Paragaea

by Chris Roberson

A Planetary Romance is the story of Akilina "Leena" Chirikov, who shortly after launching from Star Town in the Soviet Union, finds herself thrown into another dimension, a world of strange science and ancient mystery. There she meets another time-lost person from Earth, Lieutenant Hieronymus Bonaventure of the Royal Navy—who left home to fight the forces of Napoleon and never returned—and his companion, Balam—outlaw prince of the jaguar men. Bonaventure is interested only in adventure and amusement, while Balam only wants distraction until the day he can reclaim his throne. Having little better to do, they agree to help Chirikov find a way home. In the tradition of the planetary romances of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Leigh Brackett, Paragaea is in fact a "hard" science fiction adventure, grounded in the latest thinking in the fields of theoretical physics, artificial intelligence, genetics, and more. There is a rigorously rational explanation behind all of the unearthly elements, with most of the "magic" the protagonist encounters being the products of a forgotten, transhuman, post-singularity culture that has long since disappeared. Chirikov, a strictly rational Soviet cosmonaut, interprets these as best she can, using the framework of early 1960s science. Being a dutiful Soviet, she wants only to return home to Earth, to inform her superiors about what she has discovered. But she soon finds herself developing ties to her companion Bonaventure that make her wonder whether she really wants to go home at all.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Pulp

399 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2, 2006

About the author

Chris Roberson is the co-creator with artist Michael Allred of iZombie, the basis of the hit CW television series, and the writer of several New York Times best-selling Cinderella miniseries set in the world of Bill Willingham’s Fables. He is also the co-creator of Edison Rex with artist Dennis Culver, and the co-writer of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D, Witchfinder, Rise of the Black Flame, and other titles set in the world of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. In addition to his numerous comics projects, Roberson has written more than a dozen novels and three dozen short stories. He lives with a teenager, two cats, and far too many books in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science Fantasy at its finest. Chris Roberson crafts a Planetary Romance clearly influenced by Burroughs, Moorcock, and others.

Leena Chirikov, a Russian cosmonaut from the 1960's, is the heroine of the tale. Her ship is pulled through a vortex shortly after takeoff and she ends up in Paragaea, a very Earth-like world. Leena's a resourceful lady and manages to escape drowning with her survival pack intact, complete with pistol and medical supplies.

Shortly afterwards, she runs afoul of the first band of humanoids (meta-men) she'll encounter, a party of jaguar men. After some tense moments, she's rescued by a heroic duo reminiscent of the much revered Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Balam's an exiled jaguar man and clearly the Fafhrd of the group while Hieronymus Bonaventure, an earthman from the 19th century fills the Mouser role nicely. After helping Leena, the duo offers to help her find her way back to earth. Along the way, the meet up with a warrior woman, a centuries old robot, Balan's estranged daughter, a lost race with great technological power, and meta-men of every shape and size.

This book could easily fall into rip off territory but Roberson manages to keep it fresh. Although he uses all the staples of planetary romance, he gives them all his own twist. He has a heroine instead of a hero and she's not a superhuman, the technology and even the meta-men are explained, and he works Easter eggs into the story for people as into the genre as he is to find.

If you're looking for pulp cheese with a new flavor, Paragaea is the way to go.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you remember when you were a kid and you spent your weekends lost in the latest non-stop, quick-moving, sword-wielding, jungle-trekking, dinosaur-chasing adventure you were watching/reading at the time? Man oh man, how I loved that. So you can imagine how happy I was when I read Chris Roberson's Paragaea and got to experience that all over again: Russian cosmonauts, time-travelling adventurers, jaguar-men, reptile people. What more could you want?

[steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Philip Jose Farmer, Chris Roberson sticks to the tradition with everything except the use of his middle name. The story is ripe with elements traditional to the genre, right down to the cat-men, dog-men, fish-men, not to mention prehistoric life integrated almost seamlessly into the world -- and all with a scientific explanation, or at least as scientific as A Princess of Mars ever was.

A thoroughly enjoyable read, if you enjoy a throwback to an earlier era in science fiction. The only thing semi-modern is the main character's original setting; all else follows the strict rules of romantic sf stories, commenting off-handedly on the politics of the current age. A great little escape from reality, almost as complete as Leena's.

[Roger Perales · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out strong and interesting but after a while it was just too repetitive...the group meets some new crazy character and gets into a crazy situation which don't add much to the story. It had a solid ending but the middle just started to lose me after a while.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a smorgasbord of scientific romance tropes and ideas: animal-men, lost empires, ruins, weird science, adventurers from Earth, and dinosaurs. Adventure everywhere. Sky pirates riding pterosaurs, attacking dirigibles.

I was expecting our heroes to be captured and forced into arena combat, because that's how these things turn out. Not this time, to my surprise.

Despite these ideas, it was more about the characters. Each has an explored backstory and motivations, even if those motivations are "go and do adventure". Unfortunately this thoroughness affects the story pacing: character moments during travel separate the obvious set pieces, and the set pieces are the moments of excitement. And in many cases the set pieces are not quite as grand or extensive as they could be, or they play out too easily.

[Chris Branch · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a fast paced story with interesting characters, and the setting is fairly creative. The style is a throwback to the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and to my personal favorite derivative of that genre, the Kregen books by Alan Burt Akers. I certainly enjoyed them years ago, and probably would have liked this one more back then. But to my current taste, the writing comes across as rather cliched, taking itself a bit too seriously. There are some attempts at mild humor, but it largely falls flat for me.

