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A review by bluepigeon
Fortuna by K.S. Merbeth, Kristyn Merbeth
3.0
Fortuna tells the story of a smuggler family in a human-settled planetary system. The family's leader is a ferocious, uncompromising woman, who seems to have calculated even the brith planets of her children to best benefit the family business. The story is told from the point of views of the eldest, perfect son, Corvus, and the second eldest, alcoholic fuck-up, Scorpia. Scorpia is bitter that Corvus left them with no word to fight in the war in his home/birth planet, Titan and has been gone for three years. Corvus is bitter that their mother left him on Titan, another calculated move for the business. He has fought well in the war and is thoroughly traumatized by everything he has seen and done.
The story has the makings of a great read. However, the narration lacks finesse, often opting for repeating the same stuff over and over again without any subtlety in the underlying psychology. Scorpia and Corvus seem very much in touch with their emotions and their own motivations and avoidances, which does not fit the characterization otherwise. An alcoholic and abused by mother, Scorpia is less likable, but that's not really enough. We're told Corvus is traumatized, but he seems more upset than deeply traumatized. Still, I can accept all of that, but the real thing that bothered me was the repetitive nature of the narration. Sure, we all get hung up on the same thoughts, the same events, but the narration does not have to keep repeating things to make this point. That is, the author can stylize the narration so we get enough of these kinds of obsessive thoughts, but not too much that it bogs down the story.
Examples: both characters harp on about the "three years" Corvus has been away at the war like it is an eternity. Perhaps, to the younger, more juvenile and immature Scorpia, three years seemed like an eternity? Still, they both talk about three years like it is 10 or 20 years, a very long time. It's not that long to justify both characters going on and on and on about "three years." (Are you annoyed by how many times I said "three years" in this little paragraph. Well, know you know how it can be.) Another example is the words "siblings" used by both characters, which made me wonder if the two would sound different enough if I were reading the book instead of listening to the audiobook (in the audiobook, a man reads Corvus and a woman, Scorpia, so they do automatically sound different...) You'd think someone like Scorpia would call her siblings other things, like kids, monkeys, mama's boys, etc. But no, both Scorpia and Corvus incessantly use the word "siblings." I mean, many many many many times...
The planetary set-up seemed simplistic and highly improbable (there are, what, five planets in the system, all of which are inhabitable.) Whole planets are reduced to one government (for no apparent reason; maybe because they are relatively newly settled?) and one big city, like saying Earth has one government and its capital city is Hong Kong or something. Whole planets are also reduced to one climate, it seems. Just by the fact that these are planets with poles and axes and are (hopefully) roundish, they should have different climates within each planet. That one planet is all desert and one is all lush green made little sense.
The political intrigue was interesting and I liked reading about it, as well as about the now-extinct Primus culture with its very powerful weapons and ships and weird monuments. But this occupied much less of the narration compared to Corvus and Scorpia moaning about three years and siblings. Once the family really got in trouble in Titan, things picked up a bit, but I felt like this was too late in the story. I almost felt like the story could have started there, some of the key information leading up to that point could have been communicated in flashbacks or dialog. (I am sure the author has good reasons of choosing to do it this way, but reading it, I felt some restructuring would benefit the story. A writing teacher once told me to start the story and then cut all the stuff in the beginning until the story really begins... That's how I felt with this story.)
Overall, Fortuna was a fun read and a good listen. Recommended for those who like creeping plants, space pirates, and twins.
The story has the makings of a great read. However, the narration lacks finesse, often opting for repeating the same stuff over and over again without any subtlety in the underlying psychology. Scorpia and Corvus seem very much in touch with their emotions and their own motivations and avoidances, which does not fit the characterization otherwise. An alcoholic and abused by mother, Scorpia is less likable, but that's not really enough. We're told Corvus is traumatized, but he seems more upset than deeply traumatized. Still, I can accept all of that, but the real thing that bothered me was the repetitive nature of the narration. Sure, we all get hung up on the same thoughts, the same events, but the narration does not have to keep repeating things to make this point. That is, the author can stylize the narration so we get enough of these kinds of obsessive thoughts, but not too much that it bogs down the story.
Examples: both characters harp on about the "three years" Corvus has been away at the war like it is an eternity. Perhaps, to the younger, more juvenile and immature Scorpia, three years seemed like an eternity? Still, they both talk about three years like it is 10 or 20 years, a very long time. It's not that long to justify both characters going on and on and on about "three years." (Are you annoyed by how many times I said "three years" in this little paragraph. Well, know you know how it can be.) Another example is the words "siblings" used by both characters, which made me wonder if the two would sound different enough if I were reading the book instead of listening to the audiobook (in the audiobook, a man reads Corvus and a woman, Scorpia, so they do automatically sound different...) You'd think someone like Scorpia would call her siblings other things, like kids, monkeys, mama's boys, etc. But no, both Scorpia and Corvus incessantly use the word "siblings." I mean, many many many many times...
The planetary set-up seemed simplistic and highly improbable (there are, what, five planets in the system, all of which are inhabitable.) Whole planets are reduced to one government (for no apparent reason; maybe because they are relatively newly settled?) and one big city, like saying Earth has one government and its capital city is Hong Kong or something. Whole planets are also reduced to one climate, it seems. Just by the fact that these are planets with poles and axes and are (hopefully) roundish, they should have different climates within each planet. That one planet is all desert and one is all lush green made little sense.
The political intrigue was interesting and I liked reading about it, as well as about the now-extinct Primus culture with its very powerful weapons and ships and weird monuments. But this occupied much less of the narration compared to Corvus and Scorpia moaning about three years and siblings. Once the family really got in trouble in Titan, things picked up a bit, but I felt like this was too late in the story. I almost felt like the story could have started there, some of the key information leading up to that point could have been communicated in flashbacks or dialog. (I am sure the author has good reasons of choosing to do it this way, but reading it, I felt some restructuring would benefit the story. A writing teacher once told me to start the story and then cut all the stuff in the beginning until the story really begins... That's how I felt with this story.)
Overall, Fortuna was a fun read and a good listen. Recommended for those who like creeping plants, space pirates, and twins.