I’ve had a break from writing reviews, but I like reading, and the publishing industry needs professional appraisals so I’ll be adding a few reviews to the blog again. If you’re an author, take a look at my Review Policy to see the parameters I’ve set on it so it doesn’t become a burden. I’ll not be dealing with authors directly which will take the most difficult part out of the role. I’m starting with a science fiction book review of a book with a difference. Enjoy the review.
This science fiction story takes a different approach to story-telling. Rather than have the story laid out for the reader in the usual way, it’s left to the reader to string it together from a series of reports that range from a personal diary of a rather psychologically challenged girl to excerpts from official documents. Apart from the diaries, the effect is somewhat impersonal. At first I was thinking, ‘Eek, what a huge info dump’, but I found the subject matter interesting, so I read on and eventually got used to the style. By the end of it, I was tossing up between 4.5 and 5 stars.
The characters (not particularly likable, but certainly intriguing) enjoyed a relationship that involved very violent sex (not explicit). Insights into why they were like that came as the book progressed, as did a unifying thread of quelling a rebellion, exposing a traitor and characters and relationships not being what they appeared to be. The end had a surprising element that left me wondering and left me with a strange feeling that I’d just read something remarkable, even though on the surface it didn’t appear to be.
The prose, though virtually all exposition, as would be expected in a report form, is well written, and the book has been finely edited. It’s refreshing to see a different approach to story telling.
