Scardown

Jenny Casey #2

by Elizabeth Bear

She wasn’t born for this mission. She was modified for it.

The year is 2062, and after years on the run, Jenny Casey is back in the Canadian armed forces. Those who were once her enemies are now her allies, and at fifty, she’ s been handpicked for the most important mission of her life—a mission for which her artificially reconstructed body is perfectly suited. With the earth capable of sustaining life for just another century, Jenny—as pilot of the starship Montreal—must discover brave new worlds. And with time running out, she must succeed where others have failed.

Now Jenny is caught in a desperate battle where old resentments become bitter betrayals and justice takes the cruelest forms of vengeance. With the help of a brilliant AI, an ex-crime lord, and the man she loves, Jenny may just get her chance to save the world. If it doesn’t come to an end first. . . .

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Cyberpunk, Military Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Space

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 2005

About the author

What Goodreads really needs is a "currently WRITING" option for its default bookshelves...

Reviews

[Megan Baxter · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this case, I think it really worked to go through Hammered and then Scardown in short order. In my first review, I said I thought that the pacing was slightly odd in the first book, in that there isn't really a major denouement. (Or maybe it didn't feel like a major denouement because I already knew it from the third book. Also possible.) I liked what the book was trying to do, but wasn't sure what I'd have made of it had I not known where the books were going. And if that isn't the most convoluted sentence I've written in a while, I'll eat my hat. And I like hats, so I have a lot to choose from.

Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was Elizabeth Bear's debut series? Really? As one of the reviewers said of the first book, "A glorious hybrid: hard science, dystopian geopolitics, and a wide-eyed sense of wonder seamlessly blended into a single book. I hate this woman. She makes the rest of us look like amateurs." (Peter Watts, on Hammered) I assure you, the sentiment applies to the second book as well (and bids good to continue in the third, which I just started.) I do kind of wonder if all three books weren't written at the same time, though, because the first and second ones especially run right into each other, plotwise. Don't pick up the first one unless you're ready to read all three is my advice.

I love the main character, Jenny Casey, and her rather hardboiled military sci-fi take on narration, but I equally love all the other characters and the way they show her to truly interact with people. The near-future world portrayed is an entirely too possible view of ecological collapse, and the characters aren't really having the best time trying to save said world, but the whole thing walks the line between being realistic about the likely outcomes and never quite becoming actually depressing. Reminds me of a more political version of Tanya Huff's Valor series. (This is a good thing.) I will definitely be reading more Elizabeth Bear.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

this may be the worst case of middle-book-itis ever. the twisty loose ends of plot from the first book collapse into a hot mess that's occasionally confusing to follow, and the unusual sex triangle gets a little silly. still, by the end, the plot snaps back to tightrope tautness, and someone's gotta save the world, whether or not it deserves it.

as a random aside, wtf is up with these covers? this buxom white chick in a wardrobe malfunction from sgt pepper is NOT the heroine of this book.

[Carolyn F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll start with complaints.
1. If your book is written in English, if you use another language in same book make sure you have the English translation. I've seen this done before in many book I've read. It's irritating if you don't have access to the internet to translate sometimes whole paragraphs of dialogue.
2. When the POV changes, maybe list in the paragraph title whose POV it is or maybe "Casey thought. . ." so we have an idea who is talking. One chapter took me over 1-1/2 pages to figure out whose POV it was.

I loved the ending. The one man, two women (not lesbian) thing - I just couldn't imagine it working so smoothly. Overall, a good book/series.

[George Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sequel to _Hammered_, Elizabeth Bear's debut, which I read too many years ago. Unfortunately, it's more a sequel the way _The Two Towers_ is a sequel to _The Fellowship of the Ring_, rather than the way _Twenty Years After_ is a sequel to _The Three Musketeers_, so it took me a little while to pick up all the threads. Nevertheless, an enjoyable trilogy (I'm not gonna wait as long before reading _Worldwired_). The world's on the brink of ecological collapse and the discovery of alien ships on Mars has catalyzed a tech race involving both FTL travel and nanotechnology, both of which are being rolled out before being well-understood, and there are competing superpowers (China and Canada, of all nations) and shady multinational corporations. Jenny Casey is at the middle of it, and the stakes are big and feel very real. Fun read.

