Betrayal

Girl From Above: Betrayal is the first book in Pippa DaCosta's The 1000 Revolution series and the first of the author's work for me. Wow, am I glad I found this series! I love android/synthetic human stories and this one is an excellent example.

I'm normally not a fan of 1st person narrative, but the author has used it well to convey the feelings and actions of the main characters, adding a sense of immediacy and connection.

I really, really like that the main male protagonist, Caleb, is flawed, running the full gamut of dodgy personality traits and downright bad behaviour, but occasionaly revealing there's more to him than that. His I-don't-give-a-damn exterior is hiding something deeper underneath, and the author deftly weaves the show more what-happened-in-the-past details into the story without excessive exposition. The grim and dangerous world Caleb inhabits is nevertheless vividly described and secondary characters are well fleshed-out, providing interesting possibilities further along in the series.

The pacing is relentless and far from predictable, with a good few surprises thrown into the mix as the story progresses. Having said it's not predictable, though, I'm glad the author chose to make the so-far revealed pieces fit together nicely, but not without some exciting and engaging curveballs. This book isn't sub-titled Betrayal for nothing and it doesn't disappoint in this respect either.

Some readers may object to the fairly frequent use of the f-word, but I thought it suited Caleb's character and it sounded natural when he was speaking. The resulting, sometimes witty, dialogue that this produces endeared me to the character and made me want to cheer him on to achieve a better life.

My current go-to genre is Science Fiction Romance. This book is definitely great science fiction, but not so much of a romance as a hint of as yet unfulfilled genuine love, after wading through all of Caleb's casual sexual dalliances and somewhat confused loyalties, not least his relationship with his enigmatic second-in-command, Fran.

The only small gripe I have is that the ending has no conclusion, but instead of finding this frustrating as usual, I'm actually feeling so connected to Caleb that I don't mind waiting for more of his story to be revealed.

I have also read Book 2 in the series, Girl From Above: Trapped and now can't wait for Book 3, to be published in February 2016. I sure hope that won't be the last in the series! show less

A fast-paced story with lots of action but, ultimately, this boils down to a rather pedestrian rom-com in space. For those who might care about such things, I would give it an R rating for language and sexual situations. This first book also ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger - which is an obviously transparent ploy to sell sequels. No thanks.

Pippa Dacosta has brought us something fresh to satiate the devout science fiction reader. She's created a universe in which one truly feels immersed with gritty characters and locales that you can actually feel, smell and touch. If you are looking for something with a feeling of real life with flawed characters and a rough industrial feel to the worlds in which you visit, look no further. The 1000 Revolution series is one hell of a good read!

Girl From Above book 1, Betrayal, by Pippa daCosta is a synthetic human escapade, character driven, not mind-expanding but a console-smacking science fiction spaceship adventure even so. I read it as a standalone novel but I can see it’s a series, so might be better than I’m describing here, after benefitting from fuller development. The characters are almost exclusively unsympathetic, often desensitised locker-room brawlers who live in a corporate and militarised set of nine systems, taking life and its knocks as and when they happen, chucking away careers to follow their star, then – for the main character at least – drifting like a dropout either side of the margins of unacceptable behaviour and hiding behind asteroids. Then show more again, dropping out of a stern uniform job and rejecting its hierarchy might be morally correct.

Captain Shepperd is self-employed without much of a long term plan because he is no longer a schemer, so supplements an erratic income (and paying his “keep away from me” second officer) by smuggling arms. Although he’s supposed to be a rough diamond hero with hidden qualities, the Captain comes off as an idiot and it doesn’t seem credible that anyone any good at their job would waste their time putting up with him. A couple of these women can’t restrain themselves and go for his zipper, which is even less likely.

The impression I got was that the whole book was written in the style of a male author, but that seems to be untrue so it’s an aping reflection of the bullish, womanising style pioneered Hemmingway. written by someone who wants to build the same sort of character but hasn't authentically lived that kind of lifestyle, i.e. chewing rawhide and talking loudly through bull fights. If that was the plan, depicting the tough-living entrepreneurs of space with regrettable lives, it’s a fully developed impression. I think there should be a few alternative, civilised characters to contrast this because otherwise it looks as though the whole human race turns out macho.

The main alternative is designated #1001, a synthetic human female. A corporation has a licence to make these things, to store the consciousness of expiring VIPs, but this one was never supposed to be made. Another one breaking the rules and, in more senses than one, she’s overkill. The mystery then revolves around what purpose this “synth” was made for, why she has escaped, who she was in real life before the change of body and what happened to her. Of course the Captain had something to do with it because he wears guilt on his sleeve where his heart’s supposed to be. She resists her programming though, showing that a gleam of free will and humanity has survived the backup to plastic process, which in turn means she’s redeemable. There’s a sting in the tail. He isn’t, but you’ll have to read the book to find out why. show less

I have been wanting to read this series for soooo long. So long that it feels like it should have been released way before April.

The characters did not disappoint. They were layered and compelling. You get the feeling that DaCosta has an entire biography in her head of everyone, even the minor side characters. The world itself is interesting, if a little un-inspired and redolent of so many sci-fi/dystopian mashups.

The plot was fast paced and intriguing. While I've read worlds like this before, I haven't ever read one written in quite this way before. It was addictive as hell, and I finished this first part in one afternoon... At work. Yeah. My one problem was the disappointment I felt when the relationship between 1001 and Caleb was show more revealed. I was really hoping for that story to go in a different direction, but I guess that's more my problem than anything.

Still looking so, So, SO forward to reading the next installment! I really hate the serial format, but I can't help buying this story.

Copy courtesy of Victory Editing, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review show less

3 stars (and a half, maybe)

Having read almost of Ilona Andrew's work, I started looking for authors with a similar style in the UF genre and found Pippa DaCosta being cited quite a few times (but here I think it's more SF than UF, actually). The plot sounded pretty interesting, so I started reading and might have had expectations way too high (mostly due to the reviews).

The plot itself isn't bad, but I found that there wasn't that much happening for like half of the book. There aren't that many major revelations, and it didn't take high powers of deduction to uncover the secrets of the different characters and their past, so that was kinda disappointing. And the ending... I was really hoping to be surprised, but my expectations came show more true, so that didn't leave me with that much of a good impression.

What saves me from rating it lower is that the writing style is quite nice, and it's been so long since I had a book with more than one POV that discovering that made it more readable in my eyes.

The characters are quite interesting as well, and it took me a while to figure out where Fran was standing. I love that she's always standing up to Caleb, and that a woman is the best at something we mostly see men do and excel at. However, I didn't feel that strongly either for #1001 or for Caleb. There are interesting as well, and there is definitely more than meets the eye to them, but there wasn't really a spark. They did well enough for me not to DNF the book, so that's something!

All in all, it was an ok book, surely not one of my favourites. I don't know if I should swear of Pippa DaCosta entirely, so I'll probably try one of her other series (I might just have found the one I didn't like). Also, it's actually SF and not UF, so it might just not have been what I was looking for, so I'd say to give it a go, but don't expect too much beforehand. show less