Young Rissa

Hope Springs Eternal

As a young girl, raised in a home with two alcoholic parents, I know a lot about neglect, emotional, physical and sexual abuse. When I first read Young Rissa, I finally found someone in whom I could find hope for a better life.

Rissa Kerguelen is sent into the Welfare program on Earth at age five when her parents are killed. Along with her brother, Ivan, they are ripped from the comfort of a luxurious and safe home and sent into hell.

On Earth, approximately 30% of the population is indentured to the Welfare system and almost no one ever buys their way out. Occasionally, someone hits the Government run lottery and escapes but usually falls back into Welfare's clutches.

Rissa and Ivan are in the system for close to six show more years. Enduring physical abuse and rape, Rissa worries about her brother. All of the reports she hears about Ivan are that he is "in punishment status."

Shockingly, Rissa discovers that she has won the biggest Welfare lottery and is freed around her 11th year. Her Uncle Voris meets her and explains the danger she now faces.

The rest of the book is a triumph over the worst odds, a thrilling hope to anyone who has ever been held in captivity and one of the best Space Operas I've ever read.

It's been close to 45 years since I last read this book but it was like coming home to re-read it. F. M. Busby's Rissa Kerguelen is why I'm a Science Fiction fan for life. show less

This is reasonably entertaining space opera, somewhat marred by sophomoric sexual content (the first forty pages gives us prepubescent masturbation; our protagonist thinking "After all, he could have been worse" about the man who raped her and then made daily servicing of his needs the price to pay for not having to scrub floors for eternity; and a well-preserved seventy-year-old woman who conducts final exams to graduate from her training program in bed). About the only thought provoking thing in the book was the impact of time dilation on investment performance. By the time you get to where you going, the investments you left behind on Earth would have increased many times. Busby doesn't address how the money gets to you, though. show more Still, if you're looking for a bit of mindless escapism and a female-James-Bond-in-space kind of protagonist this might fit the bill. I assume that the sequels go on to tell of her return to Earth and dethroning of the evil corporate government. show less

"Volume One of the Rissa Kerguelen Saga" - This was presumably intended as the beginning of a long-running series. The lack of a relatable central character or much in the way of original ideas probably explains why that never happened. I liked the idea that North America is literally owned and run by a corporation but that's all I liked. E.C. Tubb's Earl Dumarest saga is an example of how this kind of thing really ought to be done.

Incidentally the woman on the cover of the UK edition looks like a soccer mom...not at all the "Lisbeth Salander on steroids" that I somehow envisaged.

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