Author: James Alan Gardner
Review: September 23, 2009
Edition: 2005 printing
Pages: 404
Overall Rating: 4/5 [Good]
Synopsis: Youn Suu is an untested member of the "Explorer Corps"---the group of people who, in our interstellar future, are seen as expendable and therefore used for dangerous tasks. This job leads her to become host to a parasitic alien life form as well as lands her on a dangerous planet where one race's desire for evolutionary "ascension" has created a deadly and hellish existence for its inhabitants.
Strengths: Interesting and believable characters, strong action plot, unique concepts.
Weaknesses: A bit predictable, a bit repetitive.
Further Review: This book is surprisingly sensitive for a sci-fi, even more than previous stories in this series. Youn Suu is really believable and her growth is exceptional. She comes into the world with family problems: bioengineering goes wrong and leaves her beautiful, strong, smart, and capable...with the problem of a festering cheek that never heals, which puts her at odds with the mother who designed the birth. She grows up lonely, finding solace in her religion as well as ub crafting tiny figurines of princes and princesses trapped in their own palaces. As a reader, I became sympathetic to what she is feeling; although there is so much humor in Gardner's book, he manages to flesh out Youn Suu's feelings precisely and humanly, therefore giving it a very well-rounded feeling. Youn Suu, only nineteen (and I believe this makes her the youngest hero of his books?), faces challenges not in a stereotypical way, but in a responsive way that pulls details out of her personal history; the way she feels events is shaped by her upbringing and her religion as well as her age.
I thought I would die from loneliness---not the sharp, aching kind but the dull, ongoing blur. It can feel like fatigue that never goes away; it can feel like dissatisfaction with everything around you; it can even feel like lust, as you lie alone in the dark and pretend someone else is there.
But it's loneliness. Deep, helpless, hopeless.
This book is far from whiny---most of the time Youn Suu grits her teeth and gets to work, no matter what happens to her...and a lot happens, in a built-up, consequential way (the idea of karma is influential to the book). On top of her relationship with her mother and her lack of friends, she also becomes a carrier to an alien parasite that slowly overtakes her body and mind, and allows her to know exactly when she's losing her humanity.
What caught up with me was my life. The whole of it. The isolation of a childhood as Ugly Screaming Stink-Girl. The unfairness of being forced into the Explorer Corps. The loneliness of months on a starship with nothing but a lunatic partner, a collection of amateurish figurines, and a crew of thirty-five people who couldn't look me in the face but constantly stole sidelong glances.
I should have been somebody else. Not an Explorer, not a virgin, not an alien parasite's host. I was only nineteen. I should have had a future; I should have had a past; but I had neither.
One of the best things about this book is Gardner's ability to capture people and their relationships. Everyone is absurd, but somehow extremely human. This is something I find recurring in his writing and is refreshing when so many novels only seem to show one side of a person, rather than how they act among others and how ridiculous humans can be...even affectionately ridiculous. Even in a world of advanced science and space travel, people will be people:
[...] A moment later, she said, "You pray too, Ma Youn. Maybe the spirits will heal your cheek."
"They aren't spirits, Mother. They're aliens."
"They're smart aliens with advanced technology. That makes them better than spirits. Show them respect, and maybe they'll help you."
"These are jost holos, Mother. The Fuentes aren't really here."
"You never know, they could be listening. Maybe standing right beside you, but invisible."
"The Fuentes have better ways to pass the time than lurking in one of our temples. They're higher beings, Mother. They must..."
I stopped---because the holo in front of us had just become tangible. Not just a lighting effect, but an actual mound of jelly: shining UV/purple. [...]
Ultimately, although there is tons of action in this book and lots of things to keep a sci-fi reader interested (including alien biology that allows our heroes to face several dinosaurs in battle!) and plenty of quirky humor to make it an easy and fun read, this story is mostly about Youn Suu and how she adapts to the changes caused by her situation, and her struggle to attain personal peace.

This book also examines western and eastern heroes from the perspective of Youn Suu's Buddhist beliefs.

The only thing I find exceptionally disappointing in this book is the final involvement of the League of Peoples---they have far more presence in this book, become predictable, and really are unsatisfactory. Furthermore, the manner in which they play into this book...does this mean that Radiant is indeed the final novel in this series? I wish not... ( )