Kim Miller
A dystopian story of Melbourne between about 2040 and 2060. Rising sea levels brought on by climate change have flooded the lower parts of the city and are creeping higher. People are separated into two social strata, the Sweet are the higher ground dwellers with employment, power, and influence, and the Swill are those living amid the flood waters. Tall towers have been built for them, and meagre food and services are provided by the government increasingly stretched by the demand.
The Conway family start out as Sweet but with the death of the father are cast down into the Fringe, not quite Swill but with no employment and rejected by their old world. They meet Jimmy Kovacs, the nearby tower boss and protection racketeer. He takes a shine to the widow and her two young sons. The bulk of the novel is the story of these four.
One son is smart and gets elevated for training by the government. The other is a numbers savant and is sought out by black marketeers. Jimmy holds together a whole tower of Swill by strength of personality and mob boss mentality, and extends his influence into the lives of the two growing boys to keep them safe. A crisis occurs soon after the half way point that threatens the whole city and because of their involvement looks as if it will drag them all down with it.
Each chapter of the novel is written first person from the POV of one or other of the characters. This means taking note of the chapter title as it can be confusing. The author gives us deep insight into the thinking of each one as sometimes the same event is covered by two or three characters and we see the variance of understanding of each person. Turner shows that he has great skill in writing interpersonal relationships as this technique could easily become a mess of head-hopping. He knows how and when to pit people against each other, and he knows how to bring them together.
There was an early trope that annoyed me where somebody says, "I've written a novel ..." and it looked as if the book was to be a 'novel within a novel' thing. Luckily Turner's skill as an author and commenter on human life rose above it. In the early pages I had a three star rating in mind for that initial clumsiness but that rose to 4.5 by the end.
A dystopian story of Melbourne between about 2040 and 2060. Rising sea levels brought on by climate change have flooded the lower parts of the city and are creeping higher. People are separated into two social strata, the Sweet are the higher ground dwellers with employment, power, and influence, and the Swill are those living amid the flood waters. Tall towers have been built for them, and meagre food and services are provided by the government increasingly stretched by the demand.
The Conway family start out as Sweet but with the death of the father are cast down into the Fringe, not quite Swill but with no employment and rejected by their old world. They meet Jimmy Kovacs, the nearby tower boss and protection racketeer. He takes a shine to the widow and her two young sons. The bulk of the novel is the story of these four.
One son is smart and gets elevated for training by the government. The other is a numbers savant and is sought out by black marketeers. Jimmy holds together a whole tower of Swill by strength of personality and mob boss mentality, and extends his influence into the lives of the two growing boys to keep them safe. A crisis occurs soon after the half way point that threatens the whole city and because of their involvement looks as if it will drag them all down with it.
Each chapter of the novel is written first person from the POV of one or other of the characters. This means taking note of the chapter title as it can be confusing. The author gives us deep insight into the thinking of each one as sometimes the same event is covered by two or three characters and we see the variance of understanding of each person. Turner shows that he has great skill in writing interpersonal relationships as this technique could easily become a mess of head-hopping. He knows how and when to pit people against each other, and he knows how to bring them together.
There was an early trope that annoyed me where somebody says, "I've written a novel ..." and it looked as if the book was to be a 'novel within a novel' thing. Luckily Turner's skill as an author and commenter on human life rose above it. In the early pages I had a three star rating in mind for that initial clumsiness but that rose to 4.5 by the end.
Astronauts on the moon discover the body of a dead astronaut, but his space suit is different and none of their people are missing. Investigation shows the frozen and mummified corpse to be 50,000 years old. What follows is a cold case investigation as scientists from many fields try to unravel the story of the dead man, who they name Charlie.
Character development and plot are secondary to the investigatory process here, and much of the book is taken up with discussions and conjecture as people suggest various theories and possibilities. Over time more is revealed as they learn to understand printed manuals from Charlie's backpack. They identify a calendar, mathematical formulae, diary notes. But who he is and how he came to be on the moon remains a mystery.
Other explorations change their understanding of the moon's surface structure, and another discovery on one of the moons of Jupiter opens up a whole new area of investigation.
It becomes a bit like an Agatha Christie revelation towards the end as the lead scientist puts together all the clues. The only possibility that holds everything together blows his mind as the history of the solar system and the whole of human evolution is called into question.
Astronauts on the moon discover the body of a dead astronaut, but his space suit is different and none of their people are missing. Investigation shows the frozen and mummified corpse to be 50,000 years old. What follows is a cold case investigation as scientists from many fields try to unravel the story of the dead man, who they name Charlie.
Character development and plot are secondary to the investigatory process here, and much of the book is taken up with discussions and conjecture as people suggest various theories and possibilities. Over time more is revealed as they learn to understand printed manuals from Charlie's backpack. They identify a calendar, mathematical formulae, diary notes. But who he is and how he came to be on the moon remains a mystery.
Other explorations change their understanding of the moon's surface structure, and another discovery on one of the moons of Jupiter opens up a whole new area of investigation.
It becomes a bit like an Agatha Christie revelation towards the end as the lead scientist puts together all the clues. The only possibility that holds everything together blows his mind as the history of the solar system and the whole of human evolution is called into question.
Back in 1951 a strange building appears in a city street. It's a weapons shop. Two men approach, for one the door won't open, for the other it will. He enters and soon after the shop and the man disappears.
This is a story of time swinging between events that are forced increasingly apart. The reason for the swing has something to do with the disappeared man. But the narrative centers on a far future empire rife with corruption, and in which the weapon shops are the focus of resistance.
We follow the life of a young man who leaves home and hopes to become significant in the government. He doesn't realise how deep the corruption runs but as he becomes more aware he uses it to his advantage. And still the weird time swings keep happening.
van Vogt works through the question, "What would happen if a time traveler met himself in the past?" It's an interesting solution he finds, and one in which the young man gains extraordinary power and influence. In one conversation we get the sentence, "He was here with his twin brother."
The political forces battle it out until both sides are forced to admit the damage being done to the disappeared man and that the time swings need to be stopped. The book ends by giving us a look into his mind, and the final sentence, in just a few words, breaks my mind as van Vogt drops his most powerful bomb into the story.
Back in 1951 a strange building appears in a city street. It's a weapons shop. Two men approach, for one the door won't open, for the other it will. He enters and soon after the shop and the man disappears.
This is a story of time swinging between events that are forced increasingly apart. The reason for the swing has something to do with the disappeared man. But the narrative centers on a far future empire rife with corruption, and in which the weapon shops are the focus of resistance.
We follow the life of a young man who leaves home and hopes to become significant in the government. He doesn't realise how deep the corruption runs but as he becomes more aware he uses it to his advantage. And still the weird time swings keep happening.
van Vogt works through the question, "What would happen if a time traveler met himself in the past?" It's an interesting solution he finds, and one in which the young man gains extraordinary power and influence. In one conversation we get the sentence, "He was here with his twin brother."
The political forces battle it out until both sides are forced to admit the damage being done to the disappeared man and that the time swings need to be stopped. The book ends by giving us a look into his mind, and the final sentence, in just a few words, breaks my mind as van Vogt drops his most powerful bomb into the story.
Back in 1951 a strange building appears in a city street. It's a weapons shop. Two men approach, for one the door won't open, for the other it will. He enters and soon after the shop and the man disappears.
This is a story of time swinging between events that are forced increasingly apart. The reason for the swing has something to do with the disappeared man. But the narrative centers on a far future empire rife with corruption, and in which the weapon shops are the focus of resistance.
We follow the life of a young man who leaves home and hopes to become significant in the government. He doesn't realise how deep the corruption runs but as he becomes more aware he uses it to his advantage. And still the weird time swings keep happening.
van Vogt works through the question, "What would happen if a time traveler met himself in the past?" It's an interesting solution he finds, and one in which the young man gains extraordinary power and influence. In one conversation we get the sentence, "He was here with his twin brother."
The political forces battle it out until both sides are forced to admit the damage being done to the disappeared man and that the time swings need to be stopped. The book ends by giving us a look into his mind, and the final sentence, in just a few words, breaks my mind as van Vogt drops his most powerful bomb into the story.
Back in 1951 a strange building appears in a city street. It's a weapons shop. Two men approach, for one the door won't open, for the other it will. He enters and soon after the shop and the man disappears.
This is a story of time swinging between events that are forced increasingly apart. The reason for the swing has something to do with the disappeared man. But the narrative centers on a far future empire rife with corruption, and in which the weapon shops are the focus of resistance.
We follow the life of a young man who leaves home and hopes to become significant in the government. He doesn't realise how deep the corruption runs but as he becomes more aware he uses it to his advantage. And still the weird time swings keep happening.
van Vogt works through the question, "What would happen if a time traveler met himself in the past?" It's an interesting solution he finds, and one in which the young man gains extraordinary power and influence. In one conversation we get the sentence, "He was here with his twin brother."
The political forces battle it out until both sides are forced to admit the damage being done to the disappeared man and that the time swings need to be stopped. The book ends by giving us a look into his mind, and the final sentence, in just a few words, breaks my mind as van Vogt drops his most powerful bomb into the story.
On the planet of Indigo people are genetically designed and born through IVF. But sometimes a woman conceives naturally, and the baby can be far from the perfection expected. Ugly, that's her nickname, real name Magdala, is such a person. Misshapen and unattractive she lives a secluded life, ignored by coworkers and desperately lonely. But one day a strange man appears in her life.
Claudio effectively kidnaps her and promises to make her beautiful. He puts her through a process of consciousness swapping whereby her whole sense of self is transferred to a perfectly formed android. Her original body is kept in a stasis chamber and has to be maintained. Magdala is now beautiful but totally in the power of Claudio. And he turns out to be a psychopath.
Tanith Lee writes him with surgical precision as he keeps Magdala under micromanaged abusive control. Magdala soon realises that he is following some plan of his own, a plan of hatred and revenge upon the woman her new body is designed to mimic.
The plot expands to include that woman, named Christophine, sometimes Christa, and we come to an awkward linking of names echoing Christ and Mary Magdalene, and of the unlovely being granted a new life. It might be a metaphor Lee is working towards but the novel is better served by being about the abusive relationship under Claudio than some sort of reach towards redemption.
The central part of the book brings us to the scientific conflict between those seeking to make consciousness transfer a reality and the three central characters reach an inevitable crisis.
But then Lee shifts into reverse gear and resets the whole thing. The final ten pages is either a monumental plot twist (if so if fails in my mind) or a low effort in ending the story because it was all headed to catastrophe. I was looking forward to catastrophe.
The character Claudio is so finely written that I was captivated by Lee's skill. His treatment of Magda is constantly and relentlessly undermining, such that although he's elevated her physical beauty he's also intent on keeping her locked into her original body image. The weird ending was almost like an apology for writing Claudio in such surgical detail.
On the planet of Indigo people are genetically designed and born through IVF. But sometimes a woman conceives naturally, and the baby can be far from the perfection expected. Ugly, that's her nickname, real name Magdala, is such a person. Misshapen and unattractive she lives a secluded life, ignored by coworkers and desperately lonely. But one day a strange man appears in her life.
Claudio effectively kidnaps her and promises to make her beautiful. He puts her through a process of consciousness swapping whereby her whole sense of self is transferred to a perfectly formed android. Her original body is kept in a stasis chamber and has to be maintained. Magdala is now beautiful but totally in the power of Claudio. And he turns out to be a psychopath.
Tanith Lee writes him with surgical precision as he keeps Magdala under micromanaged abusive control. Magdala soon realises that he is following some plan of his own, a plan of hatred and revenge upon the woman her new body is designed to mimic.
The plot expands to include that woman, named Christophine, sometimes Christa, and we come to an awkward linking of names echoing Christ and Mary Magdalene, and of the unlovely being granted a new life. It might be a metaphor Lee is working towards but the novel is better served by being about the abusive relationship under Claudio than some sort of reach towards redemption.
The central part of the book brings us to the scientific conflict between those seeking to make consciousness transfer a reality and the three central characters reach an inevitable crisis.
But then Lee shifts into reverse gear and resets the whole thing. The final ten pages is either a monumental plot twist (if so if fails in my mind) or a low effort in ending the story because it was all headed to catastrophe. I was looking forward to catastrophe.
The character Claudio is so finely written that I was captivated by Lee's skill. His treatment of Magda is constantly and relentlessly undermining, such that although he's elevated her physical beauty he's also intent on keeping her locked into her original body image. The weird ending was almost like an apology for writing Claudio in such surgical detail.