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A review by tmycann
Bodies In Motion by Liana Brooks
5.0
I really want to rave about this story in all the best ways... and you need to know that I'm a Brooks fangirl for a dozen reasons--including the fact that she's my editor. So if you want to take this review with a grain of salt, sobeit.
This tale reminds me of Lois McMaster Bujold's "A Civil Campaign" from the perspective of how flawed and wounded humans negotiate their healing through love. And the setting and world-building share all the hallmarks of complexity that Bujold manages across her multi-volume series, so I'm very much looking forward to additional installments of reading about the characters that come with this world.
Those Bujold parallels aside, this is a unique and engrossing story all on its own. Characters enhanced by technological implants and the contrasts between "ground-sider" and "star-sider" mores and cultures were profoundly embedded into the narrative, making some passages almost lyrical. The murder mystery and Brooks' penchant for things that go "boom" were consistent with all of her other works, but carried a very different flavor in this context. This series contrasts sharply with her Time and Shadows series for the profound hopefulness she imbues in the main characters. And yet the characters face their own perils and struggle to reach the happy-ever-after required of a romance.
For anyone looking for a well-crafted story set in a rich world with believable scifi, I can't recommend this strongly enough.
This tale reminds me of Lois McMaster Bujold's "A Civil Campaign" from the perspective of how flawed and wounded humans negotiate their healing through love. And the setting and world-building share all the hallmarks of complexity that Bujold manages across her multi-volume series, so I'm very much looking forward to additional installments of reading about the characters that come with this world.
Those Bujold parallels aside, this is a unique and engrossing story all on its own. Characters enhanced by technological implants and the contrasts between "ground-sider" and "star-sider" mores and cultures were profoundly embedded into the narrative, making some passages almost lyrical. The murder mystery and Brooks' penchant for things that go "boom" were consistent with all of her other works, but carried a very different flavor in this context. This series contrasts sharply with her Time and Shadows series for the profound hopefulness she imbues in the main characters. And yet the characters face their own perils and struggle to reach the happy-ever-after required of a romance.
For anyone looking for a well-crafted story set in a rich world with believable scifi, I can't recommend this strongly enough.