[LindaJ^ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying the Jenny Casey series. This one was, like the first, a very quick read. Have to give the author credit -- she is not afraid to let good characters die. The death toll is high in this book. There is no lack of action and excitement.

I love the AI guys -- Richard and Alan -- and the concept of living star ships. Richard is a great character. He seems a good morale compass.

I am looking forward to obtaining and reading the next book!

[Susan Welch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bear really hits her stride in this second book of the series. Characters develop in complex and unexpected ways, the action is exciting, the stakes are high, the emotions are intense without being melodramatic. Even the use of French is better in this one, as she generally translates the things that aren't swearing or otherwise easily inferred. I do kind of like the unusual dynamic of Gabe and Jenny and Elspeth's relationship, though the two women unfortunately remain just friends. And I like that more of this book takes place in space. Can't wait to see what happens next!


Tiny spoiler for nervous animal lovers: Boris the cat makes it through this book.

[Mardel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scardown takes off pretty much the moment Hammered ended. Jenny Casey has agreed to go back to Canada, have some pilot training and have her "wet-ware" up-graded with "new nanites", or a new version of nanites. This is supposed to take care of her increasing pain, her increasing neurological symptoms, and more. Thus the name Scardown. Down with the scars!

With the return of many of the characters from the last novel, Jenny and Gabriel begin a complicated relationship, Elspeth is still in the picture, the artificial intelligence known as Richard or Dick (Feynman - there was a REAL genious with this name! the character and the AI is based on this person) is in a few different system and growing ever larger and stronger. Valens - the slightly sinister military official....it's debatable what his real plans are, but he's pushing for starship travel, more than one starship to colonise other planets. He sees a future that many don't want to acknowledge.

With a return of a few of the characters in Hammered, Scardown continues the story of Jenny, Valens and the machinations of the governments. There are plots and more plots. It's not always clear if who the bad guy is, if indeed there really is a bad guy. Valens is at his enigmatic possible evil best - and yet maybe he isn't quite as he seems. The AI, Richard is growing ever stronger and with more "personality".

There is quite a bit going on in this middle book - while it's a continuation of the plots from the first leading to the ending, it's quite loaded with plots and intricate subplots of its own. New characters are introduced and more is found out about the characters already introduced. Jenny's wetware has been upgraded and she's doing her end, learning how to pilot the starship while trying to keep the AI's complete possiblities secret from the government and Valens.

Bear continues to write a book full of characters and subplots - there is so much going on here, that with a less capable author it could have fallen apart. But Bear seems to be a master at juggling numerous storylines and plots, the characters all have their own personalities and flaws. More comes to light about Jenny's past, the same with some of the other characters. The narration style remains masterful, I enjoy the way she switches between Jenny Casey's first person narrative to the third person narrative of the other characters.

The book steadily climbs toward a tragic incident that has far-reaching consequences. I can't express enough just how much I enjoyed this novel. It is one of my favorite SciFi series has a mix of political intrigue, personal relationships and mystery, and science fiction storytelling that satisfies a craving I wasn't even aware that I had for this type of novel. From the characters, to the dialogues, to the plots and subplots, to the political examples to the scientific inventiveness - this is a wonderful mixup of people and stories. Definitely a book, and series that I will re-read and enjoy just as much the second and third time around.

The third and final book is Worldwired and there is quite a story coming up in it. I loved it and I would love to read more in Jenny Casey's storyline if Elizabeth Bear would write about it

[Tamora Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jenny Casey has been augmented and upgraded to pilot a starship made with alien technology in this second book in the series. Her emnities, friendships, and affairs from the last books have changed. Her family has expanded to include her lover Gabe, his daughters, and his former (?) lover Elspeth. Jenny's also discovered that her adaptations have allowed her sentient AI, based on Richard Feynman, to expand his skills, his base of operations, his knowledge, and his power, just at a time when Beijing is competing with Canada to settle space (even if it means destroying the Canadians), old enemies are trying to kill Jenny and Canada's premiere, the planet is now on an accelerated schedule to kill itself, and the aliens that created the basis for the new starships may be coming to visit.

