Spirit: or, The Princess of Bois Dormant

The Aleutian Trilogy

by Gwyneth Jones

Bibi (it means princess) is the sole survivor of a massacre. Lady Nef, the General's wife, stops the General taking her as a concubine, winning Bibi's eternal and passionate devotion. Years later, a diplomatic mission to a supposedly friendly planet ends in disaster. Bibi, now a junior officer in Lady Nef's household, is incarcerated with her mistress in the notorious high-security prison on Fenmu. Lady Nef, 150 years old when arrested, dies in prison; she bequeaths to Bibi her rank, her level of access to the AI systems that permeate the Diaspora of inhabited planets, and a highly secret set of 4-space co-ordinates. Bibi uses Lady Nef's death to escape from Fenmu, finds Spirit, an instantaneous-transit space pod, and follows Lady Nef's co-ordinates to a treasure beyond price: a virgin, perfect, uninhabited planet. Soon after this, the mysterious, fantastically wealthy Princess of Bois Dormant makes her debut in the high society of Speranza, the Diaspora's capital city. Thus disguised, Bibi sets out to discover why she and her mistress were condemned to a living hell; and to punish the guilty. Twenty years have passed: Lady Nef's enemies now rule Speranza. As she uncovers a forgotten, ruthless and far-reaching conspiracy, Bibi's vengeance is transformed into a project of world-changing reparation.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy

472 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Gwyneth Jones is a writer and critic of genre fiction. She's won the Tiptree award, two World Fantasy awards, the Arthur C. Clarke award, the British Science Fiction Association short story award, the Dracula Society's Children of the Night award, the P.K.Dick award, and the SFRA Pilgrim award for lifetime achievement in sf criticism. She also writes for teenagers, usually as Ann Halam. She lives in Brighton, UK, with her husband and two cats called Ginger and Milo; curating assorted pondlife in season. She's a member of the Soil Association, the Sussex Wildlife Trust, Frack Free Sussex and the Green Party; and an Amnesty International volunteer.

Reviews

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spirit: The Princess Du Bois Dormant by Gwyneth Jones is a standalone novel in her Aleutinian universe of the White Queen trilogy and several stories.

I liked this one so much that I ordered the original trilogy and I intend to read those books when I get them.

In the Diaspora universe of Humanoid Bipeds - of which the "Blues" - humans of Earth/Blue Planet are one race, the serial immortals Aleutinians are another, and the vampire bat-like Sigurtians yet another with several more around, the space station Speranza is the capital of a loose federation, with interstellar travel by the Buonaraotti coaches or Aleutinian pods, dangerous, unreliable and which may have even disturbed the fabric of the Universe leading to the existence of the non-human races as far-future descendants of humanity joined in the Simultaneity - that is known as the Strong Paradoxical Theory, with several other competing theories involving parallel evolution or a mythical common ancestor, to account for the similarities and even capability of interbreeding with a bit of genetic help between the Humanoid races...

On Earth, humanity is divided between Traditionalists - life marriage, man as the head of family entitled to many concubines, women restricted at least in their private life, honor, duty, loyalty at least in theory - and Reformers - some men or women, but most bi-gendered alternating between male and female aspects, social workers, state service, serial lovers, part-time marriage - and at the beginning of the novel the Reformers hold power, while various factions vie for a "restoration" of the Traditionalists

General Yu is the nominal head of one of the most powerful Traditionalist houses, but quite a lot of power resides with his wife Lady Nef and her Aleutinian secretary and unofficial lover Francois. They are "Seniors", allowed sophisticated genetic treatments enabling them to live 150-200 years with Lady Nef having the prestigious title of "Immortal Designate" which makes her household almost untouchable despite the blunders of the General in his quest for power with dubious friends and allies.

Suppressing a rebellion in an obscure mountainous corner of Earth, General Yu's army brutally massacres all rebels except for the ten year old Gwibibwr/Bibi - which means Princess in the rebels tongue - who is found hiding in a tunnel after the soldiers blood lust has passed. Taken to Lady Nef, Bibi is offered the choice of becoming her servant or the General's concubine and as it becomes the daughter of a traditionalist chieftain, Bibi chooses the former.

In time she befriends two Han Chinese orphan girls Honesty and Nightingale who are her bed-neighbors in the girl's wing of the Yu/Nef household, attracts the attention of Francois, gets sponsored for college and returns as a junior Social Worker under Lady Nef's patronage. Honesty who remained in domestic service becomes her maid and confidante while Nightingale who is the daughter of a dead hero becomes an officer in the People's Army.

Bibi meets a young Reformer boy Mahmood at college and their "houses" agree to a match, Honesty is studying to become chief-servant, while Nightingale has a powerful young Prince as a lover so our 3 heroines seem to have their future assured. But of course it is not so simple.

Chance and fatality intervene and thrown unwittingly in the middle of dangerous plots, Bibi and Honesty have to follow Lady Nef and General Yu on a diplomatic mission far-away on Sigurt, the humanoid vampire-bat planet and while Bibi is temporarily promoted to Francois' assistant and noble status, that comes with a hidden price.

Part Count(ess) of Monte-Cristo in space, part space opera, part sociological/gender SF, Spirit is a wonderful, wonderful novel that made me a big time fan of Gwyneth Jones work and it vaulted in the top 5 sf novels of the year.

[Zen Cho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wah, I really loved this! I bought it ages ago at BookXCess (or however it's spelt) and then it hung around in my room for ages until it became a bit of an obligation book -- I had to read it the way one has to eat broccoli. But then I read it and it was not broccoli, it was cheesecake!

MILDLY SPOILERY REVIEW FOLLOWS. Not terribly spoilery if you know the plot of The Count of Monte Cristo.



I've reread Dumas's Count of Monte Cristo several times and still think the original was better than the anime adaptation (Gankutsuououou), so a gender-switched space opera version was like ICING to me. I just ate it right up. I adored Bibi -- earnest loyal young people trying their best to do the right thing is kind of a thing of mine, and when she comes back all bigger and better and badasser before, it is very satisfying somehow. And her female mentor who killed her parents! And her tragic past which does contain rape but is not primarily about that!

(Her tragic past is mainly tragic because of the horrific deaths of loved ones -- everything she cares about is taken from her. I liked that because so many books just put in sexual assault for the big traumatic experience of their female characters' lives, and when it happens to Bibi of course it's traumatic, but it's not THE big thing that has her strapping on her sword and venturing out to punch the shit out of everybody. <-- metaphor, she doesn't actually use a sword or wreak her revenge by punching)

Absorbing, intelligent, exciting, and pretty good on depicting a non-Western-dominated future -- for a Western writer. I think the set-up is meant to be a bit like Firefly's world, with a space-faring future where China and Western countries are equally dominant (Q: where did India go), or perhaps where the West had previously been dominant and so left some cultural influence, but China now has precedence.

Complaints time: it's good, even very good, for a Western writer, but some things don't make sense, e.g. how Bibi's mentor teaches her lots of great works of literature while they're in prison and all those great works of literature are, like, Joyce, Proust, etc. Nothing in any other languages? Not even a cursory reference to Romance of the Three Kingdoms or something like that? Very odd.

Also most of the main characters seem to be white. Bibi is, at least -- her body is described at one point as being like a field of snow -- and I don't really see why someone of Pakistani and Welsh heritage must necessarily turn out looking white. Of course, Jones could've meant "white" the way people from non-Caucasian countries mean it, i.e. not Caucasian white, just fair-skinned. But if that's the case she should be clearer! It's disappointing when you read names that suggest the characters of a book are majority non-white but all the descriptions seem to disagree.

[Tim Pendry · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable and highly imaginative science fiction romp with many good qualities but, in style, it is structured as if it were three novella strung together.

The first two fifths is about life on an imperial earth of the future, one with strong Chinese characteristics but partly re-feudalised and with some highly ambiguous class relations. This is by far the best part of the book and it is a fine achievement that stands up with the best of modern science fiction. This first section closes and ends with brutal firefights that raise many more questions than they answer and therein lies the rub. You want to know much more about the complex society that Jones is describing. The turn into the third fifth, with its brilliantly drafted account of imprisonment and horror, draws us towards the relative disappointment of the last two fifths, a more conventional tale of revenge and reconciliation.

Because we are not into spoilers, we cannot tell you precisely why we think what might have been great becomes merely very good, except to say that the creation of realistic alternative worlds is clearly Jones' pre-eminent skill but that we do not gain much if the trick is repeated too often. Our Eurasian Earth (or Blue as it is known to the universe) and the successor worlds in the tale, Sigurt's World (wherein come the vampiric tropes) and the prison planet Fenmu are brilliantly drawn - masterpieces each in their own right - but then the invention just gets too much: too many worlds and too many themes following on far too closely.

