Jenna Starborn

Jane Eyre as space opera! It almost worked, but I wanted some more background on how the 19th century moral codes were reproduced far into the future. There is a class system of people with and without or with partial citizenship based on money. I couldn't figure out how the female "reputation" issue worked - unless it was also a class issue rather than a gender inequity thing. I was entertained by Jenna's fervent prayers to a Goddess of Panequity. (October 16, 2004)

Jenna Starborn is a retelling of Jane Eyre, as if it were science-fiction. I adore Jane Eyre, love retellings, quite like science-fiction and really enjoyed other Sharon Shinn novels I've read, but this wasn't quite as wonderful as I expected.
What I love about retellings is often not how they mirror each other but the ways in which they differ, telling the same story in different ways for different audiences, with different settings and very different characters. Apart from setting it in a futuristic, science-fiction world, Jenna Starborn parallels the original story of Jane Eyre very closely, both in events and characters. There were few differences or deviations - and then I started to wonder if such changes were there to critique show more the original text rather than make Jenna Starborn an original story in its own right. (Theoretically, I love the idea of writing fiction to engage with another work of fiction but criticising Jane Eyre? No one gets away with that on my watch!)
So while I love both the original story and the idea of a science-fiction retelling, Jenna Starborn is simply too derivative for me. Jane Eyre remained at the forefront of my mind for much of the time, so not only did I find that I knew - roughly - what was going to happen next (which decreased the narrative's suspense), I found it difficult to not compare the two.

Jane Eyre is one of my favourite novels of all time. I reread it frequently (unintentionally, I think it works out to rereading it annually) and have done since I was child. So not only do I know it rather well, in my mind, it is nearly impossible to be better than Jane Eyre. By comparison, the dialogue in Jenna Starborn didn't seem brilliant or memorable, and I liked the characters a lot less - several I didn't warm to at all. Ultimately, Jenna Starborn felt inferior, and left me wanting to reread Jane Eyre again.

There were things I liked about Jenna Starborn. I enjoyed a lot of it, and there were moments - or even chapters - when it grabbed my attention, making me forget about the original, and became hard to put down. I also thought some of the ways details from Jane Eyre were "translated" into a futuristic, science-fiction form were clever and handled well.
I can see Jenna Starborn working for readers who are less familiar with the original, or who prefer science fiction as a genre to 19th century literary classics. For myself, I think I'll just stick with Charlotte Brontë's version. show less

As a half-cit, Jenna Starborn knew it would be difficult to rise far from the gen-tank she was issued from. So she studied hard and eventually found a position as a technician under the employ of Everett Ravenbeck. Jenna felt an attraction to Mr Ravenbeck from their first meeting, but knew there was little chance of a relationship with him. For his girlfriend, Bianca Ingersoll, was not only a full citizen, she was beautiful and moneyed and rumor was they were soon to be engaged. But Everett did harbor affection for Jenna and gave her hopes of a future with him as his wife and as a mother to his ward, Ameletta. But on the day of their wedding ceremony Jenna learned of another woman in Ravenbeck's life, Beatrice Merrick. A monkey-wrench show more in Jenna's dream machine, an impediment which even a top-notch technician can't remove.

"How can I give up the few things I have-- and they are so few! -- My unblemished reputation and my ability to care for myself, for a man who risks nothing for me? I do not care about your money. I do not care about your position in society. I would love you as well, or even better, if you did not have these things. But I cannot be your mistress, because I cannot throw away my life. I am too valuable for that. I am worth more than a rich man's whim."

Yes, Jenna Starborn is a retelling of Jane Eyre. What a fine job Sharon Shinn has done here. I loved every chapter. If you adore Jane Eyre, like I do, you will make friends easily with Jenna Starborn. The shiny sci-fi attire has not changed the heart of the girl you fell in love with. In fact, this would be a great way to introduce a young person to the classic tale. I would love to see what Shinn could do with Wuthering Heights. show less

In Jenna Starborn, Sharon Shinn gives us a science fiction version of Jane Eyre. As always, the level of complexity of the universe she creates is astounding. Worlds with their own distinctive cultures, an awesome problem-filled caste system, and the ability for the rich to do just about anything, include commission the creation of a baby in a gen tank.

