Rest and Be Thankful by Emma Glass

First published in Great Britain in 2020; published by Bloomsbury Circus on December 1, 2020

In exquisite and powerful prose, a nurse tells her story over the course of a few night shifts in a London hospital’s neonatal ward. The title notwithstanding, Laura gets no rest as she moves from baby to baby, changing lines and diapers, comforting parents, trying to relieve “the crushing weight of their worry.” She encourages fathers to hold their children rather than their cellphones. She dreads the death of her patients. Perhaps she should be thankful that her relationship with the partner who seems to despise her is ending, but he’s keeping the flat, forcing her to move into a single room in hospital residence housing.

There is value in reading about lives that a reader would never want to live. Holding a sleeping baby, Laura explains why she performs such a thankless job: “This is why I’m here. A sick baby on his way to being well. On his way to being well because of surgery, medication, holding, sleeping, something. I wish I knew which one it was because then we could do more. Save more babies. Sometimes none of it works. I think about this all the time.” Hers is a world of hope and despair in a constant struggle for supremacy.

Laura fears the struggle may be driving her mad. Perhaps it is. She is certain that she saw someone step onto the tracks of the subway she’s riding but the death she envisioned never happened. A coworker asks her what’s happening in her life “because you are always late and your hair is a bit of a mess and you don’t smell but it’s a slippery slope.” Death is never far from her mind. She starts the day on her last legs. In her sleep-deprived moments, Laura thinks she sees an apparition in black, perhaps the Grim Reaper, waiting in a hospital chair. The same figure haunts her dreams.

Laura’s life might be better without her partner, about whom we learn little. “I will miss the lick you give your lips before you speak,” Laura thinks to herself, “but I will not miss the words that follow and fall out of that wry wet mouth.” Yet it’s never quite clear whether it is her job or her partner or a traumatic event in her life that has shaped her sorrowed response to the days we glimpse.

A long road in Scotland is named Rest and Be Thankful, apparently because after a long uphill journey, travelers rest and are thankful they reached the top. Whether Laura will reach the top of her uphill climb, a place where she can rest, is unclear.

The novel is relatively short. It ends abruptly and ambiguously, resolving nothing. Readers who demand a plot won’t find one here. The story is simply Laura’s life told in a snapshot. The story left me wanting more but that’s better than a longer story that leaves me wondering why I read so many wasted words. The novel works because of Emma Glass’ ability to place the reader in Laura’s shoes, to make us feel her empathy, her frustation, her desperate unraveling.

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Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis

Published by St. Martin's Press on July 21, 2020

Nils Ortega is a whistleblower or a nut or a combination of the two. In an alternate 2007, Nils is sort of a Julian Assange except his scoops involve claims that the government is hiding knowledge of aliens on Earth. He’s right, of course, but that doesn’t make life easier for Nils' family members who are harassed by the government or paparazzi or, eventually, aliens.

Nils’ daughter Cora has changed her last name to Sabino and deleted her profiles but still lives under the shadow of her father. Cora doesn’t know what to make of rumors about the Ampersand Event. Maybe an asteroid hit the Earth near Pasadena. Maybe it was an alien spaceship. Witnesses disappear and return days later with no memory of what happened. Some return with brain damage. Nils reported a leaked memo about captive aliens that has gone viral. Some of Cora’s friends think Nils is a hero. Cora thinks he’s a bad dad. She lost her scholarship in linguistics after the memo leaked. The government is working hard to shut down Nils and isn’t afraid to use his family against him.

Cora wants nothing to do with the controversy until she’s contacted by an alien who looks like a really big insect. She calls the alien Ampersand. The alien needs help communicating with humans. Cora, having knowledge of linguistics, seems like a good choice to be an intermediary, even if it isn’t a choice Cora would willingly make. Saving her family and possibly the planet eventually becomes Cora’s driving motivation. Cora’s mother, who knows more about aliens than she ever revealed, assures Cora that the aliens are incapable of communicating with humans. Cora eventually learns that it can be done, but communication comes with a price.

