A review by robforteath
Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge
3.0
It's nice to read a dystopian YA style story in which the young woman protagonist is not some sort of superstar. Ren/Jackal is talented at corporate project management, and she is "The Chosen One" in the story's slightly future world, but she is no Katniss Everdeen.
Everything is moving along just swell for Ren in the early part of the book, and the author plays this remarkably straight. There is no significant foreshadowing, other than that we readers know something has to happen for there to be a story. When the sudden changes happen, it feels almost as though the author was unaware that anything was about to change. Minor characters and side arcs are introduced as though this is the story that is being told... until suddenly that story is no longer possible. I found this very effective.
We are taken (with Jackal) through a long period of suffering and loss, during which she rewrites her self-image at least twice. From her point of view, this is probably 90% of the time we spend with her. For us, it is a compact middle section of a longish book. The 'before' and 'after' sections are far longer, although they describe far shorter time periods.
I liked most of the 'before' story, with Ren struggling to be worthy of the great hope the corporation/country had for her. Even with its distinctly YA feel, old grey readers are not alienated.
The 'after' story is more important (of course), and I also enjoyed most of this. It suffers from having too many cartoonish side characters, and relies a bit too much on sci-fi tech thrown in for not much purpose. Still, the main themes are resolved nicely enough.
My main niggles with the book:
- there is too much description of what colours are in each part of a room, what beer and wine everyone is drinking in every single scene, etc. The amount of description seems about right; I wished only for some variations.
- Snow is very close to being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, existing mainly to provide illimitable love and support to the protagonist.
- the ending is perfunctory -- the story reaches a natural climax, and the author simply tidies up with as little fuss as possible. After all we've been through, it seems too fluffy.
Everything is moving along just swell for Ren in the early part of the book, and the author plays this remarkably straight. There is no significant foreshadowing, other than that we readers know something has to happen for there to be a story. When the sudden changes happen, it feels almost as though the author was unaware that anything was about to change. Minor characters and side arcs are introduced as though this is the story that is being told... until suddenly that story is no longer possible. I found this very effective.
We are taken (with Jackal) through a long period of suffering and loss, during which she rewrites her self-image at least twice. From her point of view, this is probably 90% of the time we spend with her. For us, it is a compact middle section of a longish book. The 'before' and 'after' sections are far longer, although they describe far shorter time periods.
I liked most of the 'before' story, with Ren struggling to be worthy of the great hope the corporation/country had for her. Even with its distinctly YA feel, old grey readers are not alienated.
The 'after' story is more important (of course), and I also enjoyed most of this. It suffers from having too many cartoonish side characters, and relies a bit too much on sci-fi tech thrown in for not much purpose. Still, the main themes are resolved nicely enough.
My main niggles with the book:
- there is too much description of what colours are in each part of a room, what beer and wine everyone is drinking in every single scene, etc. The amount of description seems about right; I wished only for some variations.
- Snow is very close to being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, existing mainly to provide illimitable love and support to the protagonist.
- the ending is perfunctory -- the story reaches a natural climax, and the author simply tidies up with as little fuss as possible. After all we've been through, it seems too fluffy.