https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3013925.html

I have somewhat bounced off Jones' prose before - I really enjoyed the novalla "Bold As Love", but then struggled with the book-length version and the first two Aleutian books. I am glad therefore to report that I got on rather well with Spirit, perhaps because it takes a few leads from The Count of Monte Cristo, familiar ground for me. Having said that, it's not as slavish a copy as, say, Stephen Fry's The Star's Tennis Balls; Bibi (the future Princess of Bois Dormant) starts as the sole survivor of a conflict that wiped out her family, is brought up by her former enemies, and then is used horribly by the neighbouring empire, resulting in her imprisonment, escape, and ultimate triumph. I did feel it ran out of steam in the final third (as does the original Dumas), but I can forgive that because I enjoyed the first two thirds so much; well-portrayed future worlds, and interesting people with interesting things happening to them. ( )

A slight disappointment, though it could have just been that I lost the plot.
the book in certainly high on the "otherness" that is states on the cover. tha opnly problem was that I seemed not to be able to follow what was happening for great portions of the book, like there were chunks missing, on a couple of occasions i went ahh so that is what was going on, in others the story simply carried on and I was none the wiser as to what happenned in that part, or the relevence to the rest of%

Can't remember why I picked this up, and even more baffled why I finished it. I coped with the first world, but after that it just got increasingly confusing, and I never did figure out what the heinous betrayal was. Too much alien-world building at the expense of characters for my taste. If you are into clash of alien worlds and far future high-tech, go for it, but I'm not recommending. ( )

I found this novel hard going. On one hand there is plenty here to enjoy and even to marvel at. On the other I should admit I nearly gave up on it about a third of the way in.

The problem I had reading this novel was the same one I had with a linked short story The voyage out, I read earlier: too much of the necessary background is hazy or left unexplained. According to the cover summary, the core plot is based upon The Count of Monte Christo, which I have not read. On a future Earth, Bibi is the only one left alive after her parent's faction is wiped out by General Yu. She joins Yu's retinue as a servant and works her way up, by dint of ability. Later she is part of Yu's mission to a string of alien worlds, all of which are populated by variants on the pattern of a bipedal hominoid, leading to theories of parallel evolution or a 'missing' common ancestor. On Sigurt's World, the Sigurtians (bat people who exchange blood) ambush the mission and capture Bibi.

After appalling treatment by the Sigurtians, and terrible deprivation in prison Bibi escapes, with a secret vouchsafed to her by the Lady Nef, Yu's consort, who was also imprisoned. This secret provides Bibi with ample means of revenge.

The period of inprisonment and escape is by far the strongest part of the novel, because the limited range of characters and situations force economy and concentration on the writing. But elsewhere, I got lost in a flurry of characters, of differently shaped types of human, some with special abilities (like immortality through inherited memory), of glittering social events and bizarre happenings in strange locales, with hinted undertows of intrigue, of instant travel between worlds by the 'information transfer' provided by the 'Buonarotti' device (a sort of interstellar Star Trek transporter) that plays fast and loose with memory and perception. While it is all inventive and very alien, it does overwhelm and nonplus. The nearest analogous reading experience I can think of was encountering some of the 60s 'New Wave' science fiction for the first time, when the writing itself could sometimes become more important than the 'science fiction' and the plot.

Apparently, the earlier novels White Queen, North Wind and Phoenix Cafe set up the universe used in this one. I have read the first two, but far too long ago unfortunately to remember anything to contextualise this novel. ( )

The plot of Spirit is based on that of The Count of Monte Cristo, but it shares its universe with the Aleutian trilogy of White Queen, North Wind and Phoenix Café. The universe has also featured in a number of Jones' short stories, including 'Saving Tiamaat' in The New Space Opera (it can be read here); and 'The Tomb Wife', which has just been shortlisted for this year's Nebula Award (it can be read here).

The shape of Dumas' story is well-known: Dantès is falsely accused of treason, sentenced to life imprisonment in the Chateau d'If, befriended by a fellow prisoner who teaches him all manner of useful skills and knowledge, escapes, sets himself up in society using treasure whose location was given to him by his friend in prison... and subsequently has his revenge on those who conspired to send him to prison in the first place.

And Spirit does, in broad aspect, follow this. The novel's protagonist is also unjustly imprisoned for twenty years, is educated while in prison, escapes and uses the "fortune" she was bequeathed by her mentor inside to... Not revenge, but neither is it justice. Call it a "balancing".

Read the rest of the review at: http://justhastobeplausible.blogspot.com/2009/03/beyond-bounds-of-vengeance-spir... ( )