Anderson, C.L.: Bitter Angels
Bitter Angels (2009)
Written by: C. L. Anderson
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 438 (Mass Market Paperback)
I first heard of this book while browsing my friends' page on Facebook. Anne Harris put up a picture of the cover, and at first, I thought the cover belonged to a Kat Richardson novel, because the artist was the same and the design was similar, but when I clicked, I learned really quick it wasn't. It was an SF by a woman writer! So I plunked it on my wishlist and ordered it as soon as I was able. Because we all know I can't resist SF written by women. :)
The premise: from BN.com, which is also the backcover blurb: The Erasmus System is a sprawling realm of slavery, smugglers, spies-and constant, creeping decrepitude. Here everyone who is not part of the ruling Four Families is a slave of one kind or another. But the Guardians, a special-forces branch inside the United World Government for Earth, have deemed Erasmus a “hot spot.” Somehow, it is believed, this failing colony intends to launch a war upon the solar system.
Ex-Field Commander Terese Drajeske, now a mother of three, has been called back to active duty and sent to Erasmus, ostensibly to investigate the murder of her colleague-and friend-Bianca Fayette. At first blush, the death defies explanation: Bianca was immortal. But beneath that single murder lies a twisted foundation of deceptions. Suddenly Terese is plunged into a vortex of shattered lives, endemic deceit, and one dreadful secret. In this society without hope, someone has put into motion a plan that will cast humanity into chaos. And Terese, who has given up her family and her sanity to prevent war, may be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice….
Review style: we're dividing this sucker up. Likes and dislikes, because I think it'll help me wrap my head around the book. Spoilers? No. I don't think I could spoil this if I tried. :)
What I Liked
The ending. I absolutely loved the ending. The way Terese overcomes the problem at hand is fantastically creative and wonderfully linked to her backstory, and the pages following that decision through Amerand's POV? Excellent. The last few pages were . . . excellent. It hinted at something blooming and dying at the same time and made me wish for a sequel. At this point, I have no idea if there WILL be a sequel, but I think I'd buy it based on the strength of those last few pages.
Also enjoyable, but not entirely related to the ending (though it certainly plays into it), is how Terese's status as a Guardian pretty much forbade her for killing. This meant she had to come up with creative ways to solve problems and get things done. Normally, in military SF-ish books, you pretty much get the whole "do it or die" way of solving things, so having a heroine (and some supporting characters) who WERE NOT ALLOWED TO KILL made for some really fascinating tension. Because if they couldn't kill, what would they do? And how far would they go before they finally snapped and broke their oath?
Amerand, whose name I didn't like because I kept trying to pronounce it as "Armand" or "Ampersand," was a character who really grew on me. I like my angsty heroes, and Amerand is no different. While I couldn't always fully comprehend the rules in which he lived, I did feel for him, especially as the book moved forward. Hope was so important to him, and so much of what he wanted was crushed. At first, his narrative voice didn't feel right to me, I'll admit, but either I got used to it or Anderson figured it out. Anyway, fascinating character, especially for his choices at the end and the oaths he has to break in order to save the day.
I also liked how Terese, our heroine, was a family woman. She had to make some really tough choices in this book, and it was nice to see how her love for her family kind of prevented her from being "kick-ass heroine who falls in love with male lead." That's not a spoiler, trust me, because the dynamic between Terese and Amerand is very INTERESTING, and it's another reason I hope there's a sequel. That said, Terese's family life created an interesting depth to her character that we don't often see in fiction, and I rather liked that.
The complex plot: this is a like and dislike, but I'll discuss the like aspect now: I kind of liked that I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. While I wasn't necessarily guessing, it did make me pay close attention to character's actions in order to figure out what was happening and why. Not knowing where the story was going, on one hand, created a nice bit of tension. On the other hand . . . well, I'll get into it in a jiffy. :)
What I Didn't Like
OMG!!! I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE THE STORY WAS GOING!!! :)
See, I told you it was a like and dislike. :)
Here's the thing: I personally like a sense of forward motion. I want the sense that I'm moving TOWARDS something, even if I don't know what that something is. I don't feel like I need to have my hand held as a reader, nor do I want the clues to be neon-bright obvious, but I like having a sense that I have the CHANCE of figuring out what's happening, and I want the sense of forward motion, because that keeps me turning the pages.
