Kuldesak

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Mel, almost adult, is part of a small community of Roamers, who travel the tunnels occasionally interacting with the more sedentary Plants and hounded by the robotic Factors who enforce the law. But one of his Partner animals has found a path up to what appears to be a whole new region, without a roof, and exploration is at the risk of their lives.

Review
While I'm a fan of Richard Cowper's writing, I've found his novels to be uneven. The terribly titled Kuldesak is happily one of the good ones.

Here, Cowper's brevity works against him. He sets up an interesting world with an intriguing, complex backstory, but undercuts it both with his framing (an alien observer) and with a key characterization. I'd have been just as happy to see the humans work everything out on their own. The alien, while he does play an interesting role, is not strictly necessary, and is a bit of a distraction.The characterization is more of a problem. Frankie starts as something of an underdeveloped side character but suddenly (and mostly ex machina) becomes a key player in the whole drama. Unfortunately, that growth is not really accompanied by much in the way of character development. The solution to humanity's problems springs up full-grown, essentially out of nowhere, and it feels distinctly disappointing, as if Cowper ran out of time, enthusiasm, or interest.

This is a story that deserved at least another 50 pages (it could easily have been double the length), and should perhaps have been told from Frankie's perspective to begin with. It's a good story, but the ending is flawed. Not Cowper's best, but a good idea, and fun to read.