Sci-Fi & Fantasy Girlz discussion

Discuss!
Please don't forget the spoiler tag.

Loved this book. In fact the whole series was great.

I thought this one was a lot of fun. I read it last month and recently downloaded the sequel because I wanted to keep going. Looking forward to discussing the book as others get a chance to read it!

I read chapter 1 last night sometime between insomnia and comatose o'clock.

Interesting. Lots of "drops" in the opening ("drops" are what I call little hints about the world-building) and character development. I usually avoid the blurb if I can help it, but it was pretty unavoidable this time around, so I have an idea where it's all going. However, had I not known the scope from the blurb, I wouldn't have gleaned the story/plot from that introduction.

I like that. I don't want it all laid out TV episode style: "Last time on Grimspace..." and then a montage laying out the story so far. Info dumps and proscriptive dialogue can be pretty tough to read for me.

Gary wrote: "I read chapter 1 last night sometime between insomnia and comatose o'clock.

Interesting. Lots of "drops" in the opening ("drops" are what I call little hints about the world-building) and charact..."

Yes, I liked that, too. The anxiety is focused on each particular scene, so you don't need to know the whole picture. That is revealed in patchwork pieces throughout.

That didn't take long: Chapter 2--action mode engaged!

More "drops" and they're getting more informative. Still not what I'd call an "info dump" but the world-building is more direct. The character who appears to be the other major focus is introduced quickly. The pace is fast for a while there. Not sure how that's going to play out with the rest of the novel. The second chapter SHOULD be faster, given it's content (which I'll not bother with even not spoiling.... The pace looks good in the part of the third chapter. Jury out, still deliberating. Looks good for the Defense, though.

Took me a minute* to realize the whole text is in present tense. Not sure how I like that. It does give the story a sense of immediacy, and in the context of a fast-paced sci-fi novel, that could be good. However, over my reading experience, I've found that not a lot of authors can really pull off a tense shift away from the standard past without it starting to grate on the sensibilities. Now that I've noticed it, it might start to bug me. It hasn't yet. She looks like she's using it appropriately.

Still, it's a big "voice choice" to set one's narration in something other than the past tense, and I haven't seen the reason for that choice yet. I think someone should have a good reason for stepping away from the standard narrative tense. Otherwise, it's more of a gimmick than a literary/symbolic technique.

* two chapters.

Gary wrote: "Took me a minute* to realize the whole text is in present tense. Not sure how I like that. ..."

I'm afraid that killed it for me when I realized the author was going to keep it up. I admit I have a low tolerance for it. It got in the way of developing a connection with the character. It can be good as a boost, it doesn't sustain well. And as you say, the reason wasn't apparent.

I may try again when I'm feeling more patient.

Interesting; I could see how things like verb tense could bother people, but I never had any problem with it. I think if anything, the present tense made me feel like I was right there while everything was happening.

Did the first person narration bother anyone? You definitely have to like her personality to enjoy it, which I definitely did. And I think it enhanced the feeling of having the world against you, and not knowing who to trust, since you saw everything from her perspective.

Michael wrote: "Did the first person narration bother anyone?"

For myself, the combination put me off. I can enjoy a first-person narrative, although I think it's harder to pull off in a story like this. But combining that with present tense felt affected to me and threw me out of the story.

I don't necessarily mind a first person narration or a present tense narration. However, I do think that either is a very pointed stylistic choice, and such decisions need to be made for a specific and clear purpose. What's more, writers should bear in mind that it can be hard to pull off just one of those stylistic choices, so both might be tough....

In this case, she's staying consistently in the present tense. It doesn't read to me like she's going to shift into a different tense. From time to time, I read a tense shift and that's a very difficult thing for a writer to pull off without it being hamfisted and obvious. There's been a trend in advertising and amongst newsreaders to use the occasional present tense, for instance, and I always find it jarring. Suddenly, a talking head will quote someone they'd interviewed by saying "Senator Thomas tells me that..." and it always stands out as a trite way to bag some credibility along with the "immediacy" issue. Reading a tense shift like that in a novel is particularly affected.

She also didn't just use first person, but what I think would be best described as "first person conversational." That is, the narrative often dips into the actual "voice in the head" of the person speaking in first person, not just that character's POV. Here's an example from Chapter 9:

Before I can ask what the hell he means, something thumps hard against the roof, slinging the Landcruiser sideways. I almost hear something, just above the range of human hearing, but Loras flinches, trembling visibly, and I can see a thin trickle of blood seeping from his nostrils. Something...sonic about these Teras, and poor Loras with his hypersenses, their screams hurt him? Well frag me, that's...really...not good.

That last bit isn't standard first person narrative, but a kind of running commentary. It could be in a thought bubble over the character's head. The narrating character is actually thinking that sentence to herself, but has omitted an attribution "I thought." Rather, the author just put it in the narrative. That's not the same as simple first person or even stream of consciousness writing.

