McHugh, Maureen F. - Nekropolis
Wed, Mar. 10th, 2004 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterI didn't like it as much as I liked her China Mountain Zhang.
It's written much in the same style, with the first person present and the change of viewpoints in each chapter. It's about a jessed woman, Hariba, (jessing some how makes the people more loyal as servants) and the harni Akhmin, them falling in love and running away and much trouble ensues. Akhmin is harni and a genetic construct made to look human, but essentially not.
I think mostly I was disappointed in this book -- one should not have blurbs on the back saying books are "unique love stories" and then making them not so. I also probably picked up the book for the wrong reasons -- the AI/human love reminded me of Silver Metal Lover, which I have actually not read (yet) but sounded good, and I thought it would be about exploring the things that make us human, or that make us fall in love even in the most impossible circumstances, or something like that.
But much of the book has to do with how Hariba and Akhmin get out of their states of slavery, with viewpoints contributed by Hariba, Akhmin, Hariba's mother and her best friend. I have to admit, McHugh's character voices sounded a little similar stylistically (I have been spoiled by Freedom and Necessity), and I wasn't quite sure why in the end Hariba's mother and her best friend were included in what seemed to ultimately be Hariba's journey. It worked for me in China Mountain Zhang because I enjoyed watching the different people he influenced and affected and because that book felt more on community and human ties, while this one was preset in my mind to be about a less general relationship with the world. Plus, McHugh lost the gorgeous quiet moments that really made China Mountain Zhang work for me, like the life of colonists on Mars, or an endless night in the Arctic, or Daoist architecture.
Mostly, I think I was annoyed because as soon as the book seemed to be hitting the points that interested me, it stopped. Hariba and Akhmin had finally escaped from Morocco and found sanctuary in Spain, both of them readjusting to life there, Hariba learning things about Akhmin and the harni in general that would have a big impact on their relationship (mostly non-existent in the earlier chapters, as she was completely incapacitated by getting over being jessed). Plus, I liked the parts where Hariba had to adjust, had to learn to live in the new country. And instead of finishing her journey there, the book just stops. No ultimate resolution of the Hariba-Akhmin problem, nothing.
Plus, I dislike books in which the heroine is basically dead weight and utterly useless throughout most of the book.
I will try one more to see how McHugh is and then see...
It's written much in the same style, with the first person present and the change of viewpoints in each chapter. It's about a jessed woman, Hariba, (jessing some how makes the people more loyal as servants) and the harni Akhmin, them falling in love and running away and much trouble ensues. Akhmin is harni and a genetic construct made to look human, but essentially not.
I think mostly I was disappointed in this book -- one should not have blurbs on the back saying books are "unique love stories" and then making them not so. I also probably picked up the book for the wrong reasons -- the AI/human love reminded me of Silver Metal Lover, which I have actually not read (yet) but sounded good, and I thought it would be about exploring the things that make us human, or that make us fall in love even in the most impossible circumstances, or something like that.
But much of the book has to do with how Hariba and Akhmin get out of their states of slavery, with viewpoints contributed by Hariba, Akhmin, Hariba's mother and her best friend. I have to admit, McHugh's character voices sounded a little similar stylistically (I have been spoiled by Freedom and Necessity), and I wasn't quite sure why in the end Hariba's mother and her best friend were included in what seemed to ultimately be Hariba's journey. It worked for me in China Mountain Zhang because I enjoyed watching the different people he influenced and affected and because that book felt more on community and human ties, while this one was preset in my mind to be about a less general relationship with the world. Plus, McHugh lost the gorgeous quiet moments that really made China Mountain Zhang work for me, like the life of colonists on Mars, or an endless night in the Arctic, or Daoist architecture.
Mostly, I think I was annoyed because as soon as the book seemed to be hitting the points that interested me, it stopped. Hariba and Akhmin had finally escaped from Morocco and found sanctuary in Spain, both of them readjusting to life there, Hariba learning things about Akhmin and the harni in general that would have a big impact on their relationship (mostly non-existent in the earlier chapters, as she was completely incapacitated by getting over being jessed). Plus, I liked the parts where Hariba had to adjust, had to learn to live in the new country. And instead of finishing her journey there, the book just stops. No ultimate resolution of the Hariba-Akhmin problem, nothing.
Plus, I dislike books in which the heroine is basically dead weight and utterly useless throughout most of the book.
I will try one more to see how McHugh is and then see...
Tags: