I have read quite a few large, thought-provoking books recently so I felt the need for something light but entertaining. Artemis Awakening from author Jane Lindskold filled these criteria quite nicely.
The story centres around a young, idealistic archaeologist named Griffin Dane who is who has spent his career to date searching for an almost mythical lost pleasure planet named Artemis. When he unexpectedly finds himself on the planet he finds more than he bargained for in Adara, the young woman who helps him. Adara is strong, intelligent and gifted and she travels with a familiar of sorts named Sand Shadow, a large cat-like creature. These two are bonded and share a telepathic link which works via images rather than words which I thought worked well as a plot tool. As the novel progresses it becomes clear that they share other qualities which become increasingly important to the plot.
The author has done a good job with the world-building. It is very similar to Earth in its geography and features. The world as Griffin finds it is solid but quite primitive though lost technology, genetics and a vanished civilisation are strong themes which are clearly going to become even more so. There is a fairly classic local hierarchy and infrastructure in place which adds a good background for the novel and it has all the characters you would expect to see in a science fiction novel of this type - Griffin (Hero), Adara (Independent female/love interest), Bruin (Teacher), Terrell (Rival-turned-friend) and the Old One (Mysterious bad guy). Even Artemis itself becomes a presence.
Though there are no surprises in Artemis Awakening it does build well and gives you all you need as a foundation for the series to come and is great if you want a pleasant few hours reading without having to think too much.
No comments:
Post a Comment