What do you get when you cross New Age mysticism, corporate intrigue, a weird wasting disease related to pollution, a psychic cure for it, a string of murders and the development of a man from an upstanding citizen to a gutter bum and back to an upstanding citizen again? I you're thinking it's Lizzie Ashworth's Denial then you're right. If you're thinking of something else let me know, because I'd probably like to read that too. This is the second book in the House of Rae series, following Salvation which I reviewed previously. I enjoyed the first one and I can't help but think that this one is even better precisely because it came afterward and she had more experience writing SF/F.
Ashworth's work has all of the themes listed above and it mixes them really well. She finds a way to switch between points of view and tie things together that, if you were to describe them to me verbally don't sound like they would fit together all that well. Don't ask me how she made it work. I'll just say she did. Ashworth has a sharp mind and makes her characters believable.
This book, like the one before it, has a point of view that can only be described as a limited first-person omniscient. This is something I hadn't seen until I read her first book but now that I have a bit more familiarity with it, having read the work of both Ashworth and Daniella Bova, I'm actually enjoying it. It can be a bit strange if you have to abandon a book mid chapter but she manages to identify her characters well enough that after a sentence or two you can figure out who you're reading. And wow, do those characters vary.
Back from the first book is our hero Josh, who is now back in school and working as a gray water technician. He is in love with a wonderful graduate student. Things go from good to bad to ugly quickly. Before long he's alone and homeless. This poor guy has been through so much and come through so often he seems to be unstoppable. Along the way though, he still manages to shag some tail because, well... He's Josh. Pumping chicks is what he does. And once again the sex helps him get through tough times in his life. He also has some psychic ability and this plays a much larger part in Denial than it did in Salvation.
The SF/F, probably more fantasy honestly, aspect in this book is much stronger than in the first one. It focuses around the healing ability of pleasure energy which is focused by the houses (in this case Houses of Rae, but there are other houses as well) and the fruits of their labors. The houses themselves are full of varying forms of entertainment, from the simple pleasures of a walk through a garden to booze, drugs or prostitution. If it feels good you can do it at a house. (The House of Rae specifically caters to an all female clientele but it is made clear that there are equivalent facilities for men. They just never appear "on screen.") The energy goes into a network and is distributed for use at healing facilities all over the world.
One of the main problems of the novel revolves on a specific house and its problem connecting to the grid that distributes the energy and this is where we get some of the New Age mysticism. A ceremony is conducted to travel into the Astral Plane and Feng Shui and acupuncture are both used in attempts to reconnect to the grid. I found myself enjoying this part of the book a lot. I'm not a New Age mystic by any stretch of the imagination but it was fun.
Ashworth has also toned way down on the sex this time around and I approve. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a prude but I don't usually read too many books with large amounts of sex because it's just not my thing. By no means is this book sex-free but the plot no longer centers around it and the book works better because of that fact. What sex is left in the book is plot necessary. For Ashworth growth, or some forms of it at least, is linked to sex. Her characters use sex to get past the rough parts of their lives and overcome their past. It's not a philosophy I subscribe to, but it's one that works for her.
The dark side of the corporate world is here for all to see. Ashworth's millionaires are self made men who cheated their way to the top. Denial is a good title as most of them have raked in millions while profiting off of dirty dealings and back room bargains. Fortunes are made and lost. One of the millionaires is a flat out despicable human being. Another regrets his past. All are seen as human beings, warts and all. A major part of the plot takes place when one of the millionaires has to defend his daughter against her asshole ex-husband. They all fight dirty. I approve.
I shouldn't have to write this, but I will anyway. Ashworth's treatment of some of the men in this book is exactly the type of thing that would set off the whiny types that complained about the latest Mad Max being a "feminist movie." Yes, one of them is a dirtbad on his best day. Yes, another can only seem to get himself together when he gets laid on a regular basis. Guess what, there are people like that in the real world. Yes, some of Ashworth's women are strong characters. If you can't deal with those things you may wish to avoid this book. I'm okay with it though. People have foibles and I don't see a realistic depiction to be a reason to cry into my beer.
