Jessica
Really enjoyed this, in large part due to the shining beacon of chaos that is Tennalhin Halkana. At the start of the book he's in hiding for unspecified reasons, but making use of the time to go on a self-destructive bender. But as it turns out, his aunt is the legislator, which seems to mean the ruler of this corner of space, and to get him out of the way and make him stop embarrassing her, she arranges to (illegally) conscript him into the army… and Tennal's smiling defiance of military authority is one of the best things about this book.
There's a lot more to it, of course. There's the legacy of sinister "neuromodification" experiments, by which the government created a number of "readers" (who can read others' minds) and "architects" (who can psychically control other people). Tennal is a reader, and then Surit, the other main character, is an architect. Surit is a good character, too, very caught up in his sense of propriety, and trying to escape the shadow of his mother (who was a traitor to the regime). As the novel progresses, a political struggle takes place between the legislator and another contender for absolute power, which Tennal and Surit find themselves involved in. There's a lot of Weird Space Stuff, which actually reminded me a lot of the narrative-heavy game "I Was a Teenage Exocolonist" with its wormhole. So if you enjoyed one, you might well enjoy the other, idk.
The weakest element of this book was probably the romance between Tennal and Surit. I feel like the potential complications of any romance between them were developed pretty well, and then the whole issue got pushed to the backburner as so much else was happening in the story. Their inevitable hooking up got relegated to the epilogue because there was just no room for it any earlier. I have no constructive suggestions for how it could've been done differently… I just feel like it wasn't ideal, the way it was. Still, there was a lot else to like in this book. Four stars!
Really enjoyed this, in large part due to the shining beacon of chaos that is Tennalhin Halkana. At the start of the book he's in hiding for unspecified reasons, but making use of the time to go on a self-destructive bender. But as it turns out, his aunt is the legislator, which seems to mean the ruler of this corner of space, and to get him out of the way and make him stop embarrassing her, she arranges to (illegally) conscript him into the army… and Tennal's smiling defiance of military authority is one of the best things about this book.
There's a lot more to it, of course. There's the legacy of sinister "neuromodification" experiments, by which the government created a number of "readers" (who can read others' minds) and "architects" (who can psychically control other people). Tennal is a reader, and then Surit, the other main character, is an architect. Surit is a good character, too, very caught up in his sense of propriety, and trying to escape the shadow of his mother (who was a traitor to the regime). As the novel progresses, a political struggle takes place between the legislator and another contender for absolute power, which Tennal and Surit find themselves involved in. There's a lot of Weird Space Stuff, which actually reminded me a lot of the narrative-heavy game "I Was a Teenage Exocolonist" with its wormhole. So if you enjoyed one, you might well enjoy the other, idk.
The weakest element of this book was probably the romance between Tennal and Surit. I feel like the potential complications of any romance between them were developed pretty well, and then the whole issue got pushed to the backburner as so much else was happening in the story. Their inevitable hooking up got relegated to the epilogue because there was just no room for it any earlier. I have no constructive suggestions for how it could've been done differently… I just feel like it wasn't ideal, the way it was. Still, there was a lot else to like in this book. Four stars!