Scan barcode
A review by paradoxically
Crossover by Joel Shepherd
2.0
An interesting book, if pretty messy, Crossover centers around Cassandra, who is basically just trying to live a fulfilling life, only to get dragged into a mess load of trouble because, surprise, she's an android who went MIA from fighting on one side of an interstellar conflict (the League) to a world that is a member of the other side of the interstellar conflict (the Federation). She wants to be an ordinary citizen, but that's hard to do when you're a highly sophisticated android who was built to kill people.
For a pretty good chunk of the book I was a little confused about the League and the Federation and their ideologies as well as what role they had to play in Tanusha, which is where the book is centered. I managed to puzzle it out eventually, but I feel like it took a little too much time to do so since being inconveniently confused meant that a good portion of people's motivations baffled me. Or, you know, further confused me.
It's not even that difficult to understand when you get down to the nitty gritty of it (seriously: the League is all about advancement of humanity to the point where they want to erase anything they think is holding them back--be it one's history or culture and whatnot. They are all Science Is Everything, except they made Cassandra and they treat her less as a person and more as a thing. The Federation, on the other hand, is the conservative bunch who oppose the League. They're more connected with their roots and culture and are actually rather against the advancement of science [not that it stops them from trying to use it] and they hate the idea of Cassandra, but are willing to tolerate her [sorta. Or maybe that's just on Callay]).
Both sides suck and I have no idea why it was so difficult for me to grasp what each side wanted except for the messy storyline. The politics of the book? Not exactly my cup of tea. It wasn't really done in a way that held my attention and I actually disliked a fair amount of it.
Cassandra is interesting in of herself. I liked her, but I also wanted to bang my head against something sometimes when reading about her. I'm all for people being free and happy with their bodies and being comfortable with who you are and what you do, but do you really need her to be so focused on sex? If it's something for fun then do you have to mention it every other page? I laughed at first, and still continued to be amused by her mentions of sex, but it got to be too much. It's only a little part of her and who she is, why the great focus on it? It just made me a little annoyed at the end.
I feel like I enjoyed parts of this book a lot more than the whole. The characters were okay, but the plot wasn't as engaging as I hoped and the pacing was--well, the beginning was pretty slow. It sped up after a little bit, but it gets bogged down a lot by the politics, which some of you may or may not like. The ending was a bit better, but it was also fairly predictable and kind of melodramatic. 2 stars.
For a pretty good chunk of the book I was a little confused about the League and the Federation and their ideologies as well as what role they had to play in Tanusha, which is where the book is centered. I managed to puzzle it out eventually, but I feel like it took a little too much time to do so since being inconveniently confused meant that a good portion of people's motivations baffled me. Or, you know, further confused me.
It's not even that difficult to understand when you get down to the nitty gritty of it (seriously: the League is all about advancement of humanity to the point where they want to erase anything they think is holding them back--be it one's history or culture and whatnot. They are all Science Is Everything, except they made Cassandra and they treat her less as a person and more as a thing. The Federation, on the other hand, is the conservative bunch who oppose the League. They're more connected with their roots and culture and are actually rather against the advancement of science [not that it stops them from trying to use it] and they hate the idea of Cassandra, but are willing to tolerate her [sorta. Or maybe that's just on Callay]).
Both sides suck and I have no idea why it was so difficult for me to grasp what each side wanted except for the messy storyline. The politics of the book? Not exactly my cup of tea. It wasn't really done in a way that held my attention and I actually disliked a fair amount of it.
Cassandra is interesting in of herself. I liked her, but I also wanted to bang my head against something sometimes when reading about her. I'm all for people being free and happy with their bodies and being comfortable with who you are and what you do, but do you really need her to be so focused on sex? If it's something for fun then do you have to mention it every other page? I laughed at first, and still continued to be amused by her mentions of sex, but it got to be too much. It's only a little part of her and who she is, why the great focus on it? It just made me a little annoyed at the end.
I feel like I enjoyed parts of this book a lot more than the whole. The characters were okay, but the plot wasn't as engaging as I hoped and the pacing was--well, the beginning was pretty slow. It sped up after a little bit, but it gets bogged down a lot by the politics, which some of you may or may not like. The ending was a bit better, but it was also fairly predictable and kind of melodramatic. 2 stars.