Axiom’s End makes the point that aliens will likely be so different from humans that understanding them may be impossible. Humans don’t even understand each other all that well, particularly when they come from different cultures. The aliens in Axiom’s End have a complex social structure. They aren’t very nice and they tend to be paranoid about potential threats, much as humans are. It may not be possible to bridge those gaps but Cora has the right blend of idealism and pragmatism to give it a try.

Novels about relationships between humans and aliens don’t usually take the topic as seriously as Axiom’s End. It’s as difficult to generalize about aliens as it is to generalize about people, which is presumably the lesson that Lindsay Ellis wants readers to internalize. Some aliens/humans are better than others. Some aliens/humans aren’t very good at all. And let’s face it, if aliens are too much like humans, either aliens will wipe out humans or humans will wipe out aliens because getting along isn’t in the cards. Maybe the only question is whether it will happen in the near or far future. But maybe communication creates at least the possibility of hope.

Through the struggles of both Cora and Ampersand to relate to each other, the novel suggests that it may be possible to have empathy for beings we don’t understand. Ellis made a strong effort to portray Cora as a decent but conflicted person who never knows if she is helping aliens or humans or if her efforts, either way, will make any difference. The alienness of Ampersand is convincing, although making him look like a praying mantis suggests a failure of imagination.

Characterization is the high point of a novel that, in the end, asks more questions than it answers. There’s nothing wrong with that in science fiction, a genre that encourages readers to ponder the unknowable. While Ellis sets up a plot that never quite takes off, the unanswered questions are sufficiently compelling to make the novel worthwhile.

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White Horse by Joss Stirling

First published in Great Britain in 2020; published digitally by HarperCollins on October 30, 2020

Jessica Bridges is a private detective who specializes in finding missing people. While attending a writers’ award ceremony with her friend Michael, Jess meets Tanglewood White. Tanglewood hires Jess to locate her daughter Lisette. To accomplish that task, Jess joins the Children of the White Horse, a commune to which Lisette apparently belonged. Jess thinks Lisette might still be there and laying low, or at least that other commune members might be in touch with her. She’s not really into the commune lifestyle although she’s attracted to the leader, Father Oak, and hopes to find the opportunity to shag him.

Jess’ investigation merges with a murder investigation conducted by Detective Inspector Leo George when the naked body of a woman who was stabbed to death is discovered draped over the statue of a white horse. Near the woman are a robe and sandals that commune members wear. Initially unidentified, she meets the general description of Lisette. People who look at her photo do a doubletake, perhaps because she resembles the local vicar. She is soon identified as an American FBI agent who was in England for reasons of her own.

Leo relies on Jess to pass along any connection she can find between the murdered woman and the commune. Leo develops an attraction to Jess that she reciprocates, although Jess seems to be attracted to most men. Leo’s obvious interest in Jess causes a problem after a member of the commune dies in an apparent fall from a cliff during one of the commune’s starlight ceremonies. Since Jess was in the general vicinity of two death victims, she joins the list of suspects in what may be a double homicide. Leo’s objectivity is questioned when he discounts Jess’ likely involvement.

The plot is improbable but no more so than is common in modern mystery novels. It’s difficult to believe the FBI didn’t take a greater interest in the murder since the victim was one of their own. One might expect an FBI liaison to light a fire under the local police, who seem rather unhurried in their pursuit of justice.

The commune is, of course, a cult. Crime fiction writers seem to be attracted to cults, as they are to serial killers and human trafficking, all of which are more common in novels than they are in the real world. This story calls attention to the intersection between mental illness and cult membership, an issue that isn’t often discussed in cult-centric fiction, most of which go no deeper than “cults are bad.”

The novel is low-key. It’s a whodunit rather than a thriller, its blurbs notwithstanding. Joss Stirling does treat the reader to a bit of action when Jess breaks into a building that the commune has declared off limits, but even that scene seems a bit reserved. This isn’t a pulse pounding book but mysteries don’t need to be. White Horse offers multiple mysteries to readers who must ponder the relationship between Lisette and the murder victim on the road to solving one or two homicides. The mysteries are entertaining and the solutions are surprising if not particularly credible.

Chapters are narrated from the alternating perspectives of Jess and Leo. Both are good characters, although quite different from each other. Leo is buttoned up in a traditionally British fashion. Jess is more adventurous. Leo is naturally protective, creating a bit of spark between the two characters that appears destined to carry into the next installment in the series. This is the kind of book that might hook readers into the series, if only to see how the chemistry between Jess and Leo plays out. Those who are more interested in mystery than romance will need to hope that the next book avoids the much traveled path of cults, serial killers, or human traffickers.

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Shelter in Place by David Leavitt

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing on October 13, 2020

Shelter in Place is a novel of first world problems. The kind of problems shared by prosperous New Yorkers who have a weekend home in Connecticut. Sex in the City problems. In fact, when Sandra Brook, Min Marable, and Rachel Weisenstein get together, their dialog would fit nicely into a Sex in the City episode. Mostly they gossip about people who aren’t present, including Matt Pierce, who has been crashing on couches since he broke up with his boyfriend after resisting pressure to participate in three-ways.

Matt used to cook for Eva Lindquist until he made the mistake of asking her for advice about his relationship problems. Eva’s friends wonder where she finds so many handsome gay men who get paid to cook and to “keep her company, lose at cards, and agree with everything she says.”

Eva is in the process of buying an apartment in Italy, a project that annoys her husband Bruce, who works as a wealth manager. Bruce is annoyed in part because of the legal snafus Eva keeps encountering and the bribes that are required to untangle them. Eva wants to live in Italy as a response to Trump’s election. She also wants her friend Jake Lovett, a well-known interior designer, to decorate the apartment. Jake is on the fence about that request, one of many sources of tension that permeate the lives of the characters. Jake’s business partner adds some additional tension, or at least snark, concerning Jake’s career path.

Min is a magazine editor who worked at Self before moving to Entfilade, a magazine that focuses on shelter. She’s encouraging Jake to decorate Eva’s Italian apartment by promising him a magazine cover. Whether she will be able to keep that promise is an open question for much of the novel.

The plot is largely the stuff of soap opera. Bruce is secretly funding his secretary’s battle against cancer. Rachel mistakenly suspects her husband of having an affair with Sandra, who recently left her husband and is busy sorting herself out by having an affair with Bruce. Jake’s reluctance to travel to Venice relates to his memories of a tragic relationship. It is to David Leavitt’s credit that none of this becomes melodramatic. Still, all of the characters make their own problems, a common affliction of financially comfortable first world inhabitants. It’s difficult to generate sympathy for any of them, although sympathy might not be expected or intended.

Shelter in Place is grounded in shallow people making witty conversation. The characters spend a good bit of time discussing literature although it’s not clear that they spend much time reading. One of them attacks Barbara Kingsolver as “the embodiment of liberal piety as its most middlebrow and tendentious” without having read much of her work (he claims to have “dipped in”). The characters either love or hate (mostly hate) Jeffrey Eugenides, Jonathan Franzen, and Jonathan Safran Foer, perhaps because those authors all write more deeply than the characters are capable of feeling.

The novel lampoons political correctness as practiced by people who care more about how they are perceived than about political or social issues. Rachel stops wearing her pussyhat, for example, when another character tells her that the hat is racist because it’s pink and “not every woman’s . . . you know . . . is pink.” Characters make a point of letting their friends know that they oppose Trump but never engage in the slightest degree of liberal activism. A conservative character argues that liberals pretend to like things they actually detest (like sorrel soup) because they’re expected to like them. I’m a liberal but I think there’s some truth in that observation. On the other hand, the conservative character delights in expressing abrasive opinions, presumably because modern conservatives relish being offensive.

Bloomsbury explains that Shelter in Place is a “slyly comic look at the shelter industry.” Apart from featuring two interior designers and a magazine editor who are apparently part of the “shelter industry,” the novel has little to say about housing, apart from the difficulty of acquiring clear title in Venice. The comedy is too sly to be noticeable, although the erudite wit in the characters’ conversations is probably meant to deliver low-key amusement. In that regard, the novel at least partially succeeds.

Not surprisingly in a “sly” story about empty characters, the story itself feels a bit empty. The reader follows the characters as they interact with each other for a few days, determinedly showing off their intellect and political sensibilities, but to what end? I suppose there is value in showcasing empty lives that purport to be good lives and perhaps that is the story’s purpose. In the end, the narrative trails off, leaving every conflict, such as they are, unresolved.

Notwithstanding the negative tone of this review, I thought the dialog actually does reflect a certain degree of wit. I enjoyed the precision of David Leavitt's prose. While I would have enjoyed the book more if the characters had all jumped off a bridge in Venice (we learn about but never meet someone who did that), I can guardedly recommend it to readers who don’t mind plotless novels about disagreeable characters.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

Revenger by Alastair Reynolds

Published by Orbit/ Victor Gollancz Ltd on January 1, 2016

Revenger is a space opera with some unexplained elements that border on fantasy. It’s a good story for young adults. I didn’t know it was YA fiction when I started it but the story held my interest so I stayed with it. The third novel in the series came out this year, which is why I decided to read the first one. I doubt that  I’ll read the next two because, like most YA fiction, the novel explores themes that appeal to young adults. I'm not young. Revenger lacks the complexity that appeals to more mature readers.I was also bothered by story’s failure to explain so much of the universe in which it exists. That’s common in fantasy and in YA fiction but adult science fiction fans demand to know why things are the way they are.

The story takes place in a future characterized by at least a dozen epochs that historians characterized as Occupations. There was a major war between the Second and Third Occupation, perhaps a war between aliens. A good bit of knowledge and technology from the past has been lost. Many worlds were settled during the Occupations. Some of them are artificial habitats. They are collectively known as the Congregation. Various editions of the Book of Worlds have cataloged them but books are in short supply when Revenger begins.

Laced among the habitats are worlds called Baubles. The Baubles are only accessible at certain times; they “open” for certain periods. Scavengers can find all kinds of treasure from past Occupations behind locked doors inside Baubles, but they need to get in and out before the Bauble closes or they’ll be stuck there, fated to die when their oxygen is depleted.

To find and exploit Baubles, scavengers need a specialized crew. One member needs to read the signs to predict when a Bauble will open. Another needs to open the doors they find in the Bauble. An assessor decides what’s valuable. Then there’s a captain and pilot and someone who deploys the sunsails. The most difficult position to fill is that of Sympathetic, also known as a bone reader. The bone reader plugs headphones into a skull and is able to communicate with other ships. Most people can’t read the skulls and those who can lose the ability as they enter their twenties. The skulls are ancient technology and are getting difficult to find.

Against that background, two teenage sisters are given the opportunity to become bone readers. Adrana and Arafura Ness are looking for adventure. They seem to find it on Captain Rackamore’s ship. When they encounter a future version of a pirate, a legendary and seemingly long-lived woman named Bosa Sennen, the girls become separated. Fura spends the rest of the novel trying to get back onto a ship and to find Adrana. But both girls change over the course of the novel; by the end, neither is what the other expects her to be.

The background is interesting and, to the extent that it isn’t always well explained, perhaps there’s no reason it should be. Fura narrates the story and she has no way to explain things she doesn’t understand, like why Baubles exist or how they operate, or why communications devices are made from skulls, or what “ghosty” technology is all about. On the other hand, I suspect that Alastair Reynolds didn’t bother to invent explanations because he knew that a young audience wouldn’t demand them.

The simple themes of good versus evil, sisters separated but still devoted to each other, and young people who are eager to leave home and make their own lives will appear to a YA audience. I think Alastair Reynolds is a much better writer when he markets his fiction to adults, but I’m recommending Revenger to the YA audience for which it is intended.

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