The book's qualities in the first half are sometimes overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the derivative literary reworkings - it has space opera, cyberpunk, 'future China', vampiric, adventure and even Kiplingesque references - and it has the usual faults of imaginative fiction today, a determination to over-impress conceptually (to the point of requiring footnotes) as well as a need on the part of the reader to have an impressive memory for a wealth of characters with strange names and attributes. As other reviewers have said, she has a rare talent in making aliens, who are like us a bit but not entirely so, seem as if they could credibly exist. It is possibly her particular genius. She is possibly to near-human alien psychology what Haldeman or Vinge are to time-shifts and time travel.

Conceptually the book is almost too advanced - one might say it is dizzying in its propositions. But the reader is made to feel as if he either has to be very clever in understanding what Jones is proposing at each stage or he might just be being bamboozled by a Wizardess of Oz. The latter feeling arises not just because the 'hard science' is often unclear enough to be tantamount to magic (not wise within the science fiction genre) but because she pulls the same trick occasionally in her dealings with her characters. If there is an obscurity in an event between characters that is not resolved, there is less chance that the reader will feel that Jones knows what she is doing with the science.

Obscurity, new science and neologisms are often used to create a distancing effect in science fiction - usually at the beginning of a novel. The reader can then settle in and pull out any universal message from within the imagined world of the author. Jones works in reverse - the obscurities and incoherence are greater towards the end than the beginning. Any universal message then starts to drift in what, by the end, is in danger of becoming just another political thriller/space opera hybrid, despite the massive promise of the first half of the book. What I wanted (and what you may want) was to see less trickery in space and more depth in the understanding of a Blue (Earth) that has transformed into something both familiar and deeply unfamiliar.

For example, at times, we think that we may get some insights into gender issues with references to gender wars in the past, the ability to choose gender and its link to status and power and the role of sex in business and power from lowly bot-whore through psycho-engineered humans to concubines with status in society. This opportunity is lost and the tale moves over its course from a modern essay on power to something that might pass for a novel of manners in the eighteenth century if that century had had access to cyberpunk. It is no accident that the seminal works of the prison phase's readings are Austen's 'Persuasion' and Clausewitz' 'On War'! Sadly, the two separate missions of the writer are not well enough integrated and, as my old boss once said, 'if you try to sell two things, you will sell neither'.

There is, however, one overwhelming reason to read this book for all its relatively minor frustrations. It is drawn from a woman's point of view from start to finish, and a strong woman at that. Though it falters towards convention at the end, the women in this story are not simpering and they are true to female psychology in their own behaviour and in their perceptions of the males. There is an undercurrent of sex-positive feminism in this novel and room for the complexity of female responses to revenge and reconciliation that might otherwise have been treated uni-dimensionally by all but the most talented of male authors.

This is interesting in another context. She writes within the British tradition which can cope with, indeed thrives on, the dystopian. This is not a dystopian book in itself but its 'realism' about what most would see as an unrealistic future world seems to see no fundamental change in the greedy, vicious, jealous, self-serving and vain aspects of human nature over the coming centuries - nor that alien species are going to be so very different. This is also not a world in which democracy and human rights have entirely triumphed. On the margins, there is appalling cruelty and injustice - just as there are on the margins of our world. And, as in our world, the comfortable turn a blind eye.

There is also love, goodness, honour and altruism of sorts but there are still the marginalised and the brutalised at the bottom of society and war, gangsterdom, great wealth and power disparities and death (even if the latter can be conquered in some special conditions). And a requirement for some kind of social services alongside a seemingly basically honest police force and civil administration. In fact, the world she describes is not that far different from Britain under New Labour today - gallant attempts to maintain order and some semblance of welfare while the marginalised sink deeper into the mire, abuses fester out of sight and the rich and powerful cavort and compete.

There are even Reformers and Traditionalists, two parties that seem to mimic the rule that all modern complex societies tend to fall into equally matched competing camps, with tribal as well as ideological differences, who can come to a working 'modus vivendi' on how to conduct matters within a reasonably stable society. For all the strange names, alien faces, new technologies and differences in perceptions of space and time, humanity is still, basically, the same old same old - and maybe that's the message, that humanity is just, well, human even when it is alien and that all the spacefaring and technological innovation in the universe will still only end up in just the same struggles for power and the same competition and confusions over love.

