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Obsidian Rim #4
Coexistence: Pipettes and Plows 1
Her secrets can set us free.
After a disastrous laboratory accident, exobotanist Dr. ShaylaRam Gomez is desperate to redeem herself in the eyes of the scientific community, and more importantly, her beloved father. But now, with her carefully nurtured study of new black bean seeds in tatters, Shayla is banished to a dishonorable tour of the Obsidian Rim worlds with the man responsible for destroying her reputation – the brawny farmer from some backwater planetoid, Dr. Rahim Xie.
The people who freed Rahim from a lifetime of slavery are struggling under crushing debt to the Earth’s Conservatory, and Rahim has vowed to save these destitute Prithvi and Rim farmers. He’ll even steal classified research on sustainable crops from his irascible mentor Grumpy Gomez. When he discovers that meticulous Shayla has a hidden maverick streak, Rahim is tempted to enlist her aid. He needs more than her secrets; he needs her and her brilliant mind to help his cause. But how can he ask Shayla to join a revolution that will pit her against her own father – a man known for his political ruthlessness?
Forced together with their dogbot and humanoid companions, they'll travel to the edges of a decaying galaxy to fight the corporate greed that is slowly starving the worlds of the Rim. Are these scientists planting the seeds of their own destruction -- or will their reluctant collaboration blossom into something beyond mere coexistence?
228 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 18, 2019
2 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 4, 2019
I love the concept of the Obsidian Rim books, a collaboration among a bunch of authors to create separate series set in a shared universe. That universe, set in the Obsidian Rum region - and the backstory behind it - is great science fiction. I got hooked into it thanks to an addition to books by Maggie Lynch, who is one of the collaborating authors. Her book, Gravity: Cryoborn Gifts 1, also happened to be the first Obsidian Rim Series book. It was superb and made me want to try others. Well, Shree C. Aier’s Coexistence: Pipettes and Plows 1 (Obsidian Rim Book 4) was the second one I tried. I’m glad I did as it was a lot of well-written fun. ShaylaRam and Rahim take on a huge amount in this book, and it’s a real pleasure following along as they deal with it all - and develop their own relationship at the same time. Just what good sci-fi romance is supposed to do. But for the fact that I’m literally dictating this review to my husband from my hospital bed I could go on and on with praises. The book definitely deserves it. Since I can’t do that I will simply note that the book is most definitely one to read, and it is easy to highly recommend. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in both the Pipettes and Plows series and the overarching Obsidian Rim series.
August 5, 2019
I’m at the end of chapter one and I just had to get on here and leave a review! There’s so many great things about this book already and I highly recommend it- let me tell you why. Firstly we have a strong female lead who don’t give two sh*ts about Rahim and his tricks! I LOVE THAT 🙌🏻 I myself am I very career/family oriented female so seeing a female character who portrays that by not losing what she wants in life for a man is really refreshing and a huge breath of fresh air. Secondly, this book starts off sooooo strong! It’s not very often when I’m into a book from the get go, this book has intriguing language which really hooks me in as well as great world building. The world is consistent and it’s easy to say that this is a great sci-fi novel. Can’t wait to continue reading- Aurum ❤️
July 12, 2019
A lighthearted tale with an interesting mix of characters - from the fiery Shayla to the gentle Rahim and all the humanoids and bots in between. I'm a big scifi fan, but romances are not traditionally my style. Nevertheless, this book and the authors writing style grabbed me and kept me hooked. "Coexistence" does a good job of setting the stage, and I am looking forward to see what adventures the next book in the series will bring.
August 3, 2019
There is so much to enjoy about this story! There is well thought out World building with an emphasis on science. There are great characters and I want to know more about the robot dog Roofus 🐕
June 29, 2019
Kickass badass Shayla and soft sweet Rahim come together to tackle the starvation of the oppressed. Witty and engaging. Loved the interspersion of legends and the eastern culture. Waiting for more.
July 24, 2019
It's smart and sassy, and so cool.... and I loved it! It's unique and wonderfully interesting. Great stuff!
August 10, 2019
Coexistence is a book of ups and downs, both in the narrative and in the writing. It aims laudably high in its scope, exploring everything from self-actualising Artificial Intelligence, to extrasolar politics, to commercial and punitive slavery, to wealth and privilege, to exobotanical research, scientific funding models and the cultural possibilities of humanity having dedicated interstellar research colonies.
If that sounds like an overburdened sentence, that’s because it is. Coexistence is similarly weighed down by these varying narrative elements, some of which are explored more deeply than others, but none of which feel executed to their full potential. It’s a pity because there are some really good elements here, and some unique treatment of familiar science fiction tropes. The AI angle—to take one of Aier’s great setups as a case study—is intriguing, with many of the artificial beings that are met throughout the story showing clear signs of unexpected emergent behaviour—particularly the fantastically bizarre (or should I say bazaar?) A1i8A8a, the sole occupant of the orbitally-slaved asteroid Deserta.
