David Ramirez (1)

I enjoyed this book, but I think it was on occasion too technical. I didn't always feel like going into so much detail about computer stuff, so maybe I missed something, but I had the feeling some of the stuff was a little unrealistic, especially towards the end.
On the other hand, it had one of the better relationships I've seen in SF: between two partners who both had their strengths and who supported each other. Yes, there were class differences and physical strength differences in the way you would expect (lower-class man with mental abilities that emphasize physical strength and upper-class woman), but there was only mutual respect, and the woman was quite strong in her own mental abilities, which allowed her to be a full partner in physical altercations, as well as in the search for the serial killer. This was a relationship between adults without any of the immaturity you don't only find in young-adult books.… (meer)

The scope of this novel’s setting is what initially drew me to pick up this book. Noah, a planetary-sized spaceship has left a devastated Earth and is traveling to a nearby to Canaan, a nearby star. They have travelled a third of the distance in approximately 350 years and still have about twice as many years before they reach their destination. So many generations have passed that its citizens don’t truly know what happened or how they were gifted with alien technology. It appears that human memories can be eliminated or created. The spaceship is so vast it possesses simulated day and night cycles with an artificial sun and stars and climates which include periodic rain and snow. Noah is so vast that it contains various biomes of redwood forests, lakes and desert terrains. There are city streets lined with skyscrapers, cafes and shops. All are tied together with roads requiring buses and trains for transportation.

The protagonist of this novel is Hana Dempsey, who is introduced when she awakens from a nine-month “vacation” known as Breeding Day, a lottery in which fertile women are selected to become impregnated through artificial insemination and give birth without ever seeing the child again. Hana is a city planner administrator and computer genius who possesses telekinetic abilities she uses in urban planning. Her lover, a genetically enhanced policeman Leonard Barrens requests Hana’s hacking skills in investigating a series of related murders. Additionally, there also appear to be several early retirements. On the Noah, when someone retires, they individual is whisked away never to be seen again. (Reminded me of the source for Soylent Green). Their investigation begins to receive negative attention from the ship’s administration.

If you are a reader whose habit is to ditch the book after 100 disinterested pages, you will do it with this book. I found it to have a very slow start. It picked up for the remainder of the book, but occasionally fell into boring troughs, especially when the prose became technical. I oscillated between giving it two and three stars settling on the latter because there was enough surprises and a poignant ending to make it so.… (meer)

At first this seems like your basic generational space ship journey to a new planet. The people on board the ship are equipped with brain implants at adolescence, which boost their psychic powers to amazing levels, and they are tested in order to be placed on the job tracks for which they are most suited. It's a rigid society, but it's one that will enable them to not only survive the lengthy journey, but deliver a thriving population to their destination.

Hana has just come back from Breeding Duty, a 9 month, fully-sedated and fully-paid vacation. She's having trouble easing back into her life and she's having strange longings to hold her baby--something she'll never do because it's the job of Keepers to raise children and her job is in City Planning. Her friends throw her a party to welcome her back, and not long after, Leon Barrens, her Peace Officer bruiser friend asks her to help him solve a mystery.

There are deaths occurring all over the ship. Horrible deaths, in which there is nothing left of the body but tattered pieces. And there are strange sightings of impossible monstrous creatures. He wants to know what's going on, and she wants to help him. As their love blossoms and the mystery deepens, they find themselves at odds with their society and running for their lives.

There was so much I liked about this book. There were mysteries on top of mysteries, secrets that were too much for anyone to bear, and histories that had to be hidden. Hana's journey was fascinating to me, from her initial longings for her child, to her determination to protect everyone from knowledge that could destroy everything, and her eventual transformation. Barrens was just my type, the stoic hero I enjoy reading about. I always enjoy the trope of becoming what you hate/fear and this book does that trope extremely well. Great stuff.

(Provided by publisher)… (meer)