Now, I know I praised the book for not knowing what the hell was going on, but while I certainly can appreciate complex plots, I don't want them too convoluted. In the case of Bitter Angels, we have Terese, Amerand, Siri, Vijay, Kapa, Emilya, Torian's POVs, as well as a prologue that's just not necessary (and I do mean not necessary: a far more effective prologue would've been showing Amerand, Emilya, and Kapa as children trying to survive. It definitely would've added a stronger emotional PUNCH to the book). You know I get pissy when the POVs start piling up, and in this case, they just kept piling up. Worse is that every single POV not only had their own set of goals (good), but they had their own set of paranoid fantasies, so everyone thought SOMETHING DIFFERENT was going on (bad). It made it hard to follow, hard to connect the dots. Some dots did connect in the end, but getting there was tedious, because I never knew what to latch on to and what to disregard, and I have a knack for that sort of thing, you know?
Also there was the whole mess with Bianca: while I understand what was DONE with her (cool and creepy at the same time, though I wonder how that whole system was supposed to start a war with the Solarians, unless it was SUPPOSED to come out what they'd done?), I don't understand everything that came BEFORE. Again, there were so many theories about Bianca that I still know what really happened and HOW it happened, and that's irksome. There's also the business of how Bianca's actions during her investigation of Terese's kidnapping (don't worry, that's backstory, not spoiler) led to the removal of Dylan, unless Terese considered Bianca's actions as time wasted? Even so, SO WHAT if Bianca thought she had a reliable lead?
I also really wish I'd been clear on the politics of both the Solarians and Erasmus before Terese ends up there. Maybe I was dense in this regard, but I was operating under the whole, "if it's a colony is space populated by humans, it must SOMEHOW be controlled by Earth." So imagine my surprise when that wasn't the case, that Erasmus wanted to strike back. I don't know, something about the way I was introduced to this culture really didn't do it justice, didn't paint a very vivid picture of how different it was from Earth (though maybe the picture on Earth was the problem, because I never really SAW how living in peace truly effects the daily life and government). Certainly, there were differences and creepiness to the Erasmus culture, particularly how they used people and created a creepy system of Big Brother, but I just never "got" that Earth and Erasmus were in conflict until WAY too late. I thought Terese and Amerand would be on the same side for a long time, and then I realized I was wrong.
Part of the problem, and this is just a nitpick, is the use of the term "saints" as slang for Solarians, even Guardians. The term itself implies a certain religious significance, so my brain supplied the synonym of "missionaries" and was done with it, until I heard the term used for Terese and Siri, and then I connected the dots that I shouldn't have had to connect: Guardians are from Earth, and the entire Earth culture is about PEACE, therefore people who come from this culture, the Solarians, are considered SAINTS no matter what they do.
Stuff like that can go a long way in creating a cloud of confusion where there doesn't need to be one, and similar things kept happening that kept my brain clouded. Appropriate, considering what happened to the characters, but ultimately, unsatisfying for me as a reader. I wanted something sharper, something more self aware, and yes, I'll admit my bias, I wanted something tighter in terms of POV and plot structure. But that's me and my biases, and I understand that.
My Rating
Give It Away: this is a hard book to rate, because in truth, the ending alone is what MADE this book and is what will make me seriously consider a sequel. Whether there will be a sequel or not, I don't know, but I definitely won't ignore future offerings from this author, and that's all based on the strength of the ending. That said, Anderson's complex plot is such that, while it leaves you guessing as to what's REALLY going on, it also keeps your head in a cloud, making it difficult for the reader to figure it out for herself. It's not an easy book to classify either: it's kind of military-SF, kind of space opera, and kind of . . . I'm not sure what. Yes, it's SF, but on one hand, while it reads like SF and will appeal to readers of both genders, on the other hand, there's something about it that doesn't read like SF at all, and not in a good way. I think it's the cloud I felt I was reading through, and hey, maybe that's just my problem. :) I will say that if you figure out what's REALLY going on before it's revealed, you should give yourself a pat on the back, because I sure couldn't connect the dots, not until I was supposed to. :)
Cover Commentary: okay, the fact it was a Chris McGrath cover that is designed like the Kat Richardson books really caught my eye, but beyond that, it's not my favorite by this artist. I just can't picture Terese like she's depicted on the cover. That may be due in part to the fact that in the beginning, when Terese is describing her children, she reveals that one of them has died his skin while so he REALLY stands out in the family, which makes me think the family is not-white, which makes me think Terese is not-white. And Terese is never REALLY well described except to say at the beginning, she's let her body grow lumpy with age, and then to say that the surgery to get her back in fighting shape was hell. So yeah, not how I pictured Terese. But the cover's eye-catching, so that's good. :)
Next up: Stolen by Kelley Armstrong