The book is complex, with a lot of characters, but even though it's been months since I read the first one, I was able to follow it for the most part and didn't miss what I couldn't follow completely. The last third is complete, gut-wrenching action with people we care about at risk, and not all of the endings are happy ones. (Dammit, Bear, you made me cry!) The only flaw I would note is that too often Jenny decides to go off and do the lone hero thing, but Bear handles it adroitly. I've read quite a bit of her work by now, and I have to say, she is one of the best SF/F writers out there.

Okay, gotta get back to the third book in the series!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this right after Hammered, and will read the third/final book soon. I think this is the best way to read the series; if I'd waited a year, I'd have forgotten some of the characters and subplots. Which the book is loaded with. There are quite a few viewpoint characters (though Jenny Casey is the only first person voice), and I was surprised at how easy it was to keep track of, and empathize with, each one. The same with the subplots: there's the imminent ecological collapse of the Earth, emergent AI, impending war, and a murder case left over from the previous book. Then there's the alien technology, which includes FTL travel and nanotechnology used to interface pilots to the ship, which has possible applications in medicine and in ecological remediation. The teenage pilots-in-training are cute and scarily smart. And oh yes, the aliens who left the technology are coming!

Then there's the sweet menage a trois of 50-somethings. That right there used up my French, and I don't have a clue what the sexy French they use with each other means. Maybe I should look it up.

All in all, this is an ambitious book that succeeds wonderfully. I'm looking forward to finishing the series.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem with the middle volume of a trilogy is often that it tells an incomplete story, drawing out storylines set up in part one, and setting up elements for the final installment. Scardown suffers particularly from these challenges. While the first volume, Hammered, was very much a noirish style thriller, with gangsters and law enforcement, with a larger storyline leading to a dystopia civilization and world government power struggles, Scardown shifts to a more classic science fiction tale, involving nanotechnology, AI, and aliens. Elizabeth Bear has some moments of taut suspense, and conflict, overall, this volume was stuffed a little too much with extraneous characters, multiple plotlines, and a particularly dissatisfying central relationship that weakened the characters, particularly the main protagonist, and gave the overall story an amateurish feel.

I'm sufficiently intrigued by where the overall storyline is headed, that I will eventually complete the trilogy and read the final installment, Worldwired, but I think I will be taking a substantial break.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me two tries to get into this. It had been a while since I read Hammered, and Scardown starts up exactly where Hammered left off. But once I was in a suitably sci-fi mood, I ran with it.

Excellent pacing and enough plot twists that I didn't know what was coming next. I'm hoping the third installment will show up for Christmas.

[K.S. Trenten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have tears in my eyes, tears still dried on my cheeks. What a ride. Beginning with tension, intrigue, violence. The introduction of new characters, sometimes a part of the consequences reaped by established characters. The consequences of healing, of integrating new technology as Jenny Casey and those she loves try to take their first steps into space, to take flight into science fiction. Dystopia and danger drag their feet back to Earth, dogging them in the forms of corporations with dirty secrets, old friends and enemies unwilling to let them go. They’ve got each other, even if Jenny Casey and Dr. Elspeth Dunsany form an usual family unit, lovers with the same man, surrogate mothers to his daughters, and coming to care more and more about each other. They’ve an A.I. whose growing more and more powerful, providing them with some surprising allies. Some old enemies may not be as evil as they thought, having husbands, talented grandchildren, and pets. I got more and more attached to everyone tangled up in this, only to sob along with them when beloved characters sacrificed themselves heroically or just got caught up in the horror, breathing a sigh of relief over the ones who got out alive.

There’s so much going on that’s amazing in this book. There’s a lot of the characters, but the main one is an older female of mixed heritage whose prosethetic has been replaced by a better one, a lot of her disabilites have been replaced by superhuman ones which bring a host of complications which are frightening. Her growing love for a man whose family has been hers, learning to share him and his family with a brilliant scientist she’s coming to care about deeply in her own right weaves itself beautifully throughout the mystery, intrigue, and the catastrophes. The complex politics explode into violence, a violence during which even minor characters have a chance to show their heroism. Not to mention there’s humor constantly peppered in every scene, scattered through the novel, making me laugh even as I cry.

This is not a light read. It’s an amazing read.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenny ‘Maker’ Casey is a nanite-enhanced supersoldier, part of a mostly failed experiment, whose fortunes have shifted to piloting duties when two alien sneakier-than-light spaceships are dug up on Mars. Apparently left for humanity when they reach a certain technological phase by the Benefactors, they require faster than human reaction times to pilot. Hence Jenny’s sudden return to usefulness. Meanwhile the Chinese have been assembling generation ships to head off to a star some 60-odd light years from Earth due to impending global climatic disaster. They do not wish to share this planet and have sabotaged all Canadian attempts to use the new space drives. Computer AI has developed self-awareness in the ship systems as well and moved across platforms to both Canadian and Chinese ships, where one AI has discovered the Chinese intend to fling an asteroid at Earth in a last-ditch attempt to get away first. It’s a desperate race to try to thwart the sabotage and somehow get enough humans off Earth to make a new colony viable. Oh yeah, and the Benefactors appear to be headed for Earth, from two different directions! Elizabeth Bear has given us a taut political thriller, laced with romance and enough hard SF to sate anybody’s appetite. Second book of a trilogy but stands alone well enough.

[Cicero · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, even with the heart string moments, this book isn't near as strong as Book 1. In fact, it truly reads as if it is part of Book 1 and that the publishers just "cut" it apart.
The main character has made an unbelievable shift / change in all aspects of being from Book 1 with minimal instigating situations to cause this. I just could not buy it. Some characters just sort of disappeared from the story line. Aliens arrived and is a first contact situation that hardly receives any attention. I did enjoy the intricasies of dealing with nanobites and AIs, which includes the political arena.
So on to Book 3. This affirms my dislike for series.

[Worms · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up for the strong ending and interesting topics explored.

While the first book, Hammered, was bogged down by an overabundance of characters/POVs and an unnecessarily convoluted plot, the ideas that it explored were all good. I enjoyed the cyberpunk/noir street level drug/gangster aspect, the development of the budding AI construct, the VR sim training people to fly advanced starships, and the the alien spaceships/nanotech. While the book never really grabbed me, the whole thing felt like a prologue leading up to this book. So I was hoping that with all the characters and plot lines introduced, Scardown would kick off strong and send us right into the action. Except well... nope.

The cyberpunk/noir aspect is completely removed from this book and it instead delivers mostly near-future speculative sci-fi with politics and global warming. This isn't necessarily bad, but I was here for the cyberpunk so found this to be a bummer.

While we kick off literally minutes after Hammered ended, the narrative immediately gets mired in slog as the reader is introduced to a million new minor characters who all get POV chapters. And just like the first book, everyone is referred to by multiple names (first/last/nickname) depending on who is talking to them, making it even harder to keep track of everyone. Jenny Casey quickly becomes a side character in her own book. To be honest, because there are so many characters, nobody actually feels like a main character.

While all these different perspectives do eventually tie into the narrative at large, the majority of them are completely unnecessary and could've be summarized in a paragraph or less with someone just relaying the main points to Jenny. Instead, the author wastes so many pages on needless, minor development for characters that don't matter, and in doing so sacrifices the development/arcs of supposedly major characters like Jenny and Leah.

Another big misstep is that so many plot points from the first book are dropped and end up not mattering whatsoever. The first book spent a lot of time giving us (way too many) bits of forced mystery about Jenny's past which I assumed would all be really important later on - for example, a significant amount of time was spent on her relationship with her older and younger sisters, implying there was some really important mystery there to be uncovered. But nope, they're pretty much never mentioned in this book and their relationship to Jenny has zero bearing on what happens. All the stuff that happened with Mitch and Razorface goes nowhere. Razor is back, but rarely makes an appearance and his entire new plot line ends up going nowhere.

