zamyatins_fears's review
3.0
Zelde M’Tana is the fourth book in the Rissa Kerguelen / Bran Tregare series, which I have not read, so take this review with a grain of salt. Still, while I gather Zelde M’tana is a main character in the rest of the series, this book reads as if it’s a stand alone novel. Possibly because it is the backstory of an already established character, not a continuation of the previous storyline.
Zelde starts out as one of the wild children that (for reasons never explained in this novel) run loose on the planet. They create gangs for mutual protection, complete over turf and supplies and try to avoid the UET police force, a harsh interplanetary governmental organization. When Zelde is captured, she fears being “Welfared”, which seems to be a euphemism for being brainwashed and incorporated into the general working public, to live a strictly controlled life, albeit with more creature comforts. However, she injures one of her captors and is instead sent to a prison ship in retaliation. All of the women aboard are to be prostitutes when they get to their destination. However, it turns out that there are members of a resistance group on board. They free the prisoners and together, they take over the ship.
Our heroine performs admirably, as she was already considered a solid soldier and leader in her last gang. The pace moves along quickly - the prisoners are quickly integrated into the militaristic system of rank required to run a starship smoothly, start technical training and are given shares in the ship. Zelde is happy to settle into the new system and into the new Captain’s quarters. After all, a space opera must have romance and she has fallen in love with the man, after saving his life in the battle for the ship. He (conveniently) needs to be nursed back to health and things naturally progress from there. Aside from Zelde’s love life, for the bulk of the book we follow the struggles of this escaped crew, as they attempt to hide from the UET and make contact with the Underground. Not an easy task, considering the UET colonies themselves, are nearly the only option for supplies.
I have some mixed feelings about this book. I like that Zelde is a strong, black woman and bisexual. Bisexuality seems to be widely accepted, but she does still experience racism. Although in this futuristic world, it seems like racism has faded more to an afterthought. I didn’t really feel like the race issue was really explored much, as some readers have seemed to think. However, neither does her skin color fade into the background, as the author reminds us occasionally of her physical description. Admittedly, I did take a deep breath and brace myself in the beginning, when Zelde’s captors made a derogatory racial comment. I was unsure which side of the moral fence the author was going to come down on, from the casual way it was inserted in the beginning of the book, but it appears to have been a tool to quickly reveal the nastiness of a specific character.
It’s nice to see a bisexual character, but Zelde plays into a negative stereotype of bisexuals. She takes female lovers, whenever there isn’t a suitable man around. Though F.M. Busby never seems to be purposely shaming bisexuals or promiscuity, he does seem to portray every bisexual character, as a borderline nymphomaniac, perhaps unsatisfied with her man’s sex drive, perhaps just waiting for the right one. A character, or even a few that fit that description, wouldn’t bother me, but when every bisexual character is portrayed like that, we have a problem.
Zelde herself, is a bit of a problem for people who want to really like and identify with the main character. I don’t need to like a main character, to enjoy a book, but if you do, this is not the book for you. Within the first 30 pages there are two short, but semi-explicit rapes and Zelde is one of the rapists, in an act to establish dominance. This becomes even more disturbing, when you remember that she is somewhere around fourteen at the time. It’s important to note that she’s fifteen when she meets the Captain and their romance proceeds without a hitch, despite the fact he’s twice her age.
She doesn’t appear to have a large sadistic streak, as most of her lovers are willing. However, she also seems to be attracted to lovers in positions of power and seems to find it easy to discard most of her lovers, with only a fleeting thought. She is smart and capable, learns quickly and she’s ambitious, but she’s also selfish. I think the problem many readers have, is that she has some sociopathic tendencies. However, I do think that the author goes into the rape in the beginning, as a way to highlight how normalized violence and sex are in her childhood, as the frequent sex is never described so explicitly again.
The way I interpreted it, is that he was trying to show that the only way to cope, is to grow up fast and live in a way that increases your odds at survival. Zelde didn’t grow up with the luxury of torturing herself over moral questions. That said, she is a reasonable and often kind person, most of the time. She’s extremely loyal and tough. She works hard to further her education and she’s a natural leader. She’s independent, but also clings to romantic connections with powerful men.
Overall, she’s a more complicated character than I was expecting when I picked up this space opera, especially considering the rest of the characters lack a lot in the way of distinct personality. They feel like props in the background. Where this story was interesting for me, is that it is a fun adventure, with lots of problems that keep the plot moving forward. The plot itself is not very complex, this book is clearly written to explore one specific character, but there is enough action to keep me entertained, nonetheless. I wouldn’t need to read this again, but this fun bit of fluff, did give me a pleasant surprise. It had a lot more substance to it than I expected and I’m glad I read it once.
