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vorpalblad's review
4.0
In Scylla & Charybdis Anaea Carlisle is a young woman living in Themiscyra, an out-of-the-way refuge in space. Aliens have created a new disease to use against humans, Y-Poisoning, which has attacked the human male population causing madness, death and the eminent destruction of civilization. Themiscyra is populated by only women who use gene-splicing to procreate. The few men are found on salvage missions and kept segregated completely from the main population. The Themiscryan's have mastered life-extension technology, with some still alive who remember the chaos of the Y-Poisoning epidemic. Anaea is part of this world, still trying to figure out what she wants to do, moving from internship to internship, when she tries out being part of a salvage crew. It's in that role that she discovers the survivor in a wrecked spaceship, Gwydion, who reveals to her that Y-Poisoning petered out, the aliens never returned, and while the galaxy is certainly not what it once was, it's definitely not what she's been taught.
The good: Duncan has built a fascinating galaxy, where contact with earth has been lost because it isn't conveniently placed near a hyperspace terminus. Anaea discovers that the galaxy is split into two main parts, a side where each colony is ruled by a warlord and a side ruled by women called the matriarchs. The empire with the individual warlords can be violent, seedy, and women are seen as easy prey. Among the matriarchs, as the name implies, women rule, and "male" traits like violence and competition are looked down upon. The tracking technology, and ways around it, are interesting and feel very realistic. Duncan develops Anaea as a woman with the travel bug. Once she knows the galaxy is out there, she wants to see it all. She's a strong and independent character, who wins not by brute strength, but by being friendly and curious. There were little asides and an ending that left this open to a sequel, without leaving us with a cliff-hanger. Thank you! It's a pet peeve of mine.
The meh: While building to a finale, Anaea definitely has a series of "adventures" that feel very episodic, and somewhat random. Toward the middle of the book, I couldn't help but think the story needed to slow down a bit, instead of one damn thing after another. It was also unclear to me why the travel technology of Themiscrya was so advanced when they never went anywhere. And finally, where does anyone go to the bathroom? She has a pet that goes everywhere with her. It never goes to the bathroom. She's stuck in situations for days where clearly no bathroom is available. I don't think about these things that much, but in this case it stood out.
The bad: Gwydion's religion becomes a "thing." I didn't see any point in this. It didn't add to the story. It didn't really create any tension between the Gwydion and Anaea. It was completely random. Gwydion also shows up at one point where I couldn't suspend my disbelief. Nope. Not buying it. The aliens... So these aliens show up, unleash this deadly disease and then disappear. Nope. Not buying it.
Overall: the good far outweighed the bad and Duncan is great at building tension. I'd love to see a book that built out the calmer moments and explored the sci-fi and personal stories more thoroughly.
I received an ARC in exchange for a thorough review.
The good: Duncan has built a fascinating galaxy, where contact with earth has been lost because it isn't conveniently placed near a hyperspace terminus. Anaea discovers that the galaxy is split into two main parts, a side where each colony is ruled by a warlord and a side ruled by women called the matriarchs. The empire with the individual warlords can be violent, seedy, and women are seen as easy prey. Among the matriarchs, as the name implies, women rule, and "male" traits like violence and competition are looked down upon. The tracking technology, and ways around it, are interesting and feel very realistic. Duncan develops Anaea as a woman with the travel bug. Once she knows the galaxy is out there, she wants to see it all. She's a strong and independent character, who wins not by brute strength, but by being friendly and curious. There were little asides and an ending that left this open to a sequel, without leaving us with a cliff-hanger. Thank you! It's a pet peeve of mine.
The meh: While building to a finale, Anaea definitely has a series of "adventures" that feel very episodic, and somewhat random. Toward the middle of the book, I couldn't help but think the story needed to slow down a bit, instead of one damn thing after another. It was also unclear to me why the travel technology of Themiscrya was so advanced when they never went anywhere. And finally, where does anyone go to the bathroom? She has a pet that goes everywhere with her. It never goes to the bathroom. She's stuck in situations for days where clearly no bathroom is available. I don't think about these things that much, but in this case it stood out.
The bad: Gwydion's religion becomes a "thing." I didn't see any point in this. It didn't add to the story. It didn't really create any tension between the Gwydion and Anaea. It was completely random. Gwydion also shows up at one point where I couldn't suspend my disbelief. Nope. Not buying it. The aliens... So these aliens show up, unleash this deadly disease and then disappear. Nope. Not buying it.
Overall: the good far outweighed the bad and Duncan is great at building tension. I'd love to see a book that built out the calmer moments and explored the sci-fi and personal stories more thoroughly.
I received an ARC in exchange for a thorough review.
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