Let's not forget that for some absurd reason the author also decided to give THREE PEOPLE the name Genevieve: the MC, and the dead wife and kid of the MC's love interest. This is such an insane writing decision that I assumed this HAD to be a bombshell that would come out later. And... nope. That wife is only brought up in passing like once and there is no explanation for the names whatsoever.

Anyway. After a sloggy beginning of new character introductions, the entire middle of Scardown is excruciatingly slow. It's nothing but people going out to eat and sitting around talking. Literally every chapter is "we went to get coffee/food" and they just sit there and talk for a page or two and then the POV shifts. And because there are so goddamn many POVs, we have to cycle through what 10 other groups of people are doing at that same moment before we can progress any part of the narrative. Rinse, repeat. I ended up skimming a lot of the side character POVs because they add very little of value to the story.

Because we get so little time with them, none of the characters are particularly engaging . Even Jenny, whom I thought was going to be a lot more interesting now that she is all fixed up, is rather bland. She mostly just sits around and talks to people and everyone wonders what they're going to do.

Further worsening this is the prominent use of the Richard AI. While this is a fun idea and I did enjoy him overall, I'm not a fan of stories that heavily use benevolent AI because what ends up happening is the AI does all the heavy lifting and so the human characters just sort of wait around until the AI tells them what to do next. And well, the whole second half of this book is Richard doing and orchestrating almost everything meaningful. Boring.

Don't even get me started on the stupid ass love triangle. I am so over the massive amount of sidechick energy these books absolutely drip with. We have two very smart, capable women (in their 50s no less) who are competing over Gabe who, let's be honest, despite the authors insistence that he is the biggest, burliest, most compassionate dude ever, is an absolute dog. He cheats on Ellie with Jenny the first chance he gets, goes back and forth between them in front of his kids and gets caught multiple times (to which everyone is just like "oh so cute, nbd, lol!"). He keeps Ellie around to watch his daughters while he goes up to space and bangs Jenny, and then wants to come back to her when he's home. And the dude is a single father who CAN'T COOK. Let's also address the flashback in this book where Gabe's wife had literally just died and Jenny is all like "yeah he would've fucked me if I'd asked." Dude, what??? Loyalty at it's finest. Yet both women are totally cool with just sharing him and they don't even really like each other. WTF. WHY? You know who I want to root for? A strong, badass female lead who is totally fine being a sidechick to a bum. GTFO.

Anyhow, despite all my rantings, the end of the book is actually quite good. All of the plot threads come together and we're given a strong sequence of action-packed, emotionally charged events that carry a significant amount of impact on both the characters and Earth at large. People die and the author does a solid job of conveying that there are real stakes for the characters and the planet. I just wish the preceding 250 pages could have been half as engaging.

Even so, Scardown didn't grab me enough to want finish the series.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scardown picks up right where Hammered lets off, and does a wonderful job of ramping up the action. New characters are drawn into the web, new plot threads gain prominence, new complications threaten our main characters.

The almost-love-triangle is a bit strange, yes. But it's working?

I finally realized that Bear has been writing Jenny's scenes in first person and everyone else's in third. It's an interesting device, and one that could be annoying. But I think it works to give her voice prominence and have the reader identify more closely with her.

The ending feels less like a real ending and more like something balanced precariously on the precipice of an abyss. As bad as it gets, we ain't seen nothing yet.

So I guess I'll be diving right into the third- me and my broken heart, because the whiplash between saving even the cat and then turning around and killing the kid was tough.

Having said that, though, the death was handled well. It was a heroic action, but the death itself wasn't over dramatic. It just was.

So yes. On to book three.

[Lotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not going to write much about the plot, which is basically a continuation of the first book that then goes on in book three. It's nicely paced and has changing points of view.

