Her wordcraft and sentence craft are wonderful. Her stringing these into stories was much more inconsistent.
Dangerous Space, however, is one of the best short stories I have ever read. I almost quit reading the book before it, and I am so very glad I didn't. 5+ stars for that story, 1-4 for the others.
Her writing is nicely illustrated in Somewhere Down the Diamondback Road, with the driver being modified/controlled/something. Wonderfully done gritty atmosphere. Kept thinking I almost knew what was going on, then it skittered off again with a new twist, but it was basically just a situation (unclear) and an atmosphere (wonderful).
Strings was a good story, of a world where only classical music is allowed to be played. I think knowing that bit of information, from the introduction, actually improved the story slightly. This was a well written story along with being able to enjoy the writing for writing. It was a bit too long, though--some of the middle drug. The ending was predictable (which was somewhat sad), but still enjoyable.
City Life had excellent overall imagery and good ending imagery. I might reread it with the latter in mind, as I think it would improve the story. I suspect I will still feel major pacing issues, though.
Alien Jane was a well written story, but Ick. The patient who felt no pain and the one who didn't want to fit in. It just isn't my type of story--it's not gorey, it just makes me go eeeech. It is probably the second best written story in the book. Her wordcraft does not stand out as well, but it melds well into a story that is well constructed. It's just not my thing.
Eye of the Storm, with the war orphan who goes off and joins a quad to become guards, developing a new type of fighting along the way, I'm not sure what to say about. I had actually forgotten it and had to go look up which story I was missing in this list. I don't know why I forgot it. I do know that this is the one story where the gender-ignoring bothered me. The Prince is a Princess, and other than because that's what the author does, I don't see any reason for this. It threw me when she showed up--and not in a good gender-relevant way, just in a "Huh? Is he a cross-dresser? Is that the oddity?". I think it was a matter of principal with the author, but it was a bump in this story. Thinking back, the story was nice, so I don't know why it didn't stay with me.
Finally, Dangerous Space. Which probably makes the entire collection worthwhile. A friend read it and said "If it is possible to have sex with a story I think I just did" and that's not an inaccurate description. I don't think she needed to bring in the live-in-someone's-head technology, and I wish she hadn't. It isn't that it didn't work, I just think it distracted from the very well done core story of Mars and Duncan. Following an excellent sound guy (who isn't a guy, but yer point?) and an indie band as they make it big, partially with her help. The tension and issues between the two--sexual mainly, but much of the sexual tension is because of the professional relationship, as music is too personal to be just professional for either of them, and for Mars music is better than almost anything. It was just an excellent excellent story that sucked me in and made me feel.
Dangerous Space, however, is one of the best short stories I have ever read. I almost quit reading the book before it, and I am so very glad I didn't. 5+ stars for that story, 1-4 for the others.
Her writing is nicely illustrated in Somewhere Down the Diamondback Road, with the driver being modified/controlled/something. Wonderfully done gritty atmosphere. Kept thinking I almost knew what was going on, then it skittered off again with a new twist, but it was basically just a situation (unclear) and an atmosphere (wonderful).
Strings was a good story, of a world where only classical music is allowed to be played. I think knowing that bit of information, from the introduction, actually improved the story slightly. This was a well written story along with being able to enjoy the writing for writing. It was a bit too long, though--some of the middle drug. The ending was predictable (which was somewhat sad), but still enjoyable.
City Life had excellent overall imagery and good ending imagery. I might reread it with the latter in mind, as I think it would improve the story. I suspect I will still feel major pacing issues, though.
Alien Jane was a well written story, but Ick. The patient who felt no pain and the one who didn't want to fit in. It just isn't my type of story--it's not gorey, it just makes me go eeeech. It is probably the second best written story in the book. Her wordcraft does not stand out as well, but it melds well into a story that is well constructed. It's just not my thing.
Eye of the Storm, with the war orphan who goes off and joins a quad to become guards, developing a new type of fighting along the way, I'm not sure what to say about. I had actually forgotten it and had to go look up which story I was missing in this list. I don't know why I forgot it. I do know that this is the one story where the gender-ignoring bothered me. The Prince is a Princess, and other than because that's what the author does, I don't see any reason for this. It threw me when she showed up--and not in a good gender-relevant way, just in a "Huh? Is he a cross-dresser? Is that the oddity?". I think it was a matter of principal with the author, but it was a bump in this story. Thinking back, the story was nice, so I don't know why it didn't stay with me.
Finally, Dangerous Space. Which probably makes the entire collection worthwhile. A friend read it and said "If it is possible to have sex with a story I think I just did" and that's not an inaccurate description. I don't think she needed to bring in the live-in-someone's-head technology, and I wish she hadn't. It isn't that it didn't work, I just think it distracted from the very well done core story of Mars and Duncan. Following an excellent sound guy (who isn't a guy, but yer point?) and an indie band as they make it big, partially with her help. The tension and issues between the two--sexual mainly, but much of the sexual tension is because of the professional relationship, as music is too personal to be just professional for either of them, and for Mars music is better than almost anything. It was just an excellent excellent story that sucked me in and made me feel.
