A review by rxh05d
Promised Land by Connie Willis, Cynthia Felice
3.0
Urgh. So, first of all, I love Connie Willis. I re-read her books over and over. This is a collaboration between her and another author that I hadn't heard of. I liked the worldbuilding. It reminded me a lot of Tatooine and Dune and other frontier survival sci-fi.. But I am so over the "guy is nice and quiet, spoiled bratty girl doesn't see how good he is for her, girl eventually realizes and then excoriates herself for not loving him right away." Delanna had every right to be upset and panicky and angry at the beginning of the book. She was trapped totally alone on a planet where she knew nothing and trapped in a marriage she didn't want. She was in danger. Like just because Sonny was a nice guy doesn't change that. And he or the lawyer could have told her what happened ahead of time, or, for crying out loud, her mom. Who I also have sympathy for, by the way, because she doesn't seem to have been able to get out of a life she didn't want. Is the way she treated the Tanners right? No, of course not. But also, Delanna shouldn't feel guilty about what she spent money on because she was a kid and didn't know any of this. This is all on their parents - all 4 of them.
Well, the second half of the book is better and I actually enjoyed it. Disappointingly, though, the characteristic happy/hopeful twist that Willis likes to stick at the end was pretty obvious from a chapter away.
And now that I think about it a little more, I'm annoyed that Delanna's computer skills weren't returned to, so her off-world education basically gives no benefit to the farm because all she needed to know how to do was feed geese, harvest vegetables and cook. If she had brought more to the farm and to the relationship than just being pretty it would have felt more equal.
I want to give this 3.5 stars. I'm not sure now if I want to read the authors' other collaborations.
Well, the second half of the book is better and I actually enjoyed it. Disappointingly, though, the characteristic happy/hopeful twist that Willis likes to stick at the end was pretty obvious from a chapter away.
And now that I think about it a little more, I'm annoyed that Delanna's computer skills weren't returned to, so her off-world education basically gives no benefit to the farm because all she needed to know how to do was feed geese, harvest vegetables and cook. If she had brought more to the farm and to the relationship than just being pretty it would have felt more equal.
I want to give this 3.5 stars. I'm not sure now if I want to read the authors' other collaborations.