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icepixieSince I taught my sci-fi class this past semester, I've been wanting to get back into print sci-fi. More specifically, I really wanted to find a book or book series which emulated the epic scope, focus on political/diplomatic concerns, incredibly well-developed aliens/alien cultures, superb characterization, and strong female characters of Babylon 5, or, to a lesser extent and minus the aliens, BSG. (If you know of any, PLEASE PLEASE REC THEM TO ME I AM DYING OVER HERE.) Basically, I wanted space opera with the world-building of, say, the Honor Harrington series, but with a more sociological/political and less militaristic focus. I could do with something in the line of the Vorkosigan series* or The Sparrow, too.
Anyway. When I ventured to the local used book emporium for travel reading, I picked up Grasp the Stars, by Jennifer Wingert (2004), and it was just what I wanted! Of the five main characters, three are women (all of them awesome), and about two-thirds of the supporting characters are either female or members of an alien species which has seven genders and generally gets "it" as a pronoun. All of the good guys are funny and crafty and brave (I'm pretty sure Rachel takes a page out of Susan Ivanova's book), and the bad guys have real and understandable motivations. There are plenty of ambiguous characters, too; few are all they seem. The narrative takes place over the course of about a week, and in that week we get two political conspiracies, a series of diplomatic incidents nearly leading to interstellar war, and a bunch of characters testing their limits and finding them more flexible than they thought. The aliens are really, really alien, biologically, sociologically, and psychologically. (I thought this was the strongest point of the book, actually; the Rofa in particular are as fully-realized as any human culture. There is a little Planet of Hats troping going on, but the cultures were so interesting that I didn't notice it until after I'd finished the book.) Even the humans have changed quite a bit in the last four hundred years; after a truly destructive war, violence is not quite a thing of the past, but is considered much more shocking and reprehensible than it is now. Given that a common trope of some sci-fi is peaceful aliens running into impetuous humans, I thought Wingert's reversal of it with berserker aliens and passive humans was interesting. Plus, she had to justify our new outlook with backstory, unlike if she had just had some peace-loving aliens who had always been that way for no particular reason.
The only thing I didn't like about it was the romance between Rachel and Wu that comes out of nowhere. Literally, about a hundred pages in, Rachel thinks to herself, "Oh my God, I just realized I'm in love with this guy I've known and been friends with for decades!" They had had maybe a chapter's worth of interaction at that point. Then Concha tells Wu it's obvious that he's in love with Rachel, and I was left scratching my head, wondering when that had even been implied, much less made obvious. The plotline takes up, like, five pages total from a 500-page book--though they do end up engaged at the end--and it felt very much like an afterthought. The weird thing is that Rachel, Wu, and another main character, Tigre, seriously discuss a longterm threesome relationship, and given that we actually see their feelings for each other as an OT3 develop in some detail, particularly Tigre's attraction to/relationship with both, it was very jarring to have that possibility be pretty much brushed aside at the end. Possibly a sequel is/was pending; Tigre's involvement in the story ends fairly abruptly in general. That said, it's a small quibble about an otherwise excellent book.
* Speaking of which: NEW MILES BOOK LATER THIS YEAR!!!
Anyway. When I ventured to the local used book emporium for travel reading, I picked up Grasp the Stars, by Jennifer Wingert (2004), and it was just what I wanted! Of the five main characters, three are women (all of them awesome), and about two-thirds of the supporting characters are either female or members of an alien species which has seven genders and generally gets "it" as a pronoun. All of the good guys are funny and crafty and brave (I'm pretty sure Rachel takes a page out of Susan Ivanova's book), and the bad guys have real and understandable motivations. There are plenty of ambiguous characters, too; few are all they seem. The narrative takes place over the course of about a week, and in that week we get two political conspiracies, a series of diplomatic incidents nearly leading to interstellar war, and a bunch of characters testing their limits and finding them more flexible than they thought. The aliens are really, really alien, biologically, sociologically, and psychologically. (I thought this was the strongest point of the book, actually; the Rofa in particular are as fully-realized as any human culture. There is a little Planet of Hats troping going on, but the cultures were so interesting that I didn't notice it until after I'd finished the book.) Even the humans have changed quite a bit in the last four hundred years; after a truly destructive war, violence is not quite a thing of the past, but is considered much more shocking and reprehensible than it is now. Given that a common trope of some sci-fi is peaceful aliens running into impetuous humans, I thought Wingert's reversal of it with berserker aliens and passive humans was interesting. Plus, she had to justify our new outlook with backstory, unlike if she had just had some peace-loving aliens who had always been that way for no particular reason.
The only thing I didn't like about it was the romance between Rachel and Wu that comes out of nowhere. Literally, about a hundred pages in, Rachel thinks to herself, "Oh my God, I just realized I'm in love with this guy I've known and been friends with for decades!" They had had maybe a chapter's worth of interaction at that point. Then Concha tells Wu it's obvious that he's in love with Rachel, and I was left scratching my head, wondering when that had even been implied, much less made obvious. The plotline takes up, like, five pages total from a 500-page book--though they do end up engaged at the end--and it felt very much like an afterthought. The weird thing is that Rachel, Wu, and another main character, Tigre, seriously discuss a longterm threesome relationship, and given that we actually see their feelings for each other as an OT3 develop in some detail, particularly Tigre's attraction to/relationship with both, it was very jarring to have that possibility be pretty much brushed aside at the end. Possibly a sequel is/was pending; Tigre's involvement in the story ends fairly abruptly in general. That said, it's a small quibble about an otherwise excellent book.
* Speaking of which: NEW MILES BOOK LATER THIS YEAR!!!
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-20 10:10 pm (UTC)The only down-side is that he seems to have dropped off after the last book, "Radiant," with no sign of another coming soon.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-20 11:51 pm (UTC)The only down-side is that he seems to have dropped off after the last book, "Radiant," with no sign of another coming soon.
That's too bad. But I tend to prefer on-offs to long series anyway, so maybe it won't bother me too much.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-21 02:51 am (UTC)Each book stands alone, although some (particularly "Ascending" and "Radiant," some of the latest of the books) make references to the earlier ones, and there are a few characters who reappear in different books. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-06-21 03:57 am (UTC)Book Rec
Date: 2010-06-20 08:15 pm (UTC)Re: Book Rec
Date: 2010-06-20 11:47 pm (UTC)Re: Book Rec
Date: 2010-07-12 04:37 pm (UTC)Re: Book Rec
Date: 2010-07-12 04:58 pm (UTC)Re: Book Rec
Date: 2010-07-12 06:59 pm (UTC)Hurrah! I was less than pleased when I got to the last chapter and realized there was no way he could manage a satisfying explanation in the few pages he had left.