C. J. Ryan

This, contrary to the highly unpromising cover (Jackie Collins soft porn style) was really enjoyable. It's the fourth book in a series, and I'm waiting for the others to turn up from Amazon -- I picked this one up in Forbidden Planet on Sunday, on spec. I admit to being a trifle worried,considering the covers and the storylines hinted at in the current book as to the content of the previous three.

Gloria VanDeen, despite the name and the cover, is not a brainless sex-obsessed bimbo. Neither is she white -- a niggle to book covers that grates ever stronger every time I notice that marketing has dictated that pretty anglo blondes sell and cocoa coloured girls don't, even when they are explicitly described as such in the first chapter. Frankly if someone picked up the book based on the promises of the cover I think they'd be pretty disappointed.

As it happens, VanDeen winds up in charge of a planet that is fundamentally and utterly alien. Some of the best things are that the translators simply don't function well enough; the exosociologist has an inkling about the truth but no idea of the magnitude; and the aliens are not merely alien in concept and cultures, but the world building is fascinating.

It's a pity in several ways that the metaphor Kanarbin uses for the aliens does in fact give away much of the author's thinking about constructing them,and the 'aliens are *alien*'message is heavy handed and not a little irritating -- it's a galactic empire. You'd think they'd've noticed by now.

That said, it falls nicely into my alien worlds fixation, and I really did like the story. It bounced along nicely, the characters were surprisingly rounded, made decisions that worked -- and some that really,really didn't, mistakes had consequences (to a certain extent, though never for Gloria or Petra themselves), and in the end, while I was deeply unimpressed by the nod to modern terrorism, the conclusion was as satisfying as politics can ever be. Enjoyable enough that I will look out for this author again -- and despite my misgivings, get the first three.… (altro)