She is also one of the most intelligent authors writing in the genre. This is not a matter of piling on knowing references - though she can do this - but on seeing the relevance and connections between those references. This is why I referred above to the necessity of foot-notes: each page seems to contain a reference back to a scientific, literary, historical or sociological meme, theory, thought or work. This adds to the enjoyment but only when the story line is similarly integrated. And that's the point - she can tell a story, writes brilliantly, can create vivid characterisation and description, and can integrate her wide reading into imaginative recreations that are stunning but there is a lack of authorial discipline in reining in her talent so that less is more.

This sounds like a downbeat review but the downbeat reviews come when a writer is clearly incredibly talented but just can't break through to greatness. I so badly want her to break through into greatness. This book was on the very edge of greatness.

Much of what makes this novel so good cannot be spoken of without spoiling the tale. It is highly recommended if you like imaginative fiction and certainly if you want to hear what a feisty modern female writer within the genre has to say.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here.

There are a few writers who seem to be able to create a world which is instantly memorable, colourful and atmospheric, and it is a valuable skill to have in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Michael Moorcock and China Miéville can do it, and now Gwyneth Jones shows herself to be another member of the club.

The story opens as the central character, a girl named Bibi, survives the massacre of the community into which she was born, by accepting the offer made by Lady Nef, wife of the attacking general, to become her servant, as an alternative to life as a concubine of the general. The novel then follows Bibi's career, as she becomes involved in the political scheming which surrounds Lady Nef and her husband, with tragic consequences. The severity of the difficulties encountered by Bibi can be seen from the comparison to The Count of Monte Cristo made in the SFX review quoted on the back cover. The middle section is basically a reworking of Dumas' novel in a science fiction setting, and is grim but fascinating.

It rather amazes me that I have not read anything by Gwyneth Jones before, if she has been writing fantasy of this quality for decades. This novel, and several of her earlier ones, have been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke award. She has never been shortlisted for the Hugo or Nebula, awards for which I try to read the shortlisted novels each year; with writing this good, perhaps I should add the Clarke award to the list.

The atmosphere of Spirit continually reminded me of Miéville's Perdido Street Station. Both share a fantasy style but are in fact science fiction (though not hard SF) underneath - space ships and aliens, not dragons and goblins. Spirit is set in a post-technological world in which Clarke's famous dictum that advanced science is indistinguishable from magic has come true, and society's structure has at the same time moved back to a feudalistic form. The mixture of fantasy and science fiction is compelling, as it is in Miéville's work. It is also, like Perdido Street Station, a novel which is well written, dense, and yet still pacey and exciting.

Another writer I was reminded of by Spirit was Cordwainer Smith, whose influence is fairly clear in the depiction of the advent of the Princess of the sub-title in the last third of the novel. His quirky richness is especially apparent in the section set on the planet Mallorm. The plasticity of the setting, with the vague boundary between reality and virtual reality, and the menace which lies behind the outwardly absurd could have been found on Norstrilia or among the Underpeople.

In terms of criticism of Spirit, I am not sure that there is much of a point in the twenty-first century in such a clear homage to Dumas' famous novel. It's not that a novel really has to have a point at all, but The Count of Monte Cristo just seems like such a strange model to pick today. Vengeance in the modern world is the anonymous vendetta of the suicide bombers, not the more sophisticated, long drawn out, personal, and highly political destruction of the enemy. Spirit looks back to a time when there was more to revenge than just killing at random. Whether or not that is a good thing, it is certainly satisfying to read when the avenger is as sympathetic a character as Bibi.

[Carol Kerry-Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has to be one of the best books I have read in a long time, I would award it six stars if I could!! I can certainly see why it made the short list of the Arthur C Clarke Award, a pity it didn't win, I'll have to read the winner to see if I agree with the decision.

Spirit is full of life, the lives of Honesty and Nightingale, the lives of Ch'ro and Dy'ffd, of Cho, Drez and Aswad, of General Yu, Pepper Lily, Amal and Vale; of Francois and Lady Nef, but most of all of Bibi herself, the Princess of Bois Dormant. It's also full of tragedy, frequently for the same characters. Having said that though it has an uplifting end, which given some of the depradations and degradations that Bibi goes through in the novel, is a triumph for Gwyn Jones's writing.

There were parts that made me laugh, and there were parts that made me weep, or gnash my teeth at the injustice of certain events, but in the end, I was so pleased to see Bibi emerging all the stronger from her travails and arriving at a peaceful place. What more could any of us ask for?

