posted by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sigelphoenix at 01:04pm on 27/08/2009 under books
sigelphoenix at 01:04pm on 27/08/2009 under booksI was a big fan of Jacqueline Carey's original Kushiel's Legacy trilogy, and have started her new Kushiel trilogy, but I completely missed that she had a standalone* book coming out. Luckily I ran across Oyceter's review of Santa Olivia and picked it up. I finished it awhile ago, but haven't gotten around to posting a review until now.
At first glance, I was tempted to think that Santa Olivia was Carey's attempt to throw her hat in the paranormal romance/urban fantasy ring, what with the cover that features a shadowed, tough-looking young woman. But that's a shallow reading - for one, we follow Loup, the main character, from childhood through her teenage years over the course of the book, so she's not your typical paranormal romance heroine. Santa Olivia also feels less ... slick? ... than the types of paranormal romances that are currently popular - there is no leather, no gunfights or swordfights, no snazzy magic or epic destinies. It's just Loup, a girl trying to make things a little better in her town. Despite the "urban" of "urban fantasy," you don't see a lot of books that deal with contemporary urban issues (though one exception I've found is L.A. Banks' Vampire Huntress Legends). While Santa Olivia's premise is fantastical, I liked the verisimilitude of Outpost No. 12.
You can find a summary of the book here, so I won't go into the plot. Instead, I'll say that I really enjoyed the book, despite it being quite different from what I've come to expect from Carey. No flowery prose, no intensely convoluted political intrigue, and relatively little sex. There is some sex, and some mystery, but both the writing and the world feel more spare than the lush setting of the Kushiel books. The story is on a much smaller scale, and it worked well.
One point that made me squee is that Loup is POC - more than that, she's multiracial! Granted, Carey doesn't spend much time developing Loup's ethnic identity; rather, any meditations on race and ethnicity are subsumed into the Outpost in general, and its relationship with the U.S. Still, this is worlds better than the exotification and Othering of the non-white analogue nations in the Kushiel books (I loved those books, but ... man).
I was also happy to see that, this time around, the main romantic couple is a lesbian couple.
Two caveats to this: first, Loup's girlfriend makes a point of saying that she isn't queer. Granted, it's obvious that she is acting out of insecurity, but that - coupled with a comment about their relationship transcending gender - was a little disappointing. Second, the sex between Loup and her girlfriend is really vague. Not romance-novel-euphemisms vague, but I'm-not-sure-what-is-going-where vague. This is something that I'm told occurs in other Carey books. (I can't comment on the original trilogy, because whenever Phedre had sex with a woman there, there was usually bondage and very little actual contact.) Overall, it's "yay for a central lesbian relationship!" with a touch of "hrmm."
I also found Tom's death kind of plot device-y. :/ Part of this is because he felt pretty two-dimensional, little more than the Awesome Older Brother who is adorable in his devotion to Loup, but otherwise not very interesting. On the other hand, the fact that Loup wanted to help the Outpost before Tom's death makes the death less of a plot device, because it's clearly not the Turning Point That Inspires Her Heroism. I don't wish that Carey changed the plot so much as wishing that she'd just developed Tom into a more realistic character first.
In terms of older brother figures, I found Miguel Garza much more interesting. Carey doesn't try to redeem him - while it is true that he has seized power in the one of the only ways available to him in his situation, it is also true that he can be an asshole about it - and he comes off as realistic and sympathetic, if not particularly likeable.
*I haven't heard anything about a sequel, but I find the ending leaves itself ripe for one. The story itself is satisfying with the open ending, but in terms of world-building, I want more. We only know generalities about the recent history of the world - a disease, a war, and the creation of the Outposts. I'm willing to buy that for Santa Olivia, since Loup and the Outposters don't know more (that's kind of the point). But I want some sort of payoff, some confirmation that underneath the mystery there is a really interesting world.
Overall, I definitely recommend this book. A little post-apocalyptic, a little urban fantasy and/or sci-fi, a little coming-of-age, all blended together into an enjoyable book.
At first glance, I was tempted to think that Santa Olivia was Carey's attempt to throw her hat in the paranormal romance/urban fantasy ring, what with the cover that features a shadowed, tough-looking young woman. But that's a shallow reading - for one, we follow Loup, the main character, from childhood through her teenage years over the course of the book, so she's not your typical paranormal romance heroine. Santa Olivia also feels less ... slick? ... than the types of paranormal romances that are currently popular - there is no leather, no gunfights or swordfights, no snazzy magic or epic destinies. It's just Loup, a girl trying to make things a little better in her town. Despite the "urban" of "urban fantasy," you don't see a lot of books that deal with contemporary urban issues (though one exception I've found is L.A. Banks' Vampire Huntress Legends). While Santa Olivia's premise is fantastical, I liked the verisimilitude of Outpost No. 12.
You can find a summary of the book here, so I won't go into the plot. Instead, I'll say that I really enjoyed the book, despite it being quite different from what I've come to expect from Carey. No flowery prose, no intensely convoluted political intrigue, and relatively little sex. There is some sex, and some mystery, but both the writing and the world feel more spare than the lush setting of the Kushiel books. The story is on a much smaller scale, and it worked well.
One point that made me squee is that Loup is POC - more than that, she's multiracial! Granted, Carey doesn't spend much time developing Loup's ethnic identity; rather, any meditations on race and ethnicity are subsumed into the Outpost in general, and its relationship with the U.S. Still, this is worlds better than the exotification and Othering of the non-white analogue nations in the Kushiel books (I loved those books, but ... man).
I was also happy to see that, this time around, the main romantic couple is a lesbian couple.
Two caveats to this: first, Loup's girlfriend makes a point of saying that she isn't queer. Granted, it's obvious that she is acting out of insecurity, but that - coupled with a comment about their relationship transcending gender - was a little disappointing. Second, the sex between Loup and her girlfriend is really vague. Not romance-novel-euphemisms vague, but I'm-not-sure-what-is-going-where vague. This is something that I'm told occurs in other Carey books. (I can't comment on the original trilogy, because whenever Phedre had sex with a woman there, there was usually bondage and very little actual contact.) Overall, it's "yay for a central lesbian relationship!" with a touch of "hrmm."
I also found Tom's death kind of plot device-y. :/ Part of this is because he felt pretty two-dimensional, little more than the Awesome Older Brother who is adorable in his devotion to Loup, but otherwise not very interesting. On the other hand, the fact that Loup wanted to help the Outpost before Tom's death makes the death less of a plot device, because it's clearly not the Turning Point That Inspires Her Heroism. I don't wish that Carey changed the plot so much as wishing that she'd just developed Tom into a more realistic character first.
In terms of older brother figures, I found Miguel Garza much more interesting. Carey doesn't try to redeem him - while it is true that he has seized power in the one of the only ways available to him in his situation, it is also true that he can be an asshole about it - and he comes off as realistic and sympathetic, if not particularly likeable.
*I haven't heard anything about a sequel, but I find the ending leaves itself ripe for one. The story itself is satisfying with the open ending, but in terms of world-building, I want more. We only know generalities about the recent history of the world - a disease, a war, and the creation of the Outposts. I'm willing to buy that for Santa Olivia, since Loup and the Outposters don't know more (that's kind of the point). But I want some sort of payoff, some confirmation that underneath the mystery there is a really interesting world.
Overall, I definitely recommend this book. A little post-apocalyptic, a little urban fantasy and/or sci-fi, a little coming-of-age, all blended together into an enjoyable book.
hungry