The plot is a fairly straightforward sequence of events, following an unwavering line drawn from Leena's transport to Paragaea to her eventual escape. From the point of view of the characters, of course, there are twists and turns, setbacks and surprising occurrences. For the reader, however, it's less sophisticated than what I've become used to. There's just one obstacle after another thrown up for the protagonists to overcome, and the sense of well-constructed complexity is lacking.

So, not exactly bad, but somewhat simplistic. and in spite of the pacing, the overall tone was a bit tedious for me. Between two and three stars, and not inspiring enough to round up.

[Aaron Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A freaking fantastic book. I enjoyed every bit of it, and am going to seek out the author's other offerings. Reading it, I felt as though I'd returned to some of the classic pulp adventure stories, only updated for modern sensibilities. This was a true Planetary Romance, exactly as the old classics had, with a wonderful modern touch.

[Daniel Shellenbarger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paragaea is a modern take on the old "other world" genre of science fiction (well, science fantasy), in which the protagonist is somehow transported to an Earth-like world that is definitely not Earth. The most famous example would probably be Burrough's A Princess of Mars (and its sequels) or L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz. In this case, Soviet cosmonaut Akilina (aka Leena) Chirikov pops through a wormhole in the midst of her Vostok 7 orbit and ends up crash landing onto a strange new world called Paragaea. Leena is immediately set upon by a strange race that looks like a hybrid of cats and people and is then rescued by a jaguar-man named Balam and his human friend, Hieronymus Bonaventure, a fellow Earth-native who got pulled through to Paragaea during the Napoleonic Wars during which he was serving in the Royal Navy. Accompanied by these two and various others that they meet along their road, Leena sets out to find a way to return to Earth and complete her mission. Paragaea does several things well. Leena is a very convincing 1960's Soviet woman, her attitudes and worldview feel right for her era and origins and makes her confrontation with a world that doesn't meet her beliefs a fascinating process. Likewise, I loved Roberson's idea for Paragaea, a world populated by the detritus of wormholes from Earth that drop things in from all time periods: past, present, and far-future, and mix it all up in one confusing and fascinating melange, the world development is excellently done, though the book does suffer from a fantasy convention I think of as "world-shrink" in which an author doesn't seem to understand the sheer size of the land-masses involved. Here, Roberson creates a Godwana-size supercontinent and proceeds to send his characters to every corner of the continent in a few months with only the most basic means of pre-industrial transportation (apart from a short jaunt in an airship). Another issue I had was that the other major protagonist Hieronymus doesn't feel anywhere near as authentic to his era as Leena does. One could put this down to the fact that he's been on Paragaea for longer, but frankly I just couldn't buy the idea that Hieronymus was an early 19th century British sailor with middle class upbringing; he's a likeable and amusing character (indeed, Roberson's characters are all quite likeable), but he's not authentic. Similarly disappointing is the fact that the main story is pretty thin (and is held up in large part by the world development), mostly involving Leena's quest to get back to Earth, other things intrude and through them we get a glimpse of the history of Paragaea, but they are tangential and very little is resolved. The fact is that Paragaea's selling point is its world development, and if you like "other world" adventures (and I, for one, do find them fascinating) then this book is a worthwhile read.

[Julio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second in Roberson's novels about the Bonaventue-Carmody clan, this rip-roaring, swashbuckling adventure story recalls Burroughs' "John Carter of Mars", Howard's "Conan" and winks wryly at Baum's "Wizard of Oz". In 1964, Cosmonaut Akilina "Leena" Chirikov finds herself transported to the strange world of Paragea where humans and "metamen" (animal-human hybrids) wage wars and go on grand quests in a land that mixes ancient cultures and strange magical sciences. Leena journeys with fellow Earther Heironymus Bonaventure and jaguar-man Balam across a fantastical landscape in hopes of finding her way home. Texas author Roberson spins a fine, fun and exciting tale which serves as a worthy if not all together different addition to a series begun in "Here, There and Everywhere."

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is exactly what it bills itself as. An homage to Edgar Burroughs, Flash Gordon, and even the Land of the Lost. If you like any of these then the book will probably suit you. I enjoyed it. I would love to give it higher ratings but I have to be honest that it felt very linear (as does some of the Burroughs that I've read). It was more like his Pellucidar (spelling) novels than John Carter Mars novels in my opinion. While it won't be for those without specific tastes, it will entertain those who like the fare it offers.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Russian Cosmonaut from the 1960's finds herself on an alternate Earth quite different from the one on which she lived. This story has a little bit of John Carter of Mars in it: swashbuckling fun, sword fights, and weird creatures running around. When you're in the mood to indulge in the guilty pleasure of a space opera, Paragaea will satisfy your craving.

[Val · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely appreciated the character development and inclusion of fresh ideas to the fantasy genre, and the plot was definitely attention-holding. However, I did find myself questioning the author's syntax/other basic writing skills, and at times found the action scenes too lengthy.

[Alan]

sounds fab!

[Il Futuro è tornato]

Ne abbiamo parlato sul blog nell'articolo sul planetary romance:

http://wp.me/p29Hyy-2w

[Jeffrey Doten · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted 'planetary romance ' and I got The Wizard of Oz. Not what I was after at all. Everyone mentions Burroughs, but that's what I didn't get. It started strong .....