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A review by hammard
Living Next Door to the God of Love by Justina Robson
2.0
This book is tough to review as it's hard to know what was actually happening most of the time. Therefore I apologise if any of the information I give is inaccurate or my opinions are coloured by this. I suppose it would be best to start with the basics:
Narrative structure: Robson went for the modern fashion of a fragmented first person narrative without a framing structure. For me this is the weakest style an author can choose as it simply serves to confuse the reader and shows the lack of distinctive character traits in the main cast. Given that she sometimes even swaps perspective mid-chapter for no reason other than to give a train of thought this would have been better served by a third person omniscient.
Main Characters:
Francine: Essentially acts the gateway character by running away from Earth. She has the most distinctive narrative voice but is largely just moved around by the other characters.
Greg: University professor with the personality of tissue paper. He mostly just moans about what's happening.
Jalaeka: The star of the story and romantic lead. He comes across as an asshole for most of the book but seems to develop more complex human traits as the story develops.
Damien: I honestly have trouble remembering who he was, confusing him with Greg or Jalaeka. Apart from being an Aelf he didn't seem to do much.
Valkyrie Skuld: The most descriptively interesting character but the one I found it hardest to get my head around for a long while.
Theo: The main antagonist, who often appears by taking over other people or them being part of him. He remains uninteresting as he doesn't really seem to have any shades of grey. We even get some sexual violence for no reason other than to show he is EVIL!
Rita: Theo's henchman but is she good or bad? She's artificial and a part of Theo but she also questions his choices. I felt however her conflicts were under-utilized.
The actual plot itself (that I understood) never seemed to be the real central driving force. Rather this is a book of ideas and world building:
Ideas: One thing you cannot claim Robson on is being short on ideas, in fact this is what kept me reading. She keeps throwing in questions of identity and how we connect with technology and what does that mean for our conception of reality. Whilst I would have hoped for more exploration of these themes they are what lifts the book up.
World Building: Unfortunately, this is what really drags it down. A lot of the book is wandering from place-to-place trying to discover an answers. However, these worlds areas insubstantial as smoke, so I cannot feel much connection to something or someone that will have completely changed 10 minutes later and we will never see again. At the same time we are bombarded with technobabble we have to be working out what it means and then applying it back to when we first heard people refer to in this way. It makes for a very unrewarding experience.
One final word, without spoiling it too much, I felt the ending was a cop-out. The book would have been improved without the final chapter.
Narrative structure: Robson went for the modern fashion of a fragmented first person narrative without a framing structure. For me this is the weakest style an author can choose as it simply serves to confuse the reader and shows the lack of distinctive character traits in the main cast. Given that she sometimes even swaps perspective mid-chapter for no reason other than to give a train of thought this would have been better served by a third person omniscient.
Main Characters:
Francine: Essentially acts the gateway character by running away from Earth. She has the most distinctive narrative voice but is largely just moved around by the other characters.
Greg: University professor with the personality of tissue paper. He mostly just moans about what's happening.
Jalaeka: The star of the story and romantic lead. He comes across as an asshole for most of the book but seems to develop more complex human traits as the story develops.
Damien: I honestly have trouble remembering who he was, confusing him with Greg or Jalaeka. Apart from being an Aelf he didn't seem to do much.
Valkyrie Skuld: The most descriptively interesting character but the one I found it hardest to get my head around for a long while.
Theo: The main antagonist, who often appears by taking over other people or them being part of him. He remains uninteresting as he doesn't really seem to have any shades of grey. We even get some sexual violence for no reason other than to show he is EVIL!
Rita: Theo's henchman but is she good or bad? She's artificial and a part of Theo but she also questions his choices. I felt however her conflicts were under-utilized.
The actual plot itself (that I understood) never seemed to be the real central driving force. Rather this is a book of ideas and world building:
Ideas: One thing you cannot claim Robson on is being short on ideas, in fact this is what kept me reading. She keeps throwing in questions of identity and how we connect with technology and what does that mean for our conception of reality. Whilst I would have hoped for more exploration of these themes they are what lifts the book up.
World Building: Unfortunately, this is what really drags it down. A lot of the book is wandering from place-to-place trying to discover an answers. However, these worlds areas insubstantial as smoke, so I cannot feel much connection to something or someone that will have completely changed 10 minutes later and we will never see again. At the same time we are bombarded with technobabble we have to be working out what it means and then applying it back to when we first heard people refer to in this way. It makes for a very unrewarding experience.
One final word, without spoiling it too much, I felt the ending was a cop-out. The book would have been improved without the final chapter.