![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellarienI've done more rereading in the last couple of months than I have in years, much of it of things that left me slightly confused the first time through. I've been finding that they often make much more sense on a reread; at first I wondered if it was that my reading skills have suddenly improved, but I don't think that's it. I think what's happening is that on the second pass I remember who turns out to be trustworthy and who doesn't, and for some densely-plotted backstabbing things, once I know that I can relax and follow the plot.
The Jani Kilian series falls into that category; they're rich, complex SF, full of memorable characters -- much more about the people than the gadgets, though there are gadgets in elegant sufficiency. The Idomeni are interesting aliens, though not as fascinatingly and fundamentally different as Cherryh's atevi. Most of their differences in mindset seem to be cultural, not that hard to shed; indeed, the way in which the two species rub off on each other is a major theme of the series. Jani herself is an engaging heroine, though not always likeable -- there was one moment when I found myself not liking her very much at all. She has some things (like artificial limbs and a military past) in common with Elizabeth Bear's Jenny, but the focus of this series is different; this is a story that spans a commonwealth of planets and yet plays out ostly on a small-scale, personal level. We never learn the backstory of Earth and its colonies, or why the human capital is in Chicago, or how the starships work, but that doesn't detract from the story.
The books are: Code of Conduct, Rules of Conflict, Law of Survival, and Contact Imminent. The covers of the first three are a little misleading; there are plenty of descriptions in the books of what people are wearing, and none of them run to skintight latex with shiny
bits.
I finished the last one yesterday, and want more, but I'll have to wait until next year.
The Jani Kilian series falls into that category; they're rich, complex SF, full of memorable characters -- much more about the people than the gadgets, though there are gadgets in elegant sufficiency. The Idomeni are interesting aliens, though not as fascinatingly and fundamentally different as Cherryh's atevi. Most of their differences in mindset seem to be cultural, not that hard to shed; indeed, the way in which the two species rub off on each other is a major theme of the series. Jani herself is an engaging heroine, though not always likeable -- there was one moment when I found myself not liking her very much at all. She has some things (like artificial limbs and a military past) in common with Elizabeth Bear's Jenny, but the focus of this series is different; this is a story that spans a commonwealth of planets and yet plays out ostly on a small-scale, personal level. We never learn the backstory of Earth and its colonies, or why the human capital is in Chicago, or how the starships work, but that doesn't detract from the story.
The books are: Code of Conduct, Rules of Conflict, Law of Survival, and Contact Imminent. The covers of the first three are a little misleading; there are plenty of descriptions in the books of what people are wearing, and none of them run to skintight latex with shiny
bits.
I finished the last one yesterday, and want more, but I'll have to wait until next year.