My complaints about this book are fairly minimal. Ashworth's use of the multiple first person point of view works but sometimes she has time squeezing herself into the head of a man. Josh in particular actually describes a scene at one point as "I wept." An extremely effeminate man may describe himself as weeping, but Josh just isn't that kind of guy. I could see "I cried hard" maybe but weep? Sure, I've sat around and sobbed like a bitch at one point or another, but I have NEVER wept. Even if I have. But that's nitpicking. I find myself wondering at some points if the mosquito drones in her book would be able to carry enough liquid to cause the effect she ascribes to them but it is SF and I don't really have the technical details down enough to say it wouldn't work either. I'm thinking that the end of this one sets up the next one but I'm not sure if that's a good thing. It's not really a cliffhanger but it's not really NOT a cliffhanger. Also, conspicuous by her absence is Rae and this IS the House of Rae series. All in all though, there wasn't much to complain about and the good far outweighed the bad.
Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Mystic Crystals
Denial
Book two of the House of Rae series
Lizzie Ashworth
Self Published, 2015
Denial can be purchased here:
Showing posts with label Psionics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Psionics. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Salvation by Lizzie Ashworth
A week ago I would have told you that I had read some seriously sexually charged SF. I mean I've read everything from George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire to the sickness and depravity of L. Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth series to John Ringo's well... lots of stuff. There's a reason why you can buy T-shirts that say "Oh, John Ringo, No." and I've bought and read every novel the man has ever published. I've never come anywhere near a SF book with this much sex in it though. I'd be interested in speaking to someone who has read this and is a regular reader of romance to find out if this level of sex would even be common there. That much being said, this is more than just a book about sex. This is a tale told from the progressive point of view and set in the near future. Indeed, the sex fits in well with the plot, always advancing the story and/or character development.
The future isn't what it used to be either. This is a future where the entire planet is caught up in a mess. The temperature is rising. The planet is burning. Carbon poisoning is killing millions. Quality food is nearly impossible to get. The only thing that can save the people is the psychic energy generated by pleasure. It can be harnessed by people with psionic abilities and channeled through a not very well defined system into hospitals where it can be used to help cure people with various ailments.
The story is told mainly through the observations of three different point of view characters. Joshua "Josh" Carter is a nineteen year old man and a religious terrorist out to stop the culture of the pleasure centers, the "House of Rae" by bombing their flagship house. He slowly but surely begins to fall into decadence and enjoy the position that he has been hired for... that of a male prostitute. Raeleen "Rae" Lawson is the owner of the House of Rae and not only hires Josh against the advice of her security department but takes him under her wing both to encourage him to be a good employee and because he turns her on. Lucas "Lu" Haverson is a senior employee in the House of Rae and Rae's former lover. He is also a psionicist and a pioneer in the technology that transports the pleasure energy. He is also suspicious of Josh and for all the right reasons.
Certain tendencies are accorded to the characters in a very well-defined and reasoned way, at least if looked at from a Leftist perspective. Lu is a womanizer who ended up with a job as a male prostitute because he loved the party lifestyle. Rae is a liberated woman who grew up with a strong religious background and turned a failed marriage into a multinational empire. Josh is a religious fanatic who believes that everything he is doing is sinful - except for planning to murder a bunch of people. He also has a strong streak of sexism and a belief that women should serve men. Again, from a leftist perspective, this all makes sense.
Oddly enough, for all of the environmental scaremongering that goes into this work there is a strong element of rightist elements to balance the leftism in areas outside of the environment and religion. Rae is a jilted woman but she is a capitalist of the first order, overseeing a multinational empire that helps make people well. Lu is basically a good man who has saved his whole life for his eventual retirement. Neither is mentioned as being a bad person for those tendencies. Both are shown as extremely sympathetic and Rae comes close to a breakdown when a couple of her Houses are attacked. Similarly, society's attitude toward mind-altering chemicals, marijuana in particular, can certainly be seen as a progressive attitude, but it would fit in at a Libertarian rally as well.
Overall, I found the book highly entertaining, although I would not necessarily recommend reading it at work. Anywhere else though, it's highly entertaining and action packed. Sex galore, flaming car wrecks, assaults on Houses, it's all there. There is a surprise or two along the way. Things go perfectly according to plan... until they don't. Ashworth does a good job at giving just enough foreshadowing to keep us from feeling blindsided by her plot twists while still leaving us just as surprised as her point of view characters.
