This is the first book in a series that currently contains 4 books. The books are set in a sort of post apocalyptic United States of America, where everyone has the LINK and America is now a theocracy.
In this book Deidre is an ex-cop who has been excommunicated from her religion because of a crime her cop partner committed. Since government and religion go hand in hand, when she is excommunicated from her religion she has her LINK deactivated and is thrust out of standard human society. The LINK provides access to everything; money, jobs, etc. As someone who is un-LINKed she is forced to eke out a living as an investigator to other unLinked individuals. Another cop Michael saunters into her office and asks her to help show that the miraculous LINK-angles are not actual miracles but a hoax; despite the risk Deidre, is tempted to take the case since Michael offers the one thing for payment that Deidre would give anything to have, he offers to reactivate her LINK. Deidre gets much more than she bargained for.
This book is an interesting blend of post-apocalyptic sci-fi, cyber punk, and paranormal genres. Unforunately for me, although it was an interesting blend, it fell short of fulfilling any of those genres. The world that Morehouse creates, is semi-believable, but feels somewhat contrived. As a more personal paranormal novel; the main character falls short of being believable and comes off as a bit stiff.
I will admit the novel has an interesting premise; although towards the end the mixture of religion and cyber-punk got a bit strange and forced. Also the idea of "the leader of the freeworld" falling into a theocracy is eerily believable and creepy. For the most part this idea of religion taking over everyone's live and religion stunting free-will (woman must where regulation length dresses, birth control is a huge no-no, etc.) makes for an uncomfortable and distrubing read. Sadly though this is a sci-fi topic that has been overdone and has been seen in numerous plots before.
Although I did like the warmer more personal approach to sci-fi that this author took, I still struggled through this book. The book never really grabbed me and pulled me forward; I had to push through it. I would find myself rereading paragraphs just because I lost interest in what I was reading.
Despite all the above cons I have to applaud the author for trying to create a new niche in the sci-fi genre. The world created is also very creative. The main heroine is pretty believable. I own the next two books in the series, so I will probably read them. I hope, though, that they are better than this book. I do think this could turn out to be a great series. Sometimes the initial book has to spend too much time explaining a new world, so maybe that is part of what made this book a bit boring for me.
Thanks for giving the book a try. Hopefully the others will be more to your liking!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating concept! How many of you recognize the Biblical precedent for the "link"? Of course, the Revelations author was thinking more of an anti-God society using it. And, Lyda, please forgive me if that's not what you had in mind. I really hate it when folks try to see symbolism in my books!
ReplyDeleteAs Karissa's husband, it is cool to see the author come on and comment on an out of the way blog! Also cool to see that Lyda is a local author!
ReplyDeleteVery cool that you read reviews on your books Lyda! I am not sure how you stumbled upon my little blog but I appreciate the comments.
ReplyDeleteI always feel a bit bad when I don't absolutely love a book. Mainly because the author has written a book for goodness sake and that in and of itself is absolutely huge; it takes so much commitment to finish book. It's way more than I have accomplished, so who am I to judge the book?
It was a very interesting book. I didn't realize you were a local writer; that is awesome! Thanks again for the comment. I do look forward to reading the next books in the series.
Google alerts found your blog for me, and I never mind when someone gives my book a shot, even if they don't entirely like it. I mean, I think most writers understand that their writing is never perfect and there's no way a book can satifsy everyone, or even accomplish everything they set out to do.
ReplyDeleteIf I may plug a new book? I'm currently writing a prequel of this series for a small press (Mad Norwegian Press), which, if I finish it on time, should be out next fall (2009).
Thanks again for reading my books!
Lyda, I actually just finished the second book and I liked it a lot more than the first one. The world seemed a bit more refined and I though the story drew me in more.
ReplyDeleteI'll keep an eye our for anymore books you write. I love keeping an eye on local authors.