What I particularly like is the diversity of the characters (and how this works so well for the story without seeming contrived), and that they are all three-dimensional. Even the "villains" are allowed to be complete people with human motivations, and the characters are of many different skin colours, ethnicities, backgrounds, sexualities, have different family constellations and are generally complex and interesting. This does not surprise me, because it's something I've seen in the other books by Bear, but at the same time it's so refreshing. There are lgbtq people, people in poly families (without it being the point of it, just how it works out), brave 14-year olds, an AI, loyal criminals, sociopathic bosses and all this set in a really facinating future, with space elevators and alien nanotech.

[Liam Proven · Rating 4 out of 5]

#2 of the trilogy.

I continue to be impressed by this début trilogy. It has a lot going on and while some of it does feel badly bolted-on, in the 2nd book, it actually feels like it's coming together - the most redundant-feeling plotline terminates in this book and the rest feels more cohesive for it. The protagonist does start to feel like a little bit of a Mary-Sue (if I am using that correctly) - the jaded, scarred, injured veteran has been rejuvenated and whereas that is integral to the plot and reflects a major plot theme, it still feels a little too good to be true.

She remains an interesting character and I like the device of only putting her viewpoint in the 1st person, whereas the multiple others are all 3rd person - it aids the reader and gives one narrative strand extra impact.

[Michael Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm pleased to see that modern authors can write as well or better than the old greats. In the second book of the trilogy, Elizabeth Bear takes her well-crafted story to an epic scale. Already weaving threads of noir and cyberpunk into a coherent fabric with golden-age-style science-fiction, the focus shifts as the shadowy corporate machinations surrounding the characters are replaced with the chicanery of international espionage and an arms race against other space-faring nations. Bear manages to eclipse a hellish anticlimax with an even more exciting close, as humanity suddenly finds itself thrust into a first contact situation — with the entire human homeworld sitting on the brink of war. And now onto the last book of the trilogy.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenny Casey, stuffed full of advanced nanites and hooked up to a starship run by a brilliant AI, is ready to take humanity to the stars. Or she would be, if the Chinese weren’t plotting sabotage and the Canadian team wasn’t run by sociopaths. Although Hammered got a ton of flashbacks and exposition out of the way, this is still a highly layered novel, with more planning (frankly, scheming) than action in the first half. The plethora of intriguing and nuanced characters keeps interest from flagging before the shocking finale, though.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lively, fast-paced science fiction adventure with some interesting characters. There's a substantial cast and some of them get rather short-shrift (character description suggest a multi-cultural society but no one seems to actually have much of a culture, for example). I did start this series in the middle though, just through failure to register that I was reading Book 2, so it's quite possible things hang together better if you start with Book 1 and work your way through.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides]

I started to read this, and decided not to keep going. I had forgotten how much the nature of the romantic part of the plot annoyed me in the prequel. And also, a lieutenant is going to decline to acknowledge the colleague that a colonel just introduced him to, when the colonel is still standing there? Even in the Canadian military, I somehow doubt it.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

We're reading Undertow by this author for the next SF Book Club meeting. I started this and put it down a couple weeks ago. Decided to give it another try. It is readable...so far light on plot movement as all the necessary characters are described & put in place. Have a feeling it'll take off soon.

[T.S. Hottle · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, I really like the world Bear has created. But this book was hard to follow at some points because of the POV shifts. Jen Casey is an original and interesting character. Richard, the AI serving as the brain trust for our heroes, reminds me a little of The Doctor to the point where I could see Peter Capaldi (in a Canadian accent) voicing him in a movie.

[Tom Britz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book in a trilogy and it lacks no energy. There are so many things happening, a planet Earth that is dying from global warming, world wars, and finding and reverse engineering of alien starships. This second book did not lag and in fact the action seemed to ramp up, if anything. I look forward to the last book in the series.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite of the trilogy, and not just because my name got used on a throwaway character. :) The ending made me cry - I can't say more without getting spoilery.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! LOVE this series!

[Macha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars.

[Fussmama · Rating 4 out of 5]

didn't realize it was part of a series when i read it, and loved it anyway. went on to read the next book (#3), but never went back to read the first.