In the future the ugly and deformed are purposely trained to investigate hostile planets then sent into space on board ships as expendable crew members, destined to die so that their more acceptable comrades don’t have to face any such risk. This is the story of one such person sent on an apparent suicide mission. Along the way she is forced to face her concept of self and make a decision about who she really is and who she wants to be. In the end she not only survives but eventually triumphs over those who would consider her to be expendable.
This story is set in a future that is both recognisably and believably a progression of current society. The science of interstellar travel is explained with just the right amount of detail to make it plausible without getting boringly technical. And the psychology of the premise is very interesting. The only problem I had was with the heroine’s ‘flaw’. She has a large, purple birthmark on her face. For me at least, that didn’t seem a strong enough deformity to warrant the classification of expendable but its only a minor thing.
It’s been a while since I’ve read any science fiction but from memory they tend to give almost equal time to world building and story telling. This story didn’t do that. Its focus is entirely on the main character, and the setting, while undeniably futuristic, is secondary. As a result there are a few questions that are not adequately answered or left entirely unanswered about the planet they are visiting and the people who inhabit it.
For a debut novel it was reasonably good. I would read this author again but I wouldn’t be deliberately seeking him out. The work hasn’t inspired me to leap back into science fiction as if it were the arms of a long lost lover but neither does it have me wanting to avoid the genre altogether.-Lynn
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