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WoGF Review: Half World by Hiromi Goto
Tanya F. (metalorchid), has been a fan of sci-fi since childhood, a love that kicked off with Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. She enjoys plots that involve time travel and alternate histories, but also can’t resist a lengthy, world weaving fantasy epic, or a well crafted short horror story.
Editor’s note: This review counts for the July review poll.
When we first meet Melanie Tamaki, the shy and neglected protagonist of Hiromi Goto‘s Half World, she is running with all her might, as she is being chased down the street by a pack of bullies who are slinging pebbles and harsh insults at her back. The opening scenes introduce us to a downtrodden protagonist who seems unlikely to become her own hero. However, deftly weaving together elements of horror, fantasy, and Chinese and Japanese spirituality, Hiromi Goto turns the hero’s quest on its ear, providing us with a believable heroine and a thrilling, fantastical coming of age story.
Melanie is a teenager who has been left to scrape together small bits of comfort while her ailing, disinterested mother spends most of her days wasting away in a daze. The Half World of the title refers to the otherworldly, purgatory setting where Melanie must find her mother, who has disappeared suddenly. But Melanie has already been living in a half world, of sorts; it is a world frequently occupied by impoverished and misunderstood children who must carve out a safe space for themselves when neither home life nor their school provide it. Melanie’s comfort is found with crows circling about the dock side of her town, and with the surly but compassionate neighborhood grocer, Ms. Wei, an older woman who has lost her partner of many years, Nora Stein, and now resides in a world of whispered stories and piles of books.
WoGF Review: Soulless by Gail Carriger
Tanya F. (metalorchid), has been a fan of sci-fi since childhood, a love that kicked off with Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. She enjoys plots that involve time travel and alternate histories, but also can’t resist a lengthy, world weaving fantasy epic, or a well crafted short horror story.
Considering that this is my first book read and reviewed for the 2013 Women of Genre Fiction challenge, I feel a twinge of regret that I’m starting off on a low note, especially since so many people have raved about the Parasol Protectorate series and I’ve been intrigued by the cover image of the woman in purple taffeta, wearing a determined expression as she makes her way through foggy London. (Kudos, cover designer!)
The chief problem I found with Soulless is that it doesn’t quite know what it is. The story of the titular “soulless” protagonist, the quick witted and fiercely independent “spinster” Alexia Tarabotti, weaves elements of Gothic mystery, steampunk, classic (and supernatural) romance, and humor. But, unlike the theory of equilibrium discussed in certain detail by some scientists in the novel, Soulless doesn’t actually strike a balance among all its influences.
For starters, there are numerous repetitive, intended as comedic, allusions to Alexia’s Italian physique and temperament that really start to wear thin. There are also more than a few instances where characters react to their situations with clever little quips that aren’t actually spoken out loud. A lot of these details, which maybe I picked up on because I tend to dislike repetitive humor, seem to present a constant effort on Carriger‘s part to make us remember that these characters are clever, oh so clever! And interesting! And complex! It’s a little too much telling and not enough showing.
