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Carnival by Elizabeth Bear
Jun. 1st, 2010 10:18 pmBook Rec: Carnival by Elizabeth Bear
Oh, so you want political machinations, spying, double-dealing, double-triple-quadruple talk, secret languages and codes, super-cool new technology, and a pretty damn epic love story, all set in a matriarchal future society? Then you should probably read this. In a far-out but not implausible future, ambassador-spies Michelangelo Kusanagi-Jones and Vincent Katherinessen alight on the planet of New Amazonia and have to deal with utter chaos. This book is a lot more sci-fi than I had expected, but it is certainly one of the most intelligent novels I've ever read. I spent much of the time not completely sure what people were saying when there was dialogue, so much was left unsaid, but I still loved it and trusted Bear to guide me along. And the relationship between Michelangelo and Vincent is just lovely. My only complaints were that it was rather understated so there was a lot left unsaid that could potentially be confusing. And I didn't like the Italicized portions where Kii narrated; I thought that was a bit of a conceit. Fortunately, there wasn't too much of that.
Quote, p. 298-9, because it sums it up nicely: "Now all he had to do was wrap up two kidnappings, a sabotage operation, a first-contact situation, a duel to the death, convince Michelangelo he didn't want to play kamikaze, and figure out exactly how he was going to get rid of the Governors and protect Ur and New Amazonia from the imperial ambitions of the coalition....Because Michelangelo was coming home with him. Just as soon as Vincent reclaimed him."
Oh, so you want political machinations, spying, double-dealing, double-triple-quadruple talk, secret languages and codes, super-cool new technology, and a pretty damn epic love story, all set in a matriarchal future society? Then you should probably read this. In a far-out but not implausible future, ambassador-spies Michelangelo Kusanagi-Jones and Vincent Katherinessen alight on the planet of New Amazonia and have to deal with utter chaos. This book is a lot more sci-fi than I had expected, but it is certainly one of the most intelligent novels I've ever read. I spent much of the time not completely sure what people were saying when there was dialogue, so much was left unsaid, but I still loved it and trusted Bear to guide me along. And the relationship between Michelangelo and Vincent is just lovely. My only complaints were that it was rather understated so there was a lot left unsaid that could potentially be confusing. And I didn't like the Italicized portions where Kii narrated; I thought that was a bit of a conceit. Fortunately, there wasn't too much of that.
Quote, p. 298-9, because it sums it up nicely: "Now all he had to do was wrap up two kidnappings, a sabotage operation, a first-contact situation, a duel to the death, convince Michelangelo he didn't want to play kamikaze, and figure out exactly how he was going to get rid of the Governors and protect Ur and New Amazonia from the imperial ambitions of the coalition....Because Michelangelo was coming home with him. Just as soon as Vincent reclaimed him."
