Debatable Space

Orbit,fall07

Randomly selected in the library. the narrative is annoying -- very fragmentary, many different narrators and time periods, rapid POV switching -- and the typography makes me roll my eyes (I don't need a page of the letters d o o o o o w n dripping down the page to get that she's falling). The characters are universally unlikeable; the main female character egotistical and self-justifying, the main male character smug and unprincipled. There's a lot of sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll. None of this is my thing.

And yet. I loved it. I gulped it down practically whole. I was on the edge of my seat. The book has an undeniable energy and joy which swept me up despite myself. It made me root for the characters despite the fact that they are all incredibly flawed. There are sciency infodumps and I do not mind. There's a deus ex machina and it just made me whoop.

I'm sure it has other flaws, but while reading it, I couldn't care less. That, in my view, is a good book -- and I'm very glad I picked up two more books by Philip Palmer on the same whim. ( )

A note to the reader of this review: its intent is to warn of the dangers of reading reviews, so proceed with caution. I bought this novel on the positive recommendation of a (now lost) review, since I had not seen any short fiction from this author, and this novel is his first. That review was badly wrong.

This novel is awful on every front. I managed to read up up to 'Book 2' (page 63) before giving up. It purports to be science fiction but its tale of a tough band of space pirates seizing the daughter of the all-powerful Cheon for ransom, uses a hoary set of timeworn generic cliches (the wiley pirate captain, the secret weapon, the incompetence of the military and the skill of the rogue pilot) to defeat the Cheon's entire fleet. The writing is primitive in the extreme, with off the shelf stereotyped characters engaging in supposedly 'witty banter', over-stuffed with expletives. There are some strange typographic effects, which add nothing but do pad out the page count.

Of course, this novel could be a very clever parody of bad science fiction. Or it could be a failed attempt to emulate the style of writers like Neal Asher or Richard Morgan, Unfortunately, it feels more like it was dashed off as fast as possible by someone with very limited knowledge of, and interest in, science fiction.

Be warned. And trust this review. ( )

Space opera a bit outside the norm, with wickedly sly humor and biting political and social commentary. The book, which is basically Lena's story and how she came to her current predicament, is structured a bit unusually, including typographical gimmickry that might bug some readers, but I didn't mind it. I very much enjoyed the book, but it's probably one that readers will either love or hate, and a lot of that reaction will depend on how much they can sympathize with Lena, who's something of an unreliable narrator. The story sometimes felt too long -- which could be due to the fact that I'm hopeless when it comes to science and math -- and it could have used more of Flanagan's POV to balance Lena's many lengthy POV scenes. Flanagan, the space pirate anti-hero, can be quite a piece of work himself, and he's certainly well-matched to Lena. Because of the rather detailed biographical nature of the plot (among other things), it's a little difficult to sum it up without giving away too much. The main resolution concerning Lena was quite emotional, and I think that's the point where I felt the most sympathy for her. Related to that, the emotional range of the book can go, very quickly, from wacky and funny to sad and disturbing.

On a totally random note, though, one of my favorite parts was when Lena figured out how to have three-way sex with herself in the middle of a fight. I totally understood why Flanagan was so angry with her, but it was funny.

Wildly unlikeable characters. ( )