Basically, people have screwed up Earth, so they live on Jupiter. That's the sci-fi part. A dude goes missing on a remote colony and Mossa, an Investigator, has to figure out what happened to him. That's the mystery. Mossa goes to Pleiti, a former flame, to help her out. That's the romance.
It's good. It's short (less than 200 pages!). It's an interesting world and an interesting relationship. This is a completely satisfying standalone novel, although I heard there's a sequel that's pretty good. My library doesn't have the sequel, so I guess I'll have to remain in the dark on that one. If this sounds like something you'd enjoy, you'll like this book. 4/5 stars
Lines of note:
...within the cluster dedicated to experimental agriculture and animal husbandry. (page 35)
Not a line of note to anyone else, but I refer to "animal husbandry" whenever we're doing something to the cat or dog that they don't want us to do (cut their nails, brush their teeth, etc.), but that must be done for health or safety reasons. Sometimes I also use it as an excuse to do something they don't want to do, but I do, even if it's just for my own personal pleasure, particularly picking the cat up. She doesn't LOVE to be picked up, but I'll say I'm doing it to train her to be used to me picking her up in case there's an emergency and I need to. This is partly true, but mostly I just want to cuddle with her.
...dressed in a fire-blue coat I instantly coveted. (page 36)
Haven't we all been there?
...being of utility was more than I had expected, and yet one still does not want to be used. Of use, but not used. (page 93)
Lovely distinction.
Minor mystery:
"Ah yes. I study the British Isles, in the mid-twentieth century. At the moment I'm working on a very useful book about rabbits and their adventures. There's a wealth of descriptions of the flora and fauna in a highly circumscribed, clearly identified area. Truly amazing stuff, most astoundingly useful for us. And most incredibly, this book - a storybook, note, perhaps even intended for children - has pages and pages of writing mentioning, oh, different flowers, and tiny beasts, and the author assumes that every organism he mentions is familiar to the readers. He barely describes any of it, because everyone he can imagine reading it already knows." (page 72-73)
I immediately thought of Watership Down. It was written by a man named Richard Adams, published in 1972 and it's set in Hampshire in southern England. My husband suggested The Tale of Peter Rabbit, but it was written by a woman (note the pronoun 'he' in the above passage) named Beatrix Potter and was first published in 1902, which is not mid-twentieth century at all. Any thoughts on this minor mystery?
Things I looked up:
"its details of salvage and bricolage" (page 12): (in art or literature) construction or creation from a diverse range of available things
"tiny cubical qibla astrolabe" (page 12): from Arabic 'qiblah,' the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer
"I was only an unimportant myrmidon among thousands..." (page 153): a follower or subordinate of a powerful person, typically one who is unscrupulous or carries out orders unquestioningly
Hat mentions:
None, although one of the characters is wearing a hat on the cover.
"Bricolage" is probably my favorite lit theory word. And what a lovely word "myrmidon" is--I'll have to learn to use it. A short book, eh? But you're at quite a pace, NGS!
ReplyDeleteThe truth is that I'm slogging through the second LOTR book and I keep reading shorter books to give myself a break from the slog. I think I will have to just put my head down and keep reading LOTR, though, or I'll never finish it!
DeleteThe sequel comes out in February! (I got to read an advance copy.) I'm glad you liked this. I had to look up so many words, which I kind of love because they're not all from English, and hey, no reason they should be. I also wondered about that book; Watership Down seems a good guess.
ReplyDeleteAh, I guess I misunderstood about the sequel. We'll see if I remember about reading it in February. That seems like a long time from now!
DeleteDid you ever watch Firefly, the short-lived Joss Whedon space western? They used a lot of Chinese in that world because of course there would be a lot of Chinese. That's how I felt about the language in this book. Of course, it wouldn't have to be English! It makes so much sense.
Ha, I'm laughing a little because the quote on the cover of the book is "An utter triumph" and your review is, "It's good." Well, I'm looking forward to reading it- it's up next in my queue!
ReplyDeleteHa! The juxtaposition of "triumph" versus "good" really tells you something about my level of enthusiasm, doesn't it? I think you'll like it!
DeleteMinor Mystery- totally sounds like Watership Down to me! And we call enforced cuddling 'socialization' in our household- as in, 'Hold still, Charlie, I'm socializing you!'
ReplyDelete(I feel the need to add the caveat that of course if they actively try to get away, we let them go, we're not actually *forcing* the enforced cuddling if they are anything more than mildly perturbed)