A very cool premise underlies
this novel: A lone corporate town on a planet that appears to be hostile to
human life, but it’s all a hoax, a smoke screen designed to protect the native
race from the rapacity of the dominant corporation. Throw in a crew of
mercenaries, an AI in human guise, local politics, and desperate missions
against impossible odds, and the result is a complex and innovative tale.
Ambitious as the premise is, it’s also a balancing act for any novel to
encompass such a multi-level plot along with character development and
backstory. And as much as I wanted to love this book, and as many places as it
drew me in, ultimately the proliferation of elements and fragmented pace kept
losing my attention. I gave up 2/3 through the book, at a point when the
dramatic tension of the oncoming conflict should have kept me glued to my seat
but in fact I found myself falling asleep or looking for something else to
read.
As both a reader and
a fellow writer, I see a number of lessons here. Every piece of this book is
well done – the prose is strong, the dialog snappy and true to each character, and
those characters interesting and complex, the world itself and its alien
inhabitants are well drawn, the mystery and the corporate danger both nicely
handled. I’m sure that some readers will dive into the book and find it
satisfying. For me, the attention paid to each element – for example, the
backstory and relationships of each character – interrupted the forward
momentum of the action and my ability to stay engaged with all the different
parts that were eventually to come
together. For long stretches, every time I connected with a character or immersed
myself in a plot sequence, it was interrupted and I had re-orient myself. I
don’t mind multiple POVs but I do mind being frequently catapulted from one focus
to another. This is undoubtedly a personal taste, which is why I encourage
readers who find the concept behind Persephone
Station intriguing to give the book a try.
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