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Run
This novel is the story of Catholics living on Earth's first asteroid-mining space colony when the World President announces the formation of a brand new world-wide religion which will replace all others. Or else. That doesn't work for Catholics. What can they do? Run in hard copy is currently available only from the publishers website via Paypal. It is also for sale via Kobo. https://malapertpress.wordpress.com/2...
324 pages, Paperback
First published August 5, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 12, 2016
"Run" is an ambitious and philosophical presentation of the conflict between a fast-paced, postmodern culture that has extended even to space, and people who live their lives by the values of traditional religion.
The first half of the book is phenomenal. The characterization is excellent, as well as the pace, and the reader interest/immersion. The characters are immediately relatable and believable, even if they only step onto the stage for a moment. My interest in the story and the characters was immediate, and well-sustained throughout the first half of the book.
There are a lot of struggles and topics dealing with current politics in the Catholic Church, but a good amount of character investment is given to the problems of the other major religions represented as well--Muslims and Hindus.
This book has a ton of potential, but the second half of it fumbles. The characters we've followed so far are largely abandoned so that the story can rush towards its conclusion (getting to an isolated asteroid as a means of escape of new invasive governmental regulations against religion), and the conflicts and development of new characters jumps too quickly, and tells too much instead of letting us walk with the characters and showing us how they change. Conflicts are introduced in the main characters lives in their pursuit of their escape, but they are much too quickly and summarily resolved, losing the sense of the reality of the struggle and short-changing further character development and meaningful conflict.
There are some great philosophical topics and discussions in this book, and a lot of thought-provoking ideas about what makes religion relevant and a force of change and motivation in peoples' lives. I do think, however, that some of the discussions of Church politics might not be relevant or even understandable to some readers. I'm Catholic and so I know about the conflicts going on in the Church (or even just on its doorstep), but I'm not sure someone who was not familiar with this would have been able to connect to these issues. There is also, at the end of the book, a lot of discussion of techniques of government, such as distributism, and the importance of recognizing morals and natural law in the government. Again, though, this is told, and not shown. I would have loved to seen it expressed rather in story and character conflict.
The only other point I must note, as a Catholic myself, is the character of some of the behavior of the Catholics in the book. Catholics, called to be the light of the world and make disciples of all nations, and also to live exemplary and obedient lives, even to the loss of everything and the shedding of their own blood for Christ (there is great historical precedent for this), don't ever really have an excuse to just "run away". I was personally unsatisfied with their conduct in this regard, of legally "stealing" a ship and abandoning the world to set up their own Catholic state in the middle of the Oort cloud far away from everybody. I'm not saying there aren't ways something like that could be done, in a plausible science fiction world, such as fleeing to another country to escape oppression, Catholics and people of any religion do these things. Or even of retreating to live a cloistered monastic life to pray for the world. But the sense, intention, or implication of cutting themselves off completely and doing their own thing was very strong here and I couldn't get behind that.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. The author has a lot of talent for story craft, her writing makes this obvious, so I was sad to see the "ball dropped" in the second half of the book. I loved her idea and would have loved to see the potential of this story be fulfilled and really make an impact. I enjoyed that there were characters of different religions followed; the author is familiar with Islam as well (more familiar than I am, so I can't check her accuracy!). Having a Hindu background myself I would have liked to see more of the Hindu characters and how their beliefs meshed with all this. It was a really fun romp in a lot of ways for a philosophically-minded person like myself.
The first half of the book is phenomenal. The characterization is excellent, as well as the pace, and the reader interest/immersion. The characters are immediately relatable and believable, even if they only step onto the stage for a moment. My interest in the story and the characters was immediate, and well-sustained throughout the first half of the book.
There are a lot of struggles and topics dealing with current politics in the Catholic Church, but a good amount of character investment is given to the problems of the other major religions represented as well--Muslims and Hindus.
This book has a ton of potential, but the second half of it fumbles. The characters we've followed so far are largely abandoned so that the story can rush towards its conclusion (getting to an isolated asteroid as a means of escape of new invasive governmental regulations against religion), and the conflicts and development of new characters jumps too quickly, and tells too much instead of letting us walk with the characters and showing us how they change. Conflicts are introduced in the main characters lives in their pursuit of their escape, but they are much too quickly and summarily resolved, losing the sense of the reality of the struggle and short-changing further character development and meaningful conflict.