Reread - Feb 2011

[April Andruszko · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read. I read this many years ago and had forgotton what a great journey it takes you on.
I am now tempted to re-read the Count of Monte Cristo too

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3013925.html

I have somewhat bounced off Jones' prose before - I really enjoyed the novalla "Bold As Love", but then struggled with the book-length version and the first two Aleutian books. I am glad therefore to report that I got on rather well with Spirit, perhaps because it takes a few leads from The Count of Monte Cristo, familiar ground for me. Having said that, it's not as slavish a copy as, say, Stephen Fry's The Star's Tennis Balls; Bibi (the future Princess of Bois Dormant) starts as the sole survivor of a conflict that wiped out her family, is brought up by her former enemies, and then is used horribly by the neighbouring empire, resulting in her imprisonment, escape, and ultimate triumph. I did feel it ran out of steam in the final third (as does the original Dumas), but I can forgive that because I enjoyed the first two thirds so much; well-portrayed future worlds, and interesting people with interesting things happening to them.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taking The Count of Monte Cristo as her inspiration, in Spirit Gwyneth Jones writes a novel of betrayal and revenge. The novel follows the story of Gwibiwr, known as Bibi - daughter of one of the rebel chieftains of White Rocks - as she is offered the choice to either become a concubine or a servant within the household of Lady Nef. The first half of the novel deals with the political machinations and plotting of General Yu and Lady Nef, as they head on a delicate mission to Sigurt's World, and the 20-year imprisonment of Bibi; while the second half of the novel shows her path as she takes her revenge on those who caused her incarceration.

I confess that I have not read The Count of Monte Cristo, so I cannot comment on the faithfulness of Spirit to the source material - from comments I have read, it allegedly closely follows that tale of Edmond Dantes. The Count of Monte Cristo is known to be a story of blockbusting adventure and derring-do, but unfortunately I did not find Spirit to be the same.

There was elements of Spirit that I enjoyed. The worldbuilding was rich and imaginative, with aliens that were suitably bizarre and beyond human comprehension. I liked the ambiguity of sexuality and gender - especially given that in this version of The Count of Monte Cristo our protagonist is female, which enables the opportunity to highlight gender differences.

Gwyneth Jones manages to show a culture which has gone through many changes, thanks to the existence of alien species and the invention of the Buonarotti travel system. There is a dark underbelly, and a rich upper echelon of society, and both of these are given a strong identity.

With all that said, I found Spirit a challenge to read. The largest part of this came from the fact that I thought the prose was extremely dry. Some authors use a chatty style in their writing, in other cases prose is smooth as silk and very readable. Gwyneth Jones' writing reads rather more like a textbook, with complicated words to understand thanks to the alien cultures.

In addition to this, Jones does not stop to explain much of the complex situation or the many sci fi concepts she introduces. I was left very bewildered by what was actually occurring - especially because a major part of the plot (the fact that General Yu has backed the wrong horse and is trying to regain his political standing) takes place "off-screen", as it were.

A lot of the writing just confused me, in fact. I ended up feeling as though I was missing a great deal, and this never endears a book to me. This included passages such as:

" 'Oh yes, we knew what had happened, it was unmistakable...A group decided to become settlers. They said the Ground Station offered no protection: which is true, it's all ritual, and self-control. For a while they succeeded, in a strange way. Expeditions would suit-up and come out (I don't bother any more, I rely on magic), and find people they'd known, transformed into the descendants of the survivors of a crashed starship...' "

That passage should have been easy to understand; it should have been shorter with less redundant words - as it is, this is just one example of many where I had to read a paragraph two or even three times to make sure I was absorbing the detail I needed to.

On top of this, the characters were hard to love - perhaps because the prose was so dry. I felt as though I was receiving a report on their lives, as opposed to being able to really immerse myself in the danger and excitement of a failed mission and a revenge story. Bibi was a clever and strong heroine, but I didn't love her - and this means that the revenge portion of the novel would always fall a little flat, because I wasn't rooting for her to succeed.

In fact, the pacing of Spirit was also an issue. The build-up to the mission on Sigurt's World, the scene-setting, the section of the novel where Bibi finds herself imprisoned - all of this unfolded with a dreamlike, slow pace. In comparison, we whip through the section where Bibi exacts her revenge - and I'm never completely clear whether the comeuppance of those who caused her downfall is mere happenstance or through Bibi's actual actions.

There were a few characters that seemed entirely superfluous to the main meat of the plot - these were introduced quite late on and their adventures were very much a dead-end path when what I really wanted was to see how Bibi went about bringing down General Yu.

I had many issues with this book, and overall my enjoyment was limited. I was glad that I read through to the end and completed Bibi's story - I also liked Francois the Aleutian very much, but I struggled with Jones' style of writing and would probably hesitate in picking up a book of hers in the future.


Arthur Clarke thoughts: This is my second book of the six Arthur Clarke finalists, and it was a very different read from The City and The City. Leaving aside my enjoyment (or not) of the respective books, I can see why this book received its nomination: the worldbuilding and the sci fi elements of the novel are both weird and wonderful, and explore a future where Earth is just one of many cultures struggling to find harmony together. Where The City and The City studied nationalism and retaining the boundaries of a city state, Spirit looks to the stars and how our exploration of such can lead to petty squabbles and how warfare and politics will be massively scaled up. Hand on heart, though, I believe this one is an outsider for the win.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary!! Truly wonderful!! Love it! The author had created a whole new world that is so rich in detail and information that it is bursting with it. This book is so complex that half the time I have no idea what the author is writing but I roughly get what the story is. It started with the story of a girl and continues with her life journeys and amazing experiences throughout the book. I love this kind of story where it tells a tale about a normal girl became a great person. There are a few shocking plots and unbelievably scenes in it that will make you shake your head in wonder.

[Trisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when I was quite young and was very confused and found it super complicated. Gave it another go a few years later and while it was still a bit complicated, you know just find it's a very complicated and intricate world. I love recommending it to anyone who wants a challenging read.

[Cara Patel]

I started reading this for a try a chapter video, see the link below for my full thoughts:
https://youtu.be/dC2-FoGLzFI

[Facethefake · Rating 1 out of 5]

What did I just read...No for me.

Hit with a freight train of SA and never ending misfortunes would not recommend. Resilience is not something shown by abusing your female charater.

[Coucher de soleil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit to being disappointed with this novel. The setting was extremely original and unusual -this was not a novel that merely aspired to mere 'fluff' status. Rather, the author was aspiring to write true literature, which is something I both respect and admire.

Good points: This was one of the most original novels I've ever read. It truly is utterly unlike anything else out there (IMHO). Also, the notion of reshaping the 'Count of Monte-Cristo' story of betrayal and revenge within a futuristic setting is a highly ambitious (and interesting, IMHO) undertaking.

Not so good points:

The most glaring problem with this novel, and the point which brought it down to three stars for me, was the fact that the motivations of the main character's betrayal were never sufficiently explained.

This is a futuristic rewrite, as I have mentioned, of the 'Count of Monte-Cristo' ('Le comte de Monte-Cristo' in the original French) written by Alexandre Dumas (the father, not the son). In order to be fair to Jones' novel and to its (extremely different) setting, I will say that there is a limit to how much one can compare the two novels, despite the 'bare-bones' similarity in their storylines. However, what I will say in this regard is that one of the great strengths of Dumas' work was the way in which he used actual historical events as well as intricate plotting to create a story which, despite being fiction, was completely believable. This believability occured because the reader understood how a had led to b which had led to c (in particular with regards to the main/central character being betrayed by all those he knew). In Jones' novel OTOH, many events which led to the main character being betrayed and wrongly imprisoned are NEVER explained. This leads to the reader feeling a certain sense of detachment with regards to the events of the novel, IMHO. In other words, as things are never actually explained, they never feel completely *real*. Despite the novel's futuristic setting, this is something that is required for the reader to be able to completely immerse themselves in the story.

As a final note, I will state that this is not a simple novel to read. It isn't an easy read and isn't always pleasant. This doesn't (IMHO) make a novel any less worth reading, of course. There are many worthwhile books out there that aren't easy to read (e.g. Emile Zola, or some of Thomas Hardy's work, for instance). I am just pointing out that this is not the type of novel one reads in one sitting.

[Jenina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my introduction to a very imaginative British sci-fi fantasy author. Recommendation of a friend who is into sci-fi and transhumanism, this is a space saga that will have you gripped in not one but several worlds. Divided into several parts with 'intermissions' in between, the book explores time travel, 'Traditionalist' polygamy vs liberal options, virtual reality, immortality and the transference of consciousness, social versus personal realities and other issues each of which might be sufficient to occupy one work of fiction. The fact that Jones tackles them all in one work is arguably its weakness. There is so much detail to absorb that this reader felt the need to either makes notes, or for there to be a helpful page index and/or glossary. But then this is a standalone spin-off of the award-winning three-book Aleutian Trilogy, so this hardly comes as a surprise.

The different parts of the book ranged from space opera to romance to crime caper. So there's a lot on offer.

But Jones won't cater to every taste. Rather like Ursula le Guin, with whom she has often been compared, the intricate fantasy worlds she creates for the reader will not be to everyone's liking. But I, for one, will be doing the sensible thing and reading Book 1 of The Aleutian Trilogy next. New readers to Gwyneth Jones may wish to do the same.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this book, it was a bit of a letdown after the Bold As Love cycle, which was 5 stars all the way.

At close to 500 pages, I was not really interested until pg 100 or so. It became quite gripping around p150 and held my interest thereafter. Note also reading the back cover will give away the plot of about 2/3 of the book.

Be warned, Jones requires a bit of focus and an open mind from her readers.

It may also be the case that this book will be more interesting after reading the White Queen trilogy. Given the stand alone nature of books from that trilogy, this could easily be the 4th book in the series. Those new to Jones should try Bold As Love first.

[Ken Sodemann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was OK, but did not really hit me. Part of the problem is that I think to some degree the book assumes you are already somewhat familiar with the universe in which the book takes place. Being as this is the first Gwyneth Jones book I have read, that certainly was not the case for me.

The book has a slow pace and seems to spend a lot of time setting up the story, which would be great if that setup actually developed the characters in a way that made me care about them, but this book fails in that regard.

The book didn't really get interesting until Bibi was imprisoned. At that point, things finally started to get interesting, and I actually started to care about Bibi. Things started to pick up there, but then started to drag on again towards the end.

There were some interesting concepts in this book, but the execution of the plot was poor enough that I can't give it more than a couple of stars.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free download from the author's website.

Can see the The Count of Monte Cristo vibes in this :)

An interesting premise - and as I've read Monte Cristo, once I'd spotted the comparisons it became quite obvious what was going to happen in places. The writing style was a bit dry and I felt that less in the "build up" and more in the "revenge" senario would have helped a bit. Especially as I never got how she forgave Mahmood so easily. The world building was pretty cool and I quite liked some of the philosophy that Jones sneaked in.

I can't say I'd go out of my way to read another one by the auther, but I now have a hankorin' to go re-read the adventours of the Count again.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is real quality. It is also unfortunately extremely difficult to describe.

The blurb on the back claims it is a "high octane retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo" which is correct as far as it goes - the basic elements of the story are there. However, the baroque setting, the dreamlike quality of the narrative and the fantastic nature of the characters makes this quite a different proposition.

Highly recommended.

[Mark Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book gave the reader a very vivid insight into the lives the aliens in the story were living, trying to handle and cope with intrigue, betrayal, love and friendship. The descriptions of the planets, habitats that were visited in the book by the characters in the book was VERY GOOD INDEED! The descriptions were so good I felt I was on the page with them in the story because in my minds eye I felt as if I was actually there. Everything about the story-line fell into place just at the right time and I felt at the end of the book, that the story had just got going :-)

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodish sci-fi space opera novel, supposedly like a new version of the Count of Monte Cristo. Bibi is given as a wife to a bat-like alien life form. She has a child but is then incarcerated in prison for years. She escapes and builds a new life for herself, with the help of her 3 henchmen. When she escapes, she sets out to redress some wrongs and ultimately, gets revenge on the powerful political generals who were responsible for her imprisonment.

[Matti Tornio · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some great unique ideas here and the worldbuilding is excellent. Unfortunately the rest of the book is not up to those same high standards. The writing style is quite dry and not very compelling and the novel suffers from serious pacing issues.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting space opera by an author I haven't read before.

[SBC · Rating 3 out of 5]

This sf retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo was very well done and left me thinking about it for a long time afterwards.

[Andi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book many years ago and some of the scenes... it has haunted me ever since. I enjoyed it even more the second time.

[Remigijus Jodelis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite different from the usual SF books i read. Worldbuilding, cultural descriptions and the story itself were excellent, writing style not so much - slow-paced and full of obscure details at times.

[Blodeuedd Finland]

I tried, but it was so slow, so meh