Overall, though, I'm not hating it. It does take me out of the book from time to time, and that's a bad thing, but there are merits in the consistency of that voice. It makes it a purposeful effort, and that alone has a certain value. Will it will be "worth it" or not by the end of the story? I have my doubts.

I'm at about the half-way point in this one. It's reading very much as an episodic sort of story at this point--almost like the novelization of a TV show. The ensemble cast (the crew) is a very recognizable SF standard, and is easily digested by those with an interest in the genre.

I'm still not entirely convinced that the present tense was the right way to go for the narration. It stands out at certain points, particularly in dialogue and in the occasional speculative sections when the language drops into the past or future tenses. The grammar isn't off or anything, but it does make the shift all the more obvious. So, for instance, when characters are talking about events using the past tense then the narrative shifts into present we are reminded that speaking in the present tense isn't the way people normally tell stories.... And, overall, I'm not seeing a great need to be in the present tense. At least, no so far.

It may not be the kind of thing that'll bother most readers, though.

I am reading the comments and am not sure I want to dive into this one. Sometimes there is just too much to read to waste time with weird tenses.

So, would those that read it recommend this read or not?

Alicja wrote: "I am reading the comments and am not sure I want to dive into this one. Sometimes there is just too much to read to waste time with weird tenses.

So, would those that read it recommend this read ..."

I started it, but couldn't get into it because the 1st-person, present-tense narration kept distracting me from what was going on, and it didn't engage me with the main character, either. I tried to persevere because the book did sound interesting, but couldn't force myself that much. It's dubious, therefore, if you can say I actually read it.

Alicja wrote: "So, would those that read it recommend this read or not?"

I'm about 3/4 through it. There are some interesting bits and ideas, but I'm not profoundly impressed.

The 1st person, present tense narrative voice is odd, and I don't think it works. One or the other would have been a much better choice. It makes sense as a 1st person narrative given the storyline, and present tense makes sense because the immediacy of the storytelling gives it a kind of television show quality.

Unfortunately, those two things are contradictory qualities. Does anybody here remember (dating myself terribly here) the M*A*S*H episode that is from the POV of a patient going through the hospital? The whole thing is shot from his perspective--the camera's perspective--making the audience that soldier. It was a good episode. It was different. It was interesting. It worked.

But there was a catch. The soldier (us) had been shot in the throat. He barely speaks, and only when prompted by actors on screen. He has no narrative voice--or hardly a voice at all, for that matter.

My point in bringing it up, is that making it 1st person AND present tense gives the story this strange, hamfisted narrative voice. It's heavy-handed, and reads like it's tacked on like the famously hated voice over in the film Bladerunner that Scott and Ford both tried to sabotage.

1st person makes the audience the lead character, but then the present tense makes us observers watching an episodic TV show. The reader is the lead character, telling the story and watching it at the same time. This constant push-pull runs through the narrative and I found it quite distracting. Every sentence of narration reminds us that we are supposed to be the lead character--but *we* don't actually talk like that. *We* use the past tense when telling our story, and *we* only speak in the present tense when stating facts about ourselves.

Gary eats meat.
Alicja reads books.

Etc.

You wouldn't sit down and tell your friend "So, Gary eats a sandwich and I read a book when orcs burst into the room...." Why are we telling ourselves that same story in that voice?

So, I'm going to say no. Unless when I get to the end there's some sort of clear and obvious reason for this oxymoronic narrative voice. If that's the case I'm going to have to post an elaborate mea culpa to compensate for this particular rant.

However, even with my negative, I'd suggest giving a chapter or two a try. The narration might not bother you as much as it did me. If a sampling at all takes you out of the story, though, then I'd take that as a pretty good indication that it's not for you.

Yes, that's the easiest test: read the first chapter and see if it works for you. It works for a lot of readers, despite Gary's detailed critique.

And actually, I have heard people tell funny stories in first person present tense, but I agree it works better for an immediately engaging brief tale, not as easily for a longer tale - I can't imagine Homer saying verse in present tense, for example.

The story wasn't mindblowing, though, more of a fun romp. In my mind I occasionally compared it to This Alien Shore, which IIRC was in third person past tense, and that book was far more mindblowing and worth seeking out.

"So a duck walks into a bar..."

I finished it last night. The present tense grew on me a bit by the end of the book, but I think that was because she dropped some of the more conversational, 1st person "inner monologue" stuff.

Review to come (unless I get mauled by the Easter bunny or something.)

Michael wrote: ""So a duck walks into a bar..."" ... "Ouch!"

Gary wrote: "Review to come (unless I get mauled by the Easter bunny or something.)"

Watch out for those Easter bunnies, they sharpen their teeth on carrots all year long just to come out and hunt humans for one day a year.

I'll wait for your review before I decide whether I want to pick it up or not so you better hurry. :)

I was iffy about the first chapters but the later book sucked me in. It was a little bit ridiculous but fun in a cracktastic sort of way.