There are some great philosophical topics and discussions in this book, and a lot of thought-provoking ideas about what makes religion relevant and a force of change and motivation in peoples' lives. I do think, however, that some of the discussions of Church politics might not be relevant or even understandable to some readers. I'm Catholic and so I know about the conflicts going on in the Church (or even just on its doorstep), but I'm not sure someone who was not familiar with this would have been able to connect to these issues. There is also, at the end of the book, a lot of discussion of techniques of government, such as distributism, and the importance of recognizing morals and natural law in the government. Again, though, this is told, and not shown. I would have loved to seen it expressed rather in story and character conflict.
The only other point I must note, as a Catholic myself, is the character of some of the behavior of the Catholics in the book. Catholics, called to be the light of the world and make disciples of all nations, and also to live exemplary and obedient lives, even to the loss of everything and the shedding of their own blood for Christ (there is great historical precedent for this), don't ever really have an excuse to just "run away". I was personally unsatisfied with their conduct in this regard, of legally "stealing" a ship and abandoning the world to set up their own Catholic state in the middle of the Oort cloud far away from everybody. I'm not saying there aren't ways something like that could be done, in a plausible science fiction world, such as fleeing to another country to escape oppression, Catholics and people of any religion do these things. Or even of retreating to live a cloistered monastic life to pray for the world. But the sense, intention, or implication of cutting themselves off completely and doing their own thing was very strong here and I couldn't get behind that.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. The author has a lot of talent for story craft, her writing makes this obvious, so I was sad to see the "ball dropped" in the second half of the book. I loved her idea and would have loved to see the potential of this story be fulfilled and really make an impact. I enjoyed that there were characters of different religions followed; the author is familiar with Islam as well (more familiar than I am, so I can't check her accuracy!). Having a Hindu background myself I would have liked to see more of the Hindu characters and how their beliefs meshed with all this. It was a really fun romp in a lot of ways for a philosophically-minded person like myself.
June 12, 2022
For those of us interested in both religious issues and sci fi, this is one of the best books I've ever read. Set in a future in which the Earth has built one large new place to live in near Earth orbit, used as home base for asteroid mining, with power it generates beamed to Earth. The base is named Haliburton, for the corporation which owns it and runs it as a company town. Earth is shown as having the one world government some are now seeking.
As the story opens, Earth leadership is getting rid of the world's separate religions, forcibly combining them into a single new syncretistic one intended to incorporate all the others, but tolerating no rivals. Wanting to preserve its options, Catholicism ordains a new bishop to be sent to Haliburton and serve Catholics everywhere except on Earth.
With individual and religious freedom disappearing both on Earth and Haliburton, traditional Catholics and Muslims on Haliburton are seeking anywhere else to be.
The book gives lots of thought to how such a society might work, in terms of laws, government, economics, and interfaith relations. While I might not agree on some of the ideas favored, the book does a great job of explaining how and why our current solutions to those problems are not working at a much deeper level than just wishing the other party were in charge.
I particularly liked how the book included relevant parallels to several Bible events, such as the Exodus, and Peter's escape from prison. I also appreciated the detailed discussion of how Catholic institutions like confession and the Mass would work in space. I also learned some new things about Islam.
Highly recommended!
As the story opens, Earth leadership is getting rid of the world's separate religions, forcibly combining them into a single new syncretistic one intended to incorporate all the others, but tolerating no rivals. Wanting to preserve its options, Catholicism ordains a new bishop to be sent to Haliburton and serve Catholics everywhere except on Earth.
With individual and religious freedom disappearing both on Earth and Haliburton, traditional Catholics and Muslims on Haliburton are seeking anywhere else to be.
The book gives lots of thought to how such a society might work, in terms of laws, government, economics, and interfaith relations. While I might not agree on some of the ideas favored, the book does a great job of explaining how and why our current solutions to those problems are not working at a much deeper level than just wishing the other party were in charge.
I particularly liked how the book included relevant parallels to several Bible events, such as the Exodus, and Peter's escape from prison. I also appreciated the detailed discussion of how Catholic institutions like confession and the Mass would work in space. I also learned some new things about Islam.
Highly recommended!
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June 18, 2019I found this book to be remarkable in its scope. Sci-fi is not my preferred genre, but I really appreciated the perspective that this author discussed in a future possibile one-world order where there is only one religion and everyone was forced to adhere to it. Her knowledge of the Catholic faith that comes from its founder, Jesus Christ, and his early disciples who set up His Church on earth and the attempted destruction of said faith by its own hierarchy was spot-on. Not to mention the degradation that human beings find themselves in as they become commodities to be used and abused at will. Granted, there's a lot to include when you are speaking of ordinary folks who seek to find their religious freedom in outer space, but the story was well-told and I enjoyed every minute of it. I hope Janet writes a sequel.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews