Diving into the Review
Nov. 23rd, 2009 04:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHi,
So I just zipped through Diving into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. As you might guess from the title, it's about a woman (known only in the book as "Boss") who likes to explore derelict starships drifting in space.
Sadly, she does not encounter any Genestealers.
The book draws heavily on underwater exploration, archeology and wreck diving for its imagery and it translates surprisingly well. I'm surprised that in a world with FTL spacesuits aren't more tear-resistant, but it's another danger to working in a forgotten disaster that really helps the book go. Boss is in the game for the adventure and the history and her challenges mostly involve the wrecks she's working with and her dad who is obsessed with an abandoned space station and its mysterious "Room of Lost Souls".
The pacing is very good and if there's some oddness in the way some of the technology is handled, it's a minor disturbance at the edge. The book pretty much ends well, but clearly is keeping its options open for future books. It also handily passes the Bechdel test -- most of the major speaking parts go to women and their discussions are always about important matters at hand. I don't think there was anything super "wow" about it (although I do like the wreck-diving angle a lot), but it certainly makes for some nice bedtime reading.
later
Tom
So I just zipped through Diving into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. As you might guess from the title, it's about a woman (known only in the book as "Boss") who likes to explore derelict starships drifting in space.
Sadly, she does not encounter any Genestealers.
The book draws heavily on underwater exploration, archeology and wreck diving for its imagery and it translates surprisingly well. I'm surprised that in a world with FTL spacesuits aren't more tear-resistant, but it's another danger to working in a forgotten disaster that really helps the book go. Boss is in the game for the adventure and the history and her challenges mostly involve the wrecks she's working with and her dad who is obsessed with an abandoned space station and its mysterious "Room of Lost Souls".
The pacing is very good and if there's some oddness in the way some of the technology is handled, it's a minor disturbance at the edge. The book pretty much ends well, but clearly is keeping its options open for future books. It also handily passes the Bechdel test -- most of the major speaking parts go to women and their discussions are always about important matters at hand. I don't think there was anything super "wow" about it (although I do like the wreck-diving angle a lot), but it certainly makes for some nice bedtime reading.
later
Tom