Zelde starts out as one of the wild children that (for reasons never explained in this novel) run loose on the planet. They create gangs for mutual protection, complete over turf and supplies and try to avoid the UET police force, a harsh interplanetary governmental organization. When Zelde is captured, she fears being “Welfared”, which seems to be a euphemism for being brainwashed and incorporated into the general working public, to live a strictly controlled life, albeit with more creature comforts. However, she injures one of her captors and is instead sent to a prison ship in retaliation. All of the women aboard are to be prostitutes when they get to their destination. However, it turns out that there are members of a resistance group on board. They free the prisoners and together, they take over the ship.
Our heroine performs admirably, as she was already considered a solid soldier and leader in her last gang. The pace moves along quickly - the prisoners are quickly integrated into the militaristic system of rank required to run a starship smoothly, start technical training and are given shares in the ship. Zelde is happy to settle into the new system and into the new Captain’s quarters. After all, a space opera must have romance and she has fallen in love with the man, after saving his life in the battle for the ship. He (conveniently) needs to be nursed back to health and things naturally progress from there. Aside from Zelde’s love life, for the bulk of the book we follow the struggles of this escaped crew, as they attempt to hide from the UET and make contact with the Underground. Not an easy task, considering the UET colonies themselves, are nearly the only option for supplies.
I have some mixed feelings about this book. I like that Zelde is a strong, black woman and bisexual. Bisexuality seems to be widely accepted, but she does still experience racism. Although in this futuristic world, it seems like racism has faded more to an afterthought. I didn’t really feel like the race issue was really explored much, as some readers have seemed to think. However, neither does her skin color fade into the background, as the author reminds us occasionally of her physical description. Admittedly, I did take a deep breath and brace myself in the beginning, when Zelde’s captors made a derogatory racial comment. I was unsure which side of the moral fence the author was going to come down on, from the casual way it was inserted in the beginning of the book, but it appears to have been a tool to quickly reveal the nastiness of a specific character.
It’s nice to see a bisexual character, but Zelde plays into a negative stereotype of bisexuals. She takes female lovers, whenever there isn’t a suitable man around. Though F.M. Busby never seems to be purposely shaming bisexuals or promiscuity, he does seem to portray every bisexual character, as a borderline nymphomaniac, perhaps unsatisfied with her man’s sex drive, perhaps just waiting for the right one. A character, or even a few that fit that description, wouldn’t bother me, but when every bisexual character is portrayed like that, we have a problem.
Zelde herself, is a bit of a problem for people who want to really like and identify with the main character. I don’t need to like a main character, to enjoy a book, but if you do, this is not the book for you. Within the first 30 pages there are two short, but semi-explicit rapes and Zelde is one of the rapists, in an act to establish dominance. This becomes even more disturbing, when you remember that she is somewhere around fourteen at the time. It’s important to note that she’s fifteen when she meets the Captain and their romance proceeds without a hitch, despite the fact he’s twice her age.
She doesn’t appear to have a large sadistic streak, as most of her lovers are willing. However, she also seems to be attracted to lovers in positions of power and seems to find it easy to discard most of her lovers, with only a fleeting thought. She is smart and capable, learns quickly and she’s ambitious, but she’s also selfish. I think the problem many readers have, is that she has some sociopathic tendencies. However, I do think that the author goes into the rape in the beginning, as a way to highlight how normalized violence and sex are in her childhood, as the frequent sex is never described so explicitly again.
The way I interpreted it, is that he was trying to show that the only way to cope, is to grow up fast and live in a way that increases your odds at survival. Zelde didn’t grow up with the luxury of torturing herself over moral questions. That said, she is a reasonable and often kind person, most of the time. She’s extremely loyal and tough. She works hard to further her education and she’s a natural leader. She’s independent, but also clings to romantic connections with powerful men.
Overall, she’s a more complicated character than I was expecting when I picked up this space opera, especially considering the rest of the characters lack a lot in the way of distinct personality. They feel like props in the background. Where this story was interesting for me, is that it is a fun adventure, with lots of problems that keep the plot moving forward. The plot itself is not very complex, this book is clearly written to explore one specific character, but there is enough action to keep me entertained, nonetheless. I wouldn’t need to read this again, but this fun bit of fluff, did give me a pleasant surprise. It had a lot more substance to it than I expected and I’m glad I read it once.
weirdtea's review
2.0
I'm glad I read it because it seems right to acknowledge the significance of a story with a female POC as a protagonist. There's a lot to like about Zelde. She's strong, smart, caring and kicks ass. I just didn't bond with the novel. I think it's because I have no connection to the rest of the series. This wasn't a cool insight into a familiar character's backstory for me so I was left a bit cold. The world itself seems believable and the space opera feel is cool, but there were too many moments I found uncomfortable or off putting. I do like challenging books. This one ultimately just wasn't for me.
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