Salvation, while being entertaining, is not a perfect work. The first chapter was clearly marked as being narrated by Josh but he felt female to me as I read it. The sensation wore off quickly, but it was definitely there and I was a little jilted when I realized that I was reading a male character. The tale is told in first-person but it takes place in three different people's heads and can be a bit disconcerting if you're reading quickly and skip over a chapter heading. Ashworth would also do well to do a bit more research on the rightist point of view as it may help her to make her characters even more believable. None of that is unforgivable though and at the end of the day it is an enjoyable work.
Bottom Line: 4.25 out of 5 Houses
Salvation
Lizzie Ashworth
Create Space Publishing, 2014
The future isn't what it used to be either. This is a future where the entire planet is caught up in a mess. The temperature is rising. The planet is burning. Carbon poisoning is killing millions. Quality food is nearly impossible to get. The only thing that can save the people is the psychic energy generated by pleasure. It can be harnessed by people with psionic abilities and channeled through a not very well defined system into hospitals where it can be used to help cure people with various ailments.
The story is told mainly through the observations of three different point of view characters. Joshua "Josh" Carter is a nineteen year old man and a religious terrorist out to stop the culture of the pleasure centers, the "House of Rae" by bombing their flagship house. He slowly but surely begins to fall into decadence and enjoy the position that he has been hired for... that of a male prostitute. Raeleen "Rae" Lawson is the owner of the House of Rae and not only hires Josh against the advice of her security department but takes him under her wing both to encourage him to be a good employee and because he turns her on. Lucas "Lu" Haverson is a senior employee in the House of Rae and Rae's former lover. He is also a psionicist and a pioneer in the technology that transports the pleasure energy. He is also suspicious of Josh and for all the right reasons.
Certain tendencies are accorded to the characters in a very well-defined and reasoned way, at least if looked at from a Leftist perspective. Lu is a womanizer who ended up with a job as a male prostitute because he loved the party lifestyle. Rae is a liberated woman who grew up with a strong religious background and turned a failed marriage into a multinational empire. Josh is a religious fanatic who believes that everything he is doing is sinful - except for planning to murder a bunch of people. He also has a strong streak of sexism and a belief that women should serve men. Again, from a leftist perspective, this all makes sense.
Oddly enough, for all of the environmental scaremongering that goes into this work there is a strong element of rightist elements to balance the leftism in areas outside of the environment and religion. Rae is a jilted woman but she is a capitalist of the first order, overseeing a multinational empire that helps make people well. Lu is basically a good man who has saved his whole life for his eventual retirement. Neither is mentioned as being a bad person for those tendencies. Both are shown as extremely sympathetic and Rae comes close to a breakdown when a couple of her Houses are attacked. Similarly, society's attitude toward mind-altering chemicals, marijuana in particular, can certainly be seen as a progressive attitude, but it would fit in at a Libertarian rally as well.
Overall, I found the book highly entertaining, although I would not necessarily recommend reading it at work. Anywhere else though, it's highly entertaining and action packed. Sex galore, flaming car wrecks, assaults on Houses, it's all there. There is a surprise or two along the way. Things go perfectly according to plan... until they don't. Ashworth does a good job at giving just enough foreshadowing to keep us from feeling blindsided by her plot twists while still leaving us just as surprised as her point of view characters.
Salvation, while being entertaining, is not a perfect work. The first chapter was clearly marked as being narrated by Josh but he felt female to me as I read it. The sensation wore off quickly, but it was definitely there and I was a little jilted when I realized that I was reading a male character. The tale is told in first-person but it takes place in three different people's heads and can be a bit disconcerting if you're reading quickly and skip over a chapter heading. Ashworth would also do well to do a bit more research on the rightist point of view as it may help her to make her characters even more believable. None of that is unforgivable though and at the end of the day it is an enjoyable work.
Bottom Line: 4.25 out of 5 Houses
Salvation
Lizzie Ashworth
Create Space Publishing, 2014
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