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Catch the Lightning - Catherine Asaro
I really enjoyed Asaro's first novel, Primary Inversion, which I reviewed recently.
However, her second wasn't as good.
The first half of this book was very disappointing. When a novel that you know takes place in a futuristic Imperium starts off on Earth in the 1980s, you know it isn't going to remain there. Thus, it becomes very hard to engage with the characters as you suspect most of them won't be in the second half of the novel - and indeed, most of them were not.
The point of view character is a young, poorly educated woman of Mayan ancestry. This causes a big problem for a novel that deals with space travel, Riemann surfaces and the like. The most common phrase in the book is: "As I was later to learn" which comes up every time something involving physics or math is described.
This is a real plot-killer as it means you already know the character is going to survive and settle down in a future where she will be in a position to learn all about ftl inversion theory.
In one or two places, the writer becomes so used to this handy fallback that she uses it even when it isn't necessary. She tells us rather than showing us explanations for events - even when the character is actually able to work out from evidence around her what is happening.
I can also catch traces of the historical background to the Skolian Empire being inconsistent - and that's really annoying.
The second half of the book was a lot more interesting than the first, which is a good thing because otherwise I wouldn't bother reading any more of Asaro's novels.
However, her second wasn't as good.
The first half of this book was very disappointing. When a novel that you know takes place in a futuristic Imperium starts off on Earth in the 1980s, you know it isn't going to remain there. Thus, it becomes very hard to engage with the characters as you suspect most of them won't be in the second half of the novel - and indeed, most of them were not.
The point of view character is a young, poorly educated woman of Mayan ancestry. This causes a big problem for a novel that deals with space travel, Riemann surfaces and the like. The most common phrase in the book is: "As I was later to learn" which comes up every time something involving physics or math is described.
This is a real plot-killer as it means you already know the character is going to survive and settle down in a future where she will be in a position to learn all about ftl inversion theory.
In one or two places, the writer becomes so used to this handy fallback that she uses it even when it isn't necessary. She tells us rather than showing us explanations for events - even when the character is actually able to work out from evidence around her what is happening.
I can also catch traces of the historical background to the Skolian Empire being inconsistent - and that's really annoying.
The second half of the book was a lot more interesting than the first, which is a good thing because otherwise I wouldn't bother reading any more of Asaro's novels.
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Still have "Primary Inversion" on my to-read list, though.
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You know, I completely agree and was afraid to say something because all the fancrit lit seems to have the exact opposite opinion.