Planetfall
May. 26th, 2022 10:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearPlanetfall by Emma Newman is about a group of people who colonised another planet, over twenty years before, based on one woman producing its co-ordinate after coming out of a coma.
The first person protagonist, Renata, is one of the colony's engineers, but it quickly becomes apparent she knows a secret about what happened when the colonists first arrived on the planet. Keeping the secret becomes more complicated, when a young man stumbles out of the wilderness, seeking shelter.
The perspective is interesting, since Renata is a mostly sympathetic character, who at the same time is clearly keeping secrets from both the other colonists and the reader. The narrative becomes a bit contorted, with Renata's inner monologue avoiding certain memories and topics in a rather contrived way, so as not to reveal them to the reader.
It's an intriguing premise, with the colony having been set up as part of a search for God, and a lot of ritual and semi-religious belief growing up around the Pathfinder's vision. It does get a bit laboured and repetitive in places, with Ren thinking over and over again about the secrets she's keeping, but never giving much away.
The exploration of Ren's mental state is very effectively portrayed, as it gradually becomes apparent she is suffering from a trauma-based form of OCD. Parts of the narrative are quite intense, but I really felt Ren's panic and understood her justifications for her behaviour, once her habits and lifestyle came under threat.
Then, the ending came and it felt rushed and quite abrupt. I'm also not sure I really understood it - though I understand this is the first in a series, so further explanations may be apparent in later books.
The first person protagonist, Renata, is one of the colony's engineers, but it quickly becomes apparent she knows a secret about what happened when the colonists first arrived on the planet. Keeping the secret becomes more complicated, when a young man stumbles out of the wilderness, seeking shelter.
The perspective is interesting, since Renata is a mostly sympathetic character, who at the same time is clearly keeping secrets from both the other colonists and the reader. The narrative becomes a bit contorted, with Renata's inner monologue avoiding certain memories and topics in a rather contrived way, so as not to reveal them to the reader.
It's an intriguing premise, with the colony having been set up as part of a search for God, and a lot of ritual and semi-religious belief growing up around the Pathfinder's vision. It does get a bit laboured and repetitive in places, with Ren thinking over and over again about the secrets she's keeping, but never giving much away.
The exploration of Ren's mental state is very effectively portrayed, as it gradually becomes apparent she is suffering from a trauma-based form of OCD. Parts of the narrative are quite intense, but I really felt Ren's panic and understood her justifications for her behaviour, once her habits and lifestyle came under threat.
Then, the ending came and it felt rushed and quite abrupt. I'm also not sure I really understood it - though I understand this is the first in a series, so further explanations may be apparent in later books.
