(no subject)

[mamculuna]

I am reading Susan Palwick's Shelter and getting a little bogged down in it. I think the near-future world she's created is very well done, and overall the plot is enticing, but I'm in the middle and not loving the POV character of this section, plus stuff is getting repetitive and/or predictable. Should I push on? Will it get better?



I like the conflict between the technologists and the earth-lovers, but find it weird that there's no mention of global warming in the long Merry section (although I'm assuming the storm that starts the book, in the Roberta section, results from that). I guess this should be read as an alternate world rather than a strict extrapolation from this one, since all world religions seem to vanished with no trace and the Gaia religion seems very well rooted. But those are minor quibbles.

I think possibly the author herself doesn't love her technophobic character Merry, who appears first from the Roberta POV as a really unappealing person. Presumably the Merry section is meant to shift us to seeing her more sympathetically, but it's not working well for me.

Comments

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Shelter, but if you're halfway in and it's not working for you, I suspect that's not going to change if you push on to the end.

I don't think Merry is supposed to be loveable. Sympathetic, very much yes, but loveable, eh.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'll try a bit more.