Solarpunk discussion

In a lush future, plants have stripped most of the poison from the air and bounty hunters keep resource hoarders in check. Orfeus only wants to be a travelling singer, famed and adored. She has her share of secrets, but she’s no energy criminal, so why does a bounty hunter want her dead?

My copy just showed up! My wife, upon opening the package, handed it to my 16-year old daughter, assuming it was for her I suppose? Then we had a brief discussion in which I think I completely botched an explanation of what "solarpunk" is. But anyway, I have my copy!

🤣 🤣🤣🤣Glad it came!

Just started it. Here're my notes so far:

~ For some reason--in fact, two reasons, a linguistic and a personal one--this introduction amuses me:

The train slowed to a stop. With a hiss the glass doors slid apart and someone stepped through, making the utilitarian platform seem more dignified just by being there. They were tall, tall, with gleaming black skin and a smooth-shaven skull, proud collarbones and hooded eyes. They were dressed in robes in bright colours, yellow and blue and green.

“Orfeus the singer?” they said.

Orfeus for no real reason made a sweeping bow, cloak tucked behind her back. She straightened and smiled up at them. Disorienting when people were taller than her. “So they call me. And you?”

“Your escort,” they said. “My name is Rivasoa. I use she and her.”

Orfeus nodded. “As do I,” she said, “but you know that, don’t you? You know all about me already.”

~ Here's an attitude I can get behind ;):

If people disliked Orfeus for mere unchangeable traits about her, her general policy was to irritate them as frequently and cheerfully as possible, so that at least she got some entertainment out of it.

~ People in the far, and far brighter, future--even the near-immortals in Eldergrove--can still behave like petty children: smug, condescending, righteous, confrontational, insecure, quick to give or take offense. Are we that hopeless? :/

(Or is it authors' personal inability to imagine humans with more advanced emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, not just technologies?)

Rossdavidh wrote: "My copy just showed up! My wife, upon opening the package, handed it to my 16-year old daughter, assuming it was for her I suppose? Then we had a brief discussion in which I think I completely botc..."

Love that it's arrived, and loved your story about the manner of its arrival - solarpunk is hard to nail down (so much so that there was an entire panel dedicated to authors trying to pinpoint it - was that solarcon?)

Read the first chapter - which was 7% of the book according to the kindle, so it's a shorter one - and so far really liking it. I like the levity, and I like that it's not there to distract from a shallow story, or allow the book to skate around heavier topics. They're only hints so far, but it does look like there'll be some action in this future ecotopia.

I read the first two chapters and I kind of hate it, lol. The MC is immediately dislikable in that I find loving someone who is constantly unfaithful painful. The character also thrives off being disparaging to her friends and irritating to strangers, and to me the reader.

Lena wrote: "I read the first two chapters and I kind of hate it, lol. The MC is immediately dislikable in that I find loving someone who is constantly unfaithful painful. The character also thrives of being d..."

I do agree on the love interest, but was hoping that was a brief thing - bugger. Interesting that we had completely different reactions, hopefully it's not just a "read more, get irritated" situation!

I'm only 50 pages in, but I'm finding that I like the MC better when she's dealing with pompous authority figures. Her devil-may-care attitude works a lot better then. I guess that's true to life, though; the same person who is admirable for their ability to defy the high and mighty, often has an unadmirable tendency to be uncaring of consequences with everyone else as well.

Perhaps an opportunity for personal growth?

I do hope there will be growth. Too many "children in adult bodies" in my life recently. ;)

Ahh yes, chapter 2 and I'm seeing it - continuing to "date" someone who insists they're not dates, and the snark at friends - Rossdavidh, I'm completely with you on liking the snark when it's aimed in the right direction. Friends helping you out in the middle of the night are not that! There are promising signs of growth, though.

Eldergrove sounds intriguing - we'll find out.

~

No amount of strawberries would win Orfeus’s silence. She said hotly, “The only real difference is that they’re not hypocrites who cling to the past. There’s more worth in one lab in a tiny corner of that city than there is in a whole library in yours.”

O’Hallow turned, blinked blue eyes at her. “I agree.”

“… Oh.” Orfeus ran out of steam. “Well.” She rallied, and leaned against the narrow pillar carrying the fruit bowl, stepping hastily away when it rocked. “It’s nice to meet someone sane here.”

“Oh, neurotypes,” O’Hallow said dismissively, and flicked xyr fingers in the air.

The final sentence cracked me up. :)

~ The main (so far) reason I can't like the protagonist (so far):

Orfeus sighed. She paced while Significance watched her serenely. She certainly couldn’t trust xem, or any Elder. But then, off the top of her head she wasn’t sure she actually trusted anyone. What was life but different and carefully gauged levels of distrust?

I'm realizing around chapter 4 that it's sort of a "whodunnit", except that the main character is both detective and (potential) victim. Everyone we get introduced to, or that gets referenced, I mentally run through "means, method, opportunity" to evaluate if they are the one.

I find it entertaining that Wolf, an assassin with a kill contract, is willing to confirm his pronoun as "he" before attempting to kill the protagonist.

I have realized that, while the writer is good at the craft of writing, the worldbuilding annoys me, because the people in it seem to be in one of two groups:

1) arrogant
2) minor characters we don't know enough about to have an opinion of

The protagonist is arrogant, which at first is really annoying but then not as bad once she is around a lot of other arrogant authority figures that she can mouth off to. But I haven't actually, in the first 6 chapters anyway, found a character that I like. I'm not giving up on it yet, but if there's a likable character in this story, it would do well to make an appearance soon.

~ Time distorts memory in quaint ways:

“My guitar’s name is Galahad,” she said, resignedly. Rivasoa looked at her. “Galahad? The ancient Alban knight. She fell in love with Lancelot, but Lancelot had two loves already. So she wandered, singing of her heartbreak, and all who heard her were so moved by her song that they could not help but rally behind Arthur.”

(Also, Orfeus is slowly beginning to show her more humane side. As does Rivasoa. There's hope yet. ;)

~ Orfeus's "admission test" is the first time when I saw her show genuine care for another, even at her own expense.

Now that the MC's "humanity" test has been passed, I have to see if the overarching conflict/stakes are meaningful enough to keep reading. I'll give it a few more chapters.

~ I'm beginning to like the stakes too (especially given what a moral morass the Order is):

Here in the den of hunters and wildfolk, despite the bridges she’d thought burned for good, she wasn’t alone or unloved. Orfeus didn’t feel like who she used to be, but she wasn’t devoid of allies. Faolan was monstrous, Luga unreadable, but many of them had not forgotten kindness.

She had changed so much, even if it was for the worse. Surely it couldn’t be that hard for this place to change for the better.

(But, authors: Please don't take half a book to make your characters and stakes likable. We modern readers are volatile creatures. Chances are, we'd have moved on by then.)

~ Who needs "or" when you can have "and"?

Bright shook the little red vial, peering at its contents. She shook her head. “Honestly,” she said almost to herself. “You’re remarkable. I’ll need to run tests to be sure, but even with them being self-replicating, you should have a lower count than this.” She looked at Orfeus fondly, a little like how Orfeus looked at her plants. “Something in your blood or brain just makes you the perfect environment for my little nanites to grow in.”

Orfeus pressed down on the cotton and bit her lip. “Mm-hmm,” she agreed.

Bright paused, and then set the vial down. “Sorry,” she said. “You honestly are my friend, not my experiment, but uh, maybe it’s a bit of both?”

Bright got carried away, always said the first thing on her mind, didn’t care much for subtlety. Orfeus knew those things about her. A lot of the time, she appreciated them. “There’s no need to choose between two or more things when they’re all good,” she said, gravely. “I relate to this deeply as a bisexual.” Bright laughed.

~ I'm done. And I'm glad to report that Orfeus has come a long way from how she started--along with everyone around her.

That said, I'm unlikely to read the sequel when it comes out. Unless: 1) it relies on fewer avoidable tragedies (i.e. mutual stupidity) for its emotional punches; 2) the people of that future grow a bit brighter in reading each other's motivations, and indeed emotions. (The fact that the antagonist's nefarious deeds had gone undetected for so long really riled me.)

If anyone does read it and thinks that those two points have been addressed, please let me know. I mean it. Even if I did not quite love the book, I loved its potential.

I've caught up a bit - though I'm still behind - so some notes from my reading:

- I think I see what the author was going for with the arrogance of Orfeus, after the meeting with the Elders. It's a little heavy handed, but I feel like she wanted to show the narrow-mindedness of anyone afraid of something; the hypocrisy that it's something they're ok with themselves having is not lost. Orfeus, I think, is intended to be arrogant as a defense mechanism (but it's still a lot for a reader, especially the conversation with Significance).

- That felt like a lot to get their attention (end of part one).

Man, I love this world, and as described it's gorgeous. But I am hanging out to hit that halfway mark and get to those likeable characters!

Thank you very much for reading with us this month, folks! The group read continues, but it's time to get nominations for August. Please let me know in here or by direct message, by June 10, and we'll get a poll up :)