Jenna is the cast off gen tank baby of Mrs. Rentner. When doctors find out that she's being neglected at home, they send her off to technical school, where she learns how to maintain and fix nuclear generators. Fast forward some years, and she arrives at Mr. Ravenbeck's house as a technician and finds that there is more to the place and to Mr. Ravenbeck than what first meets the eye.

To be show more honest, I enjoyed the changes that Shinn made to the original story. While the horse-and-carriage nineteenth century thing is great, I just think that spaceships, terraformed planets, computerized houses, and robots are even cooler. I loved immersing myself into another unique Shinn world, and figuring out this new universe kept me entertained for most of the time. However, unlike the original Jane Eyre, the characters just didn't draw me in. Mr. Ravenbeck's young ward, Amelia, didn't have the vivacity of Adele, and Jenna is nowhere near as feisty as Jane. While it makes Jenna and Mr. Ravenbeck's relationship less creepy and unhealthy, it also makes it fall flat and lack heat.

I also wished that this story could have been more different; I went through the whole novel, hoping to see some sort of tweak to the story, other than the fact that Mr. Ravenbeck falls in love with Jenna instead of the nanny character: Janet Ayreson. It was different in the sense that this story is put into a science fiction universe, but I was hoping for something more. In the end, it really is just the story of Jane Eyre with cyborgs and spaceships instead of crazy wives and horse carriages. (Okay, that sounds really cool, but you see what I'm getting at, right?) If you've read Jane Eyre, then the small sci-fi tweaks Shinn makes here and there will give you amusement, but that's about it. It really has nothing on the original. If you haven't read Jane Eyre, you probably won't love this book, to be honest. There isn't much in the way of heat and romance and the changes won't amuse you. In either case, it isn't very satisfying. A nice read, but lacking in depth. show less

It definitely lived up to the expectations of upbeat and romantic. As a quick summary, Jenna Starborn is Jane Eyre...IN SPACE. Yes, it's a scifi retelling of that most classic of the 19th century romantic novels. The interchanged details are magnificent: born of a gen tank rather than as an unwanted orphan, becomes a nuclear technician rather than a governess, with Jenna as a half-citizen rather than merely a penniless orphan.

I particularly liked how Shinn focused on the caste system of this future world and basically magnified the social system of the 19th century into a more legal status difference that actually ended up being more stratifying than Jane Eyre's precarious situation in her novel. This system allowed Shinn to explore show more some philosophical points on social stature that were present, although not focused on, in Brontë's novel. The worth of a person becomes a poignant point in this novel, although sadly, Shinn only briefly touches on it before moving onto the meat of the story.

My only major discontent with this book was that it followed the story of Jane Eyre TOO closely. I knew what would come next and how it would end, and besides the changes in terminology, it was not a very unique story. I like my retellings to be richly detailed and to just use the bare bones outline of the original to tell a new story with a new point. Mercedes Lackey does this admirably with her Elemental Masters novels. show less

Themes: romance, space, family, overcoming challenges, class, religion, personhood

Setting: Space

Jenna wasn't born - she was created, for a woman who wanted a child. But once Jenna came home, she discovered that she wasn't the sort of child she wanted, so Jenna never really became a daughter. She was just sort of an obligation. After years of abuse, Jenna finally gets sent away to a school where she can learn a trade and find a job. She makes and loses her first friend. Then she leaves school and heads out for a distant planet at her first job as a nuclear technician. She likes her new job and when she meets her wealthy and powerful new employer, she finds herself attracted to him. But there are many things keeping them apart.

Sound show more familiar? If you're familiar with Jane Eyre, you will immediately spot this as a retelling. I love the original, and I was intrigued by the idea of casting it as a space story. But I was not very happy with this version.

The space setting was fun, and I think it worked. A good story can be reinterpreted over and over, and still be fresh and interesting. Jenna has a strong voice and I mostly liked her. But something about the story just didn't work for me. For one thing, I hated the religion part. I just didn't buy all this stuff about the Goddess. It wasn't as well integrated into the story as it should have been, so it just felt like preaching. I wasn't crazy about Ravenbeck either.

I didn't hate this story, but I had high hopes for it and found myself disappointed. I finished it, but I'm not sure I'll read anything else by Sharon Shinn. show less

A re-telling of Jane Eyre set in space. She did a really good job meshing the 19th century novel feel with the setting, but it really is Jane Eyre. She doesn't change the story substantively at all, so if you're in the mood for Jane, pick this up.