As with much of the narrative, however, the most interesting elements of this plot hook ultimately fail to deliver. Characters who notice this behaviour consistently fail to react to it in a credible manner, and when the motivations of Rahim—the novel’s secondary character—are revealed, it’s profoundly disappointing they don’t relate to this emergent behaviour at all. The nature of Rahim’s interactions with synthetic beings throughout the book, from his early discussions with an AI on the pleasure asteroid, to his interactions with Nelson (the main cast’s AI), to his genuine affection for his robot dog all suggest a deeper motivation more established by the narrative than what is finally presented.
This lack of nuance is matched by the protagonist, Dr Gomez, with her motivations and actions through the narrative vacillating between the strange and the utterly ridiculous. Conceptually, much of what her character represents is excellent; a brilliant scientist, routinely having to fight for her goals and to be taken seriously by the people around her; a child of privilege who works to reject the unthinking cruelty of her class; a woman struggling to come to terms with herself and her place in the universe. Sadly, the writing lets her down—cartoonish inner monologues and plans with scooby-doo levels of intellectual rigour (such as her suitably-maligned ‘robot dance’, or when she takes an interrogation straight from ‘introductions’ to ‘I’m going to strangle your hamster with my bare hands’ in the space of two sentences) make it difficult to connect with her as either a scientist or a human being.
The tertiary characters of the book share a veneer of complexity in terms of their varying pronoun usage, cultural backgrounds, life experience and living conditions, but little of this goes past the surface. Each of the characters in this novel, whether in the main or supporting class, generally fall flat, seeming to exist only to drive the plot in the direction it needs to go rather than being living and breathing people in their own right. The romantic component of the novel alluded to in the marketing copy suffers the same fate—it’s there because it has to be, but is so clumsily handled that it might as well be absent.
Hopefully, this novel will assist Aier to greater storytelling in her novels to come; the genuinely interesting worldbuilding elements of Coexistence deserve a second treatment, and with more stories for these characters presumably in the works, we can look forward to their development in the future.
If that sounds like an overburdened sentence, that’s because it is. Coexistence is similarly weighed down by these varying narrative elements, some of which are explored more deeply than others, but none of which feel executed to their full potential. It’s a pity because there are some really good elements here, and some unique treatment of familiar science fiction tropes. The AI angle—to take one of Aier’s great setups as a case study—is intriguing, with many of the artificial beings that are met throughout the story showing clear signs of unexpected emergent behaviour—particularly the fantastically bizarre (or should I say bazaar?) A1i8A8a, the sole occupant of the orbitally-slaved asteroid Deserta.
As with much of the narrative, however, the most interesting elements of this plot hook ultimately fail to deliver. Characters who notice this behaviour consistently fail to react to it in a credible manner, and when the motivations of Rahim—the novel’s secondary character—are revealed, it’s profoundly disappointing they don’t relate to this emergent behaviour at all. The nature of Rahim’s interactions with synthetic beings throughout the book, from his early discussions with an AI on the pleasure asteroid, to his interactions with Nelson (the main cast’s AI), to his genuine affection for his robot dog all suggest a deeper motivation more established by the narrative than what is finally presented.
This lack of nuance is matched by the protagonist, Dr Gomez, with her motivations and actions through the narrative vacillating between the strange and the utterly ridiculous. Conceptually, much of what her character represents is excellent; a brilliant scientist, routinely having to fight for her goals and to be taken seriously by the people around her; a child of privilege who works to reject the unthinking cruelty of her class; a woman struggling to come to terms with herself and her place in the universe. Sadly, the writing lets her down—cartoonish inner monologues and plans with scooby-doo levels of intellectual rigour (such as her suitably-maligned ‘robot dance’, or when she takes an interrogation straight from ‘introductions’ to ‘I’m going to strangle your hamster with my bare hands’ in the space of two sentences) make it difficult to connect with her as either a scientist or a human being.
The tertiary characters of the book share a veneer of complexity in terms of their varying pronoun usage, cultural backgrounds, life experience and living conditions, but little of this goes past the surface. Each of the characters in this novel, whether in the main or supporting class, generally fall flat, seeming to exist only to drive the plot in the direction it needs to go rather than being living and breathing people in their own right. The romantic component of the novel alluded to in the marketing copy suffers the same fate—it’s there because it has to be, but is so clumsily handled that it might as well be absent.
Hopefully, this novel will assist Aier to greater storytelling in her novels to come; the genuinely interesting worldbuilding elements of Coexistence deserve a second treatment, and with more stories for these characters presumably in the works, we can look forward to their development in the future.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews