
(And no one is ever out of range of whatever is emitting these signals, or has a system malfunction, or anything like that. Aside from Eddie not being able to file his stories or the non FEU being able to access the alien communications tech.)
And the swiss, is a cute joke, but just so implausible that even Shan gives up on it at one point to use more modern wess'har technology. It is a symbolic tool, but... a bit ridiculous.
Despite these quibbles, though, it's a great series.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-12 06:28 pm (UTC)SPOILERS
false choice of "saving the baby" - because I had no emotional investment in the baby, either baby now that I think of it, and it struck me as a kind of appeal to an expected reaction (everyone must want to save the baby) when in fact, who cared? The baby was a plot device, nothing more. It was never a real baby. Now if her choice had been whether to heal the sergeant or not, THAT would have been a moral dilemma. That would have had an emotional impact. And I gotta say, the pregnancy etc stuff didn't work for me at all.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-12 06:59 pm (UTC)I was perhaps more bothered by the plot device in Book 3 that I could see coming a mile away, although she does at least put it to good use with how the characters react to it.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-12 07:40 pm (UTC)All that is what put me off reading book two - should I go ahead? Because otherwise I thought it a superior book in many ways.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-12 10:58 pm (UTC)I had the same reaction--I wasn't sure whether the quirk of pacing were meant to help characterize Shan, heighten other characters' reactions (then or later), or something else I was likewise failing to grasp.
I did enjoy the second book (not that you asked me!) because it delves into wess'har concerns, a definite strength. Book three maneuvered pieces into place for continuing the adventure, IMO, which put me off; I haven't sought #4 yet.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-12 11:54 pm (UTC)Maybe not, but this is really interesting commentary anyway! *g*
I think I'll try #2, then. The things I liked about CITY OF PEARL, I *really* liked--there's some great stuff in that novel.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 01:11 pm (UTC)But aside from that she does some interesting things, and the whole existence of book 3 is interestng (although it hasn't yet been exploited).
As I think I mentioned book 3 had other plot issues I saw as too obvius/heavy handed, but...
I'm enjoying the books quite a lot and will almost certainly read books 4 and 5.